Microsoft Project is a project management software. It provides core PM functionality, including agile workflow support and resource management. Project can be deployed in the cloud or on-premise.
$10
per user/per month
Scoro
Score 9.0 out of 10
Small Businesses (1-50 employees)
Scoro is a comprehensive work management solution for creative and professional services. It helps to streamline work and eliminate routine tasks to ensure a business runs as smoothly and efficiently as possible – from sales right through to billing. Scoro’s project management tools allow users to create project budgets, allocate non-billable and billable work, manage meetings, tasks, invoices, expenses, files, and more. All project information can be managed in a single…
Microsoft Project (online version) gives you the chance to do native collaboration using other Microsoft Tools and gather around with all the resources available in your company to set up communications standards, commitments and quality assurance guidelines, and most of all to …
Microsoft Project is the perfect platform for medium and large companies. I do not recommend this software for small businesses, because all its functions in the work plans are high cost and this would cause the small business to not perform well in the use of MS Project in the long term. It is very easy to use software, it allows adding, modifying and eliminating all kinds of assignments and tasks for all employees, it allows monitoring the progress of all projects in real time and it also shows the gaps in the planned project. It has a very good performance, it does not take up many computer resources and all the information is stored in sync with the Office 365 service. It occasionally has crashing problems, but this is something that does not affect users as much.
Scoro would be ideal for a larger business who is truly interested in developing a stronger and more efficient workflow. I honestly would have recommended it had it not been for the cost, the hidden fees, and the fact that I'd have to upgrade to an even more expensive plan if I wanted to get the most of the program for our level. We only needed one item, so would have ended up paying much more to not use a great deal of additional features. So, if you want to increase your workflow and have the funds, use them - absolutely. You will not regret it. But I cannot recommend it to someone who is on a tight budget
It is part of Office365 subscription. The look and feel is similar to other tools like excel. Helps in creating project plans, Gantt charts, work break down structures etc.
Helps in resource allocation and tracking the projects. There is an option to use it to capture timesheets too.
Helps project managers in producing weekly status reports and integrates well with other collaboration tools like Skype, sharepoint etc.
Cost. I ended up not recommending this product simply because of the cost alone. There are hidden costs you will not know about until it is too late. Their pricing model is geared for bigger businesses, and can cripple smaller ones. The pricing is by user. If you get the most basic of plans (with a 900 onboarding charge), you will realize that all the things you actually need to make the program effective are on the next tier up...
Quickbooks. At the time I was exploring this, Quickbooks was not very well integrated. If you wanted to include billing (which they do show promise for), then you will have issues here.
Microsoft Project was for many years the reference tool when you were talking about project management software, even if it has some gaps. However, in the last several years, other tools emerged and covered those gaps and are getting more and more users. Microsoft needs to keep up with the trends as they did with adding Project Server. However, that needs a significant rework.
I’m giving MS Project an 8 because in general this is a solid scheduling program. It’s definitely designed with the professional in mind, and they have done well preparing the program to integrate with their other Microsoft products. The program is a workhorse so if you have serious scheduling needs then I would highly recommend MS Project.
While many of the above tools are extremely well-versed, Microsoft Project's largest advantage comes from it being related to the largest business productivity company in the world. Project does have its sharing limitations - but regardless, offers one of the most robust tools in the market today. Microsoft Project is built with large-scale projects in mind but is more than up to the task for smaller projects as well. However, there are options available (especially cloud-based options) that may be more fitting for higher-level projects that do not require going into the weeds.
Project saved me, as the project manager, countless hours of digging through tickets and schedules to plan everything out. It also saved me time in adjusting the project triangle as needed, since it does so much automatically.
It is costly, and since it requires extensive training to master, it's not just the high licensing cost that you need to take into account.
The reporting features - even just printing out Gantt charts - makes it far easier to communicate with stakeholders. That means less time for PMs doing all of this manually, and it means less follow-up questions and delays moving forward.
Scoro could have had a wonderful impact on the workflow of the business. It allows for integrations most programs don't, including accounting and time tracking, and could have easily eliminated the need for an FTE through the streamlining of tasks alone.
If we had implemented this program, we would have saved time, but all of the gains would have gone to pay for Scoro. It would not have balanced out, especially if they ever were to raise their rates.