The essentials of a successful business include bringing new products to the marketplace on time and within budget. It is important for the company to focus on its core business and not allow itself to be diverted into areas that will have an impact on its financial and production resources. The management of projects is to ensure that every aspect of the project plan is recognised and correctly costed in terms of time and finance and any risk to the project is clearly identified. Estimating the time to complete activities within the design office can be either straightforward or very difficult and is totally dependent upon the nature of the project. The role of the design manager becomes important to try and maintain the balance of activities within the office without compromising any of the projects. There are a number of project manager software programs available that can operate on a number of programs at the same time.