Microsoft project is a project management software created by Microsoft to help users manage projects, teams, and resources. It has been one of the best project management systems for many years. It provides a wide range of features, from clear-cut project scheduling and budgeting to advanced resource management, real-time collaboration, and data analysis. Any project that calls for planning, scheduling, and tracking can use it.

Teams can plan their projects, work together on tasks, share resources, monitor progress and deadlines, and analyze data with the aid of Microsoft Project. Simple tasks or intricate, multi-year projects can be managed using it.

Microsoft Project is available as a desktop application for Windows, which can be a bit of a hassle for users from other operating systems. Fortunately, there are plenty of appropriate alternatives to MS Project that work on other operating systems. Check here MS Project competitors with their advantages and disadvantages.

The main features of Microsoft Project are:

• Reporting and Analytics: To assist project managers in better-comprehending project performance and taking appropriate corrective action, the software offers a wide range of reporting tools and analytics. You can easily monitor progress and performance in real time with dynamic and thorough reports. You can see progress, costs, resources, and timelines using the reports and dashboards offered by Microsoft Project.
• Task Scheduling and Tracking: Users can assign resources, create tasks, and set project timelines using Microsoft Project's task scheduling and tracking features. Additionally, it offers features for monitoring task progress and fixing issues. Microsoft Project also comes with a high-quality task management system. Project flexibility and visibility are highly important in any organization, which is why Project management tools enable you to create and adjust plans on the fly.
• Resource Management: To improve project performance, project administrators can determine resource availability, allocate and manage resources to tasks, and assess resource usage. Using this project management software, you can manage project resources by asking for tasks or delegating them to specific team members.
• Microsoft Project will automatically request or assign those resources based on the information you enter, ensuring every team member can see them and get to work immediately. The distribution of resources among various departments or project workers is also visible to other team members.
• File sharing: It should come as no surprise that Project has file-sharing features, given the emphasis on teamwork mentioned above in the introduction. In reality, every team member who uses Project can share files with other team members. Since everyone has access to the same policies or common documents when needed, this ensures efficiency and ease of use since managers are just some of the ones who can share files with team members.
• Collaboration and Communication: Team members can work together in real-time, share documents and offer feedback, and easily manage tasks and resources thanks to the Microsoft Project's collaboration and communication features. Depending on what suits your team the best, you can also include charts, data presentations, and other graphics. It makes work within your organization more visual, organized, and energized.

Pros Of Microsoft Project

• Dependability: Among project management tools, Microsoft Project software is a groundbreaker. Its stable code base and software, commercially released in 1984, are constantly being improved to add more pertinent features to meet user needs. Due to the robustness of its features, Microsoft Project offers a high level of dependability. Users in any industry, from small businesses to big enterprise-level organizations, can use the software to meet their needs.
• Integration: The Microsoft Project is almost unbeatable in integrating seamlessly with Microsoft's widespread, market-dominant Microsoft 365 Office suite. Along with easier integration into Azure and other Microsoft platforms, the project management software integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Teams, Skype, Power BI, and Microsoft SharePoint. Microsoft products like Microsoft Excel have comparable ribbon interfaces.
• Customer Support: Microsoft is a reputable software company that offers its users trustworthy assistance. Partners, consultants, and third-party support services are available for this software. With this all-inclusive project management software, businesses can better manage their customer support teams. Teams can plan, organize, and monitor customer support projects' progress with its robust tools.
• Flexibility: Other MS Project Management software uses include financial management and road mapping. Teams and businesses have more options to meet their specific user requirements thanks to the deployment options, such as on-premise or cloud-based solutions. This feature is especially useful for large projects with complex tasks, as it allows for on-the-fly changes that won't affect the Project's timeline or budget.
• Improved communication: The Microsoft Project is a comprehensive project management tool that offers a centralized platform for data sharing and team collaboration, which helps to enhance team communication. Sharing progress insights with stakeholders is simple, keeping everyone informed and ongoing about the work and changes.

Cons Of Microsoft Project

Even though MS Project is a powerful, flexible, and great collaboration tool with a number of advantages, there are still many reasons not to use it.

• Too complex for beginners: Many project managers have criticized the training required to run and navigate MS Project for new hires. Unfortunately, there is a significant learning curve for those unfamiliar with the software.
• Difficulty in data sharing and collaboration: Most projects call for some level of client-team cooperation, and unfortunately, with integrations, MS Project provides real-time updates. Additionally, Windows PCs are the only platforms where the standard software can be bought and downloaded.
• Costly: MS Project offers several different software tiers. Unfortunately, they are all quite expensive. The cost versus the functionality is a common complaint from users. Many users can only buy a few licenses due to the high cost, which reduces productivity.
• Bad progress visualization: Many people need to grasp how time-consuming and challenging reporting can be. The need for real-time dashboard updates also influences this. With real-time information, it is much easier to keep up with the plan.
• Too many unutilized features: Although having many features may seem good, MS Project needs to go further with the numerous advanced and useless features. The numerous features are simple to entangle in, and most of the time, is wasted pixels, which may be the reason for the high cost.
• Not supported by many PCs: If your client requests data, they won't be able to access it without MS Project on any desktop. This flaw is very serious. Your client is out of luck unless they want to spend at least $ 500 or buy a computer with the installed software. You'll discover that sharing some basic information requires you to perform additional, unnecessary work.

Conclusion

As you can see, using Microsoft Projects offers a lot of benefits. Teams of all sizes can be confident that their project management needs will be met thanks to the platform's extensive features.