Australia - Nov 12, 2004

Firstly, I am a scheduler not a reseller.

On the topic of which is better P3e or Powerproject one approach we are looking at is comparing the outputs. Now this is for basic level scheduling in projects that would be equally comforably produced in SureTrak or MSP.

PP is a little different in terms of its layout to SureTrak and MSP (2000) and has lots of features which provide flexibility to the end user. Some of these have been mentioned in earlier posts.

One nice feature is the variable scale time zones - with the 3 regions you can show days, months and years in the barchart area.

For people who want a flexible scheduling tool I think the product is worth a serious look. I have seen the discussion about the construction industry and scheduling tools.

Complexity and pricing for P3e is making it difficult for mid sized contractors to take it on board.

For example in July 2004, 1-3 copies, Concurrent user licenses of Primavera Project Management for construction/ Engineering (includes 12 months maintenance) AUD$7920 plus 20% buy price for annual maintenance (each year thereafter). I do acknowledge that P3e has other features that attempt to promote work flow - but if you want a scheduling tool and not a document management system.. look at Powerproject.

Standalone Powerproject is about one fifth of this price !!!

I havent tested PP with 6000 activities - certainly information from initial feedback is that once you approach large numbers of activities it is time to change databases.

A good introduction to Powerproject (for those who want to quickly come up to speed) is to watch the video files (available on cd from PP distributors). The videos show you how to set up a project and features a presenter at his pc.