Everything you can do with a Microsoft Project licence

A review of the Microsoft Project licence, Microsoft's famous project management software.

Having a Microsoft Project licence, gives you access to Microsoft's project management software, which is a solid and reliable option for experienced project teams. Although the program has a higher learning curve than other alternatives on the market, it is an excellent method for handling complicated projects when used correctly. Once you have mastered MS Project, it will be difficult for you to find a substitute that has the same level of functionality.

But what are the pros and cons of using Microsoft's project management software, and is it ideal to license Project?

The advantages of having a Microsoft Project Licence:

Focussed main menu: You will feel perfectly comfortable with Microsoft Project if you have experience with any other Microsoft software.

The interface is quite similar to Microsoft Excel. And let's face it, most of us already know how to use Excel. However, as with Excel, a thorough understanding of the program's features is necessary for optimal performance.

The home screen provides an instant overview of the most vital system statistics at a glance. You have the option of starting a new project, resuming work on a previously saved one, or searching for material you have been working on in recent days. Those who work on many large-scale projects at the same time will find this very useful.

A wide variety of project management approaches are supported, unlike most similar products on the market. This way, you can organise your projects as you choose using a Project licence.

The program supports Scrum, Kanban and customised processes. It can be used for agile or waterfall project management, or even a combination of both.

It only takes a few clicks to add notes and to determine the duration and tasks of a project. When using Microsoft Project, you can tailor it to fit your unique approach to project management.

Multiple project perspectives: In Project, users have the option to switch between many different perspectives of a project to better monitor its progress. Having an ordered list of to-dos in grid form makes project planning easier.

A Kanban-style dashboard view is also available, providing a convenient visual representation of overall project progress.

It is also possible to customise task boards to your exact specifications. In addition, Microsoft Project has a Gantt chart interface.

It's useful for keeping track of dates and seeing how different activities are connected to each other.

You can easily switch between the two perspectives to better suit your current project management needs. Both team members and project managers appreciate this adaptability.

Customised reports: MS Project provides comprehensive reports. When creating a report, you can include or exclude the information you want.

The reporting tools are very simple for such a sophisticated system. Simply go to the reports section of the page and tick the boxes next to the relevant data elements.

Tables and other visual aids can be added to the reports to make the data easier to read.

The reports have a polished layout and are easy to distribute. They are useful not only for personal reporting, but also for presentations to senior management and other stakeholders.

Time Tracker: Timesheet reporting is a Microsoft Project tool that allows team members to keep track of the time they spend on different tasks. It is a fantastic technique for recording the work of any company, project or otherwise.

There is more that can be done with time than simply recording the time spent on a particular activity.

A user could record time spent on research and development of a project by tagging the entry as such on the timesheet. Invoicing, payroll and job costing benefit greatly from this.

Since time tracking capabilities are not standard in the project management software landscape, the inclusion of this feature in MS Project is a major selling point.

Resource management: MS Project's resource management capabilities would be considered another advanced project management tool.

It is not necessarily a common or standard feature offered in other solutions on the market, and it is certainly not a beginner or entry level tool. Using a Project licence for resource management is a great way to identify the capability of your team members so you can assign tasks accordingly.

In addition to human resource management, MS Project supports other work-related resources. You can use it to track resources such as materials, equipment and other project-related costs.

MS Project allows you to add tons of details here. You can even add a unit of measure for each resource and enter the associated costs as well.

It supports project management at scale: MS Project is an ideal solution for medium to large organisations.

With so many tools being marketed to small teams and start-ups, it's good to see that Microsoft Project excels at adapting to the needs of larger teams.

If an organisation has complex project management needs, chances are MS Project can solve them. When this software is put in the right hands, it seems that anything is possible.

Cloud or on-premise solutions: Microsoft Project is available as a cloud software subscription or as an on-premise solution that can be installed on a single local computer. The local installation option is increasingly rare in software packages.

If you choose the local solution, you will lose some of the ability to collaborate with team members within the software. But it's still beneficial to have the option available for those who prefer to work only locally versus in the cloud.

The downsides of Microsoft Project:

Its not for beginners: Microsoft Project is not an easy-level project management solution. In fact, it's not even for people who are only familiar with project management concepts.

The software is designed for experienced project managers and technical users. You will need more than general technical knowledge to understand how MS Project works. If you are not in this category, you will have problems with the software, and also with your projects.

Poor communication within the application: In terms of team communication, MS Project has room for improvement. You can't quickly message or ping a team member within the platform.

That said, Microsoft has tons of other communication tools. It's likely to be assumed that most MS Project teams are Microsoft organisations, so you'll need to use Teams, Outlook, Skype, Yammer or another Microsoft tool to communicate with your team. These features are not duplicated within MS Project itself.

Lack of integrations: by having a Project licence, you don't really play well with other business tools, especially those outside the Microsoft family. It also doesn't connect with Zapier, which is a popular online resource for synchronising third-party apps that don't natively link with each other.

If you want to integrate your project management tool with other platforms such as Salesforce or Slack, MS Project will not be an ideal solution for your needs. On the other hand, if you use Office 365 and other Microsoft tools, MS Project will fit in perfectly.

Steep learning curve: MS Project is not one of those tools that you sign up today and start managing projects in a matter of minutes. There is definitely more of a learning curve, especially when onboarding new users. MS Project assumes that users are already familiar with the general concepts of project management.

From there, you just have to learn how to use the software. There are many resources and tutorials from Microsoft that explain how to do certain things within the platform. However, first you need to know what to look for. Even experienced users will need some time to get used to Microsoft's project management software.

Do you have any questions?

If you are interested in purchasing Project in our online shop you can find all the versions we have available. We offer the best product licenses for any type of operating system.

If you need more help, do not hesitate to contact our customer service team.

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Your Licendi Team