Definition of Microsoft Project Plan
Microsoft project plan has been developed to help the project managers in their project management chores. The Microsoft Project is an intelligent tool that has inbuilt features and is embedded with various other software. Therefore, all the tasks and functions related to the project can be accessed and managed from one place. That is the beauty of the Microsoft project. There is other software available in the market for project management, but the most famous and widely used software is the Microsoft Project management software. In this topic, we are going to learn about Microsoft Project Plan Features.
Features of the Microsoft Project Plan
There is a number of salient features of the Microsoft Project. Let us get to know the significant features of this software in the details listed below:
1. Planning and forecast the project activities
The planning phase is the cornerstone of any project. It’s the backbone of any project. Planning of the project is crucial before the team starts working and is carried out by the project manager. The project management tool helps in scheduling and task management. It also helps prioritize the tasks as per the urgency and other conditions, making the process transparent and smooth. The project management software helps the project manager to draft all the project activities and helps to eliminate any hurdles. It helps the team members to be prepared for real-time difficulties.
2. Timeline view
The Microsoft Project tool has got one of the best features that are the timeline view which enables one to view the project progress and keep track of all the activities of the project in one place. The timeline view is very essential during the meetings with the stakeholders as it presents the entire project during the presentation in the desired format. Furthermore, the timeline can be attached to an email or PowerPoint presentation through simple editing to the format.
3. Alliance/Teamwork
The Microsoft Project plan tool is embedded with features like file sharing and team dashboards which helps to associate all the activities and the team members together, increasing productivity. The common files and documents can be shared among the team members using the software to avoid any kind of miscommunication and lack of understanding. With the help of dashboards, the project data can be represented through various diagrams and graphs for better clarity and understanding. Thus the project can run smoothly with minimal obstacles.
4. Budget Analysis
The Microsoft Project tool makes the budget analysis easy by analyzing the resource rate and the resource assignment cost. In addition, the total expenditure and the different reasons affecting the total cost of the project can be streamlined with the help of project management software.
5. Portfolio management
The portfolio management distributes, manages, and prioritizes the task on the basis of urgency and other terms and conditions. IT gives you alternatives for various scenarios in project management and helps to choose the best path. The portfolio management is embedded with Microsoft’s business intelligence system to accumulate and analyze the project data.
6. Resource management
This module of the Microsoft project helps to manage the resources effectively and eliminate the possibility of idle resources. The resource management module provides full clarity on the shared resources. There is a number of limitations for a project which restrict the resources being used in the project, with the help of the Microsoft Project tool. The resources can be monitored and subsequently aligned for different activities of the project. The project management tools also let the project manager calculate the resource allocation cost, which is very important for the total budget evaluation of the project.
7. Reporting
Reporting is a very important factor in any project, and there are different hierarchies of reporting followed during project management. Reporting is a very important feature of the Microsoft project management tool, which lets you track down the project progress at every step. Entire project data is accumulated, analyzed and different reports are then generated as per the requirement. The data can be represented diagrammatically and graphically. The reporting feature of this tool helps to monitor the idle resource and cost of the resource.
8. Effective data presentation
The Microsoft project is a very efficient and extraordinary tool as it provides different views of the project data. The data can be presented from a Gantt chart or a calendar, which helps the project manager schedule all the activities on a common platform. The meetings with the stakeholders become a delightful treat with the help of the Microsoft Project. A huge chunk of data is divided into smaller modules and then represented in an effective way so that the work progress is clearly visible to the entire team, helping to identify the lagging areas or faults. Using different data representations makes it easier to understand what amount of work is completed and what is pending.
9. Multi-Project management
A naked eye or a single person has got obvious limitations while handling multiple projects. A project manager can work on one project at a time, but the Microsoft Project tool is built to handle multiple projects at a time with full accuracy and without affecting the other projects being handled at the same time. Multi-project management is handled by the Master Project plan. Thus the Microsoft Project helps a single project manager to toggle between different projects at the same time as it provides the project data, collaboration, and reporting on the same platform. The multi-project management feature of the Microsoft project plays a very important role during the project meetings.
Conclusion
All the above-mentioned features of Microsoft Project make the project management and project assistance a wonderful and a merrier experience and helps to eradicate the hustles in the successful execution of a project. The Microsoft Project is a beautiful collaboration of technology and the human mind, which helps to deliver the project on the timeline. It lessens or reduces the burden and lets the team be ready to face any or every kind of challenge in accomplishing their goal of project completion.
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