A socio-technical perception on the impact of project management software in logistics and distribution center: A case study in Saudi Arabia telecommunication company

This paper observed the use of project management software (PMS) as a planning and organizing tool in logistics and distribution center in a Saudi Arabian Telecommunication Company. PMS enable the company to mix and match resources for any given task done. Twenty-eight respondents from various ranks have been interviewed. This paper uses Echo Method where results showed the most critical use of a PMS was in its support for control and scheduling, and resource allocation. The purpose of Echo method led towards the calculation of an Interaction Effectiveness Ratio of 1.5, which implies that the PMS is not a panacea for project management woes. This further means that for every three benefits found in using PMS, there are two constraining examples found. The project management team resolved these constraining events with the use of spreadsheets (Excel) for data analysis and mobile phones for communications. This paper concludes that an organization who works with PMS needs to assess the features carefully and to simultaneously look at the use of spreadsheets as part of its project management tool.