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Microsoft Project

Microsoft Project

Overview

What is Microsoft Project?

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.

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Recent Reviews
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Awards

Products that are considered exceptional by their customers based on a variety of criteria win TrustRadius awards. Learn more about the types of TrustRadius awards to make the best purchase decision. More about TrustRadius Awards

Popular Features

View all 18 features
  • Gantt Charts (103)
    10.0
    100%
  • Scheduling (105)
    9.9
    99%
  • Task Management (106)
    9.0
    90%
  • Resource Management (103)
    6.9
    69%

Reviewer Pros & Cons

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Pricing

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Project Plan 1

$10

On Premise
per user/per month

Project Plan 3

$30

On Premise
per user/per month

Project Plan 5

$55

On Premise
per user/per month

Entry-level set up fee?

  • No setup fee

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services
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Product Demos

Microsoft Project 2021 Overview And Features Walkthrough

YouTube
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Features

Project Management

Project management software provides capabilities to streamline management of complex projects through task management, team collaboration and workflow automation

8
Avg 7.5

Professional Services Automation

Features that support professional services organizations

7
Avg 7.4
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Product Details

What is Microsoft Project?

Microsoft Project is a project management software. It provides core project management and planning functionality, including agile workflow tools like Gantt charts. The software provides prebuilt workflow and report templates for rapid deployment. Project also enables resource management and planning and integrates with BI tools and other 3rd party programs. It can be deployed in the cloud or on-premise.

Microsoft Project Competitors

Microsoft Project Technical Details

Deployment TypesOn-premise
Operating SystemsWindows
Mobile ApplicationNo

Frequently Asked Questions

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.

Earliz and Cerri Work are common alternatives for Microsoft Project.

Reviewers rate Gantt Charts highest, with a score of 10.

The most common users of Microsoft Project are from Enterprises (1,001+ employees).
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Comparisons

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Reviews and Ratings

(692)

