TLDR (Summary)
The best project management software for event planners is Plutio ($19/month).
Event planning requires coordinating dozens of moving parts, venue contracts, vendor timelines, client approvals, payment schedules, and last-minute changes, all while maintaining clear communication with everyone involved. Plutio connects project timelines to vendor contracts, client portals, invoicing, and communication so that when a timeline shifts or a vendor confirms availability, everyone sees the update without manual coordination across disconnected systems. Traditional project management tools organize tasks, but they don't connect tasks to the vendor contracts, client communication, and payment tracking that event planners manage simultaneously.
According to industry research on project management tools, 60% goes to admin instead of actual project execution. For event planners specifically, that means hours spent updating timelines in one tool, copying vendor information into spreadsheets, forwarding client approvals through email, and manually tracking which invoices correspond to which milestones, work that connected software handles automatically.
For additional strategies, read our freelance project management guide.
What is project management software for event planners?
Project management software for event planners is software that coordinates vendor timelines, client milestones, and budget tracking with complete visibility across everyone involved in the event.
The distinction matters: generic project management tools organize tasks into lists and boards. Event planning project management connects tasks to vendor availability, tracks milestone payments against deliverables, manages client approval workflows, and maintains budget visibility as actual costs come in. Event planners juggle 10-30 vendors per event, each with their own timeline, contract terms, and payment schedule. Without project management that links to contracts, invoicing, and client communication, coordination happens manually through email threads, spreadsheet updates, and repeated status questions.
What event planner project management actually does
Core functions include vendor timeline coordination that tracks each supplier's tasks and dependencies, milestone tracking that connects tasks to client approval gates and payment schedules, budget management that compares projected costs to actual invoices as they arrive, and communication workflows that keep clients and vendors informed without manual status updates. The software maintains a complete view of every event from initial proposal through post-event reconciliation, showing which tasks depend on vendor confirmations, which milestones require client approval, and where actual spending compares to the original budget.
Event management versus task management
Generic task management software tracks what needs to get done. Event project management tracks what needs to get done and connects it to who's responsible (vendor contracts), what it costs (invoicing), what the client approved (proposals and change orders), and when payments are due (milestone schedules). An event might have 150 tasks across 20 vendors with dependencies like "DJ setup requires power confirmed by venue" or "floral delivery requires final guest count from client." Task management shows the list. Event project management connects the dependencies, triggers notifications to the right people, and updates budget projections when changes happen.
What makes event planner project management different
Event planning operates under compressed timelines where delays cascade, a venue confirming late pushes vendor bookings, which affects production schedules, which requires client notification about potential cost changes. Events also require managing multiple parallel workstreams that converge on a fixed date with no flexibility. A wedding happens on the scheduled date whether all vendors confirm or not, which means event planners need visibility into risk: which vendors haven't confirmed, which payments haven't cleared, which client approvals are still pending. Generic project management shows task status. Event project management shows event risk based on what's confirmed, what's paid, and what's still open three weeks before the event date.
When project management connects to proposals, contracts, invoicing, and client portals, timeline changes trigger the right notifications automatically, budget tracking reflects actual costs as invoices arrive, and clients see progress without asking for updates.
Why event planners need project management software
Event planners who manage more than 3-4 events simultaneously face a compounding coordination problem: each event involves 10-30 vendors with interdependent timelines, client approval gates, and milestone payments that must synchronize perfectly while details hide across email, spreadsheets, and separate contract files.
With 3 concurrent events and 20 vendors each, that's 60 separate vendor relationships to track, 200+ tasks with dependencies, dozens of payment milestones, and hundreds of potential points where delays in one area cascade into problems elsewhere. The coordination burden grows faster than the event count because dependencies multiply, one venue delay affects caterer timing, which impacts decor setup, which requires client notification about potential changes, each conversation scattered across different communication channels.
The timeline fragmentation problem
According to project management research, 60% goes to admin instead of actual project work. For event planners specifically, that means hours checking if vendors confirmed their dates, forwarding timeline changes through email chains, updating spreadsheets with new information that already exists elsewhere, and answering client questions about status by piecing together information from multiple sources. A client asks "Is the florist confirmed?" and the answer requires checking email for their confirmation, the contract tool for signed agreements, and the payment system for deposit status, three separate lookups for one question.
