Forum Discussion
Working with MS project in Excel PMO
Hello, I've recently joined a large US Hospital alliance (that shall remain nameless!) as a project manager on a $100m organisational programme. Unfortuntly their tools of choice for running the PMO...
adobba --
When people need to manage projects, and the organization does not have a preferred or mandatory project management tool to use, most people will go to the "old reliable" tool which they already know, which is almost always Microsoft Excel. Unfortunately for people who use Microsoft Excel to manage their projects, the software does not have the automatic scheduling capabilities found in Microsoft Project. So, using Microsoft Excel involves a whole lot of manual updates every reporting period.
Since you are a project manager, I suspect you probably do not have the authority to begin moving your fellow PMs to Microsoft Project. I would recommend that you start using Microsoft Project to its fullest capabilities, and then begin showing your managers how much better you can manage projects using this dedicated project management tool. Become an example of how to use the tool well, and then begin encouraging your managers to lead the adoption of Microsoft Project instead of Microsoft Excel. Keep in mind that your PMs would probably need to take at least a basic course on Microsoft Project to begin using the software.
Just a thought. I hope some others in this group will offer their advice as well.
When people need to manage projects, and the organization does not have a preferred or mandatory project management tool to use, most people will go to the "old reliable" tool which they already know, which is almost always Microsoft Excel. Unfortunately for people who use Microsoft Excel to manage their projects, the software does not have the automatic scheduling capabilities found in Microsoft Project. So, using Microsoft Excel involves a whole lot of manual updates every reporting period.
Since you are a project manager, I suspect you probably do not have the authority to begin moving your fellow PMs to Microsoft Project. I would recommend that you start using Microsoft Project to its fullest capabilities, and then begin showing your managers how much better you can manage projects using this dedicated project management tool. Become an example of how to use the tool well, and then begin encouraging your managers to lead the adoption of Microsoft Project instead of Microsoft Excel. Keep in mind that your PMs would probably need to take at least a basic course on Microsoft Project to begin using the software.
Just a thought. I hope some others in this group will offer their advice as well.