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-25 of 49)
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Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Use : Project Monitoring, Scheduling, reporting
Business Problem: To record project progress quantitatively and time consumption by getting data from third party contractors Online
Product : Project Online bundled with Share point helps to record progress collaboratively online. With Custom Fields and Custom JS code approval flow, Quantity Schedule Format was designed.
Use Case: Turnkey Construction Projects around 700 Km radially geographically distributed needed to be tracked. Project Progress by Time Schedule and Quantity Schedule executed by third party is to be reported.
  • Scheduling of Tasks on time basis or on custom criteria
  • Collaborative Task Assignment and getting Progress Inputs Online
  • Road Maps, Numerous Reports help assess the projects
  • Readily available apps from Share point Store MS Office store are useful for extending the functionality of the product eg Custom Dashboards
  • Calculating Project Progress based on Custom Fields( which are used to measure Task Progress on Special Performance Criteria )
  • Simplifying CSOM and JSOM customization
  • Not limiting Support to Only Out of The Box features
Microsoft Project Online is suited to Turnkey Projects where more Collaboration is required in Project Progress monitoring, risk assessment and conveying, issue recording and tracking. It is less appropriate when ERP Suites other than MS Dynamics are used, i.e when Enterprises need to integrate Finance / Accounting with It and having straight project management workflow
Madison Sophia Bennett | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Microsoft Project is the tool that most helps in the planning of a large number of projects; the delivery time of projects and tasks is essential for success in all departments and this tool allows us to know specifically in which task we are doing a good job and in which we have different problems or delays. I can also say that Microsoft Project is very easy to execute and control according to our specifications and requirements. We have success in our hands and this is thanks to the good performance of Microsoft Project.
  • The ability to diagram specific aspects of each project or task
  • The ease of execution
  • Ability to make modifications (assignments, dates, schedules, diagrams, monitoring)
  • Has some limitations related to performance in areas of visual analysis
  • The configuration is not the simplest--the use is perfect, but after configuring it
All projects and tasks require effective planning. It is necessary to use tools that can execute impeccable planning. Microsoft Project has shown that it is a tool capable of handling large projects that require large planning. A great example of efficiency is the virtue of make changes to projects and tasks at any time. Microsoft Project is very easy to execute after going through a complex configuration--that is the only annoyance of this tool. I want to recommend it to expand the planning of projects that always require robust tools.
Fernanda Ministerio | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
ResellerIncentivized
Many areas of my company use Microsoft Project for project management. In my management, we use it to manage all new projects but also to test new products that will be distributed to other units of the company.
In the management of new projects, we monitor the entire schedule, phases and stages, as well as the budgetary and financial schedule. In testing new products, we try to maintain predictability by avoiding excessive cost overruns and correcting any problems.
  • Microsoft Project has features that can be customized, as well as its APIs are well documented and allow integration with other tools.
  • Can be customized for agile project management.
  • Its documentation is well done and as it has many users, doubts and problems are easily resolved within the community itself. However, Microsoft's technical support is efficient.
  • it is an old tool that has already improved a lot in its use; however, it needs to be better developed to follow agile projects.
  • Advanced features require training.
  • Reports are not enough.
Microsoft Project has been used extensively around the world for many years. It is the most common and well-known software for project management. It has a lot of features, a lot of documentation, a lot of free internet training. There are many users who like to exchange information and experiences.
It has features for managing any type of project, from academic research to projects of large companies.
It can be used in any type of projects, but needs improvement for adoption in environments that adopt agile project management.
Suvit Ahuja | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
It is used for Project lifecycle management across organizations to track the projects and also to manage the dependencies across the teams. It also helps in identifying the delays and also helps in tracking milestones.
  • project management
  • Dependency tracking
  • resource management
  • task management
  • reporting
  • scheduling concerns
  • UI could be improved
  • Resource utilizations charts
  • scope management
Dependency tracking of one task on another is very well captured and tracked in this software.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
It is being used by both the department level, and also across the whole organization. It is not mandatory to use the MS Project for Project software needs, but it is the main one that is widely used since it is part of Office 365. It addresses the business problem of having a really good, industry-standard, project software solution, that also pretty much does everything you may need in project software package
  • One thing it has is good integration with other Microsoft Office products and tools. More than likely most environments will already be using MS products such as Word, Excel, and Powerpoint, so it makes it easier to integrate documents, files, etc. with Project.
  • It also offers many good tools for communications, which makes it beneficial for those that are using communication tools such as Outlook and Skype.
  • Could be too advanced for those that are new to Project Management software, or those that are just starting out in Project Management. Since MS Project has many tools/features built into the program this can be overwhelming to new users in how to do certain things, or where to find the tool for doing something
  • There is a cost to this software, and if buying standalone licenses it can be expensive. It usually doesn't come bundled with the standard Office 365 suite. This is technically considered an add-on, and if you are on a subscription for the software, it can be cheaper.
It is well suited for environments that are already using other Microsoft based programs, as it integrates well with these different programs. Most environments are going to be using main document editing and spreadsheet software such as Word and Excel, so it would help to integrate files, etc. from those programs into MS Project. It is less suited for environments that want Project Management software that is really easy to use and doesn't really require a lot of formal training
Sasha Brito | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Microsoft Project is the right software for all companies that want to maintain a general control of the projects they handle in the various areas of the company. For us, this software has become very essential, because it has helped us to maintain an order in the planning and in the fulfillment of the tasks to be able to complete a specific project. In our Marketing work sector, it has become a very important software, since I have been able to plan projects, assign tasks for each employee in order to complement the project, review each of the tasks that my employees completed and I can also have a broad visualization of progress, performance and where my project is going. Microsoft Project is present in all areas of my company, it is the main project planning software of our entire company, and it has had a really remarkable success since it arrived in the area of ​​marketing. With this software I have been able to track the activities that my employees are carrying out, I can know which employee is behind schedule with the fulfillment of the tasks and it also allows me to see Gantt-type charts, which helps me to know much more exactly the trend of growth or decline of my project.
  • I love the Gantt Chart that Microsoft Project offers me, because it provides me with a view from various aspects, it provides me with exact details about the fulfillment of tasks over a period of time, it also allows me to make comparisons with the necessary data and the fulfilled data. by the employees, in order to know exactly if the project's expectations have been met.
  • I love the Gantt Chart that Microsoft Project offers me, because it provides me with a view from various aspects, it provides me with exact details about the fulfillment of tasks over a period of time, it also allows me to make comparisons with the necessary data and the fulfilled data by the employees, in order to know exactly if the project's expectations have been met.
  • The alert system for the fulfillment and delay of assignments is perfect. Microsoft Project allows me to configure the task system, I can assign the necessary tasks to fulfill the project, and the software alerts me immediately if the managers are fulfilling the assignments.
  • The main drawback encountered while using Microsoft Project is that it does not allow me to modify the template or the general user design. For me, the UI that this software has is quite simple, and I would like to apply different templates or modify the layout of my MS Project workspace, currently it is not possible.
  • Sometimes the software crashes suddenly, throwing an error code, and the software closes immediately. This has happened to me when I am going through the detailed reports on my gantt chart, it is not something that affects me that much, but I think they should fix it.
  • I have not had any other problems with Microsoft Project, it has been an exemplary software that has helped me to maintain a very good project planning in general.
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.
Javier Silva | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Microsoft Project is used across the organization in different areas to support high complexity projects that require a large number of steps and detailed control about resource utilization and multi-level project complexity. Due to the time commitment on using it it is not widely used for short term projects that are basically managed on different tools.
  • DETAILED PLANNING ON LARGE SCALE/COMPLEX PROJECTS. Task interactions dependencies.
  • Very detailed resource management. You're able to track across the projects the utilization of all of your resources.
  • Powerful cost management. You can track costs for your resources, for your individual tasks, and quickly update any additional cost requirements for the projects, map those costs against your budget and get a detailed report of your burn rate to mitigate possible budget risks.
  • Complexity. With great power and flexibility comes a high level of complexity that makes some of the more advanced features very difficult to use on a day-to-day basis. i.e. being able to get several calendars integrated into a project for different kinds of resources is great but it takes a long time to get a handle on that and make it work for you.
  • Unless you have an MS Project Server setup and all of the team members licensed with an MS Project Account working on a project are limited to those PMs and collaborators with a full license even for minor updates.
  • The tools to present projects to other team members and present updates have not been updated to reflect the needs of the current PM, every view and presentation has to be manually cured to be presentable to the board and that is a very time consuming process.
  • Changing status, colors or updating items automatically based on dates or other tasks is out of the question unless you really have a full set of VBA knowledge and the time to make it happen.
If you have a large project with a large number of stakeholders, many resources, and the need to keep detailed costs controls for the enterprise then this is the tool for you, not only you're able to define a very large number of fields to help you manage your project but the default fields on the application are certainly going to help you move forward with tracking control of resources, costs and burn rates on your projects.

