Recommended Project Management Software

I would stay away from MS Project primarily because you waste a lot of your time updating it and it never really tells you anything accurately anyway.

I would read a book on SCRUM development process on why you don't need to waste your time on MSProject type of tools.

I saw the other post on Microsoft Project, Project is OK. I have used other tools such as CA Superproject (which I loved in PRE-98 days).

Make sure that you understand project's quirks. You have to consistently use the tool to get any value outof it.

Simply using it to plan, but not track performance limits the tool's value to the project. The tool should match your method of work, not define it.

Best of luck.

Ordinarily I would have agreed that MS Project lacked the enterprise capabilities that you're asking for, but that issue was put to bed with MS Project Server 2002. Please do yourself the favor of looking at this new release before you take recommendations from half-wits that look for every opportunity to slam Microsoft. This is truly the first enterprise product that Microsoft has produced and they've gone out of their way to make it competitive with packages that will cost your company 10x Microsoft's price.

For all the naysayers... it's hard to admit you're wrong, so for the moment I'll assume you'll write back something stupid, once again confirming your negative intelligence quotient.

MS Project is a scheduling tool. If you want to know how your department is doing and share information, you need a collaborative PM tool. Collaborative has become over-used lately, but this is the right focus.

You should be able to EASILY import your project schedule from MS Project or other sheduling tool into a collaborative environment where you can assign the tasks and gather real information on project performance. Your tool should also allow you to discuss the project openly, share documents (with versioning and checkout), manage issues, manage change, manage costs, rollup your task time into timecards, and other collaborative needs.

All projects should rollup to programs, department, division, and corporation so you can see how you are doing and present it to management. I have used a number of tools over the years. I have found, the easiest tools to implement are those that help the project manager and present to most to management (the people paying for the tool).

Tools such as eProject are easily adopted and provide a great ROI. Remember, MS Project is a scheduling tool and only one facet of project management.

Until MS Project Server and other tools are easier to implement and provide a better return; you will need to use your schedule/time management, resource management, cost management, quality management, change management, issues management, and communication management skills in an open environment. I have always looked for tools that are easy to implement and provide the right information to the right people.

Take a look at eProject. If you want to spend more money, PlanView is a great tool.

If your company has made the choice to use MS Project for project management, you are in a good position to take advantage of MS Project. MS Project Server is designed to support larger organizations and collaboration including project planning management and performance analysis. I have worked with Project since version 1.0 and it has definitely grown. The key to getting the most out of it is to develop a strategy of how your department is going to use Project. I am a consultant that frequently assists clients using Project. Before we begin introducing and training their users on how Project works, we have the strategy mapped out with expectations. We often create templates for them to use and we integrate the expectations and templates into the training. This is normally followed by mentoring to make sure everyone has worked out the bugs with how it applies to their individual responsibilities. The key is to take some time up front for planning. Most of the groups I have worked with have found that it takes 6 weeks to work out the kinks of how Project will fit into the management strategy, but even with the training and mentoring the cost of implementing Project was less costly than with some other packages. You will save some time and money because it is already being used at your company. Your IT group will be able to set up Project Server for you in less time because they know how. Good Luck.