I have used MSP for quite long for Projects, like many of you. I am evaluating if there are better alternatives. Wanted to learn from your experience of using MSP alternatives. Request you to share your experience if you have used anything else other than MSP.
What specific processes are you looking to automate or simplify by using a tool? MSP is a decent project scheduling engine but is not that great for other project management information capture and analysis needs.
If your projects are simple and you don't have much budget for a tool, Excel or SharePoint work (if you already have them).
I've used ADO and Jira/Confluence; they work alright for task and time tracking.Plus, there are some basic dashboards or you can use Power BI for reporting. But, they are better for Scrum or Kanban approaches. If your tasks have dependencies, I'm not familiar with an easy way to track them or see the impact to the overall schedule if you change task duration or dependencies.
Wrike seems decent. If, like me, you grew up on MS Project, you'll find you'll have to make a few adjustments, but nothing major. reporting is better, but you'll have to pay more for better reporting. I'm waiting for admin rights so that I can test out creating a work intake form and custom workflow for project requests - something MS Project doesn't do.
There are other tools that offer more, or less, bells and whistles. This is just a high-level brain dump of what I'm familiar with that I've used recently (my brief experience with NIKU 15? years ago doesn't count). The real question is, what do you need to accomplish? Saving Changes...
Thank you for taking time and providing your responses. I am into Generic pharmaceutical product development. MSP is good but I think it is too old styled, there are many tools available which make working in virtual environment easier and collaborative. I am currently evaluating Hive and Monday.com, not sure if any of you have used these tools are similar tools. Aaron let me know your experience after using Wrike.
I have used Smartsheet to manage projects. The issue with MSP is the fact that you cannot share your project plan with someone who does not have the software installed on their computer. I have used Smartsheet to manage both Waterfall and Scrum projects. Saving Changes...
Marcus UdokangProject Manager| Aivaz ConsultingCalgary, Alberta, Canada
The key phrase in this review: Nobody gets fired for buying Microsoft.
I don't like such reviews.
An example:
Most PM programs include Gantt Chart that is not a feature but the way to present project schedule. But the quality of project scheduling is not compared. An existence of the Gantt Chart does not tell much about the software capabilities.
Saving Changes...
Vladimir LiberzonR&D Director| Spider Project TeamMoscow, Russian Federation
The key phrase in this review: Nobody gets fired for buying Microsoft.
I don't like such reviews.
An example:
Most PM programs include Gantt Chart that is not a feature but the way to present project schedule. But the quality of project scheduling is not compared. An existence of the Gantt Chart does not tell much about the software capabilities. Saving Changes...
1) Size of project (ie, small projects work well in excel but it's a nightmare to do a larger project in it)
2) Amount of documentation required - this really depends on the industry and company. If you're working in a regulated space, err on the side of more documents
3) PM approach. I personally find it annoying to use MS Project for most agile projects. Jira is usually great for software but I wouldn't use it as the default for everything and doesn't work that easily with waterfall.
4) Regarding other project alternatives - Project Libre is pretty much a free source version of MS Project. It comes in handy when you NEED the capabilities of Project but you're working in a situation where the company won't get a license. (Which is how I used it at a previous company). Saving Changes...
It depends a lot on what type of alternative you're looking for. Do you want something as "heavy" as MS Project, or are you looking for something lighter? What industry are you in?
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