Stanislav Zhilenko - PeerSpot reviewer
Human Resources Project Manager at Kaspi Bank
Real User
Top 10
An amazingly stable solution offering its users valuable features for time and budget tracking
Pros and Cons
  • "Time tracking and budget tracking are the most valuable features of the solution."
  • "The solution's interface seems to be an outdated one. So, I would like its interface to be improved."

What is our primary use case?

Our company uses Microsoft Project for planning processes in big projects like building offices or developing software products.

What is most valuable?

Time tracking and budget tracking are the most valuable features of the solution.

What needs improvement?

The solution's interface seems to be an outdated one. So, I would like its interface to be improved.

Since everything I need is already present in the solution, I don't require any additional features to be added to the solution.

For how long have I used the solution?

Personally, I have experience with Microsoft Project for seven years. Though I don't know exactly, I believe that my company has been using the solution for about five years. So, my company is a customer of the solution.

Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Project
April 2024
Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Project. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2024.
770,141 professionals have used our research since 2012.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scalability-wise, I rate the solution an eight out of ten. So, around ten people in my company are using the solution. It is used by a few of our project departments and some project managers like myself from another department.

How are customer service and support?

I haven't contacted the technical support team, but we have employees from our help desk team who have contacted the solution's technical support team for some issues. So, I think it's okay.

How was the initial setup?

When using the solution on my personal computer, I just installed it and began to use it. And at my company, I just told our help desk to install the solution remotely on my office computer.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Pricing-wise, I rate the solution a seven out of ten since I feel it is a bit costly.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend those planning to use the solution to learn to use it from somewhere since, for beginners, it may seem like a complicated solution to use.

I would absolutely recommend Microsoft Project to those planning to use it. Though the solution serves my purpose, it is a bit costly. So, I rate the overall solution a nine out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Senior Manager at a financial services firm with 201-500 employees
Real User
Tight integrations with other Microsoft products such as SharePoint and Power Automate
Pros and Cons
  • "It is easy to check project costs in the solution."
  • "The setup and scalability can be somewhat difficult for new users until they gain knowledge."

What is our primary use case?

Our company uses the solution for project management. We monitor work progress or activities to ensure they are completed. We get a full view of start dates, end dates, and all dependencies required for actions. 

We store many things on Teams. We can make objections or put things in SharePoint. 

Nine team members in our department use the solution. Previously, we used only on-premises but now we are using both on-premises and the cloud service.

What is most valuable?

The solution is tightly integrated with other Microsoft products such as SharePoint and Power Automate and also integrates with Google.

It is easy to check project costs in the solution. 

Notifications provide alerts of new outages so you can move your project as needed.

What needs improvement?

The setup and scalability can be somewhat difficult for new users until they gain knowledge. 

Ongoing education would motivate users to learn and take advantage of the solution's many features. 

The price could be more flexible. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the solution for three years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable so I rate stability a nine out of ten. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is scalable. 

If you are familiar with Microsoft tools, then it is easy to understand the scalability. If you are a new user, then scaling may be difficult because you have to spend some time understanding Microsoft chronologies first to scale the solution. 

How are customer service and support?

I have not used technical support. 

How was the initial setup?

When we started working with the solution, the setup was somewhat difficult. Once you gain knowledge, you slowly see that the solution is easy to use. 

What about the implementation team?

We implemented the solution in-house. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The licensing model is somewhat complex. Initially, the price is low but scales up because you pay for consumption and usage. 

Pricing is okay if you have one or two users. If you add everyone in your company as project managers, then the price is high. 

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

The solution is better than Jira. 

What other advice do I have?

I rate the solution an eight out of ten. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Project
April 2024
Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Project. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2024.
770,141 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Deputy Manager - IT at Nidec Corporation
Real User
Top 5
Offers good integration capabilities and can be easily installed
Pros and Cons
  • "The product's initial setup phase is easy."
  • "Tracking timeline, resource allocation, and monitoring are areas of concern for the tool where improvements are required."

