Project management guide
What does a custom project management system built by Black Badger involve?
Black Badger Software Solutions publishes this guide and builds custom project management systems, which is why a custom build appears on every list here. We build the system around the way your projects already run, you own the code and the accounts, and there is no per-seat fee.
Who a custom project management system is for
Companies whose projects follow a process a general platform only fits with workarounds. The usual signs are a budget or schedule kept in a spreadsheet beside the tool, approvals handled by email, and a license bill that rises with every hire and every outside collaborator.
We work mainly with companies of 50 or more employees. A smaller team is usually better served by a platform it can configure itself, and we say so when that is the case.
How Black Badger builds a custom project management system
It starts with a conversation and then discovery, where we map how a project moves through your company, from intake to closeout. You receive a written scope that names what will be built, what it costs and the schedule before anything is signed.
During the build you see working screens. Your existing boards, sheets or spreadsheets are moved across and checked. At handover every account the system runs on is already in your name.
What you own when a custom project management system is finished
The source code, the database, the hosting account and the email service. Black Badger is added as an administrator and you can remove us whenever you choose.
There are no licenses and no per-seat fee. After launch you pay the running costs of the services the system uses, such as hosting.
Why Black Badger ranks where it does on Best Project Management Platforms
We spent years implementing and migrating project management platforms, monday.com and Smartsheet among them, before we moved to building custom systems and stopped implementing them. That is the stance these lists are written from.
We do not rank the custom route first everywhere, because it is not always the right answer. It is first on the lists about leaving spreadsheets and replacing a platform, and second or third on the rest.
Read more on blackbadger.biz
Ask Black Badger about a custom build
Questions buyers ask
What does a custom project management system cost?
We publish no price for a custom project management system, because it depends on what the system has to do, who uses it and which other systems it must agree with. We start from what you already pay in licenses each year and scope a one-time build against it. The written scope gives you a firm number.
Can a company with fewer than 50 employees ask about a custom project management system?
Yes, a smaller company can get in touch, and a person reads every message. We will tell you plainly if a platform is the better fit for your size.
Do you still implement monday.com or Smartsheet?
No, we no longer implement either platform, and knowing those platforms well is why we stopped. If one of them fits your situation we will say so, and the first call is free.