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.
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Microsoft Project Reviews
19 Reviews
Professional, Scientific, and Technical ServicesInformation Technology & Services13Marketing & Advertising2Design1Research3
Microsoft
Project is used for que PMO Team and all Project Managers to organize tasks,
create schedules, planning resources capacity, create Gantt Charts and issue
reports. The product helps to estimate deadlines, calculate workload,
estimate budget, analize future scenarios for the projects and also is an
important tool to monitor the projects execution.
Pros
It organizes and groups tasks easily.
It allows to input resources costs and calculates totals.
It's possible create different types of fields customization.
It issues many types of usefull reports.
Cons
Implement some intelligence into formula creation by checking for errors in real time.
Have the planning percentage field as default.
In the print functionality, create an option to omit the table on the left showing only the Gantt chart.
Likelihood to Recommend
Microsoft
Project is well suited for waterfall projects, considering some features such
as task sequencing and timelines with phases and milestones. For agile
projects, Microsoft Project is not so good, especially when using an agile
methodology, such as Scrum. Agile projects need some specific features, such
as backlog control and sprint backlog.
VU
Verified User
Project Manager in Information Technology (Information Technology & Services company, 1001-5000 employees)
Personally, I am using Microsoft Project mainly to track my progress in my tasks. This is very helpful for me as I am doing a lot of tasks every day. Also, I'm using this to create a schedule so I would what would be my priority on the specific day.
Pros
Project Tracker
Scheduling
Project/Tasks Management
Cons
There's just one I don't like about it, or I don't know if it's just my computer that it hangs sometimes.
Likelihood to Recommend
I am the person who easily forget things, I can really track my progress, or I don't have the best time management when it comes to work. So, Microsoft Project is platform that helps me manage my schedule and almost every detail in work that I need to do. I always record my progress here.
Microsoft Project is used across the organization in different areas to support high complexity projects that require a large number of steps and detailed control about resource utilization and multi-level project complexity. Due to the time commitment on using it it is not widely used for short term projects that are basically managed on different tools.
Pros
DETAILED PLANNING ON LARGE SCALE/COMPLEX PROJECTS. Task interactions dependencies.
Very detailed resource management. You're able to track across the projects the utilization of all of your resources.
Powerful cost management. You can track costs for your resources, for your individual tasks, and quickly update any additional cost requirements for the projects, map those costs against your budget and get a detailed report of your burn rate to mitigate possible budget risks.
Cons
Complexity. With great power and flexibility comes a high level of complexity that makes some of the more advanced features very difficult to use on a day-to-day basis. i.e. being able to get several calendars integrated into a project for different kinds of resources is great but it takes a long time to get a handle on that and make it work for you.
Unless you have an MS Project Server setup and all of the team members licensed with an MS Project Account working on a project are limited to those PMs and collaborators with a full license even for minor updates.
The tools to present projects to other team members and present updates have not been updated to reflect the needs of the current PM, every view and presentation has to be manually cured to be presentable to the board and that is a very time consuming process.
Changing status, colors or updating items automatically based on dates or other tasks is out of the question unless you really have a full set of VBA knowledge and the time to make it happen.
Likelihood to Recommend
If you have a large project with a large number of stakeholders, many resources, and the need to keep detailed costs controls for the enterprise then this is the tool for you, not only you're able to define a very large number of fields to help you manage your project but the default fields on the application are certainly going to help you move forward with tracking control of resources, costs and burn rates on your projects.
If on the other hand, you have less than 50 tasks and two or three stakeholder or members on your team then the MS Project is definitely overkill because it demands the full attention of the PM for extended periods of time to make sure that the information is relevant.
We typically use MS Project for any projects that require project scheduling, task management/work breakdown, managing resource availability, and reporting on project delivery/schedule. As a project management consulting company, any time we have projects that need to be planned properly with a close eye on timelines and need reporting on to senior management, MS Project is our go-to software.
There are many Project Management software, tools, and services available. However, none can beat the planning or measurement against project baselines like Microsoft Project.
Pros
Project planning
Baseline measurement
Resource allocation
Useful report templates
Cons
Geared towards waterfall projects
Complicated to use/learn.
Clunky interface for report creation & modification.
Difficult to integrate with email and/or Sharepoint to send team alerts.
Likelihood to Recommend
For large-scale projects that follow the waterfall method, Microsoft Project is possibly the best out there when compared to others in terms of price and functionalities/features. I've used it to manage software development projects, construction, engineering and product research, development, and manufacturing. All were multi-million dollar projects with timelines ranging from 6 months to over 3 years.
On the other hand, if you have a small software development project that is iterative or agile in nature, there are more suitable project management and collaboration tools out there.
We are a government contractor so project management is essential for our work. We are using Microsoft Project as our main tool for the work. Project, task, schedule, and resource managements are essential for us to successfully complete our projects/contracts for your clients, and using Microsoft Project we have been effectively and efficiently managing all our projects and schedules.
Pros
Project/Task Management
Schedule Management
Charts
Cons
Resource Management
Web Enhancement
Integrated with other ERP systems
Likelihood to Recommend
I am pretty good with using Microsoft Project for work, but I have seen that we/our clients had to choose other tools because the pricing is a bit high.