What is our primary use case?

I use the solution in my company for our one project involving some product implementation, so it was used from the project's first meeting to the delivery phase.

What needs improvement?

Tracking timeline, resource allocation, and monitoring are areas of concern for the tool where improvements are required. Improvement in tracking timelines, resource allocation, and monitoring can help our company check whether each and every activity related to a project is completed or not. If the company notices any issues in the timeline, then we can reassign such tasks. The product should allow our company to collaborate with Microsoft Teams so that our company can complete a project within the set timeline.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Microsoft Project for 3 years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The product offers good stability. Microsoft products usually offer a certain level of stability to users.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is a scalable solution.

My company has three users of the product.

As of now, there are only three users of the product if I consider the project my company has been handling.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

In the past, my company used to use Microsoft Excel to track some project-related activities.

How was the initial setup?

The product's initial setup phase is easy.

The deployment is not at all complicated since our company only had to download the product from the solution's official website, after which we enabled the licenses to use it.

What was our ROI?

The product helps its users save the time attached to the manpower required. In the product, users can fix the delivery time and fulfill their project-related commitments to their customers.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The product is not expensive. My company has opted for an annual subscription.

What other advice do I have?

Microsoft Project's integration with the overall project management processes in our company has been possible through Microsoft Teams which was used for meetings and it was also used to assign and set goals, priorities and timeline.

While handling the project in the company, Microsoft Project improved team collaboration since the tool could provide reminders based on the timeline. The tool helps to keep a check on whether the teams in our company are going through their daily work and completing the project within the committed time as per the schedule.

The most beneficial part of the product in terms of tracking project progress stems from the fact that it provides users the ability to easily track each and every activity concerning the project.

Speaking about the impact of resource management features in project planning, I would say that in the beginning of the project itself, my company had allocated the resources and had set the goals along with the timeline. With the tool, it is easy to monitor the daily activities of the project.

Speaking about how the reporting functionality in the product helped me with the decision-making part, I see that the product allowed me to collaborate with Microsoft Teams.

I recommend the product to others who plan to use it since it allows its users to easily handle projects, allocate resources, fix the timeline, and track and monitor the progress of the projects. It also helps its users to assign tasks to others.

I have not faced any challenges with the product's scalability and integration capabilities.

I rate the tool a nine out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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SunilAgarwal - PeerSpot reviewer
Executive Vice President and Global Head of Research and Development at Bqube Global
Real User
Top 5Leaderboard
Easy to use and great for project planning and monitoring
Pros and Cons
  • "If you work with Microsoft, it's very easy to work with this."
  • "We'd like to have more resource allocation and monitoring features."

What is our primary use case?

We are doing e-commerce implementations and we organize the projects and Gantt charts for this task.

What is most valuable?

It's great for project planning and monitoring.

It's very easy to use. It's plug-and-play. 

The solution is stable.

It can scale well.

The UI is great. If you work with Microsoft, it's very easy to work with this.

What needs improvement?

It can be hard to create things manually, however, once we have it up and running it's very easy.

We'd like to have more resource allocation and monitoring features. This should be part of MS Project. 

For how long have I used the solution?

We've been using the solution for almost a year. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is good. I'd rate it 8.5 to nine out of ten. It is reliable. There are no bugs or glitches. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is scalable. We just give the order to the reseller and they activate more licenses.

We have 60 to 70 users. We do have plans to increase to 200 licenses. 

How are customer service and support?

We have a reseller partner that offers technical support for any tickets logged. 

How was the initial setup?

The setup is based on the business requirements. It's not too difficult. 

The deployment takes four to six weeks.

We activated the license and then, to use MS Project, we have to create a whole project plan, and that requires manual data entry. Then, once we have that, everything moves quickly.

We do not need any technical people to maintain the product. It's very user-friendly and maintenance is very minimal. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

This is a cost-0effective project planner. I'm getting a product at $100 as opposed to Oracle, which would cost me thousands of dollars. I'd rate it nine out of ten. 

