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  

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

 

I know it looks soooooo different  

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

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:

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

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

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

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

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.

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