Choosing a version of Microsoft Project Manager
Note that previous version of MS Project can be upgraded and you don't need
to buy a whole new copy.
The basic versions are the standard and the professional, the latter of which
allows you to work off a common project database with your colleagues, allowing
for sharing files.
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With Microsoft Project Server and Microsoft Project Web Access, another layer of
capabilities is introduced. Using Project Server, project managers can issue
tasks to project members and receive automatic updates from them as the tasks
are completed. This can greatly reduce the burden of maintaining an up-to-date
project plan. Schedules and charts can be published as web pages to be viewed by
members of the team or other stakeholders. Crucially, the other team members or
stakeholders don’t need to have Microsoft Project installed to view the
schedules. Any old web browser will suffice. A license for Microsoft Project Web
Access must have been purchased for anyone who wants to view the Project data
via the web UI, however. Microsoft Project Server also contains an elaborate
permission system so that you can grant users partial rather total viewing
rights access to the project data. Users access and manipulate data through
either a desktop UI (provided by an installation of Microsoft Project standard
edition) or through the web-based interface of Microsoft Project Web Access.
In a fully enterprise-enabled Project Server setup, managers will be able to
view resources available to for all projects across the company. The resources
can be moved into teams and allocated tasks in specific projects. Some
decision-support facilities are also available, allowing project managers to run
hypothetical resource allocation scenarios and observe their anticipated effects
on the project completion schedules.
Status reports are another key feature only available in Microsoft Project
Server. Project Managers can design the format of status reports they want to
receive. For example, it may just be a few text boxes with space where team
members can describe the progress of their current task and any problems they
might be experiencing. These status reports can be requested from the within
Project Server and, on receipt, they can be made viewable by others or
incorporated into a general project status report.
Another jump in functionality comes through integrating Microsoft Project Server
with Microsoft’s Sharepoint Services. This allows the project manager to include
issues, documents and risks as part of the project data and make them viewable
by others. Unfortunately, the others will need to have Microsoft Project
Professional installed in order to see them. Integration with Sharepoint also
permits the Project Manager to administer Project Server from Sharepoint rather
than the web-based UI which is standard. It also enables Project to interoperate
with Outlook so that users can see their task schedules displayed in Outlook’s
calendar features.
Despite its often hefty price tags, Microsoft Project continues to dominate the
market for project management software. You don’t want to pay for more features
than you need, though, so choosing the right version is more essential than
ever.
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