The vendor coordination problem
You planners manage vendors through a combination of email, shared spreadsheets, and separate contract files. Vendor confirms availability through email, contract gets signed in DocuSign, payment schedule lives in a spreadsheet, and task dependencies sit in a project tool that knows nothing about whether the vendor actually confirmed or the deposit cleared. When the photographer emails "Running 30 minutes late for ceremony coverage," that information needs to reach the videographer (who planned to coordinate arrival), the venue coordinator (who needs to adjust the timeline), and the client (who needs to decide about delaying the start). Email chain coordination takes 15-20 minutes and usually reaches people after the moment passes.
The budget tracking challenge
Event budgets start as estimates in proposals, get refined through vendor contracts, and turn into actual costs through invoices and change orders. Traditional tracking happens in spreadsheets: projected cost in one column, actual invoices in another, variance calculations done manually. When a vendor sends an invoice for $3,200 instead of the projected $3,000, that $200 difference needs to flow to the client budget view, update how much you're actually making on the event, and potentially trigger a client notification about the overage. Spreadsheet tracking requires manual updates. Connected project management shows budget variance automatically as invoices arrive.
The scaling tipping point
You planners hit a threshold around 6-8 concurrent events where the manual coordination approach breaks down completely. Beyond that point, the volume of vendor confirmations, timeline changes, client questions, and payment tracking exceeds what email and spreadsheets can handle reliably. Details start slipping, a vendor confirmation email gets buried, a timeline change doesn't reach everyone who needs it, a payment milestone passes without the invoice getting sent. Each slip requires recovery work: apologizing to vendors, explaining delays to clients, rushing payments to avoid late fees.
Connected project management software absorbs the coordination work that would otherwise scale linearly with each new event and vendor relationship.
Project management features event planners need
The essential project management features for event planners connect timeline coordination with vendor management, client communication, and financial tracking while handling the unique patterns that event work requires, fixed deadlines, parallel workstreams, and dependencies that cascade when any piece shifts.
Core project management features
- Timeline views with dependency tracking: Gantt charts and calendar views that show which tasks block others, so when a venue confirms late, Plutio shows which vendor bookings now have risk and which client milestones might shift.
- Vendor assignment and tracking: Each task links to the responsible vendor, shows their contract status, tracks their confirmation, and displays payment terms, so "Confirm final menu" shows it's assigned to the caterer, whether they confirmed, and that final payment is due 7 days before the event.
- Milestone management: Key gates like "Client approves design" or "Final guest count due" that hold dependent tasks and trigger notifications to the right people when milestones pass or approach without completion.
- Budget tracking per event: Projected costs from the proposal compared to actual costs from vendor invoices, showing variance by category (venue, catering, entertainment, decor) and how much you're making as the event progresses toward completion.
- File organization by event and vendor: Contracts, mood boards, floor plans, and vendor deliverables organized so that anyone looking at a task can find the related files without searching,"Finalize floral design" task shows the signed contract, client's Pinterest board, and venue layout diagram.
- Communication threads attached to tasks: Conversations about specific tasks stay with those tasks instead of scattering across email, so the discussion about ceremony timing stays attached to the timeline task where future reference makes sense.
Event planner-specific features
- Vendor portal access: Selected vendors can log in to see their tasks, upload deliverables, and update status without requiring the event planner to forward information or grant access to everything. Industry research shows 5+ hours, vendor self-service is where event planners find those hours.
- Client approval workflows: Clients review timeline milestones, approve design choices, and confirm details through their portal where responses attach to the relevant project areas automatically rather than arriving through email that needs manual processing.
- Payment milestone tracking: Project timeline shows which payments are due when, connects to actual invoices sent through Plutio, and displays payment status so "Final payment due 7 days before event" shows whether the invoice went out, whether the client paid, and whether that payment clears the event to proceed.
- Template workflows for event types: Standard timelines for weddings, corporate events, or conferences that include typical vendor types, common milestones, and standard dependencies, so a new wedding project starts with 80% of the structure already in place, ready for client-specific customization.
Platform features that multiply value
- White-label branding: Custom domain, logo, colors. All client-facing communications show your brand, not the software company's, which matters for event planners where brand perception affects the client's confidence that their event will match the premium experience promised.