If on the other hand, you have less than 50 tasks and two or three stakeholder or members on your team then the MS Project is definitely overkill because it demands the full attention of the PM for extended periods of time to make sure that the information is relevant.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
It was used on a client project to manage the complex tasks and their interdependencies, and have a concurrent view on the entire project from start to finish. The main features that were used included scheduling, assigning resources (financial and human capital) to tasks, monitoring progress, tracking the budget, and redistributing workloads.
  • Scheduling the tasks
  • Defining the interdependicies
  • Analyzing the critical path
  • Live seamless collaboration across team members
  • Templates to suit a variety of use cases
  • More visual analytics
It is well suited in an environment where there are many tasks requiring dedicated focus for execution in the pursuit of completing the project. The definition and visualization of [interdependencies] is well integrated within the project view. I've found it very useful in finding [...] the critical path for project execution and crashing it to compress the overall timelines.
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
MS Project is used by most of our project managers, in order to organize and keep track of our business [and] strategic projects, regardless of which department they belong to.
After an experience with MS Project server that wasn't very successful, "traditional" MS Project helped PMs to manage plannings and shared resources.
  • Gantt chart and tasks planning
  • Tasks dependencies and delay impacts
  • Shared resources management
  • Project timeline visualisation
  • Hidden costs can rise very quickly (licencing, training...)
  • Not available inline and not included in Office 365
  • Old fashioned and not intuitive to use
MS Project suits well for Project managers that either have experience on the software or time/access to training. But it can be challenging for beginners or for non-advanced Excel users
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use in some areas like Software Development and the Audit Area to make flowcharts and process to certify the company all the People have access to this tool to review.
  • Assigning task to the team
  • Manage multiple projects one view
  • Allow to manage TEAMS and assign projects and task
  • Online version a little different in some cases
[Appropriate] to manage [projects] and teams but not for Calendar or meeting better [to] use TEAMS or Outlook.
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Our department has previously used Microsoft Project to monitor our routine security audits as well as planning the opening of new sites. From our experience we found MS Project best suited for large scale and complex projects rather than spreadsheet style task management tools. Opening a new building is a great type of project for MS Project structure to manage.
  • Big picture view.
  • Gantt timeline view.
  • Collaboration with MS Teams.
  • Integrating with non-MS collaboration tools.
  • It get more functionality it can become expensive.
  • More visualization tools to analyze trends.
Microsoft Project is a good service for large scale and complex projects such as the opening of a large office building for example. It allows for easy collaboration across other Microsoft Teams and other Office products. It also works well for integrating data from MySQL and Excel sources and storing or sharing documents on Azure Cloud server.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Microsoft Project is a tool primarily used by product management and secondary users include marketing and pro services teams. The tool is intended to enhance project time and collaboration between cross-functional teams. The Gantt chart is used heavily to determine a projects’ critical path and key milestones associated with that path in order to keep a project on time and in the case of pro services especially, on schedule for cost forecasts.
  • Microsoft Product integrations, including sharing and reminder notifications.
  • Interactive Gantt chart.
  • More efficient, reliable project and DevOps integration.
  • Training resources for new users.
Microsoft Project is well suited for product, marketing, pro services, and engineering teams for mapping out project milestones in order to keep a project on time, on budget, and on schedule. Additionally, key stakeholders can have view rights in order to stay tuned on progress which may dictate their strategy. Sales teams are ideal review candidates along with an individual contributors’ manager. This tool is ideal for team meetings to report on overall progress and individual tasks. It encourages contributors to continue updating their respective sections.
January 28, 2020

