In large- and mid-sized companies, often it is imperative to share a project plan with team members, customers, management etc. Shared plan reviews are required to inform project stakeholders of what, when and how tasks and objectives are planned to be completed. Probably, you also need to share your project plan and allow members of your team to access documents and files. This article gives a brief software review and describes what tools are required for sharing and managing project data.

The traditional "offline" method of sharing project data allows you to use paper prints and copies of your project plan, task lists and schedules to make team members aware of the forthcoming project work. This method of creating a work plan can be useless, for example when you need to present your project to customers, or when you want to share project data between several offices. Therefore, a new, more flexible method of project management is required.

 The modern "online" method of sharing project data can be applied by using that software. You can use electronic tools to share your project plan, assign tasks and develop schedules. Shared plan software will allow you to create a single work environment in which members of your project team can collaborate, exchange ideas and communicate with each other. Here are several key tools of central software that you can use to achieve better collaboration with your project team:

• Project building tool. You can create hierarchies, multi-level structures and trees for your work plan .
• Task managing tool. You can create, prioritize, describe and assign todo lists, task lists and action plans.
• Scheduling tool. You can build project schedules and calendars as well as design project timelines.
• Data sharing tool. You can share any piece of project information between members of your team.
• Permissions setting tool. You can build a pro version by allowing or denying every member of your team to access one or another level of your project plan.

VIP Task Manager combines all the listed tools allowing you to achieve better collaboration. VIP Task Manager is a client-server solution that takes you to a higher level of performance and shared plan project management by allowing you to share your project plan and tasks with team members and to store project data in a central database deployed on your corporate server. This software is best for managing groups, their tasks, projects and schedules.

VIP Team ToDo List is a simple multi-user solution that allows members of your team to collaborate by emailing tasks and todo lists. The software solution will be best for you if you want your team to receive plans and tasks by email.