- Unified inbox: All client messages arrive in one place, portal messages, email replies, approval notifications, so responding doesn't require checking multiple channels to find the latest update.
- Permissions: Control what vendors see (only their tasks), what clients see (progress and approvals but not vendor costs), and what team members see (everything) without creating separate systems or exposing information that should stay internal.
- Automations: Create rules that trigger actions without your involvement, when a client approves a milestone, notify the relevant vendors; when a payment clears, update the task status; when a deadline approaches without completion, send reminders to the responsible party.
The deciding factor for event planners is integration depth. Project management software that connects with vendor contracts, client proposals, milestone invoicing, and communication portals eliminates the duplicate data entry and manual coordination that consumes hours per event.
Project management software pricing for event planners
Project management software for event planners typically costs $15-50 per user per month for standalone tools, with integrated platforms that include vendor management, client communication, and invoicing providing complete functionality at the lower end of that range.
What event planners typically pay for project management tools
- Asana: $10.99-24.99/user/month. Organizes tasks with timeline views and dependencies but lacks vendor-specific features, contract management, and client portals. Forced 5-seat increments mean buying seats you don't need.
- Monday.com: $9-19/user/month. Visual workflows with customizable boards but requires separate tools for invoicing, contracts, and client communication. 3-seat minimum on paid plans.
- ClickUp: $7-12/user/month plus $9/user AI add-on. complete feature set but reviews consistently mention 3-5 second loading times that add up across hundreds of daily interactions.
- Trello: $5-10/user/month. Simple kanban boards good for basic task tracking but limited timeline views, no built-in vendor management, and restricted automation on lower tiers.
These tools focus on task organization. Event planners still need separate tools for contracts ($20-40/month for DocuSign or PandaDoc), invoicing ($15-30/month for QuickBooks or FreshBooks), client portals (often custom-built or through separate platforms), and vendor coordination (usually email and spreadsheets). Total software stack costs reach $60-120/month before accounting for the time spent moving data between systems.
Plutio pricing (January 2026)
- Core: $19/month: Unlimited project management plus vendor contracts, client proposals, invoicing, scheduling, and branded portals. Up to 9 active client projects, enough for solo planners or small event businesses.
- Pro: $49/month: Unlimited client projects, 30 team members or contractors, advanced permissions for vendor and client access levels, automation workflows for common event coordination tasks.
- Max: $199/month: Unlimited team size, full white-label with custom domain, single sign-on, priority support, for established event planning businesses running dozens of concurrent events with large teams.
The ROI calculation for event planners
- Coordination time saved: Research shows 60% goes to admin. For an event planner managing 8 events, that's 15-20 hours per week updating timelines, coordinating vendors, and answering status questions. Connected project management that automates updates and centralizes information recovers 8-12 of those hours, time that can go toward client development or handling more events with the same team size.
- Reduced software stack costs: Eliminating separate subscriptions for contracts ($30/month), proposals ($20/month), and basic invoicing ($15/month) saves $65/month, more than covering Plutio's $49 Pro plan while adding project management, client portals, and scheduling.
- Fewer missed milestones: When timeline changes automatically notify affected vendors and update client views, coordination failures drop. One missed vendor payment deadline that requires rush fees or one timeline slip that damages client relationships costs more than annual software expenses.
Project management software ROI for event planners comes through coordination hours saved and software stack consolidation. Plutio pays for itself when it eliminates 2-3 hours of weekly manual coordination and replaces 2-3 separate tools.
Why Plutio is the best project management for event planners
Plutio handles project management as part of a complete event planning platform where vendor contracts, client communication, milestone invoicing, and timeline coordination work together rather than as separate tools that need manual connection through spreadsheets and email forwarding.
Projects connect to complete event context
Create a project for a wedding or corporate event, and the timeline connects to the client's signed proposal, vendor contracts, payment milestones, and communication history automatically. When a client asks "Is the photographer confirmed?" the answer appears in one screen: signed contract attached to the photography task, deposit invoice paid, confirmation received through the vendor portal, timeline showing their arrival time. Generic project management requires checking three separate tools to gather that information, contract software for the agreement, email for the confirmation, payment system for the deposit status.