We pay annually. You can also pay monthly if you would like.

There are no extra costs in addition to the standard licensing fees. You would have to pay if you were using other Microsoft products, like Microsoft Teams. 

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We did evaluate OIracle and found the price to be too high. The implementation timeline was also very long. 

What other advice do I have?

We're using the cloud-based solution so were are always on the latest version. 

This is a Microsoft product and therefore it is very user-friendly. We use a lot of Microsoft products and find it very simple to get used to the UI since we use so much Microsoft in general. 

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Information Technology Program Manager at a government with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Integrates with Visio and allows us to have a milestone schedule and a breakdown of work
Pros and Cons
  • "Being able to get a milestone schedule or a breakdown out of it is valuable. It can integrate into Visio, which is helpful."
  • "Its user interface could be a little bit more intuitive. Not everybody has the luxury of going to training and understanding which button does what and the functionality. The user interface should be improved to make it a little bit more intuitive. It is not user-friendly. I've dealt with it for a number of years, so it is not hard for me to figure it out, but you would need a quick reference guide or something to say, "Here are the basics. This is how you do X.""

What is our primary use case?

We use it for the Gantt functionality. We can do project schedules and use the WBS piece to break down the work. We are able to generate reports for leadership to show project schedules, milestone schedules, etc.

It is installed on the desktop. It is not connected to the project server or anything like that. 

What is most valuable?

Being able to get a milestone schedule or a breakdown out of it is valuable. It can integrate into Visio, which is helpful.

What needs improvement?

Its user interface could be a little bit more intuitive. Not everybody has the luxury of going to training and understanding which button does what and the functionality. The user interface should be improved to make it a little bit more intuitive. It is not user-friendly. I've dealt with it for a number of years, so it is not hard for me to figure it out, but you would need a quick reference guide or something to say, "Here are the basics. This is how you do X."

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for about five or six years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is stable.

How are customer service and support?

I haven't contacted them.

How was the initial setup?

It takes a while to build, but it will probably depend on the project size and all the dependencies. So, it isn't exactly straightforward, but it also depends on the size of the project or the scope of the project.

What other advice do I have?

It is pretty straightforward. There isn't anything heavy about it.

I would rate it an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Sr. Project Manager at Stradley Ronon
Real User
Useful cloud access, reliable, and straightforward implementation
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable features of Microsoft Project are the availability of being online and within Teams. My entire team can use it and see it, versus the full Microsoft Projects, such as Project Professional, you need to have a license."
  • "In a future release, the dashboard should improve because there isn't one, I had to create my own."

What is our primary use case?

I am using the Microsoft Project App in Teams and I use it mostly for project scheduling. We don't use it for reports or anything else.

How has it helped my organization?

Microsoft Project has helped improve my organization by providing transparency. Everyone can see what they're assigned and other information.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features of Microsoft Project are the availability of being online and within Teams. My entire team can use it and see it, versus the full Microsoft Projects, such as Project Professional, you need to have a license.

What needs improvement?

All the versions of Microsoft Project could use improvement one way or another, but the specific version that I'm using, the reporting capabilities, and/or being able to link think other projects to it could improve. If I have a portfolio of projects that I'm working on, I want to be able to see a dashboard of all of my projects in one place. I haven't been able to do that in this particular version without using coding or PowerBI or anything similar.

In a future release, the dashboard should improve because there isn't one, I had to create my own.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Microsoft Project on and off for approximately 20 years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability of the Microsoft Project is good.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have not scaled Microsoft Project, it is only our 25-person IT departments using it. We have desktop analysts, project managers, and directors using the solution.

We do plan to roll out Microsoft Project to our business professionals on the business side of the organization, in the next three or four months.

How are customer service and support?

We have not had any issues using the solution to contact the support from Microsoft.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We used LiquidPlanner previously. It was more of a time-keeping tool versus a project management tool. If I only want to build a schedule, I couldn't do that in LiquidPlanner without my team tracking their time.