I use Microsoft Project to plan and execute IT projects at the customer facility I work at. This keeps track of in-house projects that are done at the facility level and do not require higher-level planning. This allows me to keep track of everything associated with these projects and serves to meet customer needs.
Pros
Plan project tasks.
Execute project tasks.
Provides management tracking of project completion.
Cons
The clunky interface is occasionally hard to use.
Help articles are not always clear and concise.
Feature integration is lacking.
Likelihood to Recommend
Overall, it is the best project management tool I have seen for the money (represents the best value). It comes with Office 2016/Office 365 so it allows me to plan and execute projects without having to purchase additional project management software. Additionally, it allows for management oversight of project and task completion.
Microsoft Project is currently being used by all of the project managers across our company. It's a great tool for controlling and monitoring projects, as well as assign resources to each phase and activity of every project. With the use of Microsoft Project Server, the files can be shared in a collaborative environment.
Pros
Great for keeping track of time and resources of projects.
Can calculate the overall percentage for each project.
The Gantt Chart automatically updates.
Cons
Sometimes the time calculation for the activities could be a little tricky.
The resource assignment sometimes can be troublesome.
It requires a lot of machine resources.
Likelihood to Recommend
Microsoft Project is ideal for the project managers of the company for keeping track of the status of the projects, as well as the resources needed for each activity. When needed, and specially for management reporting, it is possible to export the Gantt Chart into an Excel File, so it can be send in a friendly format for everyone else.
I used Microsoft Project to develop the framework of all our projects, and to track their progress and resources throughout implementation. We typically had about 20 projects running at any one time, so it was useful to see everything in one place. While we used a ticketing system for the day-to-day stuff, Project worked better for long-term, per-planned operations.
Pros
Gantt Charts: Every project manager's favorite thing, MS Project does this very well. A Gantt chart keeps everything in a project timeline visible, and in Project, you can drill down to look at resources, costs, and a myriad of other things. It's also very easy to rearrange items as necessary, either by dragging them around or opening them and manually entering data.
Resource Management: Project allows you to set up resources, either as individuals or with type of work (e.g., Bob Smith or Network Engineer I). Within those resources, you can set up hours of availability, when overtime kicks in, costs, and a myriad of other useful items. Then, when you assign them tasks, the software calculates the time needed or how much extra it will cost if you need a resource to work longer on a particular piece.
Multiple Projects: With the resource pool and other elements shared between projects, managing multiple projects becomes easier. Project will warn you if resource is over-scheduled, and show which projects that resource is being used on. It'll also show conflicts.
Integration: Since this is a Microsoft product, it integrates very well with other Microsoft products, especially those in the Office suite like Excel. That allows you to, for example, export the Gantt chart to a spreadsheet to send to stakeholders, or link it into a Word document.
Time Management: Tied into the Gantt and Resource pieces, Project lets you set prerequisites and linked work, so even if you have to adjust steps to deal with scheduling or change management, Project will keep everything organized. It will automatically re-adjust dates and milestones as things are shifted.
Cons
Expertise Needed: The software is not always easy to use or intuitive. I took several Project courses, on top of my project management certifications, to understand the software better. While all the elements are there for anyone familiar with standard project management processes, it takes experience and training to really get the best out of the software.
Collaboration: Project does not work well with multiple users simultaneously. There's no real-time updating, and if we had multiple project managers, there'd be no way to work together on the same projects.
Price: Project is expensive, largely due to it being an industry standard.
Likelihood to Recommend
Microsoft Project is well suited for anyone running a standard, PMBOK (Project Management Body of Knowledge) project. It is especially good for managed service providers who need to run projects for clients, not just for support. If you plan to run many projects, either simultaneously or consecutively, this is a good resource.
If you're in a small business and you don't have multiple resources or multiple projects, this is probably not a good solution.
I work as a coordinator of a laboratory at the University of Puerto Rico. In this role, I have to supervise graduate students to complete their research, thesis work or any particular project. Also, when we are writing proposals for research we need to provide a detailed plan of our research project. MS Project helps me manage the time these kinds of project take. In addition, it helps to elaborate on Gantt charts using task dependencies in case something unexpected occurs and the project gets delayed.
Pros
The Gantt chart tool has many options to manage costs and time in an organized way.
The file created in MS Project may be exported to be used in another MS Office software.
Customer support coming from Microsoft is great. There is always an article or forum to help me.
Cons
I would like MS Project to be more user-friendly. There are some functionalities that keep being hard to use like the time organization.
It should have a way of exporting a nice and well presented PDF document to be shared. Today is very hard to create a nice image showing the goals.
I think it should have integration with internet and social networks in order to engage other people to work together in an easy way.
Likelihood to Recommend
Microsoft Project is well suited for creating formal documents to manage a specific project. It provides a lot of calculations that help to create a detailed plan for a project. I think that Microsoft Project is not suited for non-formal organizations like a group of friends or students because it is very rigid to be used for huge projects with costs and that kind of things. I think that it will be better if it gets easier to use with more simple projects. At least, it should have the option to select templates for different kinds of projects.