Vendor coordination without email chaos
Assign tasks to vendors and give them portal access to see only their responsibilities. The DJ logs in, sees their tasks ("Confirm equipment needs by 2/15" and "Submit final playlist by 3/1"), uploads their equipment list as a file attachment, and marks confirmation complete, all visible to the event planner without email back-and-forth. When the venue's timeline shifts, Plutio notifies affected vendors automatically based on task dependencies. The caterer whose setup time depends on venue access gets notified. The entertainment vendor whose load-in happens later doesn't get unnecessary notifications. Dependency-based alerts that would take 30 minutes to coordinate manually through email happen instantly.
Client visibility reduces status questions
Clients access their event portal and see timeline progress, vendor confirmations, and upcoming milestones without asking. The portal shows "Design finalized - awaiting your approval" with the mockup attached, or "Final guest count needed by 3/15" with a form to submit the number. Clients approve designs, confirm details, and track progress through the portal where their responses attach to the relevant project areas automatically. Event planners report spending 5-8 hours per week answering client status questions by phone and email. Portal visibility cuts that time by 60-70% because clients find answers themselves and only reach out for decisions that actually require discussion.
Budget tracking shows how much you're making
The original proposal shows projected costs: venue $5,000, catering $8,000, entertainment $2,500. As vendor invoices arrive and get paid, the project dashboard compares projected to actual costs by category. Catering comes in at $8,400 instead of $8,000, that $400 overage shows in the budget variance, calculates impact on how much you're making, and appears in the client's portal if the contract specified cost sharing for overages. Manual budget tracking requires updating spreadsheets as invoices arrive, calculating variances by hand, and copying information to client reports. Connected project management shows budget status in real time as costs occur.
Milestone payments happen automatically
Set payment milestones tied to project progress: deposit due at signing, second payment 60 days before event, final payment 14 days before event. As each milestone date approaches, Plutio generates the invoice, sends it through the client's portal, and tracks payment status. When the second payment clears, the project timeline updates to show "Payment 2 - Paid" and any tasks that were waiting for payment confirmation become active. Manual milestone tracking requires calendar reminders, manual invoice creation, payment confirmation through the payment processor, and updating project status separately, four steps that connected software handles as one automated workflow.
Templates for common event types
Build a wedding timeline once with standard tasks (venue contract, catering selection, invitation design, final guest count, day-of coordination), typical dependencies (invitations require final venue confirmation, catering requires guest count, day-of schedule requires all vendor confirmations), and milestone payments (deposit, 60-day, 14-day). Save that as a template. New wedding projects start with the complete structure already in place, just adjust dates, assign specific vendors, and customize for client preferences. Template workflows cut initial project setup from 2-3 hours of building structure to 15-20 minutes of customization.
White-label everything
Use your own domain for client portals. Upload your logo, set your brand colors and typography. Every client-facing touchpoint, proposals, contracts, invoices, project portal, vendor communications, shows your brand. For event planners, where brand perception directly affects client confidence about event execution quality, white-label capability isn't cosmetic. Clients who see professional, consistently branded communication trust that the actual event will match that level of attention to detail.
Unified inbox for all event communication
When a client approves a design through their portal, the message appears in your inbox. When a vendor uploads a file to their task, notification appears in the same inbox. When someone comments on a timeline task, that message arrives there too. Reply directly from the unified inbox without opening email, checking the portal separately, or switching contexts. All communication stays attached to the relevant project, task, or client for future reference, no more searching email for "that conversation about floral delivery timing" because the conversation lives with the floral task where it belongs.
Granular permissions for team and vendor access
Control exactly who sees what at the level that makes sense for event planning. Vendors see only their tasks and related files. Clients see project progress, milestones, and deliverables but not internal notes or vendor costs. Team members see everything for events they're assigned to. Financial data remains visible only to roles that need it. Permission controls that matter when coordinating 20+ external vendors and multiple clients, each needing different visibility into event details.
No-code automations
Create rules that trigger actions without your involvement. Common event planning automations include: when a client approves a milestone, notify all vendors whose tasks depend on that approval; when a payment clears, send confirmation to the client and update project status; when a deadline approaches without task completion, send reminder to the responsible vendor; when a vendor marks their confirmation complete, notify the client through their portal that another piece is confirmed. Automations that eliminate the routine coordination emails that consume 10-15 hours per week for event planners managing multiple concurrent events.