LiquidPlanner is only good for timekeeping, and I couldn't get my staff to keep their time, it wasn't practical for us. I needed to be able to build a schedule and be able to track it on my own, versus what was done, versus people having to go in and track the time they work on a specific task. Whereas LiquidPlanner doesn't give me the opportunity to build a project plan without using timekeeping.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup of the Microsoft Project is straightforward. However, it was a Team's deployment and Microsoft Project is part of that suite. It took us approximately six months for the complete deployment.

What about the implementation team?

We did use a consultant to help us deploy Teams and we were involved too. The consultant has been very helpful, we use them for all kinds of different deployments.

We have two systems analysts who are in charge of keeping Microsoft Teams up updated which includes Microsoft Project.  

What was our ROI?

We're managing projects a little bit better, we're a lot more transparent, and Microsoft Project is easier to report on, versus LiquidPlanner, which we spent a lot of money on. We saved all that money not having to use LiquidPlanner.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

You only need a Team's license in order to use Microsoft Project within Teams, which is very helpful.

If an organization already has Teams, they already have access to Microsoft Projects, or at least Microsoft Project Online. There's no reason to buy separate project management software, at least for a smaller company like ours.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We did not evaluate other options. We used what we had, and tried to save money. We already have Microsoft Project, and we decided to use it.

What other advice do I have?

My advice to others would be to do extensive training and tutorials and create QRGs. It's new and not a lot of people know how to use it. Training is the most important.

I rate Microsoft Project an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Solutions Manager, Support Analyst at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Top 20
The interface is intuitive, so anyone can jump in and start, but reporting could be better
Pros and Cons
  • "Microsoft Project integrates well with the Microsoft Office family of applications. It has plugins that interact with it and you can use it with Microsoft Teams. We can use plugins to communicate with JIRA, Projectplace, and Planview. It's not widely used in the company, of course, but it's something that can interact with the official tools that we have."
  • "Planview FLEX licensing gives us a central repository where all the projects are stored so you can check the finances, resources, etc. It's quite useful to have everything connected. We don't have that for Microsoft Project. It's disconnected. The reporting capabilities could also be better, especially with finance and resources. Everybody complains about reports. That's why we need another tool."

What is our primary use case?

Microsoft Project is one of the main tools our teams abroad use for planning, and it's very flexible. Local teams use it to manage small projects locally. It's also a repository for storing financial information that we don't want to track down. 

Teams use Microsoft Project for tracking tasks, managing requests, assigning resources, and following up. Workers can submit work to managers for approval and then it's submitted to the main process. 

How has it helped my organization?

Microsoft Project provides a starter tool that project managers can learn before moving on to solutions that are more convenient or widely used in the company. The interface is intuitive, so anyone can jump in and start planning. 

It's also a tool that is common among many companies, so if I take a new job at another firm, there's a good chance they will be using Microsoft Project, too. When we hire a new person, they can usually start working right away without any training. We only need to teach them how to apply that knowledge to the other tools we use.

What is most valuable?

Microsoft Project integrates well with the Microsoft Office family of applications. It has plugins that interact with it and you can use it with Microsoft Teams. We can use plugins to communicate with JIRA, Projectplace, and Planview. It's not widely used in the company, of course, but it's something that can interact with the official tools that we have. 

What needs improvement?

You can do a lot of stuff with Microsoft Project, but the licensing is for individual computers, so it's not connected to a central platform like the one that we have in Planview. 

Planview FLEX licensing gives us a central repository where all the projects are stored so you can check the finances, resources, etc. It's quite useful to have everything connected. We don't have that for Microsoft Project. It's disconnected. The reporting capabilities could also be better, especially with finance and resources. Everybody complains about reports. That's why we need another tool. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I've only been using Microsoft Project for a year. I have more experience with Planview Projectplace, but we use this as well. I'm primarily responsible for Projectplace in my role. I do onboarding for other teams, create the workflows, and work with use case scenarios for various teams worldwide. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's an on-premise solution. It's never going to break down because it's installed on a local computer. It's highly stable from that point of view, but our use case is also limited. 

