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A long-time favorite of project managers, Microsoft Project 2002 now makes its enterprise debut. Its new Web-based collaboration tools and improved scalability with OLAP support make it much easier to manage multiple Web projects with disparate workgroups and budgets.
When it comes to project management software, Microsoft Project has dominated the standalone desktop market for years. But up until now, Microsoft has, for the most part, ceded the enterprise market to other vendors like Welcom (www.welcom.com) and Primavera (www.primavera.com).
With Project 2002 Enterprise edition, Microsoft sets its sights on the enterprise market with a three-pronged approach that includes two entirely new products called Project Professional and Project Server, and a completely redesigned Web client called Project Web Access. In addition to the Enterprise edition, Microsoft offers Project Standard for the desktop level, and combines it with Project Server for the workgroup level. I tested the Enterprise edition for this review.
Unlike the standalone desktop application, the Project 2002 Enterprise solution is well suited to companies that manage multiple Web projects, and has schedules and budget management/maintenance features for distributed teams. Although its tools aren't designed specifically for Web projects, the tools included will help you manage any complex Web project in an enterprise setting.
architecture
The Enterprise edition includes the newly developed Project Server 2002 product running on Microsoft Windows 2000 Server with Internet Information Services (IIS) and SQL Server 2000. Microsoft Project Web Access is a module that lets key users, particularly managers and executives, follow project progress via the Web, using Internet Explorer versions 5.0 or later. Finally, the desktop piece, Microsoft Project 2002 Professional edition, resides on the project manager's desktop computer, which is running Windows 98 or later, or Windows NT Workstation 4.0 or later. The desktop product connects to Project Server using SQL Server as the back end database to store data. Users can also access Web information directly from Project Professional without opening a browser.
This edition also includes custom OLE DB and COM object support for third-party and customized application integration.
setting up a project
Before a project manager can use Project Professional, his or her IT department needs to do a lot of work to set up the system, including defining the contents of the enterprise...