MS Project Standard 2007

[T]

I have been reading a bunch of posts regarding this issue and am still very
shaky on the best approach for me.

I work for a consulting company and have been composing a "schedule" for
them using MS Project which they are using to track all tasks/assignments
within the group in addition to regularly scheduled meetings and events.

This is mainly being used for management (roughly 6 people) and the idea is
that one person can maintain the schedule and give updates every week. MS
Project Standard 2007 seems fine for this (I have just been able to use
pictures of the GANT chart for weekly meetings).

One function they want is to be able to use the schedule and take the
assigned weekly meetings created in Project to send out Outlook invites to
the managers (possibly even send out task reminders in the future?) to
eliminate the redundancy of creating something in project and re-creating it
in Outlook.

I am trying to find the least costly method for going about doing this. I
have read things about Project Server, Project Web Access, etc, but I am not
sure if that is the least cost method for going about doing this.

Thanks

 

[Rod Gill]

Hi,

Start with the fact that MS Project is not a time management tool! In
schedules, it is typical to only schedule meetings on a weekly basis. Why?
because time information is not in Project. If a meeting time needs to
change, Outlook can show empty time slots for each person to make scheduling
a meeting easy. project can't. Outlook can send appointment emails and
collect acceptances etc.

I would use Project to schedule when meetings need to occur (by week) and
use Outlook to schedule the date and time.

If you use other tools such as Project Server or some other tools just to
schedule meetings, it will consume hours of effort per meeting just so you
can save 5 minutes per meeting!!

Keep it simple, but if you need the other features that Project Server
offers then maybe.

--

Rod Gill
Microsoft MVP for Project

Author of the only book on Project VBA, see:
http://www.projectvbabook.com

 

[T]

From talking with someone from my team today the idea is that there would be
one person that alters the schedule... my boss on the other hand would like
to be able to see that schedule (and the other front line leaders for that
matter) from his computer (in preferably outlook) when needbe. What would
be the best way to use the Project file to send out action items and
appointments via outlook so you can eliminate the redundancy of keeping the
Outlook and Project items separate?

Thoughts?

 

[- Bobb -]

I have been reading a bunch of posts regarding this issue and am still
very
shaky on the best approach for me.

I am trying to find the least costly method for going about doing this.
I
have read things about Project Server, Project Web Access, etc, but I am
not
sure if that is the least cost method for going about doing this.

Likewise I was talking to my nephew who has small company and currently
has Project 2000 installed on his laptop. ( He was 'the guy' that used it-
company has grown since then. I'm a "computer guy" but not familiar with
Project / licensing. )

He would like to 'have anyone use it' but he doesn't want to give up his
PC, so asked me about it They have server 2000 in workgroup setup. He
said that he'd 'like it on server so anyone can run it.'

- I checked and min spec for Project 2007 is Server 2003,

- But I checked and even if he did buy new server/upgrade ( they've been
thinking about it) , at tigerdirect/Newegg etc I see that Project for
server costs about $3000+ and ~$900 per client - does that sound right ?
Why so much for clients ? If so, too much, so ...

- I then proposed buying just one copy of MS Project 2007 Std for ~$450
and installing it on a recently replaced PC ( they just bought a few new
ones ) and whenever someone needs it ( a few times per month - maybe),
they log onto that PC into the Project account and that's all that account
can do ( to keep people off that PC).

- I also checked Amazon/pricewatch for new copies of Project 2003 and they
are about $700 . 4 years old and more money than current ???

- Project 2000 and 2007 produce compatible output files ?

Any feedback about assumptions / plan ?
Thanks.

 

[Rod Gill]

Project is a scheduling tool with a focus of weeks and years. Outlook is a
time management tool with a focus on minutes, hours and days (mostly) so
putting Project tasks into Outlook is a big compromise. There is no
redundancy as you never enter times in a project (except for critical shut
downs or cut-overs). There really is no way to avoid entering days and times
to appointments, but Outlook is the place to do that. Project Server can
integrate with Outlook, but it will cost you a lot of time getting up to
speed and maintaining the two data sets.

If you can't justify the time and cost of installing and running Project
Server, keep it simple and keep it semi-manual! There may be some other tool
that can integrate with Project to help with this, but you still won't be
able to get around the fact that as soon as you specify a time for
something, that time and event needs updating which takes time, there are no
short cuts I'm afraid.

If semi-manual genuinely takes a lot of time, look for a custom add-in to be
developed to do what you need.

--

Rod Gill
Microsoft MVP for Project

Author of the only book on Project VBA, see:
http://www.projectvbabook.com

 

[JulieS]

Hi Bobb,

The difference in pricing you most likely saw between Project 2003 and
Project 2007 is probably due to the "standard" versus "professional"
versions of Project. There is a considerable price difference between
the two, so I imagine the 2003 was Prof. and the 2007 was Standard
versions.
Project professional can be used in a stand-alone environment but it
is designed to work in conjunction with Project Server. Project
Standard will not interact with Project Server.

If there is only use 1 or 2 times per month and only 1 or 2 people
within the company are going to use the software, I'd install on one
PC and have the users use that PC when needed. (Please also double
check your licensing agreement or check with your retailer about
licensing. I do not work for Microsoft nor can I speak for them.)

I hope this helps. Let us know how you get along.

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional information
about Microsoft Project

 

[- Bobb -]

Hi Bobb,

The difference in pricing you most likely saw between Project 2003 and
Project 2007 is probably due to the "standard" versus "professional"
versions of Project. There is a considerable price difference between
the two, so I imagine the 2003 was Prof. and the 2007 was Standard
versions.

