I read many blog entries that are very derogatory about MS Project, but struggle to understand why there seems to be such negativity about this product. It may not be as feature dense as products such Primavera P6 but it is a powerful, effective, planning tool that can be used for monitoring and controlling both large and small projects. I regularly come across criticisms such as:
- It isn't a CPM tool
- You can't track progress or costs
- You can't calculate and report earned value
- The float calculations are inaccurate
- You can't store multiple baselines
- Its grouping and sorting capabilities are poor
- Progress sometimes ends up in the future (beyond the status date) after updates
- Unstarted work remains in the past (behind the status date) after updates
- You can't use it for large complex projects
All of these criticisms are in fact falsehoods and stem from the fact that the users in question do not understand the capabilities of the software, haven't configured it correctly or haven't entered data into it properly in the first place.
In fact it is perfectly possible to create MS Project schedules that accurately determine the critical path and calculate free and total float. All the normal cost control and earned value features that any project would need are catered for and can be reported; in many cases this requirement is irrelevant as cost and earned value calculations are often calculated outside of the scheduling software using Deltek Cobra or similar. Updating progress against tasks can be accurately and efficiently accomplished providing the appropriate calculation settings are selected and proper care is taken when updating the schedule; The key is understanding how the software works and then using it properly. Up to 10 baselines are available, more than enough for most people's needs in my opinion. Projects can be planned with up to 99,999 tasks per file; I don't believe too many people are managing scopes larger than that and schedules become very unwieldy when the file gets that big. If more than 99,999 tasks are needed then multiple files can be linked together. The grouping and sorting activities are now very flexible; using Outline Codes a myriad of different views and summary reports can be created.
I'd be interested in hearing what others think?