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Project management software is an invaluable asset for large and small businesses. It helps track, organize, and manage important tasks, documents, and resources, enabling managers to achieve their goals more efficiently and effectively. With the right project management tools, teams can better collaborate on projects and finish more work in less time. This results in improved productivity, quality assurance, and, ultimately, greater success.
What is Project Management?
As the name suggests, project management is managing projects within an organization. It involves setting goals, assigning tasks, tracking progress, and managing resources to ensure the project is completed within the specified timeframe and budget. A project manager is responsible for managing the project and ensuring it delivers the desired outcomes.
But let's face it. Not everyone in an organization is a project manager, yet we still have to manage projects daily. Think about your job description - customer support, software development, professional services, etc.
However, you'll often need to step in to track, manage or organize something to ensure progress toward the end goal. And while this seems trivial, it can be overwhelming and detrimental to the business.
That's where project management tools like Office 365 come in.
Microsoft Office 365 is a comprehensive suite of tools that can make project management much easier. More specifically, Microsoft Project helps manage resources and track tasks so you can better prioritize and manage projects. It allows you to set deadlines, track progress, assign tasks, and control costs.
Simply put, MS Project helps you save time by automating manual processes. With MS project, you can be the boss of any project, irrespective of whether or not you're a project manager.
How Microsoft Project Can Help Your Business Stay Productive
MS Project is a project management tool used to create project plans and schedules, manage resources, and track time. It has features like kanban boards, project calendars, and Gantt charts for project management professionals. Other incredible features that can help your business stay productive include:
Project Planning
One of the most important aspects of any project is planning. MS Project provides robust tools to help you plan and schedule projects more efficiently and accurately. With its multiple views that include a grid, visual kanban board, and Gantt chart views, you can create detailed plans for your project in minutes.
Use the grid project view to plan and manage projects with a task list or kanban to manage workflow and status. Or opt for the traditional Gantt chart to schedule tasks over a project timeline or filter for the critical path.
Thanks to these dynamic planning and scheduling tools, you can easily create a timeline that accurately reflects the effort necessary for each task. This way, everyone involved in the project is aware of deadlines and milestones for better resource allocation.
Collaboration and Remote Work
Microsoft Project makes it easy to collaborate with distributed teams, enabling remote workers to access important project information in real-time. With tools like G Suite and Google Drive, teams can easily store their documents in the cloud and access critical project data from anywhere. The tool also allows for communication and messaging with other team members, making it easier to share ideas and feedback. In the age of hybrid work, MS Project will help you keep teams connected, engaged, and productive.
Integration with other Office 365 Tools
MS Project integrates easily with Office 365 tools like SharePoint, Excel, and Outlook. This allows you to centralize project data and provide users with easy access to critical information in one place. You can also sync documents and tasks between MS Project and other applications, making it possible to view project progress at the click of a button.
Roadmap
It's hard to keep up with all the details, deadlines, resources, and progress of each project or program. But failing to do so can lead to missed deadlines, budget overruns, and frustrated team members. Microsoft Project's powerful roadmap feature helps you to plan, track and visualize progress across multiple projects in one overview. It also helps with portfolio management, enabling you to evaluate potential benefits and risks for each project.
Business Intelligence for Vision and Results
Your business’s success is based on its ability to chart the right course. Power BI* visualization allows you to create interactive dashboards to observe performance in real-time and make data-driven decisions. This not only helps to improve productivity but also gives you detailed insights into how your project is performing, enabling you to make better decisions and drive results.
Reporting
The most successful projects are those that have clear visibility and communication. MS Project has feature-rich reporting tools, so you can see exactly how your team is progressing and what their work looks like. Create an executive summary, resource utilization report, or timeline view to stay informed and ensure every project is on track.
Resource Management
With Microsoft Project, you can easily and efficiently track resources and costs. It's easy to assign tasks to team members, set deadlines, and track their progress against their goals. This ensures that all resources are used in the most efficient way possible, as any changes to the project can be seen in real-time. You can also monitor costs and adjust them accordingly, ensuring the project is completed within budget.
Coauthoring
MS Project offers powerful collaboration capabilities that enable stakeholders and team members to work together in real time. With its coauthoring features, teams can work on the same project without worrying about overwriting any changes or data. Additionally, with its advanced security feature, you can be sure that the projects are safe and secure.
Timesheets
Microsoft Project offers a timesheet feature, essential for tracking employee hours and costs associated with project tasks. It helps you collect, process, and manage timesheet information, making tracking project progress and employee performance easier. This ensures that all resources are used effectively and that you stay within budget.
Power to innovate
Microsoft Project is the perfect platform for building and customizing desktop and mobile app experiences. With powerful tools like G Suite, Microsoft Azure, SharePoint, and more, you can develop solutions that meet your team's unique needs.
Limitations of the Project Management Tool
Despite the powerful features and benefits, there are a few limitations to using MS Project. Here are some:
- It has a steep learning curve and can be an overwhelming tool if you are unfamiliar with it. A lot of time and effort are needed to learn the tool and become proficient.
- It can be expensive to buy, as it requires an Office 365 subscription. The monthly charges add up over time, and you may pay more for each team member who needs access.
- It's not easily shareable with external stakeholders or customers. Since it's integrated with Office 365, they can only access the project management tool if they have a subscription.
Microsoft Project is a comprehensive project management tool that can help you achieve greater efficiency and productivity while managing resources and costs. With its interactive visualization tools, reporting capabilities, coauthoring features, timesheets, and integrated app development tools, MS Project is invaluable for any project.
Although it has its limitations, the potential benefits far outweigh these cons. If you're considering a project management tool, MS Project is a great choice. At My Choice Software, we have all the licenses you need to get started so that you can take full advantage of this powerful tool.