Might have been - I'll recheck.

Project professional can be used in a stand-alone environment but it is
designed to work in conjunction with Project Server. Project Standard
will not interact with Project Server.

And the only reason to get the server edition is multi-user ?

If there is only use 1 or 2 times per month and only 1 or 2 people
within the company are going to use the software, I'd install on one PC
and have the users use that PC when needed. (Please also double check
your licensing agreement or check with your retailer about licensing. I
do not work for Microsoft nor can I speak for them.)

I hope this helps. Let us know how you get along.

Julie
Project MVP

Thanks for the feedback.

One other thing :
Do Project 2000 /2003/ 2007 produce compatible output files ? I'm thinking
customer has - one version, gives him a copy of plan to update - could he
update any version WITH any version and email back to customer ? Or needs
2007 to do so ? All 3 versions to do so ?
Thanks very much.

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional information
about Microsoft Project

On my way there . Thank you.

 

[- Bobb -]

Hi Bobb,

The difference in pricing you most likely saw between Project 2003 and
Project 2007 is probably due to the "standard" versus "professional"
versions of Project. There is a considerable price difference between
the two, so I imagine the 2003 was Prof. and the 2007 was Standard
versions.

<snipped>
I rechecked - 2007 Std vs 2003 Std. Not a big deal , just noticed it and
thought it strange:
Here's an example:
http://royaldiscount.com/project.ht...crn=Microsoft+Project+Standard+2003&ovtac=PPC

 

[JulieS]

Might have been - I'll recheck.


And the only reason to get the server edition is multi-user ?

[Julie] Yes. Project managers will still need Project Professional to
create and publish the project files to the server, but other people
can log into the Project Server through Project Web Access (PWA) to
view and update tasks.

Thanks for the feedback.

One other thing :
Do Project 2000 /2003/ 2007 produce compatible output files ? I'm
thinking customer has - one version, gives him a copy of plan to
update - could he update any version WITH any version and email back
to customer ? Or needs 2007 to do so ? All 3 versions to do so ?
Thanks very much.

[Julie] Project 2007 can read project files from 2000 forward. Using
Project 2007 a user can save "down" to project 2003 files. If a
project 2003 user has installed SP-3 he/she can read 2007 files.

On my way there . Thank you.

[Julie] You're welcome.

 

[Steve House]

An important caution to keep in mind ... the situation you describe sounds
like you're scheduling on-going activity rather than a "project" per se.
The needs of the two types of schedule are actually very different.
On-going business activity never ends but projects do. Projects are, by
definition, time-limited activities with a definite beginning point and an
observable ending point after which there is no further activity and
everyone disbands (at least as far as the project universe is concerned).
MS Project is designed to help you model the workflow that gets you from
begining to the end in the most efficient manner but with no end-date target
to work with, it has no way to determine "efficient" and its tools are not
able to work as designed.

 

[- Bobb -]

Thanks very much Julie

Might have been - I'll recheck.


And the only reason to get the server edition is multi-user ?

[Julie] Yes. Project managers will still need Project Professional to
create and publish the project files to the server, but other people can
log into the Project Server through Project Web Access (PWA) to view and
update tasks.

Thanks for the feedback.

One other thing :
Do Project 2000 /2003/ 2007 produce compatible output files ? I'm
thinking customer has - one version, gives him a copy of plan to
update - could he update any version WITH any version and email back to
customer ? Or needs 2007 to do so ? All 3 versions to do so ?
Thanks very much.

[Julie] Project 2007 can read project files from 2000 forward. Using
Project 2007 a user can save "down" to project 2003 files. If a project
2003 user has installed SP-3 he/she can read 2007 files.

On my way there . Thank you.

[Julie] You're welcome.

 

[T]

Thanks for everyones input. I understand that MS Project is for "projects"
that require a start and end date and my situation is more of an on going
schedule. I was given MS Project and the the task of coming up with a
schedule.. that was my task. So regardless of the fact that I know this and
have communicated it, it does not really matter. I have basically been
trying to shape the schedule to fit with what MS Project is intended to do.
For instance, our start and end dates for the schedule are based on the
Quarters of the year. Project actally DOES allow the use of picking specific
times for events so that has allowed me to schedule things more down to the
minute versus the day or hours of work.

I have a trial version of Project Server which I am going to try and play
around with. If we have a copy of Project Server and Project Professional
will I be able to do what I am trying to do? You said it will take a lot of
time.. How much time are we talking about? Time I have.. though they want
this up and running ASAP.

An important caution to keep in mind ... the situation you describe sounds
like you're scheduling on-going activity rather than a "project" per se.
The needs of the two types of schedule are actually very different.
On-going business activity never ends but projects do. Projects are, by
definition, time-limited activities with a definite beginning point and an
observable ending point after which there is no further activity and
everyone disbands (at least as far as the project universe is concerned).
MS Project is designed to help you model the workflow that gets you from
begining to the end in the most efficient manner but with no end-date target
to work with, it has no way to determine "efficient" and its tools are not
able to work as designed.
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm for the FAQs

From talking with someone from my team today the idea is that there would
be
one person that alters the schedule... my boss on the other hand would
like
to be able to see that schedule (and the other front line leaders for that
matter) from his computer (in preferably outlook) when needbe. What
would
be the best way to use the Project file to send out action items and
appointments via outlook so you can eliminate the redundancy of keeping
the
Outlook and Project items separate?

Thoughts?

 

[JulieS]

Thanks very much Julie

<snip>

You're very welcome Bobb. Glad to have helped and thanks for the
feedback.

Julie