Item: Microsoft Project
Rating: 8
Author: Aaron Baker

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

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.

Pros and Cons

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.

Return on Investment

Using 1 project management tool makes it easy to work on multiple projects across departments.
It has allowed us to create a highly complex integrated work plan for a large-scale project.

Alternatives Considered

I was not involved in the decision-making process. I am a regular user and have created project plans of my own. Further, this is the only project management software I've used so I don't have anything to compare it to. I think Project probably competes the worst against purely web-based tools. While Project Server and Office 365 have brought the tool online, it's still most widely used as a desktop app at Duquesne Light.

Support Rating

I've never had a need to contact Microsoft Support about Project. I can't fully evaluate support with that being the case but there are so many knowledge articles on Microsoft's website along with videos and other materials that it would be pretty rare to run into an issue that another user hasn't faced and had resolved.

Key Insights

Do you think Microsoft Project delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Microsoft Project's feature set?

Yes

Did Microsoft Project live up to sales and marketing promises?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

Did implementation of Microsoft Project go as expected?

I wasn't involved with the implementation phase

Would you buy Microsoft Project again?

Yes

Likelihood to Recommend

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.

Feature-rich Project Management Tool

Overall Satisfaction with Microsoft Project