Item: Microsoft Project
Rating: 8
Author: Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

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.

Pros and Cons

Microsoft Product integrations, including sharing and reminder notifications.
Interactive Gantt chart.

More efficient, reliable project and DevOps integration.
Training resources for new users.

Return on Investment

This was implemented during a new fiscal year and the product team reported a project accuracy metric of +20% YOY.
Pro Services saw increased turnaround in all project post-implementation with an average 7% cost reduction excluding strong positive outliers.

Alternatives Considered

Asana, Workday Cloud Platform and Smartsheet

Microsoft Project had the strongest integrations and Gantt chart qualities. As a team that uses Outlook, Skype, DevOps and the Office Suite, it became clear that Project suited our needs best. Additionally, testing found that the user interface and security features pleased users, stakeholders, and IT team requirements.

Support Rating

While there are many positives to Project, existing capabilities can be further enhanced to be both better automated and more reliable for integrations. A key decision to choosing this platform was also the expectation that enhancements to integrations would occur over time to streamline the product teams’ workflow.

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?

Yes

Did implementation of Microsoft Project go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Microsoft Project again?

Yes

Likelihood to Recommend

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.

The Impressive Rise and Potential of MP

Overall Satisfaction with Microsoft Project