You might have been satisfied with using a spreadsheet to manage your IT projects in the past, but as your projects grow more complex, you’ll need to find a more effective way to keep tabs on tasks, milestones, and resources. For many TechRepublic members, the tool they choose is Microsoft Project (see Figure A).
TechRepublic articles that provide instructions for Microsoft Project are among the most popular on the site. Even experienced Project users have told us that they want more tips related to managing IT projects with this popular software.
| Figure A |
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| Half of the survey respondents use Microsoft Project. |
IT consultant and TechRepublic columnist Lauri Elliot has written a series of articles about using Project. Her series of reports also includes instructions for using Project Central—a Web-based workgroup management tool. Elliot, a veteran project manager, has worked with clients such as Deloitte and Touche, Xerox, Ford Motor Company, and Lucent Technologies. She shares the expertise she’s gained with these two project management tools in five articles. Here’s a closer look:
- “Let Project’s workgroup features streamline your e-mail chores”: This article includes a step-by-step guide to setting up Microsoft Project’s workgroup features and offers advice about synching security precautions with your MIS department.
- “Use Microsoft Project workgroup features to manage distributed teams”: Project managers working with a remote team know that this scenario can make keeping all members up to date difficult. Here are some Microsoft Project features that can help team leaders streamline the project status process.
- ”Implementing Project Central for distributed teams”: This article details system requirements, planning considerations, and implementation steps for the Project Central Administrator. Screen shots illustrate the process.
- “Manage your project team with Project Central”: Microsoft Project Central can be an efficient tool to manage your project team. Here’s advice on how to send assignments to team members, reply to messages, and request status reports from team members.
- “Team members communicate efficiently with Microsoft Project Central”: Project managers can use Microsoft Project Central to help manage distributed teams over multiple projects. Here’s a look at the features that team members most commonly use.
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