As one of the widely used project management software choices accessible within the field of project management, Microsoft Project definitely has its name, whereas there are several positive reasons to use MS Project, alongside it additionally has several drawbacks.
Is Microsoft Project a right software for you? Let’s take a look on all the execs and cons of Microsoft Project.
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Who are the users of Microsoft Project?
Microsoft is one of the acknowledged names in the sector of project management. It is becoming a common name for several individuals however still many people are not using this project management software.
Currently, MS Project has quite twenty million users. That’s quite an outsized range as compared to the other portfolio management software around the world. On an average, 10,000 organizations use this software. It is been calculable that between 60-70% of businesses are working on MS Project for their work to be done. Below I have mentioned some features of Microsoft project:
Features of Microsoft
- Planning and scheduling your work play an important role in project management. Without proper planning and scheduling the project cannot be built. There are several tools available in the software which will help you in planning are team calendar, task prioritization and management, and many more.
- Project timeline view is another best feature available in the Microsoft project which represent the whole project in a up-down view. You can preview the task from the timeline view and then directly work on that task rather than finding it between all the task in the project.
- Collaboration is very important between the team members while working on a project. Some option available in the Microsoft project to provide better collaboration are file-sharing, team dashboard, sharing, and more.
- It’s very important to keep the track of all the projects to monitor them well. Thus, we can generate reports in the Microsoft project which will help you to tract the project progress.
- Microsoft project also allows the manager to work on multiple projects and manage the tasks efficiently.
Microsoft has many more features available which will help you in many ways. But having a lot of features does not mean that it is the right software for you. Choosing a right software also requires the knowledge of all the merits and demerits of the software.
Is Microsoft project correct option for you and your team to figure on? Let’s check the benefits and drawbacks of MS Project. Please read it here.
Benefits of MS Project
There are a number of benefits which will make you very excited if you are working in the field of project management. Below, I have mentioned the execs of MS Project.
It is a versatile software
Over 30 years ago, the MS Project software has been released. From the day of software release, the team has worked unrelentingly to create new features and also make sure that each feature is functioning fine.
It allows integration with other Microsoft tools
Microsoft as an organization which offers many online and offline tools. Since, Microsoft Project may be a part of Microsoft Office Suite, you are allowed to integrate it will all the Microsoft tools which includes Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Access, and Microsoft Word. As a result, you’ll have access to a way wider range of tools with MS Project than tons of different software can offer.
Helps in proper communication with team
With Microsoft Project software, you will get a quick access to tools like MS-Outlook, Skype, and many more. Due to which you can connect with your team quickly by just doing some selections for communication.
Drawbacks of Microsoft Project
Regardless of all the advantages of using Microsoft project, there is several reasons due to which people do not prefer using this software.
Does not offer great collaboration and information sharing
Microsoft project is not able to offer a real time update without integration. In addition to this, the software is not accessible without charge. The users have to purchase the course if they want to use this software.
Software is Expensive
Microsoft Project offers a range of different updates for the software but all the upgrades are very expensive. Several users reproach regarding the price of the software is not worth in comparison to the functionality. As a result of the very high price, the users switch on other options available or they prefer to buy few licenses which in return results in the low productivity.
Time consuming and difficult to use.
Many people have complained regarding the time duration as it is very long and hard to form reports. Due to the lack of dashboard, updates also contribute in increasing the time. Thus, it becomes very difficult to stay on top of the plan without any updates of the real-time.
Offer unnecessary tools.
Although, MS Project has a lot of features as a positive point but at the same time it offers the wide range of unused features that are either too advanced to be used or very basic tools which are not needed. Due to which it cost very expensive.
Taking all the benefits and drawbacks into consideration you must decide whether you want to use MS- Project or not. Since, it is very advance for a beginner to start, the individual can start learning this software from uCertify. They offer online course of Microsoft Project 2019 course which will help you to understand the software well and also increase your skills. Even colleges and universities are also offering this course to their students to learn.
The best thing is that MS project offers help functions which contains some built-in tutorials. Also, the software has a help option available where the users can ask their queries and get the answers. The help section also has a link to post your queries on Microsoft community.
Nowadays, Microsoft are also hiring people to visit organizations and companies to teach their employees to work on the software offered by the Microsoft. MS project help large companies to manage their complex projects which involves a team to work on it. Thus, you can invest a small amount and you will be able to learn an amazing business tool which will help you to grow faster in your career.