Project works for us!

Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Microsoft Project to track and manage projects across a small team with a lot of requests. My department currently uses this for planning and working with requests and prioritizing based on needs across the organization.
  • Graphs
  • Timelines
  • Crashes ocassionally
  • Some graphs get too busy
Microsoft Project is good for timelines and for taking base data and creating different kinds of graphs. It can be too much for small projects that don’t have to be picked apart on every level or stage.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Microsoft Project is typically only used by those who are project managers. It is not as intuitive as some other tools out there, but once you get used to using it I think it is a very helpful tool. Across the organization we have a number of different PMO’s and I’m not sure they all use Project. Some use Excel, Confluence, Trello, Jira, etc. We use Project to track all of the tasks that need to occur by who, what sequence they need to occur in, progress, complete, and timelines.
  • Timelines.
  • Calculations.
  • Easier to learn all of the capabilities it can do.
  • % compete does not shade in Gantt unless you manually add that line style.
Great for tracking overall tasks, timeline, dependencies, etc. Using predecessors makes adjustments easy! Not always a good tool for agile projects, it can be used but % complete is rarely correct.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Microsoft Project is widely used in the organization for managing and monitoring different projects. There are multiple departments who use this software, and as it is easy to use and understand for the general audience, its use has been growing. This is used for medium to long term planning of complex projects where more resource and cost allocation is required.
  • Microsoft Project has an easy user interface and easy to edit documents.
  • It provides good visuals to prepare Gantt charts and define critical paths.
  • More complex assignments are not much flexible.
  • It's not a very EPC friendly software.
Microsoft Project does a fairly good job for project planning of corporate projects where resource allocation and cost estimation is easy to perform. It is especially useful for six sigma/process improvement projects where short term planning and analysis are easy to perform. It's also suited for some complex projects like construction of refineries or power plants.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Microsoft Project is quite popular in my organization for defining the timeline and deliverables. This tool is really useful to manage the projects that involve cross functions and systems. It also enable us to track the status of the project and risks around the activities. It is used mostly by the department for various projects which has a huge engagement of resources and needs a detailed layout of projects. It usually helps us to understand resource allocation and defining the planning schedule. It also helps us to understand the risks associated with the project.
  • Resource allocation.
  • Project tracking.
  • Expensive license - Online it is available as free with Microsoft Office but the offline license for desktop use is too expensive.
  • The online version of Microsoft Project does not have Gantt charts and project tasks like the offline version does.
  • Resource allocation - Assign resources for project tasks and allocate the percentage of their involvement.
  • Track the project status - Enable people to track the progress of the tasks and risks associated with activities.
  • Visualization - Provide the flexibility to visualize the status of the project and risks associated with dashboards and help to present data in a useful manner to executives.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Microsoft Project is being used at Duquesne Light to manage project resources and timelines across the entire enterprise. Project allows us to visualize and map out the critical path of our projects, identify over-allocation of resources, and adjust or project timelines as needed. It is a good tool and integrates well with the rest of the Microsoft Office suite.
  • Lots of templates.
  • Can be used offline since it's a desktop application.
  • It's an expensive license.
  • Doesn't work well if you open a newer file with an older version of Project.
Project is useful for medium and larger organizations where you can negotiate a better price for the licenses. It is also well suited for any computer-savvy users. It's user-friendly enough for project managers of any ability to use for their projects. It's incredibly helpful when you're doing complex projects that require integrated work plans where small projects feed into a larger one.
October 01, 2019

