Selecting the right project management tool is crucial for any team working within Jira, as it directly impacts productivity, collaboration, and project success. With various options available, it’s important to select a tool that perfectly matches your team’s unique needs and workflows. In this blog, we’ll be comparing two prominent project management tools for Jira: TeamBoard ProScheduler and BigPicture. We’ll dive into their features, pricing, pros, and cons to help you decide which tool is the ideal fit for your team’s project management requirements.
Overview of TeamBoard ProScheduler and BigPicture
TeamBoard ProScheduler and BigPicture are two powerful project management tools designed for Jira users. Both tools excel at managing multiple projects through comprehensive portfolio management, allowing users to visualize overall project timelines using Gantt Charts. They also provide robust features for team management and resource allocation, giving managers the ability to oversee tasks, projects, and resources with ease.
| TeamBoard ProScheduler | BigPicture | |
| Portfolio Management |
Yes |
Yes |
| Resource Management | Yes | Yes |
| Capacity Planning | Yes | Yes |
| Task Schedule Board | Yes | No |
| Calendar | Yes | Yes |
| Roadmap | No | Yes |
| Risk Management | No | Yes |
| Gantt | Yes | Yes |
| Timeline | Yes | No |
| Scope Management | No | Yes |
| Time Tracking | Yes | No |
| Dashboard | Yes | No |
| Report | Yes | Yes |
| Cloud | Yes | Yes |
| Data Center | Yes | Yes |
| Customer reviews | 3.4/4 from Atlassian Marketplace | 3.1/4 from Atlassian Marketplace |
TeamBoard ProScheduler vs. BigPicture: Pros and Cons
TeamBoard ProScheduler Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Intuitive Interface: The drag-and-drop interface simplifies task scheduling and resource management, making it accessible even for users with minimal technical skills.
- Flexible Resource Management: Efficiently allocate resources with features like recurring tasks and multi-member assignments, ensuring workloads are balanced and deadlines are met.
- Comprehensive Reporting: Detailed reports on tasks, projects, and resources help managers track progress and optimize team performance.
- Cost-Effective: More affordable than many alternatives, making it ideal for smaller teams or organizations with budget constraints.
- Simple Configuration: Allows date mapping with Jira fields by project, offering flexibility to adapt to specific project needs.
Cons:
- Limited Customization: Customization options, especially for reports and dashboards, are restricted compared to other tools.
- Application Access: Access is limited to certain functions and settings, but all Jira users can access the application.
- Performance at Scale: As teams grow and the number of issues increases (up to tens of thousands), some users may find ProScheduler’s performance less optimal, particularly with large-scale projects.
BigPicture Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Advanced Portfolio and Program Management: BigPicture is exceptional for managing complex portfolios and programs, making it ideal for large organizations with multiple, interrelated projects. It offers a clear visualization of portfolios in a hierarchical tree format, providing an organized overview.
- Versatile Methodology Support: Supports both Agile and Waterfall methodologies, offering flexibility for teams with diverse project management approaches.
- Robust Risk Management: Features comprehensive risk management tools that allow teams to identify, assess, and mitigate risks, enhancing overall project control and success.
- Granular Permission Control: Allows administrators to control who can access the app, whether it’s open to all members, specific individuals, or restricted to everyone, enhancing security and management oversight.
- Real-Time Sync with Jira: By default, BigPicture synchronizes start and end dates with Jira in real time, ensuring that all projects are up-to-date.
Cons:
- Steeper Learning Curve: Due to its extensive feature set, BigPicture can be challenging to master, requiring more time and training for teams to fully utilize its capabilities.
- Higher Cost: BigPicture tends to be more expensive than other project management tools, which might be a barrier for smaller teams or organizations with limited budgets.
- Overkill for Small Projects: The tool’s vast array of features may be overwhelming and unnecessary for small teams or simpler projects, potentially leading to inefficiencies.
- Complex Configuration: Setting up and configuring BigPicture can be complicated, especially for teams that require specific customizations, adding to the initial implementation time and effort.
TeamBoard ProScheduler vs. BigPicture: Core Features
Core Features of TeamBoard ProScheduler
1. Program Management
TeamBoard ProScheduler enables you to manage and plan across multiple Jira projects within a Program/ Portfolio. Users can efficiently allocate and manage resources across different projects simultaneously.
2. Team Management
Easily manage resources by creating teams and controlling their access rights in TeamBoard ProScheduler, allowing for organized and secure team management.
3. Resource Capacity Planning
Set individual working capacities based on skills, and automatically configure holiday calendars by country to manage resource availability effectively.
4. Task Scheduling & Calendar
The schedule board allows for detailed task planning in sync with Jira issues, allowing users to plan events and time off directly according to resource capacity with a simple click or drag-and-drop interface. Helping visualize tasks clearly with status and color scheme.
The calendar provides an overview of the team’s plan within a month, facilitating easy tracking and planning.
5. Timeline & Gantt Chart
Visualize project timelines according to Jira’s Hierarchy Structure using the Timeline view, or flexible change Hierarchy Structure with Gantt Chart. These features support setting dependencies, auto-scheduling, baselines, milestones, and critical paths for clearer project management.
6. Time Tracking
Real-time time logging syncs with Jira work logs, enabling managers to monitor team members’ actual time seamlessly.