Native integrations for event planning workflows
Connect Stripe and PayPal for milestone payments. Sync Google Calendar or Outlook so event timelines appear in your calendar alongside other commitments. Use Zapier to connect 3,000+ other apps, send vendor confirmations to Slack, create calendar events when milestones approach, sync guest counts to catering spreadsheets. Integrations that let Plutio serve as the central hub while still working with specialized tools that specific workflows require.
Everything runs from one platform with your branding, your event structure, and your coordination workflows, replacing the 6-tool stack that most event planners assemble through separate subscriptions for task management, contracts, proposals, invoicing, client communication, and vendor coordination.
How to set up project management in Plutio
Setting up project management in Plutio takes 3-5 hours for initial configuration with template creation, then 10-20 minutes per new event after your standard workflows and vendor types are in place.
Step 1: Configure default settings (30 mins)
Set your business information, upload logo and brand colors, connect your payment processors (Stripe and PayPal for milestone payments), and sync your calendar (Google Calendar or Outlook for timeline visibility). Define your standard vendor categories (venue, catering, photography, entertainment, decor, rentals) so new projects can fast assign tasks to the right vendor types. Configure email notifications so clients and vendors get updates when relevant to them without overwhelming everyone with every project change.
Step 2: Create event templates (2-3 hours)
Build 3-5 templates covering your common event types. For event planners, recommended templates include:
- Wedding - Full Planning: Complete timeline from initial consult through 12-month planning cycle, including vendor selection phases, design development, guest management, and day-of coordination. Standard tasks like venue contracts 10-12 months out, invitation design 4 months out, final timeline 2 weeks out.
- Wedding - Month-Of Coordination: Abbreviated timeline starting 4-6 weeks before event date, focusing on vendor confirmation, timeline finalization, rehearsal coordination, and day-of management.
- Corporate Event: Timeline for conferences, holiday parties, or team building events with emphasis on attendee management, venue logistics, catering coordination, and AV requirements.
- Social Event: Birthday parties, anniversaries, retirement celebrations, smaller vendor count but still requires coordination of venue, catering, entertainment, and guest communication.
- Virtual Event: Platform selection, speaker coordination, technical rehearsals, attendee communication, and day-of tech support tasks.
Each template includes standard milestone payments (deposit at signing, typically 50%, second payment 60 days out, final payment 14 days before event), common dependencies (invitations require venue confirmation, catering requires final guest count, timeline requires all vendor confirmations), and typical vendor types with their standard tasks.
Step 3: Connect integrations (20 mins)
Link Stripe and PayPal for processing milestone payments. Connect your calendar so event timelines and vendor meetings appear alongside other commitments. If you use specialized tools, accounting software like QuickBooks, marketing platforms like Mailchimp for guest communication, spreadsheet tools for detailed budget tracking, connect them through Zapier to sync data automatically. Test each integration with a small transaction or data sync before relying on it for actual client events.
Step 4: Import existing events (1 hour)
For events already in progress, export client lists and vendor information from your current system (usually CSV files from spreadsheets or contact databases). Import into Plutio to establish your base of current events. Don't try to recreate every historical detail, focus on active events with upcoming milestones that need tracking. Historical reference can stay in the old system while new work happens in Plutio.
Step 5: Test with one complete event workflow
Run through the complete workflow with an actual upcoming event rather than a test scenario. Create project from template, customize timeline for specific client needs, assign real vendors with their actual contracts, send the first milestone invoice, and have the client approve a design element through their portal. Real-world testing reveals workflow gaps that artificial test scenarios miss, like discovering that your venue contracts need a specific clause that should be in the template, or that clients need clearer instructions about how to access their portal.
Common setup mistakes to avoid
- Over-customizing templates too early: Start with minimal viable templates covering the 80% case for each event type. Refine based on actual use as you discover which customizations matter and which details don't need template-level standardization.
- Ignoring mobile workflow: Download the mobile apps during setup and test key workflows from your phone. Event planners spend significant time on-site where mobile access to vendor contact information, timeline details, and client communication makes the difference between smooth coordination and searching for information.
