Microsoft Project Version 2002 Page 1

Microsoft Project Version 2002

Frequently Asked Questions

Introduction to Microsoft Project

What is Microsoft Project?

Microsoft® Project is a leading project planning tool that enables project managers, their teams and senior executives to manage and collaborate on projects and plans. This includes enterprisewide portfolio analysis and resource scheduling and leveling.

Who can benefit from using Microsoft Project?

Business professionals can benefit from using Microsoft Project version 2002. Business professionals include (but are not limited to) project managers, resource managers, business managers, IT professionals, consultants and executives.

Through the use of Microsoft Project Server Client Access Licenses (CALs), Microsoft Project also extends project information to team members and executives. The new product lineup provides solutions for everyone from new users to project management professionals and senior executives.

How can Microsoft Project help me in my job?

Organizations and individuals should adopt project management practices to ensure that the important information held within projects is managed and communicated effectively. For an organization, Microsoft Project can provide the following:

  • Visibility to provide all members of an organization with access to programs and initiatives throughout the company
  • Insight to understand how initiatives align with the strategic objectives and affect the performance of a company as a whole
  • Control to make the right decisions, take action and communicate new direction as conditions change

I already create to-do lists in Excel. Why do I need Microsoft Project version 2002?

Spreadsheet applications such as Microsoft Excel offer templates for creating schedules, but those schedules are static. Microsoft Project version 2002 has a scheduling engine that lets you see how a change in one work item impacts the rest of the project. If you need an application to handle dynamic scheduling, manage multiple projects and resources, and support better communication, Microsoft Project version 2002 is the perfect tool for you. If you know how to use Excel, you already know how to use more than 100 features of Microsoft Project and are well on your way toward learning real project management software.

Who is Microsoft Project’s core customer?

Microsoft Project is for the professional project manager who wants the best tool to plan and manage projects and enable teams to collaborate on these projects.

Second is the general business manager who, although not a project manager by title, works on projects day to day. A good example is a marketing manager who works on delivering advertising campaigns. These business managers may be new to using a project management tool, so Microsoft Corp. has provided a new feature in Microsoft Project version 2002 that guides new users through the steps required to plan and manage a project.

Third are executives who need to see high-level views of their organization’s project portfolio and analyze that data easily.

What level of knowledge of project management methodology do I need to use Microsoft Project? Can anyone use Microsoft Project version 2002?

In Microsoft Project version 2002, Microsoft has introduced a new feature called Project Guide, which provides step-by-step interactive guidance as you create and manage project plans. It walks users through the key steps of project planning. Project Guide greatly reduces the need for users to have project management methodology knowledge and training.

You also can turn off the Project Guide and use Microsoft Project version 2002 as you did in previous versions.

Are Microsoft Project 2000 files compatible with version 2002 and vice versa?

Yes. Data relating to the new features in 2002 files will be saved (invisibly) along with the rest of the data when saving in Microsoft Project version 2002, and the file can be opened and saved in Microsoft Project 2000. However, if users use the File, Save As options in Microsoft Project 2000, this invisible data will be lost. They should always use the Save option.

What if I need help deploying or customizing Microsoft Project version 2002?

More than 200 qualified solution providers are in the worldwide Microsoft Project solution provider program. These companies can assist with custom solutions, extensibility, integration, installation, deployment and training. Please see for an introduction to the solution provider program and a complete listing of companies available to assist you. Microsoft Project version 2002 provides the most robust solutions platform yet, by providing developers with greater flexibility to customize Microsoft Project-based applications through support for a new XML file format, an extended object model and COM add-ins.

What’s New in Microsoft Project Version 2002

What’s new in Microsoft Project version 2002?

The Microsoft Project version 2002 product line reflects three major areas of improvement. Improvements specific to individual products are listed in the Microsoft Project Standard, Microsoft Project Professional and Microsoft Project Server sections below.

What are the top three reasons to upgrade to Microsoft Project version 2002?

  • Collaboration. New features allow users to link documents and issues to project tasks, which enables document sharing and issue tracking on individual projects posted to Microsoft Project Server, to make collaboration easier. Project managers also have more flexibility in determining how team members report progress on their tasks. Team members not only can enter hours, they can enter the percentage of work completed.
  • Ease of use. Microsoft has added many new features to make Microsoft Project even easier to use. In particular, the new interface called Project Guide takes users through the project management process.
  • Enterprise functionality. Microsoft has added many new features that provide scalable enterprise project management tools. These tools allow organizations to standardize and customize Microsoft Project to enable consistent enterprisewide reporting and analysis.

Product Lineup

What products are included in the Microsoft Project version 2002 product line?

Microsoft Project version 2002 is available in two product editions: Microsoft Project Standard and Microsoft Project Professional. Microsoft also has separated the Microsoft Project Server out of the desktop product. Microsoft Project Server enables the collaboration features when used with Microsoft Project Standard. It enables the collaboration and enterprise project and resource management functionality and features when used with Microsoft Project Professional.

