Microsoft Project Server 2003 is one of the most under-marketed and least understood products available today.
Microsoft Project Server 2003 is a competent tool that should be considered when selecting an Enterprise Project Management solution, but usually isn’t. Why not? Here is some of the buzz about MSPS 2003:
· “Oh sure, we own a copy. I think it’s on that shelf right over there. No, it’s never been opened.”
· “It is OK, but frankly it is an unfinished product.”
· “We really love Microsoft Project Professional, but I’m having my brother-in-law Rudy build the back-end integration from scratch. He’s an unemployed plumber, but how hard could it be?” (I made this one up, but it fits a pattern)
Here, sadly, is the decision process when a company selects an Enterprise Project Management suite or tool.
- Many Stand-Alone Copies of MS Project Professional are in use. Someone in IT finance realizes that there are “many” copies of Microsoft Project Professional installed “out there.” Enough money is at stake that somebody decides to see if Microsoft Project Professional is necessary. Often this task is given to a junior accountant that nobody likes.
- Project Managers are not coordinating their efforts with each other, resulting in cost overruns. The finance audit of Microsoft Project Professional determines that a large number of self-proclaimed project managers work throughout the company. For these folks, Microsoft Project Professional is as necessary and fundamental as Microsoft Excel is to an accountant.
- MS Project Professional alone is not designed for collaboration. It becomes apparent that Microsoft Project Professional is a very critical and time-honored tool for project managers. At the same time, it is not designed to provide services to the entire project team. It is a single-user, stand-alone tool. Effective project management involves collaboration that is driven by the information provided by MS Project Professional.
- Project collaboration tools are evaluated as a means to improve coordination of the efforts of individual project managers. Someone in management reads a journal article about Enterprise Project Management tools and suites. These tools promise to make the above problems go away. An IT person uses the list of Enterprise Project Management tools in the journal article to create a spreadsheet listing pros and cons for each listed vendor. Microsoft Project Server 2003 isn’t represented on the list because it doesn’t read well and has no snazzy screenshots to put in the article.
- A strategic decision is made to use a third-party collaboration tool. An executive decides to buy a random project management software package sold by a salesperson who bought lunch during a tradeshow. The IT person wisely skews the evaluation to favor the software company that bought lunch for the executive.
- The tool is deployed. The package is purchased and installed.
- Moving to a third-party enterprise solution can cause a costly and time-consuming effort to retire existing tools. Only after installation does it become apparent that the new project management tool does not in fact work with Microsoft Project Professional as the salesperson said it would. All project managers are forced to migrate from MS Project (which they like) to the new project manager interface.
- Older tools are used in parallel with the new tool. All project managers secretly continue to use Microsoft Project Professional. They also enter just enough information into the new tool to keep management off their backs, but the new tool is irrelevant. In fact, it is now a hindrance as it takes up lots of time and adds no value.
(Of course, this is the buying pattern for most software packages used in the corporate world. That’s why so many sales people are trained to “sell up,” which usually means “buy lunch at a trade show.” The truly odd thing is that the “buy lunch at a tradeshow” model is the engine that drives the world’s economy, and it does so successfully. But I digress.)
Is Microsoft Project Server 2003 the Right Product for Your Project Collaboration Needs?
OK, so cut away all of the lunches, meaningless four-color brochures, and journal articles that favor who ever buys the most advertising space, and what is the “right” answer for Enterprise Project Management tooling? Is Microsoft Project Server 2003 the Enterprise Project Management suite you should use in your corporation? I have no idea. I can, however, help you to understand the product and put together a test image that can be quickly installed and used in your own environment. Why not just put it in place and see?
Top ten reasons to give Microsoft Project Server 2003 a fair evaluation:
- You probably own it and have it on your shelf somewhere.
- It is easy to use, once you understand it.
- Microsoft Project Professional integrates with it.
- It is easy to learn because it has the same general UI as other Microsoft tools.
- It is low risk. It can start very small.
- It can grow in functionality to be a very sophisticated tool. It is designed to integrate well with SQL Server, Outlook, and Microsoft SharePoint. With this integration, a number of collaboration, reporting, and tracking features can be added.
- It scales well.
- A test image can be built and deployed in a few days, with a little help.
- Competing tools will be using MS Project Server “under the covers” to do the work anyway.
- Most of the ‘gee whiz’ features of other products are really not necessary to effective project management. These eye-catching features generally are little more than “bells and whistles” to generate excitement. Few, if any, will be of practical use to project managers on a day-to-day basis.
Coming up next… understanding what an Enterprise Project Management suite does.
(Understanding the ‘big picture’ makes it a lot simpler to plan, build, and deploy a Microsoft Project Server 2003 image.)