- Skipping automation setup: Configure automatic reminders during initial setup, upcoming milestone notifications for clients, deadline reminders for vendors, task dependency notifications for your team. Automations that seem optional during setup become critical when managing 6-8 concurrent events and manual reminder tracking becomes impossible.
- Not defining vendor access levels: Determine what vendors should see (only their tasks? event timeline? client contact information?) before granting portal access. Changing permission levels mid-project confuses vendors and risks exposing information that should stay internal.
Build templates for the 80% cases that cover most of your events, standard wedding timeline, typical corporate event structure, common social celebration pattern. Edge cases and unique requests get handled through template customization, not by trying to build templates that cover every possibility.
Project management organization for event planners
Organizing project management creates clarity and enables efficient vendor coordination, timeline tracking, and budget management across multiple simultaneous events.
Project organization for event planners
- By event type: Corporate events, weddings, social gatherings, fundraisers, conferences. Each type has common patterns - typical timeline, vendor categories, coordination requirements. Templates per type reduce setup time for new events.
- By timeline stage: Planning (initial consultation through vendor selection), Coordination (vendor management and timeline execution), Final Week (detail confirmation and day-of preparation), Execution (event day and immediate follow-up), Closeout (final invoicing and post-event wrap-up). Stage-based organization shows where each event sits in your pipeline.
- By client: Group all events for one client - annual corporate events, repeat social gatherings. Client-based view shows relationship history and makes it easy to reference prior events when planning new ones.
Task workflow stages
- To Do: Tasks assigned but not started. Vendor outreach needed, contract awaiting client review, timeline draft pending.
- In Progress: Active work. Coordinating with venue, negotiating catering contract, revising timeline based on client feedback.
- Waiting: Blocked by external dependency. Waiting for vendor quote, pending client approval, awaiting signed contract return.
- Complete: Task finished. Venue confirmed and deposit paid, contract signed by all parties, final timeline approved by client.
Information to track per event
- Event date, time, location with complete venue details
- Guest count (initial estimate and final confirmed)
- Budget - total event budget, coordination fee, vendor costs, actual spending
- Vendors - contact info, contract status, payment schedule, deliverables, deadlines
- Timeline - from initial booking through post-event follow-up with task dependencies
- Client communication history with decision documentation
- Files - signed contracts, vendor agreements, floor plans, final timeline
- Hours logged - actual time spent on planning, coordination, execution
- Scope changes - what changed, when approved, cost impact
Proven methods
- Use consistent naming conventions: "[Event Type] - [Client Name] - [Event Date]" makes events easy to find and sort chronologically.
- Tag tasks by vendor category (venue, catering, florals, photography, entertainment) to see all catering coordination across all events, or all photography tasks this month.
- Set task dependencies so venue confirmation must complete before catering contracts, and final guest count must be confirmed before seating chart creation. Dependencies prevent work from starting prematurely.
- Log hours as tasks complete rather than reconstructing time later. Coordination call ends, log 45 minutes immediately. Timeline revision finishes, log 30 minutes. Real-time logging captures actual work without memory-based estimation.
- Attach files to relevant tasks - catering contract attaches to catering coordination task, signed venue agreement attaches to venue confirmation task. File organization follows project structure automatically.
Organized project management shows how much you're making. Structure serves one purpose: showing which events make money, which vendors are efficient, and which services consistently run over budget - data that improves pricing for future events.
Client portals for event planners: project management connection
Client portals connect project management data to client-facing access, creating smooth communication and reducing status update requests.
Portal as event command center
Clients access their complete event through branded portals. Timeline with confirmed vendor deliverables and upcoming milestones, signed contracts, payment status, and communication history in one place. Project management data powers what clients see - when you mark venue as confirmed in your project board, that status appears in the client portal automatically. No manual updates, no duplicate data entry, no client emails asking for status.
Consistent experience
Portal presentation reflects the organized timeline in project management. Professional, consistent client experience across all interactions. Clients don't see your internal task board with notes about vendor negotiations or profit margins. They see their event timeline with appropriate detail - which vendors are confirmed, which contracts are pending signature, which payments are due, which milestones are approaching.