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

A project management application is only as powerful as the information you put inside. Projectplace is available to time reporters, developers, engineers, resource managers, and financial controllers. It is a powerful tool that provides a centralized way to gather information. 

A director can access Projectplace and see every project involving their teams. You can create custom reports. We have teams that design new reports for the various needs we have. That's the most powerful feature a project management solution can have—the ability to pull out information. That's something we don't have with Microsoft Project.

What other advice do I have?

I rate Microsoft Project seven out of 10. Better tools are available. Microsoft Project is a decent tool for small startups and medium-sized projects, and it's widely used. 

We work with customers to develop products from scratch. The process involves multiple design teams, financial controls, and planning. Each project is part of a larger program, and we have to follow up on that. There are tons of tools that can do this way better. Microsoft Project, in my opinion, is for small and medium-sized projects.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Hector-Gonzalez - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Global PMO Manager, Project & Portfolio Management Office Manager at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Improves visibility, offers good integration, and is robust
Pros and Cons
  • "The integration between SharePoint and Power BI has been great."
  • "We need more integration with Microsoft Teams and other collaboration tools."

What is our primary use case?

We primarily use the solution for portfolio management, project management, and program management. It is also used for reporting to leadership on a portfolio level.

How has it helped my organization?

It gives the enterprise and leadership the visibility of what's going on with their enterprise. It provides visibility to all the projects that are going on within the company.

What is most valuable?

The integration between SharePoint and Power BI has been great.

The stability is good.

You can scale the solution as needed. 

What needs improvement?

We need more integration with Microsoft Teams and other collaboration tools.

The product could be more user-friendly in some areas. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used the solution for a while. I've used it over the last 12 months at least. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is pretty good. It's easy to use and reliable. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution can scale. It can scale for a company that's dealing with a medium-size company dealing with 10 to 20 projects, all the way to the large companies dealing with hundreds of projects it's very scalable.

We've got the technology department using the product. We also have businesses using it as well. We have a total of 100 plus people that are using it today in our company.

The solution is being used extensively. We do have plans on working with a third party to potentially make the solution even more user-friendly.

How are customer service and support?

I haven't used their technical support, however, I've partnered up with Microsoft Partners to come up with potential future solutions.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Before Microsoft Project Online, we just used Microsoft Project Desktop and we utilized Microsoft SharePoint to create lists in order to create portfolio trackers and project trackers that way. We needed a more robust solution that can track risk management, budgetary prioritization, et cetera. Microsoft Project does that for us.

How was the initial setup?

The setup can be both complex and easy. I'd rate it 3.5 out of five, with five being an easy setup.

Deployment involves usually implementing the new tools and then adopting and having people use it. Implementation took about three months and then the adoption took another six to eight to nine months of training and making sure people use the tool.

We have admins and that's one or two folks that can handle any maintenance requirements. It's not a high-maintenance product.

What about the implementation team?

We had a consultant assist us with the implementation.

What was our ROI?

We've seen an ROI from the aspect of efficiencies and having information in one central location. We've cut time in reporting. We've cut time in the administration portion as well, of setting up projects so there's been efficiency. We hope the ROI might expand as we use it more.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I'm not aware of what the licensing costs are. There might be extra costs associated with maintenance. 

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

While it is my understanding that we did look at other solutions, I was not part of that tendering process. I don't know which ones were vetted.

What other advice do I have?

We're a customer and end-user.

I'd advise potential new users to make sure they select a tool that will be useful to the end-user. This tool is really catered to project managers, while the majority of the folks who are executing projects are not what I call professional project managers.

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Private Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Microsoft Project Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: April 2024
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Buyer's Guide
Download our free Microsoft Project Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.