TrustRadius Insights for Microsoft Project are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, third party data sources.
Pros
Collaborative Features: Users have expressed appreciation for the collaborative task assignment feature in Microsoft Project, citing its usefulness in streamlining project scheduling and enhancing team coordination. This feature allows users to assign tasks collaboratively, ensuring that all team members are aligned on project timelines and responsibilities.
Robust Resource Management Tools: Numerous users have found the resource management tools in Microsoft Project to be comprehensive and detailed, facilitating effective tracking of resource utilization across various projects. By utilizing these tools, users can optimize resource allocation, monitor availability, and prevent overloading specific team members.
Timeline Visualization: Chart functionalities have garnered praise from users for their ability to offer a visual representation of project timelines, aiding in planning tasks and managing resources efficiently. Users rely on this feature to visualize dependencies between tasks, identify critical paths, and track progress effectively throughout the project lifecycle.
We use Microsoft Project to manage new product launches, engineering changes and supplier transitions.
Pros
Team collaboration
Create To-Do plans
Advanced scheduling
Task management
Cons
Integrate "Agile" methodologies functions like Jira/Miro
Incorporate burn down charts
Provide quick and easy tutorials to integrate Power BI and Copilot
Likelihood to Recommend
I personally prefer Microsoft Planner or Jira. I think is very intuitive, easy to use and have a lot of drag and drop options; which we appreciate when we use with people with a lot of experience in the company (older team members).
We use it to track jobs for all 12 members of our engineering team. As we have a number of tasks and many members we are able to easliy see everything in our weekly meetings and assign new tasks based on workload. It is quite valuable to everyone including our manager for scheduling especially during our busy season.
Pros
easily assign resources everyone can see
drag and drop in timeline view saves time
puts everyones workload in a calendar view
Cons
it is integrated to other microsoft products
it is not a fully standalone solution
took work to integrate web version with desktop version
Likelihood to Recommend
This works well since we have other tools in microsoft 365 enfiroment. This is also a good tool for simple project management where you need a timeline and need to keep track of tasks. We have a large team to manage and it works well so everyone can see the tasks for the whole team.
VU
Verified User
Engineer in Engineering (Mechanical or Industrial Engineering company, 501-1000 employees)
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.
Pros
The ability to diagram specific aspects of each project or task
The ease of execution
Ability to make modifications (assignments, dates, schedules, diagrams, monitoring)
Cons
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
Likelihood to Recommend
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.
Microsoft Project is perfect for complicated projects with multiple resources since you can track costs as they incur. It is probably not the best for a single task since it may take longer setting up Project than the time it takes to complete the task.
First, let me tell you Microsoft Project isn't easy to use, you will need to know what you are doing. The truth is it's the tools are straightforward. It's the planning that's hard. Microsoft attempts to make things easy by providing templates, but I still have a challenge planning. The thing I love the most, however, is that it makes the rest of my business life easier and increases my efficiency. In case you may be wondering Microsoft Project is a tool used for project planning and project management, it allows you to visualize and document the workflow.
Pros
Agile integration also is known as Sprint.
Affords the user/planner/business greater efficiency and time management.
Cons
Not easy to learn even when using the templates.
Likelihood to Recommend
Microsoft Project helps to develop schedules, identify tasks, assign resources, tracks progress, helps manage the financial aspects of the project, and analyze workloads. It empowers the user to transform disorganized ideas into an ordered project. Microsoft Project is best suited for Project Managers, people who plan project timelines, and its dependencies.
VU
Verified User
General Manager (Food & Beverages company, 1-10 employees)
Microsoft Project is currently being used by project managers in our company. Microsoft Project is used to schedule and manage different projects within the company. The Gantt charts and trackers are useful for tracking projects. Built in templates are also useful for project management. Using Microsoft Project Server, files can be shared with everyone involved with the project.
Pros
Gantt chart tracker is very good at tracking projects.
Templates are very useful for different projects that managers are involved in.
Cons
Beginner users need some help to get started with Microsoft Project. It needs better documentation.
There's no real-time updating and Microsoft Project does not work well with multiple users at the same time.
Likelihood to Recommend
It is great for tracking different type of projects and working alongside different Microsoft applications. If someone plans to run several projects, then this is a good resource. It utilizes everyone's skills and decreases wasted time.
VU
Verified User
Manager in Information Technology (Machinery company, 201-500 employees)
Microsoft Project was a great tool for us when we used it to manage resources, personnel, and progress for a project we were working on last year. This was only used in one department but it was a huge help in keeping everything on schedule and flowing as it should.
Pros
Helped everyone involved with the project manage their time to maximize what was getting done.
