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Alternatives to MS project Microsoft Project

Alternatives to MS project Microsoft Project

Alternatives to MS project

Posted: 06 Aug 2005 06:25 PM PDT

I had wondered about the size of a project file and if it would become a
problem at a certain point. It's also the reason I do not plan on using the
document attachment feature but rather just use links, or someday if I'm real
lucky and get it approved, let sharepoint store the documents and do all the
stuff to let sharepoint work with project.

But I do have another question on the file size matter. It would seem at
this time that project uses its own unique data file structure based on what
has been said. I was wondering if you knew of or had seen any information
regarding if MS has plans to convert the project data file structure over to
embedded SQL?

I would have thought that this would have been something that would have
already been done by now, but perhaps they just never have gotten to it or
they just don't plan on doing it.

Thanks,
Ira

"davegb" wrote:
 

EVM without Costs?

Posted: 05 Aug 2005 12:57 PM PDT

I'd agree that SPI is not really about money but that doesn't mean it's
bogus. I see the monetary aspect of it as merely establishing a common,
convenient unit of measure - regardless of whatever units you choose to
track, the index is a ratio and whatever unit you choose is canceled out in
the calculation. It's simply a way of tracking the ratio of man-hours
scheduled with man-hours performed. If you used hours for schedule
performance calculations and currency for cost performance, you'd double the
number of data fields you'd need to worry about in the baseline. Since the
resource rate establishes an identity relationship between scheduled
man-hours and scheduled cost, and actual man-hours and actual cost, one can
use currency as a common measure and simplify the reporting process. It
also simplifys extrapolating the "S" curves to determine Estimated
Completion Date and Estimated Cost at Completion.

Tracking duration doesn't cut it because it doesn't take into account the
effort required versus the effort expended. Time is only coincidental to
progress - the real measure is how much useful outpout is required versus
how much has output been achieved. True, output is generated at a rate that
associates it with the passage of time but the reason for doing the project
is not to pass the time, it is to generate the output. Measuring time
doesn't seem like its measuring anything of signifigance in terms of whether
you've gotten any benefits for your efforts.

Not that you said otherwise, but I'd interject the least reliable method of
tracking progress is % Physical Complete because it's such a loosy-goosy
notion. If one is designing an engine, just exactly what objective measure
constitutes "50%"? Half the drawings done? The engine block but still
working on the cylinder head? Fuels system done but still working on the
cooling and electricals? Front half done but still working on the back
half? I just can't wrap my head around why so many people want to use it
since except in very rare circumstances it's something virtually impossible
to measure.
--
Steve House [MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs


"John" <com> wrote in message
news:microsoft.com... 

Mulitple Rates for Individual Resources?

Posted: 05 Aug 2005 07:50 AM PDT

Hi,

if you use a project server resource pool, there's a solution for your case.
The link is http://www.bogdanov-associates.com/eng.asp?rubr_id=493

Regards,
Vadim


"Al Wallace" <microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:com... 

how do I get rid of this in my graph(####)

Posted: 05 Aug 2005 07:16 AM PDT

Hi,

Enlarge the column width.
Better still: never type dates into project; it is a tool meant to calculate
dates for yopu.

HTH
--
Jan De Messemaeker
Microsoft Project Most Valuable Professional
http://users.online.be/prom-ade/
+32-495-300 620
"t. johnson" <t. microsoft.com> schreef in bericht
news:com... 
I 

Which version of project to teach

Posted: 05 Aug 2005 06:48 AM PDT


Stephen Holton wrote: 

Colour coded gantt bars wrt resource

Posted: 05 Aug 2005 05:46 AM PDT

Actually, I've just found the answer in another thread. Sorry for wasting
your time.

"samoff" wrote:
 

Changes in future time periods do not appear to be reflected

Posted: 05 Aug 2005 03:19 AM PDT


Hi Anders The Sheep ,

Try posting on the server newsgroup. Please see FAQ Item: 24. Project
Newsgroups. FAQs, companion products and other useful Project information
can be seen at this web address: http://www.mvps.org/project/.

Mike Glen
Project MVP


Anders The Sheep wrote: 

Resource cycle through 20 working calendars

Posted: 04 Aug 2005 11:58 PM PDT

I'll second the other comments on this. From a human factors perspective
this is an incredibly bad idea. The fatigue and burn-out factors for fire
departments, railroad and airline crews, etc that work rotating shifts is
immense and take an extremely heavy toll in lost efficiency, health issues,
job safety considerations, etc and they work far less onerous shift patterns
than what you're suggesting. I think you'll find this to be extremely
costly, if not disasterous, in the end.
--
Steve House [MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs


"Peter W" <Peter microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:com... 

locking up certain tasks in a template

Posted: 04 Aug 2005 02:43 PM PDT

Not at all, Gary, there's nothing wrong with working within a standardized
framework and accepted procedures. Training in effective methodologies and
professional standards is part of the educational process of many
professions - accounting, law, medicine, surgery, forensics to name a few -
and I don't see project management as any different. The problem as I see
it arises when the project managment role is pushed down the organizational
heirarchy in such a way that it leads to a disconnect between the project
manager's responsiblities and his or her authority to make the decisions
required to achieve those goals. I've done classes, for example, for clients
in the health care industry where hospital ward clerks and charge nurses
were given the designation "project manager" and sent to classes in MS
Project. Yet they had absolutely no authority to determine or even the
ability to find out what tasks were required, what resources were deployed,
what timeframes were required or "nice to have" or even possible, no access
to cost data, fundamentally no real management role at all. "Project
management" was simply a clerk collecting information on what the resource's
bosses expected them to do and when they were expected to do it, and
tracking whether they did it. When a PM is handed a template of the
required project framework and told to use it without their having any input
into whether it should be applied in the instant project, their role is
headed in that same direction regardless of their title. The client's need
for a certain reporting interval, etc, can and IMO should be handled as part
of the project's reporting plan, the development of which is part of the
PM's role in during the project inception phase. Certainly the PM shouldn't
ignore the requirements of any of the stakeholders, but the plan shouldn't
be handed to him as a fait accompli with mandatory compliance either.
Determining the reporting requirements in consultation with senior
management, the clients, and other stakeholders and incorporating them into
the overall project strategic plan is so fundamental to the role of a
manager that it shouldn't be left to SOP. Guidelines yes, but templates,
no. As point man for the project, the PM is the one that should be
consulting directly with the client regarding their reporting needs and not
simply following a predefined procedure.
--
Steve House [MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs




"Gary L. Chefetz [MVP]" <gary AT chefetz DOT org> wrote in message
news:phx.gbl...