Microsoft Office Project Standard 2003 Sets the Pace for ...



Microsoft Office Project Standard 2003 evolves to help project managers set up projects quickly and communicate project data more effectively

At a time when people are asked to accomplish more and more with fewer and fewer resources, great project management skills are more important than ever. So are great project management tools. And while Microsoft Project has been helping people run projects more efficiently for almost a decade, project managers still find it difficult to communicate assignments and deadlines to team members, provide status updates to managers, and consolidate project data so they can track and analyze projects more efficiently without wasting time in the struggle to find the information they need.

For people who manage projects, the newest version of Project offers important improvements and enhancements. Released last fall, Microsoft Office Project Standard 2003 delivers an unmatched combination of features for creating and tracking project plans, reporting project data to different audiences, managing schedules and resources, and analyzing project information. New wizards, improved Help features, goal-based step-by-step guides, and deeper integration with other Microsoft Office System programs ensure that project managers will be able to take advantage of the full power of Project Standard 2003, no matter what their level of technical expertise is.

"Since the release of Project 98, Project has evolved significantly," explains Giovanni Mezgec, Group Product Manager for Microsoft Office Project. "With Project Standard 2003, it's easier to set up projects quickly and communicate project information effectively. It truly is a flexible tool that lets project managers track projects according to their unique needs."

The improvements start with the addition of a more robust Help search engine, new wizards, and the ability to access Office Online for how-to information, templates, online training, and tools that improve productivity and efficiency. With these changes, it is easier for project managers to access up-to-date and relevant support and assistance than it was in Project 98.

Another important foundation for many of the improvements made since the release of Project 98 is tighter integration with the Microsoft Office System. With Project Standard 2003, project managers can follow richer wizards to pull in existing project data from Microsoft Office Excel 2003 or import task lists from Microsoft Office Outlook® 2003. Resources can be assigned quickly by importing resource data from Microsoft Active Directory®. And with templates from Office Online, project managers can launch new projects quickly, rather than starting from scratch every time they start a new project.

According to Mezgec, Project Standard 2003 was designed to ensure that project managers can take advantage of simple step-by-step directions that will help them develop project plans and schedules quickly and easily. One example is the Project Guide, a planning aid that helps project managers plan a project, set up tasks, assign resources, track progress, and report on project status. The Project Guide is also customizable using XML, making it easier to design and implement consistent, repeatable processes that reflect individual project management methodologies.

Other Office integration includes the ability to communicate project information in a wide range of formats, much more easily. The new Copy Picture to Microsoft Office Wizard simplifies the steps required to transfer project data to another Microsoft Office System program. The new wizard enables project managers to take a snapshot of vital project data and copy it into the Office program that is preferred by team members or management. Project managers can export project data into Microsoft Office Word 2003 when they need to create formal project reports, and into Microsoft Office PowerPoint® 2003 when they want to develop executive slide presentations. Project Standard 2003 also dramatically streamlines the steps required to generate customized charts and spreadsheets based on Project data in Excel 2003, and diagrams in Microsoft Office Visio® 2003.

"Because Project Standard 2003 works so seamlessly with other Office System programs, you can create custom reports in the format that is best suited to communicating the project information you want to convey," says Mezgec. "That means project managers will be able to keep teams members and management up-to-date on the status of a project with greater clarity and precision, which helps ensure their buy-in."

A new Printing Wizard also dramatically simplifies the steps required to print customized reports. For people using Project 98, printing reports that clearly communicate critical project information such as deadlines and resource requirements can be extremely time-consuming and frustrating. The new Printing Wizard in Project Standard 2003 makes it easier to print easy-to-read formatted reports by taking advantage of printing options such as number of pages to print, font size, the desired timescale range, and the columns and tasks to print, as well as header and footer details, print margins, and page breaks.

Other important changes that make it easier to access and communicate information include the ability to use custom groups and outline codes, to save multiple baselines, and to track project performance across the lifespan of a project. And as tasks are added or deleted and baselines are updates, project managers can decide how they want to update the baselines and which baselines to use in calculations to ensure accurate tracking of projects.

"When we went out and talked to project managers, they told us over and over again that as workloads increase, they have less and less time to dig for the information they need," says Mezgec. "Since Project 98, Project has evolved into a more flexible tool that allows project managers to consolidate project data and track performance in ways most appropriate for their projects.”

In the final analysis, Project Standard 2003 makes it easier to get started and launch projects, report project data more effectively to team members and management, as well as efficiently track and analyze projects. “Compared with Project 98, I think most project managers will notice a very significant difference," says Mezgec.

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