Common challenges
in the software industry
Roadblocks are inherent in every project. But what are the ones impacting a software one?
Missing the big picture
A software project with unclear requirements is simply destined to fail. If the documentation and use cases aren't extensive enough, the end product falls short.
No track of progress
If there is no common place where all progress is tracked, it is impossible to know where the project stands against the plan. Uninformed employees often lose motivation along the way.
Buggy business
Delivering on time holds no value when the product doesn't perform as expected. Unattended issues during and after development can cost you your project.
It all came tumbling down
Keeping your clients in the dark for a big surprise? Well, most projects overrun planned budget and hours because their final product is rejected by the stakeholders.
Why you need Zoho Projects?
Here are some of the ways in which Zoho Projects can make your IT project management process more efficient.
See how Zoho Projects helps you code better
Monitor dependencies
Monitor dependencies and avoid delays by tracking critical paths and baselines.
Workflows
Manage your testing processes by setting up custom statuses and workflows.
Resource Utilization chart
Use the Resource Utilization chart to make sure none of your employees are overworked.
Your software, engineered your way
No two software teams ship the same way, and that's exactly why you need Zoho Projects’ custom modules. So you can do more than just tweak dev workflows–you can define how code moves from idea to production. Mold your delivery workflows so they feel native to your team, not the other way around.
Custom modules
Personalize not only your software projects, but your day-to-day dev operations with custom modules that mirror your architecture, lifecycle, and governance model.
Custom reports
Turn raw project data into actionable insights on throughput, quality, and predictability with reports you can slice, filter, and present exactly how you want.
Custom dashboards
Design engineering dashboards that tell the full story using charts and indicators your team trusts, from project health to release readiness and production stability.
Drill down into dev data
- Build custom reports and dashboards from the ground up and surface the engineering metrics that actually matter to your team.
- From basic burndown charts to advanced lead-time and deployment-frequency views, choose from a variety of configurations to display exactly what you care about.
- Whether you accelerate, stall, or pivot mid-sprint, capture the full story in real-time, customizable dashboards that always reflect reality, not just the happy path.
What you can build with custom modules
Here are some examples of how your team can use custom modules for software projects.
Release management module
- Plan, track, and ship releases across dev, QA, staging, and production with complete visibility into versions, dates, and owners.
- Tie user stories, bugs, and change requests to a specific release so everyone knows what is going out, when, and for whom.
- Cut down on last-minute surprises by managing freeze windows, go/no-go criteria, and post-release checks from one place.
Feature request intake module
- Capture feature ideas from customers, sales, and internal teams into a central, searchable hub.
- Score and prioritize each request based on impact, effort, and strategic fit so product and engineering stay aligned on what to build next.
- Link feature requests to backlogs, sprints, and releases to turn scattered feedback into a clear, executable roadmap.
Technical debt register module
- Log tech debt as first-class work items with details on components, severity, and risk if ignored.
- Group and filter debt by system area, owner, or project so teams can budget refactoring time instead of constantly firefighting.
- Use insights from your debt register to make smarter trade-offs between new features and long-term code health.
QA test suite & test runs Module
- Organize test suites, cases, and runs in one place, with coverage mapped to features, components, and releases.
- Track pass/fail status, defects raised, and test ownership so QA, devs, and PMs always see the true quality picture.
- Standardize regression and release testing to reduce missed scenarios and prevent bugs from slipping into production.
Environment & configuration management module
- Maintain a living catalog of all environments—dev, QA, staging, production, demo—with their owners, URLs, and access details.
- Record configuration changes, toggles, and rollout plans so teams know exactly what changed, where, and when.
- Reduce “it only fails in staging” moments by aligning configuration history with deployments and incidents.
Integration & API dependency module
- List all internal services and third-party APIs your product relies on, along with SLAs, rate limits, and owners.
- Log incidents, timeouts, and updates against each dependency so you can quickly trace failures to the right system.
- Plan releases and maintenance windows with dependencies in mind, reducing downtime and broken integrations.
Security & compliance register module
- Track security findings, vulnerabilities, and compliance tasks with severity, deadlines, and remediation owners.
- Link fixes to issues, sprints, and releases to ensure security work moves through the same disciplined pipeline as features.
- Use a central register to prove what was found, how it was handled, and when it was resolved during audits.
Customer onboarding module
- Treat each implementation as its own structured journey with phases, and technical requirements.
- Connect onboarding activities to tasks, issues, and changes so product, success, and engineering stay in sync.
- Spot at-risk go-lives early by monitoring blockers, dependencies, and stakeholder engagement in a single view.
Intelligence for the modern team
AI-powered intelligence equips modern teams with autonomous agents, real-time insights, and contextual automation to streamline workflows and amplify human focus across any project discipline.
Model Context Protocol
Model Context Protocol (MCP) now lets you integrate Zoho Projects, along with several other Zoho products, directly to the Generative AI model of your choice. This will allow you to access Zoho Projects directly from your AI model of your choice. Now, you can query project data, pull task histories, and generate insights without switching windows.
- Ask AI to suggest test cases based on a user story, draft acceptance criteria from a feature request, or identify gaps in your release checklist, and get answers that reference your actual tasks, milestones, and custom fields.
- Analyze historical project data, and take real-time, analytical decisions, with analysis from the AI model of your choice.
- Seamlessly integrate with third-party tool of your choice, and get all work done in a single window.
Agentic AI COMING SOON
Agentic AI takes this further by enabling Zia to act autonomously on your behalf. Train Zia Agents to monitor build statuses, triage incoming bugs, escalate P0 incidents, or update stakeholders when releases are deployed; all without manual intervention. You define the rules, hand over the knowledge base, and let the agent handle the repetitive coordination work while your engineers stay in flow.
Google Tasks
Zoho CRM
MS Excel
JIRA
Google Drive
Slack
Zapier
Zoho Flow
Google Chrome Extension
Zoho People
Zoho Mail
Crashlytics
OneDrive
Zoho Analytics
Microsoft Office 365
Gitea
Dropbox
Gitlab
Zoho Projects is a complete solution that's really simple, fast, and responsive – easy to use and easy to administer.As a team, we're all on the same page and on top of our projects.