Resources

PCMC has developed a Process Improvement Toolkit that can be used by anyone at level of skill/knowledge in process improvement and project management.  The toolkit is universal, so all units at the university can apply this methodology to their process improvement initiatives.  

The templates provided here can be used on a variety of project sizes and scopes.  Look here for other helpful tools for communication and change management as well.  

Want a free project management template ready to be duplicated and used immediately within the UMN Google Workspace? Check out this resource conceived by Jamey Hansen and designed in a single Google Sheets workbook by Christopher Stordalen from LATIS in the College of Liberal Arts (CLA).  This solution provides context for the different components of project management best practices in the header of each workbook sheet.  Check out Google Project Manager (http://z.umn.edu/googleprojectmanager)

Visual Meetings and the various tools and techniques used to create personal visual notes, collaborative group activities, and memorable graphic recording help increase engagement, strengthen information retention and recall, create an environment more inclusive to the ideas of the whole group, and liven up meetings that can be viewed as tedious.  Check out more information about our past Introduction to Visual Meetings Event (September 2017) and our Visual Meetings Resources, Tools, & Techniques Guide.

Digital Mapping Solutions: 

• Zoom Whiteboards - UMN Zoom provides access to Zoom's Whiteboard functionality that is quite robust and is available to all UMN employees and students at no cost. It has a library of templates that has everything from process flows to mind maps.
  • Finding your whiteboard tool in Zoom: In your local Zoom application window, if 'Whiteboards' is not appearing, click on 'More' and choose it from the drop-down window. You may also choose to move it to the tool bar by clicking-hold-dragging it out of the 'More' menu.
• Lucid - LucidChart and LucidSpark are robust tools for mapping and digital white boarding, respectively. The libraries are expansive and Lucid has implemented automations and integrations to update certain maps in real time. This is NOT provided through UMN and does have a cost ($175 per user per year as of this writing - 2025). 

Asana - Gmail Chrome Extension - Adds a button to automatically transfer web browser content to your Asana To-Do list or a specific project in your Asana workspace. In your Chrome browser, click on "Window > Extensions", then search for 'Asana' and install. It will appear next to the URL/Search bar with the Asana logo

• Asana is a robust, yet low barrier to entry, project and task management solution with a broad user-base at UMN. 

A number of years ago, PCMC held a Project Management Software Expo - a showcase of the various PM tools that were used across the University, how they were used, who used them, and what types of projects could benefit from the tools.  We want to take the information collected at the expo, clean it up, and add to it to create a new resource here.   

Please take a moment to complete the PCMC Project Management Software Tool Survey for each software program you wish to report on.  Your submissions will help us build a directory with use cases and information from across the University to help others find tools that work well for their teams and projects.  The form has a picklist of common tools that were shared during the expo, but you can add new tools by selecting the “other” feature.

Let us know if you have any questions at [email protected] and please complete this form by September 12th.  Once the tool is published, we will have a form available for additions and changes.