Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Microsoft Project 2013 – what’s new on Reporting

With the launch of Project 2013 coming closer and closer (no I don’t know when), I thought it may be of interest on what new features are coming in 2013. There are certainly quite a new set of features that you will find most beneficial. On top of the list is reporting for me Smile 

Lets have a look when you open MS Project you will most likely get a bit of a shock Smile  because we are used to Gantt Charts and other views. Check out what you get in 2013:

 

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I know it looks soooooo different Smile 

However you can quickly go back to your beloved Gantt Chart by changing the view Smile 

OK so what does this new reporting look and feel mean? It means that you have more cumulative data sets for burn down charts for example:

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Who says you cant manage an agile project in MS Project now? Smile 

Also, the user interface to create your new reports are much closer aligned to MS Excel, especially in the 2013 release.

A new Reporting Ribbon is provided for the user to make report generation much more intuitive

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By Selecting a new Chart for example will enable you to choose the Graph just like in Excel

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Once Selected you will see a “Field List” on the right hand side which allows you to select fields you wish to include:

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The ultimate Structure of the data still remains the same with the difference that cumulative values are now provided in the schedule ( Cumulative Baseline work, work, Actual Work, Cost, % complete, regular work etc).

The big change is in the user interface that is for sure. In the past we still had this old fashion way of generating reports without any graphs unless you utilised the Visual Reports, which are still part of this version.

You can of course also print your report, making reporting and communication much easier.

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I hope you will enjoy the new reporting feature as much as I do.

Wednesday, August 01, 2012

The next big thing - Client, Server and Cloud

Most of you have already found out that the next release of  Project and Project Server is around the corner. That also means I can start my blog activities again :) So Welcome.....back :)

So why is the next release the next big thing? There are lots of posts out there already that start to go into detail of the new release. However I would like to give you an overview of what options you have utilising Project in the future.

Client Software:
Firstly there is of course your well known client software of MS Project. That will allow you manage a schedule on your Laptop of PC as a stand alone version.

Server Software:
Most of you that work in an Enterprise Project Management environment know Microsoft Project Server ( the next release will most likely be called Project Server 2013). It allows your organisation to manage projects in a centralised manner with the Server in your office.

Project Online:
Now that is a new one :) Project Online allows you to manage an Enterprise Wide project management capability without having the software or hardware within your office ( yes....the cloud). this is a really cool and stable way maintaining project information without having to worry about the hardware. If you are interested have a look at Alex Burtons great blog introducing how you can sign up with Project Online.
project online hidden gem click to run

By the way currently is the customer preview ( or Beta ). You can check it out at
http://www.microsoft.com/project/en-us/preview/default.aspx