Alternatives to using MSP?

[andrewbettany]

Hi,

We had a "project meeting" today - we have single big project coming up and
we are still evaluating whether MSP is going to give us the majority of the
answers....

I really appreciate your advices to my couple of questions.

The last question is what are the alternatives if we were NOT to use MSP?

Hoefully this will not be needed, since I am actually getting to grips with
the product! The various FAQs and guides promoted here on this NG are really
great for learning "real world" scenarios and heading off gotchas!

Obviously an alternative needs to be able to at least beat MSP for features
and benefits. I know that this is a MS NG but appreicate your breadth of
knowledge/experience.

Kind regards



Andrew in Sheffield (UK)

 

[wesafuse]

MS Project works with many of the Project Management Institute's
(PMI)recommendations for WBS scheduling, so it is a good application to use
for getting started in formal project management processes. Like most
software, it has the "flexibility" to make some major detours from what would
normally be considered a best practice process by PMI, but that's why project
management process training is so important.

I encourage the use of Project, even though it sometimes competes with the
software we sell. We're also a Microsoft ISV partner, so I support the use of
Project as part of our partnership. My suggestion for considering
alternatives is to attend local chapter meetings of the Project Management
Institute (in most major cities worldwide) to speak with others about what
they use. I have found most PMI members to not only be quite helpful in the
monthly meetings, but they are often open to a visit and demonstration of
processes and tools within their organization so that you can see their
software of choice in a real working environment.

Having said all of that, I encourage you to also consider Project Insight
(http://www.projectinsight.net). I train and support Project Insight
customers, many of whom use MS Project on their desktops while using Project
Insight on the Web. It can be used as an alternative to MS Project, but I
have found that people who like MS Project tend to stick with it for
scheduling projects on the desktop.

 

[Mike Glen]

Hi Andrew,

You might like to have a look at my series on Microsoft Project in the
TechTrax ezine at this site: http://tinyurl.com/2xbhc or this:
http://pubs.logicalexpressions.com/Pub0009/LPMFrame.asp?CMD=ArticleSearch&AUTH=23
(Perhaps you'd care to rate the articles before leaving the site,
Thanks.)

FAQs, companion products and other useful Project information can be seen at
this web address: <http://www.mvps.org/project/>

Hope this helps - please let us know how you get on

Mike Glen
MS Project MVP