Saved on money as this product was very reasonable to some other programs that were looked at.
Helped cut the overall time of the project down by 2 weeks. We budgeted for 5-6 weeks and finished at just over 4.
Cons
Getting everyone involved was a little tricky at first but once we got going it was great.
It does feel a little dated and hasn't kept up with what some of the other software seemed to be offering.
Likelihood to Recommend
This is a very good program for when you need to really manage a project. It helps to better utilize everyone's skills and cut out wasted time.
Microsoft Project was for many years the goto platform for project management at eSilicon. Most of the managers from different departments were using it to manage their projects: tasks breakdown and assignment, resource management, tracking tasks progress, etc. While it does the job well, it also has some flaws and things to improve. Due to this, there are many other tools that gained market share in the last several years and will continue to do so even more.
Pros
You can manage any size project and complexity.
The visuals of the timeline and gantt charts.
The way task dependencies work and the whole plan gets updated for any change you do.
Cons
It is so easy to mess up a complex project plan by a simple change and can take hours to fix.
It is lacking the collaboration that is so needed these days. You need to use Project Server for that.
The cost is a differentiator for many start-ups selling project management tools.
Likelihood to Recommend
For almost any project size and complexity, Microsoft Project is well suited. It saves a lot of time by helping with project team communication, tasks breakdown, task assignments, resource management, etc. However, you need more collaboration. For example, team members need to update the progress of the task in real-time themselves, so that you have better project tracking and increased visibility into the progress.
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.
Pros
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!
Cons
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.
Likelihood to Recommend
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.
I was introduced to Microsoft Project the first time in about 2003, while working as a Project Manager for L-3 Communication Systems. The training was left mostly to the latitude of each Project Manager. Microsoft Excel was considered an acceptable safety net, being used extensively in the past. Personally, I used 'Microsoft Project 2000 Step-by-Step'. The learning curve was average for Sciex as an independent contractor, tasked to oversee all steps required to complete the upgrading of two legacy projects and turning them into being RoHS-compliant (RoHS - Restrictions of Hazardous Substances). Sciex is specialized in the design and manufacturing of medical instrumentation. The two projects I was involved with were mass spectrometers. Project was used widely across the company for all projects having a start day and estimated completion day, as recommended by Project Management techniques. The first task that I took upon myself was to estimate the best way to ensure a completion of the project in time since a rather artificial due date was already in place. I proceeded to create a task list followed by a work breakdown structure and as a result, I requested the addition of two additional members to the team, since while the budget was relatively generous, the time constraints were not. Also, I requested from the management to intervene with another company, operating as a sub-contractor to Sciex, to make an effort and beef-up their team. We finished within the budget and schedule.
Pros
Microsoft Project allows users to input a large and varied amount of detail pertinent to a specific project and then creates numerous varied out reports, as per the specific needs of a certain user working on that project.
Microsoft Project is very flexible in relation to the familiarity of a specific user with the Project. Someone with very little knowledge of Project can still input some data and receive some useful reports, without using the whole capability of the package.
Project allows a varied types of data to be inputted, such as definition of various subtasks related to the project, time information about the original estimates for tasks and the actual figures, monetary information about the cost of all items required to complete a project (such as rate per hour of specific participants working of a project, cost of equipment to be bought or rented, cost of materials required for project execution, etc).
A Project Manager very conversant with Project can get a very large number of reports, each one for a specific need.
Cons
The Project software package, while being very powerful, it also has a rather lengthy learning curve. A fresh Project Manager which didn't use Project before (due to being in a different role, or using until now a different project management tool) and put in charge of a project having as a requirement the utilization of Microsoft Project for a new project starting very soon, will have a hard time to assimilate all aspects of the package, if he wants to take advantage of Project's full capabilities.
While not being exaggerated, the cost of the software package is relatively high (around $650.00) This is maybe not a lot for a company needing one or two packages, but is relevant to a company needing to procure 20 packages.
I would like to see more specialty books pertinent to Project. 'Leaning Microsoft Project Step-by-Step' issued by Microsoft themselves and used by me when I started learning Project is a bit cumbersome, unlike other books in their series for Word, Excel, Powerpoint, etc.
Likelihood to Recommend
Project is very well suited for large projects involving numerous personnel, equipment and materials,and expected to take many months or even years to completion. Also, it is useful when the stakeholders of the project are rather different in their capacity and require rather different types of reports (strictly financial reports, slippage in schedule and how the schedule can be brought back, etc.)
On the other hand, a company specializing in projects that are relatively simple and only have a span of a few weeks or a couple of months would be better off adopting a simpler Project Management tool, one that costs less and has a much shorter learning curve.