Best bang for your buck

Jonathan Ayers | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I use Microsoft Project to plan and execute IT projects at the customer facility I work at. This keeps track of in-house projects that are done at the facility level and do not require higher-level planning. This allows me to keep track of everything associated with these projects and serves to meet customer needs.
  • Plan project tasks.
  • Execute project tasks.
  • Provides management tracking of project completion.
  • The clunky interface is occasionally hard to use.
  • Help articles are not always clear and concise.
  • Feature integration is lacking.
Overall, it is the best project management tool I have seen for the money (represents the best value). It comes with Office 2016/Office 365 so it allows me to plan and execute projects without having to purchase additional project management software. Additionally, it allows for management oversight of project and task completion.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Along with Microsoft Excel, Project is being used for project management across the entire organization to track projects, work streams within projects, start and end dates, assigned tasks to users, milestones, progress and changes to scope. It has been used for a number of years and some of us had practice with it from prior consulting days.
  • Visually shows gantt charts of progress in project workstreams
  • Shows the elapsed time for tasks to be completed
  • Visually identifies the team members assigned to their work streams and if they are behind or on target
  • Seems overly complicated for users sometimes in using Project and its functionalities
  • Hard to share files for those folks who do not have MS Project, and then have to print out for them
  • Can be confusing since it looks and feels like MS Excel
For complicated projects and those that are mission critical for an organization, it provides the discipline to complete project management tasks. If a company is worried about scope creep or scope risk, MS Project will be an aide to track progress, add steps, report to senior leadership and get into the weeds while also providing a summary for senior folks.
Shiva Krishna | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Ours is a project driven organization. Microsoft projects is an integral part of our lives. All project plans, work breakdown structures are done in Microsoft Projects. Each Associate in the company is expected to know Microsoft Projects. We use most of the productivity tools from Microsoft, and Microsoft projects integrates well with other tools like Skype. The Microsoft Projects look and feel is similar to Microsoft Excel, so it makes people comfortable from the get-go.
  • 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.
  • The user experience can be improved.
  • More tutorials can be provided online. It takes time to master this tool. It can be made much simpler and easy to learn on the fly.
  • The tool can be made more catered towards to agile, scrum project management methodologies.
If your organization uses office productivity tools from Microsoft, it is no brainer to use Microsoft Projects. The tool integrates well with other Microsoft tools. It is the most popular project management tool and most people with expertise on this tool are available in the market. For some projects we hire contractors and we find most contractors are well versed with this tool, so it makes easier for us to hit the ground running.
Score 6 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I use MS Project in my group which is the Data Conversion group. We use Project to track and manage our workload which is specific to Database conversions. At any given time we have 50 to 75 active projects that start in Requirements, move on to Design and then Development, Testing and then cut over to Production.
  • MS Project is fairly easy to use. Adding Projects, Activities, Tasks, etc. are easy to add, and adjust when necessary.
  • It offers many different views, so based on your own needs, it is very flexible.
  • The reporting functionality is terrific. You can customize what you need to look at, from a full-blown project, or a more slimmed down version of just key milestones.
  • It can be a little more difficult to work with when you use all of the hooks, bells and whistles that are available. It will take some time for the Novice user to pick all of this up.
  • The columns (if all are used) offers a very crowded view, but I have never used all of these columns and most are hidden, so this may not be an issue to most users of MS Project
  • Graphics need to be brought into the 21st Century.
In my experience, MS Project can actually work for both small and large projects. As noted earlier, there are a lot of bells and whistles that can be used for more complex projects. It is really a flexible piece of software that is driven by the needs and wants of the PM and more importantly, the company.
Joshua Melder | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I work on a process optimization team within my workspace. It is an administrative job where we perform process audits (for customers), recommend people, process, and technology changes for those customers, and then implement accepted solutions based on our recommendations. It is a relatively small team that has three major components: strategy, implementation, and continuous improvement. We utilize a variety of project management tools in order to successfully carry out our recommendations for completion. Microsoft Project is one tool that has been widely adapted, not only across our team but across most administrative areas in our company. Our business is heavily integrated within the Microsoft ecosystem and Project is one tool that used to achieve our business objectives.
  • Being a Microsoft product, Project integrates extremely well into the Microsoft family of applications!
  • Furthermore, the user interface is similar to other Microsoft applications. Therefore, there is a valuable familiarity out of the box.
  • Project is incredibly detail-oriented and always receiving valuable updates. Project Online is now the cloud-based version of Project.
  • Scheduling works really well for the most part. One can be extremely detailed with Gannt charts and other project management metrics!
  • Remote work can be challenging - as Project must be downloaded to a specific computer.
  • Upgrading to the top of the line version can feel like a requirement. There is a lot of functionality that is not available unless in the most expensive pay-tiers.
  • Microsoft Project can be extremely expensive on a per user basis. Other tools can be much more cost-effective - especially for more basic project management needs.
Microsoft Project is extremely well-suited for larger businesses to tackle long-term project management tasks. Furthermore, it works exceptionally well when the software is accompanied by the entire Microsoft suite. The ability to integrate all aspects of the Microsoft business experience are invaluable and offer unique synergies when navigating Project. I have very much enjoyed Project on the user-interface front and have found the entire process of setting up large scale projects to be one of the most intuitive out of the software that I have used. As stated before, I believe Project is ideal for medium to large-scale enterprises that already subscribe to the entire Microsoft suite of apps. I would be more hesitant if I were working within a smaller business as there are many more cost-effective options out there.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
It is used at the whole organization as the official and standard tool of project management. Microsoft Project helps the company to address project management capabilities such as budget tracking, project planning, resources allocation, reporting, baseline and actual progress, and many other things. It is an essential piece of our projects.
  • Budget management - You can easily set the available budget and indicate for each activity/resource the necessary amount. Therefore, it is good for the plan & actual budgets.
  • Project management - Key elements such as progress management and critical path.
  • Basic charts - Gantt charts are really developed and compelling.
  • Planned versus actual budgets - Track progress.
  • Baseline management - Manage and versioning of baseline.
  • Resources allocation - Redistribute and rebalance resources across activities.
  • Overall financial management - Microsoft Project is not indicated for complex financial management, such as Net Present Value, S-Chart, and others. It is strongly suggested to complement this capability with either an Excel or integration with SAP or Oracle Primavera Unifier.
  • KPIs and dashboards - Microsoft Project still lacks advanced charts and analytics. This should be complemented as well with other tools/software.
Microsoft Project is well suited for the basic core concepts of project management. It is flexible and allows basically any kind of control and management.

