Microsoft Project Server vs. Runn

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.

Incentivized

Runn is our scheduling tool. We use it to track the dozens of projects that we have running and who is assigned to them. It allows us to create schedules for each employee and contractor (consultants) so we can effectively stay within the hours we allocate to each project and stay within the project budget.

Incentivized

• 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.

Incentivized

• Runn allows us to track projects over a period of time to see who worked on it and how many hours were spent, to keep us on track.
• Runn allows us to create schedules for our team of consultants. By viewing a person, we can see each project assigned and the weekly hours allocated.
• Runn allows us to run reports to see if we need to bill for hours that go over the weekly allocation.

Incentivized

• 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

Incentivized

• Runn meets our needs so I don't have any input here.

Incentivized

We don't have to worry about maintenance, upgrades, or compatibility issues. All the capabilities we need are there, and are easily customizable.

Per Microsoft, Project Online provides more value long-term by reducing infrastructure cost and increase feature release cycle time

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.

Incentivized

We used Hubstaff before moving to Runn. The decision to leave Hubstaff was purely a financial one, as we were looking to cut expenses during the early phase of the pandemic. Both products are good, and Hubstaff worked well for our organization, but it was decided to move to Runn to save on organizational expenses without losing needed functionality.

Incentivized

• 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.

Incentivized

• Runn has been a positive impact on our expenses because we use a free (or low-cost) version in our tech stack.

Incentivized