7. Dashboard & Reporting
Generate detailed reports on scheduled hours, capacity, logged time, overtime, and undertime by task, member, and project.
The dashboard offers an overview of project progress and team performance, helping managers compare planned versus actual working hours.
Core Features of BigPicture
1. Portfolio Management
BigPicture allows managing complex portfolios with an advanced overview that supports multi-level planning and visualizes high-level data by hierarchy tree, timeline, and Kanban board, helping organizations oversee multiple projects within a unified structure.
2. Gantt Chart
As TeamBoard ProScheduler, Gantt charts in BigPicture also provide for timeline management, with support for dependencies, baselines, and milestones.
3. Scope Management
BigPicture builds a comprehensive view to define project scope and manage to-do lists, hierarchical task structures, and agile backlogs.
4. Resource Management
BigPicture supports allocating resources efficiently across projects, with tools for capacity planning and workload balancing.
5. Team Management
Create teams and link them with Jira boards for integrated management.
6. Risk Management
Identify, assess, and manage project risks, with integrated risk matrices and mitigation strategies.
7. Calendar
The calendar view in BigPicture allows users to schedule and reschedule tasks with drag-and-drop functionality, and track workload using color-coded heatmaps.
8. Board & Roadmap
The Board visualizes and highlights new feature delivery dates as well as cross-team dependencies. This is helpful during planning sessions (such as Program Increment (PI) Planning or Iteration planning) as it can show capacities across different teams.
Roadmap for Program Increments of specific duration, focuses on high-level planning, including forecasts and commitments, rather than particular tasks.
9. Reporting
Generate detailed reports and customizable dashboards for real-time insights into project performance.
TeamBoard ProScheduler vs. BigPicture: Pricing
TeamBoard ProScheduler and BigPicture both support Jira Cloud and Data Center versions. For Data Center, both offer a free 30-day trial for teams of all sizes.
With Cloud, teams with fewer than 10 users can use the applications for free, And for larger teams, a 30-day trial is available, after which pricing is based on the number of users.
BigPicture is generally priced higher than TeamBoard ProScheduler.
TeamBoard ProScheduler Pricing
1. Data Center
- Up to 50 users: $500/year
- Up to 100 users: $800/year
- Up to 250 users: $1,500/year
- Up to 500 users: $2,500/year
- Up to 750 users: $3,000/year
2. Cloud
Users can choose to pay monthly or annually, the cost is calculated for your team size progressively using user tier prices.
For example: If your team has 100 users, the monthly payment for TeamBoard ProScheduler is $150, which equates to $1.50 per user. If you choose to pay annually, the cost is $1,500 for the user tier of 51-100 users.
BigPicture Pricing
1. Data Center
- Up to 50 users: $2,350/year
- Up to 100 users: $4,400/year
- Up to 250 users: $8,800/year
- Up to 500 users: $12,100/year
- Up to 750 users: $18,150/year
2. Cloud
Users can choose to pay monthly or annually, the cost is calculated for your team size progressively using user tier prices.
For example: If your team has 100 users, the monthly payment for BigPicture is $474, which equates to $4.74 per user. If you choose to pay annually, the cost is $4,740 for the user tier of 51-100 users.
Summary: Key Differences Between TeamBoard ProScheduler and BigPicture
|
Aspect |
TeamBoard ProScheduler |
BigPicture |
| Portfolio Management | Create programs by adding multiple projects to manage and plan simultaneously. | Advanced multi-level portfolio management with hierarchy views. |
| Gantt Charts | Timeline & Gantt chart with dependency and auto-scheduling. Support critical path, set baseline and milestone | Similar Gantt capabilities with dependency, critical path and milestone. |
| Team & Resource Management | Manages teams with access control, flexible capacity planning, holiday, timeoff & workload management. | Manages teams, capacity planning and workload balancing tools. |
| Risk Management | Limited risk management capabilities. | Integrated risk management tools with mitigation strategies. |
| Task Scheduling & Calendar | Schedule board for task scheduling with visual status indicators, and simple drag-and-drop scheduling. | Drag-and-drop scheduling with workload heatmaps. |
| Time Tracking | Real-time synchronization with Jira work logs. Auto fill Progress | Not a primary focus area. |
| Reporting | Detailed reports on tasks, capacity, and logged time. Dashboards focused on team performance. | Highly customizable reports. |
| Pricing | More cost-effective, ideal for smaller teams. | Higher price point, suited for larger enterprises. |
| Ease of Use | Simple, with a gentle learning curve. | More complex, requiring additional training. |
| Configuration | Simple configuration | Complex configuration |
Choosing the Right Tool: TeamBoard ProScheduler or BigPicture?
When deciding between TeamBoard ProScheduler and BigPicture, consider your team’s size, complexity of projects, and budget. TeamBoard ProScheduler is ideal for smaller teams or organizations seeking a cost-effective, user-friendly tool with strong projects & resource management and straightforward reporting. It’s perfect for teams that need efficient project management without extensive customization.
On the other hand, BigPicture is better suited for larger enterprises managing complex portfolios and requiring advanced features like multi-level planning, risk management, and extensive reporting. Though it comes with a steeper learning curve and higher cost, its comprehensive capabilities make it a powerful tool for intricate project management needs.
Ultimately, the choice depends on your team’s specific requirements, budget, and the level of complexity you’re ready to manage.
