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Most Up to Date Version of MS Project???

15 replies [Last post]
Wed, 2004-09-01 03:18
Alan Burns
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Can anyone confirm what the most up to date version of MS Project available at present would be? I currently use 2000.

Opinions on how good it actually is would be much appreciated also.

Many Thanks.

Alan
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Replies

Fri, 2004-09-10 08:58
#1
Alan Burns
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Guys,

Glad to see I’ve prompted some debate with this post, I wont hesitate to let you all know our conclusions following our review of software.

Cheers.
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Fri, 2004-09-10 06:04
#2
Rick Dancer
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This seems to be taking a vastly different direction from the original post: what is the latest version of MS Project?

Two observations on the meandering that this stream of posts is taking:
(1) You cannot shoot a tool because some participants in industry are lax in establishing standards for planners; and
(2) There are many organizations that are not trying to develop huge, very complex plans, so they do not need either the power, complexity nor rigit methodology of P3.
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Fri, 2004-09-10 02:52
#3
Luca Basile
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Another huge problem of the construction industry is that a lot of non planners because are able to put together few bars in MsProject they believe that the planner function is useless.
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Thu, 2004-09-09 10:59
#4
Vladimir Liberzon
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Yes, MS Project is everywhere like McDonalds. But still everywhere you can find restaurants that suggest the food that better fits your needs and your taste. But McDonalds is easy and cheap choice. Besides, those who choose and those who use freaquently are not the same.
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Thu, 2004-09-09 09:47
#5
Vladimir Liberzon
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It is strange to me to see discussion like this on the site for professional planners. I am sure that every planner understands that if the PM software does not produce necessary analysis and reports then it does not matter how much does it cost. If the software packages produce the same data you can compare price. In any other case software functionality is a priority. Do you agree?
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Thu, 2004-09-09 06:38
#6
Rick Dancer
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Organizations who already use MS Project typically reduce costs when upgrading to MS Project Server. With desk-top MS Project, reporting and viewing plans is weak. Any person wanting to review a plan typically has to have a MS Project license. My current client will be reducing MS Project licenses from 350 down to 82, and MS Project is the most costly license.

Web Access is very cheap per user (approx. CAD$150).

Absolutely new users of MS Project Server do have to acquire Windows Server, SQL*Server etc., but how many Microsoft shops out there do not have those anyway?

I completed a benefit/cost analysis of the alternatives available, and we netted cost avoidance savings of well over $400,000 by implementing MS Project Server.
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Tue, 2004-09-07 11:34
#7
Rick Dancer
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Microsoft Project Server 2003 is very cost effective. Only Project Managers need MS Project Professional for developing their plans. All users access the knowledge-base for reporting, timesheets, plan reviews, etc using Web Access. It is a good project portfolio management product for project and resource management.

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Wed, 2004-09-01 10:31
#8
Vladimir Liberzon
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If you are interested in resources and costs as well as cashflow diagram options then you should try Spider Project. You will find everything you want and much more. Download its Demo from http://www.spiderproject.ru/spider_e.shtml
Regards,
Vladimir
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Wed, 2004-09-01 09:57
#9
Alan Burns
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We are doing contracts from minor £100,000 projects upto larger projects at £7million. We feel after seeing Pwerproject MSP doesnt give us enough options in terms of resources and costs as well as cashflow diagram etc. We feel that we should give MSP 2003 a try as well as P3 and Powerproject.

Any useful comment are welcome!

Many Thanks,

Alan
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Wed, 2004-09-01 07:50
#10
Steve Craine
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Hi Alan

Something else to consider when evaluating the software is the actual future use of the tool, eg will you be assigning resources and costs, and will you want to attach a time recording feature.
Having been caught out a few times with these future requirements always something to bear in mind when your playing with budgets for these kinds of tools

Steve
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Wed, 2004-09-01 06:28
#11
Alan Burns
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Raj,

Thank you for your info. I have tried P3 on a trial version and found it to be a bit more complex to use, however I have recently tried Powerproject and found it to be quite good.

My organisation are currently evaluating systems and feel it would be fair to have a look at the most recent version of MSP.

Again, thanks for your help,

Alan.
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Wed, 2004-09-01 06:19
#12
Raj Maurya
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Currently the Latest Version of MSP-2003 is availbale. Lot of discussions were being held to compare MSP & P3 on Planning Planet. I believe P3 is no doubt more inteligent software. But again one has to do his requirement & commercial evaluation before choosing any of the above two softwares. For simple project MSP is very handy and esier to P3 but for complex analysis P3 is easy & more reliable. You can do the analysis to the some extent in MSP also but carefully.
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