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Did you know that around seven in every ten businesses had at least one failed project last year? It's hard to quantify the potential costs and business disruption caused by that figure.
But one thing we do know is this: a good project management tool can aid your team and your project manager. It can improve the chances of your next project becoming a resounding success story.
Here is a look at what Microsoft Project Online has to offer. Read through these features to determine if this is the right tool for your business.
Task Management
Using Microsoft Project Online, you can create and assign tasks on a project, one of the core features of any project management tool.
This means that you don't have to sit in person with your team to tell them what they need to do daily or from week to week. You can reduce your meetings, save time, and let your team get on with delivering your project.
Your team members will act as resources. From there, you can add your tasks and track their progress via the dashboard or notifications. You can also assign multiple team members to a group, which is helpful if you manage a large project.
Project Tracking and Planning
As a project manager, one of your first jobs will be creating tasks, dependencies, key project milestones, and other critical metrics, such as costs.
Microsoft Project Online provides features such as project templates to help you create your plan quickly and efficiently. The tool also has a traditional Gantt chart feature, helping you see tasks and milestones at a glance.
If your plan changes, the tool makes it easy to alter your plan, altering any critical dependencies or key metrics along the way. And throughout the planning stage, you can track project progress through a high-level dashboard.
A Centralized Storage Space
You'll start collating official documentation as you plan and manage your project. That might include the project plan, senior reports, requirement specification documents, or risk logs.
In all these cases, part of the challenge of any project management team is keeping these documents in one secure place. A second challenge is ensuring proper version control.
So it helps to have a centralized storage facility available to anyone on your project and one that is easily auditable. You can use Microsoft Project Online to manage your documentation in that way.
Plus, having these documents online and in the "cloud" means you can access them anytime, anywhere. That's helpful if you have remote teams or visit a client site.
Usable Interface
If you invest in any technology for your team, one feature you'll need to prioritize is usability. When a tool is useable, it cuts down training time and means you can easily swap team members. It also makes the software more efficient.
Microsoft Project Online has several features that make it intuitive and easy to use. For example, it offers the familiar Gantt format that many project managers use. It also has a high-level dashboard to view critical project data.
The tool is easy to navigate and offers spaces where you can manage tasks, schedule your projects, manage resources, track time, manage portfolios, and view reports.
When you have all this data in one place, you're only asking your team to familiarize themselves with one project tool rather than several.
High-Level Project Visibility
If you run a project, you'll want a way to view your project roadmap within the first five minutes of starting your working day. Plus, seniors want a tool that will provide a snapshot of a project without spending hours wading through the detail.
Microsoft Project Online offers that visibility by providing views and dashboards that offer that quick project snapshot. The tool also provides custom reporting, which does the same thing and can be a helpful way to keep senior management teams up to date about a project.
When you're on the dashboard, you can quickly drill down into the detail if you have questions. For example, you may want more information on why a project is on hold or is over budget.
Collaboration on Projects
A high-performing project team needs to collaborate regularly. That's why having a central area for information, progress, and documentation helps a team work together and share real-time data on multiple projects.
Team members also have other tools available to aid in collaboration. For example, they can use the chat and video conferencing features that Microsoft has built into the tool.
Having everyone on the team look at the same snapshot of the data makes it easier to resolve issues quickly and avoid misunderstandings.
This sort of collaborative working between people who may work in different teams or at various locations will help any project run smoothly.
Integration With Other Platforms
If you're considering using MS Project and Microsoft Project Online, you probably already have some tools your business operates. Integration, in these circumstances, is important because you don't want a new tool to mean double the effort and duplication of your data.
Microsoft Project Online integrates with a range of platforms, including:
- Microsoft Office 365
- Microsoft SharePoint
- Microsoft Teams
- Microsoft Planner
- Microsoft Azure
- Google Apps (via the Google Apps Script)
Since most of these platforms fall under the Microsoft umbrella, you have the added benefit of easy integration between the technology. You also have integration tools such as Zapier to help with external links.
Analytics
Many of the project dashboard tools offer some form of analytics.
For example, the Gantt chart or project health status provides real-time data. But it also offers other information you can use to analyze your projects, such as resource utilization or a risk assessment.
The portfolio analysis tool also provides predictive data for a project management team. It includes information on resource management across multiple teams and how you have prioritized your projects.
Is Microsoft Project Online the Tool for You?
If you want a familiar interface, state-of-the-art collaboration, and real-time data, you should consider adopting Microsoft Project Online. It will give your team the tools they need to stay organized on that next critical business project.
To get the most from your project software, ensure you have the proper training available for your team. Contact us today to see how our experts can help you roll out Microsoft Project in your business.
