Likelihood to Recommend Forecast is well suited for tracking schedules, especially if it is only being controlled by a single department. When it comes to using Forecast in a larger ecosystem with more "cooks in the kitchen" it would be helpful to have the software more easily integrated with other software.
Read full review Microsoft Project Server I believe is best for any organization from small to large. As I mentioned, it is a little pricey so I would do research into alternative software and depending on your needs maybe look at all options, competing software. This is a tool with a learning curve and some may not be able to easily navigate this software. There isn't really great training, resources available for this tool however there are some free YouTube tutorial videos. This is great for cross company, department project management, sharing, managing of projects and timelines.
Read full review Pros Assign and allocate resources. Identify lean departments and identify areas to increase headcount. Manage agile teams. Identify bottlenecks in departments or resourcing. Read full review Project planning: tasks assignments, resources allocation, progress and cost tracking. The Server version is the natural extension of the Microsoft Project standalone. Provides one place to manage all projects, accessible by everyone in the team. This opens the plan updates to team members as well(on their tasks), as opposed to being done only by the project manager. Reporting and visualization - resources utilization, timeline etc The integration with the Microsoft Project standalone: if you don't like the web version, you can download the latest and work locally. When done just sync it back to the server. Read full review Cons Not as intuitive as its companion software, Harvest. This software takes longer to learn when on-boarding new staff. It is also difficult to view time notes without needing to physically open them up. This could be improved by expanding the "on hover" functionality. Personally, having spent as little time in workflow software is really important, as it gives me more time to code. Because we use this software to plan schedules, items often fall through the cracks. I would like to see some more sophisticated syncing with not only Harvest but also with Asana. Lack of integration with Asana. It would be nice to pull data from forecast and display it in Asana. This would be helpful for understanding how much time I have to spend on a project rather than bounce back and forth between web apps. Read full review Resource loading and leveling extremely complicated within the tool Software makes incorrect assumptions and changes without user knowledge Inconsistencies within the tool make it hard to predict & troubleshoot Read full review Usability We don't have to worry about maintenance, upgrades, or compatibility issues. All the capabilities we need are there, and are easily customizable.
Read full review Support Rating I have not needed support for Forecast.
Read full review Implementation Rating Per Microsoft, Project Online provides more value long-term by reducing infrastructure cost and increase feature release cycle time
Read full review Alternatives Considered I have not used any other scheduling software other than Forecast. The company selected Forecast because it is used in conjunction with Harvest. The pair of web apps can be used to pull detailed data. This is very important to our agency, and making data-driven decisions is exceptionally important to our agency mission.
Read full review One of the key advantages of Microsoft Project Server (MSPS) is its ecosystem. It gels very well with SharePoint, Office, Office 365. The support from Microsoft is also a key driver and they are very experienced and many ways to resolve issues. Also, Microsoft has bridged the gap of cloud offering from other competitors by providing Project Online. It is an offering through Office 365 which is very lean and low maintenance.
Read full review Return on Investment Allow departments to run efficiently. Quickly identify whether departments need to hire. Easily visualize project gaps in resources. Read full review We've been able to reduce the number of staff in our PMO by utilising the Project Server data in Power BI, reducing the need for manual reporting. Being able to forecast utilization in the product allows us to accurately estimate resource needs to ensure optimum staff levels. David Lean Project Management Officer and Resource Manager
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