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The Advantages of Planning Using Microsoft Project
Microsoft Project has been round in one type or one other because the early '90s, but its usage amongst professional project managers continues to be not as widespread as you might think. There are a number of causes for this, although it is thought of by many as being the business standard benchmark for project management software.
One of the primary causes for venture managers' obvious reluctance to embrace Microsoft Project is a lack of knowledge in respect of how the software works. It's notoriously troublesome to efficiently self-teach MS Project, largely due to a lack of expertise in respect of defining and linking venture tasks. The issue is that the Process Sheet seems to recommend that one should enter task begin and finish dates. That is actually exactly the wrong thing to do as amongst other points, it imposes what MS Project refers to as a 'constraint'. The wrong type of constraint reduces flexibility and may forestall MS Project from re-scheduling duties should there be a change to the plan.
The proper strategy to define to tasks is in truth to specify solely durations and permit Microsoft Project to set start and end dates by means of its system of process linkage. Linkages define a dependent relationship between duties and enable a fluid schedule to be planned. If as an illustration a task is delayed, the effect on any dependent tasks will likely be displayed on the Gantt chart giving the project manager forewarning of attainable scheduling issues. That is maybe the least understood aspect of Microsoft Project, particularly for the inexperienced consumer and really tough to teach one's self.
Another reason for undertaking managers' reticence is a lack of information of the true scope of the software's capability. In the correct hands, Microsoft Project is an immensely powerful scheduling tool, enabling the challenge manager to experiment with various 'what if' scenarios. The Gantt chart is the standard manner of representing the challenge's timeline and have lengthy since been thought-about a extremely useful visible tool. Traditionally Gantt charts could be drawn out by hand and a complex undertaking may take some considerable time to plan in this manner.
One downside with the hand-drawn plan is the difficulty of re-scheduling should it become necessary. There is where Microsoft Project scores heavily towards traditional methods. With a easy click on of the mouse, duties will be re-scheduled and the Gantt chart immediately up to date by the software. This will doubtlessly be an enormous saving in time and leaves the mission manager free to do what they do best.
An extra cause for some venture managers' prejudice is probably a bad expertise with the software program within the past. Project 2010 is a much improved instrument in contrast with earlier variations and most, if not the entire known issues, have been efficiently addressed by Microsoft. As an example, the relatively poor financial reporting capability of Microsoft Project was dramatically improved in 2007 with the arrival of 'Visual Reports'. These are graphs that are created from information which Project exports to Microsoft Excel. Excel automatically creates a PivotTable based on the data and finally converts it into PivotChart format. All that is completed without the person requiring any detailed knowledge of PivotTables and PivotCharts however the result is a very complete and user-pleasant reporting package.
There are numerous causes then why challenge managers have grown differ of Microsoft Project over time, however I hope we've got proven in this article that perhaps it is now time to take another look.