It is not well suited for heavy CAPEX projects, but you can complement it with Excel spreadsheets or any other tools specific to the financial management of the project and portfolio.
Jay Handleson | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Microsoft Project to schedule electrical construction projects. Microsoft Project easily allows for accurate projections when resources are input accurately. Tasking of employees and planning for labor is accomplished easily and it is easy to see when a single labor resource is over-allocated allowing us to decide to increase manpower or adjust the schedule.
  • Auto schedule for holidays and weekends without referencing an outside calendar.
  • Allocate resources for accurate projections.
  • Visualize actual construction progress in the timeline.
  • Multiple views and reports for presentation to construction crews and clients.
  • Import other schedules from Excel would be nice, but that's asking a lot.
Microsoft Project is perfect for small to medium construction projects. Larger construction projects may benefit more from more robust scheduling software. A single contractor on a single project will benefit greatly from Microsoft Project as opposed to no scheduling software and trying to use a calendar method only. Linking of activities prevents missteps of activities when supervised properly.
Paul Enger | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
When I was in the position I was in I used Microsoft Project for my project management needs. I used this to make sure we were on target with staying within budget for our projects. It was very simple to use and easy to set up. It also has a great interface and showed well especially when presenting the data in meetings.
  • the simpleness of tracking budget for a project
  • track projects on a task level basis
  • real time what if scenarios in terms of task delay
  • better built in Visualization capability like One Pager offers as an add on
  • sometimes it feels the software is too big and complex to manage really simple projects
  • There are not many choices of nice icons to use

The biggest issue this helped me resolve was that I can now view the actual schedule and make changes if I need to rather than getting a PDF of the schedule and having no control of the document. The benefit of this is that I can edit the schedule to realize hypothetical scenarios and dates for a particular project.

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