Self-service access
Clients find their own signed contracts, view payment history, check timeline status, and see upcoming deadlines. Project management organization enables client self-service without administrative burden. Instead of emailing to ask if the florist contract is signed or when final payment is due, clients check the portal themselves. Self-service doesn't eliminate your value - it eliminates repetitive status questions and frees your time for actual planning work.
Two-way visibility
Portal interactions feed back into project management. Client approves revised timeline through portal, that approval updates project status and triggers next task in sequence. Client uploads guest list, that file attaches to the relevant project task. Complete picture from both perspectives - you see client actions in your project board, clients see progress in their portal.
Event continuity
Portals maintain client relationships across multiple events. Returning clients find their history - prior events, saved preferences, trusted vendor list. Connection maintained between events rather than starting fresh each time. When planning a client's second annual gala, reference the prior event timeline, vendor list, and execution notes without searching through email or separate files.
Portals make project management client-facing. Internal organization translates to external experience - clients see their event progress, payment status, and timeline without needing status update emails from you.
How to migrate project management to Plutio
Migration from another project management software typically takes 3-5 hours of active work spread over a weekend, with the best time to switch being between events rather than mid-coordination.
Step 1: Export from your current tool
Most management software provides CSV export. Here's what to export from common tools:
- Asana: Navigate to project → Export → CSV. Exports tasks, assignees, due dates, and descriptions. Doesn't export time entries or file attachments.
- Monday.com: Board menu → Export board data → Excel. Exports items, status, dates, and people. Custom field data exports but may require reformatting.
- Trello: Board menu → More → Print and Export → Export as JSON. JSON export includes cards, lists, due dates, and attachments. Convert JSON to CSV for import.
Focus on active events only - in-progress and upcoming events matter more than complete historical archive. Export vendor contact lists separately if your tool manages contacts.
Step 2: Build templates in Plutio (2-3 hours)
Use your exported content as reference to create new project templates. Focus on forward-looking workflows, not historical archives. Build templates for your 3-5 most common event types with typical task sequences, vendor categories, timeline stages, and file organization structure. Templates reduce setup work on every future event - investment pays back fast.
Step 3: Set up integrations (30 mins)
Connect payment processing - Stripe and/or PayPal - for invoice payments and client deposits. Link your calendar - Google Calendar or Outlook - so event deadlines and vendor meetings sync automatically. Connect accounting software if you use QuickBooks or Xero. Test each integration before relying on it - create test invoice, process test payment, verify calendar sync with test event.
Step 4: Import data (30 mins)
Upload your CSV to Plutio. Map fields appropriately - task name, description, due date, assignee, status, project association. Review imported data for formatting issues - dates sometimes import incorrectly, custom fields may need manual adjustment. Add your vendor contact list. Import focuses on active work that needs ongoing management.
Step 5: Run parallel for new events
Use Plutio for all new events while keeping the old system active for coordination already in progress. Starting a new corporate event next week? Set it up in Plutio from the beginning. Currently coordinating a wedding happening in three weeks? Finish that coordination in your existing tool. Parallel operation eliminates mid-event system switching and builds comfort with Plutio before full migration.
Step 6: Phase out the old tool
Once all active coordination on your old system completes - typically 30-60 days depending on event pipeline - cancel that subscription. Archive old projects for reference if needed, but forward-looking work happens entirely in Plutio. Full migration complete when new events start in Plutio and old events finish naturally.
Common migration pitfalls to avoid
- Trying to migrate everything: Complete event archives from 2019 don't need migration. Focus on active vendor contacts, in-progress events, and upcoming coordination. Historical reference stays in old system for occasional lookup.
- Switching mid-event: Don't migrate an event that's already in final week coordination. Finish in-progress events on the old system, start new events in Plutio. Mid-event switching creates confusion about where information lives and increases error risk.
- Not testing integrations: Verify payment processing works before sending your first client invoice. Test calendar sync before relying on deadline reminders. Confirm accounting integration before month-end reconciliation. Test with non-critical items first.
- Skipping template creation: Templates are the biggest time-saver. Spending 2 hours building good templates saves 30 minutes per event. With 20 events per year, that's 10 hours saved from 2 hours invested.
The investment in migration pays back through reduced admin work on every future event - vendor coordination in one system instead of three, hours logged automatically instead of reconstructed later, invoices generated from tracked time instead of manually calculated.
