8 Features of Microsoft Project Everyone Should Know

1. Task Management

Microsoft Project excels in task management, allowing users to create, assign, and adjust tasks dynamically. Users can easily reschedule tasks, and the software automatically updates timelines based on changes made, which enhances flexibility and reduces the need for extensive meetings.

With MS Project, you can efficiently track the progress of tasks and even do comparison with project schedule determining the variance from the project plan. This helps project managers identify overdue tasks and take corrective action to keep the project on track. It also allows them to monitor team workloads and ensure everyone is assigned the right tasks.

With custom Microsoft Project add-ins, you can streamline this process even further by automating task dependencies, scheduling notifications, or integrating your project with external tools.

2. Resource Allocation and Management

Efficient use and allocation of resources is crucial to achieve project success. MS Project offers multiple resource management tools such as resource leveling, resource allocation, resource pool, etc. It helps you assist in allocating and managing resources be it human, material, or financial resources.

Resource management is one of the key features of MS Project that prevents the over-allocation of resources and allows for adjustments to align resource availability with project timelines. MS Project includes all resource information, such as individual resource calendars and costs, making it suitable for budget estimates and tracking.

3. Gantt Charts for Visual Project Planning

Microsoft Project features Gantt Charts aiding in easy comprehension of project timelines. You can easily visualize project timelines with Gantt Charts to track project progress facilitating coordination and communication among team members. In Gantt Charts, you can highlight some important factors like project dependencies, milestones, and deadlines.

Using the Microsoft Project feature to create a Gantt chart helps maintain the project schedule. If any task changes, MS Project automatically updates the entire schedule, so the project manager doesn’t have to manually adjust every task.

4. Time Tracking

One of the essential features of Microsoft Project is the Timeline view which gives a top-down view of the entire project and related work. You can use this feature to present the project to stakeholders, or managers and describe the project's progress on an easily understandable linear scale.

Perfect for workers like programmers and customer service agents requiring collaboration from different locations.

5. Reporting

Reporting is another top Microsoft Project feature that lets you generate reports on project progress, program status, track portfolios, resource allocation, and other factors. MS Project is equipped with a variety of pre-built and customizable reporting templates that allow for data-driven decision-making.

You can even customize the reports according to your needs to present what’s needed and keep the stakeholders and clients informed. With Project, you can continuously optimize your processes and workflows, boosting your organization’s efficiency and productivity. Custom add-ins can help you create specialized reports or dashboards that go beyond the default options in Microsoft Project, pulling in data from other systems to give you a holistic view of project health.

6. Project Roadmap

The roadmap in MS Project lets you track programs and create project portfolios. Project portfolios are collections of projects, resources, and processes managed together, making them ideal for larger enterprises working on multiple initiatives simultaneously.

This essential Microsoft Project feature enables real-time updates and tracking of the project portfolio, helping you ensure that tasks and objectives are progressing smoothly. In short, it provides a bird’s eye view to help you check if the project is on time at any point. So, in the end, you can make informed decisions for resource allocation and adjustments.

7. Team Collaboration

Project progress highly relies on teamwork and of course, the way the team communicates and collaborates on the tasks. MS Project’s collaboration feature facilitates seamless communication and data sharing between team members. With Microsoft Project tools such as shared documents and discussion boards, this platform creates a vibrant collaborative atmosphere that boosts team synergy and sparks innovation.

Here MS Project add-in can be more beneficial as you can get custom functionalities to collaborate with team members to discuss the project initials without going back and forth.

8. File Sharing

Microsoft Project includes file-sharing features that allow all team members to share documents with one another. This promotes efficiency and accessibility, ensuring that everyone, not just managers, can access essential guidelines and standard documents as needed.

This Microsoft Project feature eliminates the need to switch to other applications, such as Word or Google Docs, for file sharing and editing, making collaboration more efficient.

Some of the key benefits of using MS Project for project management includes effective resource allocation and handling, tracking project progress in real-time, and advanced reporting capabilities leading to better organization and project execution.

---

Yes, MS Project can be integrated with additional Microsoft tools be it SharePoint, Excel, Power Bi or even can be integrated with third-party tools seamlessly.

---

No, Microsoft Project is not available for free, you require a monthly subscription to use the platform.

---

Some of the essential Microsoft Project features are Gantt charts, task management, reporting, time tracking and project roadmap.

---