Why did Microsoft decide to break Microsoft Project into two SKUs?

Microsoft created two editions of Microsoft Project — Microsoft Project Standard and Microsoft Project Professional — so that it could provide tools for the general knowledge worker as well as address the needs of organizations needing enterprise project management tools. Microsoft recommends that knowledge workers upgrade to Microsoft Project version 2002 Standard because Microsoft has added new features to that version to make it even easier for them to use.

What is Microsoft Project Server?

Microsoft Project Server is the upgrade to Microsoft Project Central Server that was included with Microsoft Project 2000. It includes all the project workgroup collaboration functions of Microsoft Project Central, such as time sheets and status updates, portfolio and project views, and text-based status reports, and the enterprise project management features of Microsoft Project Professional.

In the new version, Microsoft enhanced the collaboration features by utilizing the SharePoint™ Team Services technology to tie documents and issues into the project data in addition to other usability and functionality enhancements.

In addition, the Microsoft Project Server supports enterprise project management when used with Microsoft Project Professional. It provides a centralized repository for all projects to enforce standardization, a central resource pool with associated skills, portfolio modeling to do what-if analysis, and portfolio analysis to do cross-project reporting.

Why did Microsoft separate Microsoft Project Server from the core product?

With the additional enterprise project management functionality that Microsoft has built into the new products, as well as the extensibility of the server, Microsoft Project Server becomes a platform on which other solutions can be created. It therefore needs to be separate from the desktop versions of the product.

What happened to Microsoft Project Central?

Microsoft Project Central was the initial version of Microsoft Project Server. Microsoft Project Central licenses are now talked about in the more standard terminology our customers understand as a Microsoft Project Server CAL (following the Exchange and Microsoft SQL Server™ models). Microsoft Project Server CALs are an integral part of any enterprise or team Project solution. One Microsoft Project Server CAL is included with every copy of Microsoft Project Standard and Microsoft Project Professional. Microsoft no longer calls the Microsoft Project Server CAL “Microsoft Project Central” — this name is now used for Microsoft’s new hosted service. See the section on Microsoft Project Central.

Microsoft Project Standard

Who should use Microsoft Project Standard?

Microsoft Project Standard is designed for business managers and is the natural upgrade path for current users of Microsoft Project, as well as people new to the project management category. Microsoft has specifically included new features, including the Project Guide, to make Microsoft Project even easier to use, to unleash key Microsoft Project functionality and to help users who have never used a project management tool before.

What’s new in Microsoft Project Standard version 2002?

Microsoft Project Standard users benefit from the full range of improvements to the Microsoft Project product line (see What’s New in Microsoft Project version 2002 above), as well as these Microsoft Project Standard-specific features:

Enabling Intuitive Project Management

  • Project Guide

– Interactive step-by-step project management instructions

– Setup wizards including Project, Calendar, Tracking and Import/Export Mapping

  • Predefined project plan templates
  • Dynamic scheduling

– Ability to link tasks to automatically display impact of change

  • Microsoft Office integration

– Same new look as Microsoft Office XP, with Task Panes, command bars and an easier, more intuitive interface

– Improved functionality including Open/Save and File New dialog boxes and Search capabilities

– Common Office functionality, such as keystrokes, text wrapping and column adjustments

  • Enhanced help

– Smart tags

Enabling Accessibility and Collaboration

  • Project information views

– Calendars

– Gantt charts

– Task sheets

  • Web-based access*

– Team members can access and update project information via the Web.

– Project changes are sent to the Project Manager for update.

– Check-in and check-out enable administrators to control multiuser access to a project.

  • Microsoft SharePoint Team Services*

– Document library

– Issue tracking

  • Automated notifications*

– E-mail notifications of project plan updates

– Links to related tasks and/or project information

– Active e-mail reminders for events, milestones, etc.

– Manager and/or user-defined e-mail notification preferences

Enabling a Project Management Platform

  • Integration with Microsoft Excel and the Outlook® messaging and collaboration client

– Import and export integration with task lists already created in Outlook and Excel

  • Easy customization

– Customizable Project Guide

– Custom fields that match your current business practices

  • Data administration

– Seamless integration of Microsoft Project Server with Microsoft Project Standard

What languages is Microsoft Project Standard version 2002 available in?

Microsoft Project Standard version 2002 will be available in the following languages:

English / French / Norwegian (Bokmal)
Chinese (Simplified) / German / Polish
Chinese (Traditional) / Hebrew / Portuguese (Brazilian)
Czech / Italian / Spanish
Danish / Japanese / Swedish
Dutch / Korean / Russian
Finnish

Microsoft Project Professional

Who should use Microsoft Project Professional?

Microsoft Project Professional is designed for project, resource and department managers who manage projects enterprisewide. Microsoft Project Professional has all the features of Microsoft Project Standard as well as enterprise project management features such as enterprise resource management and portfolio analysis.

What’s new in Microsoft Project Professional version 2002?

Microsoft Project Professional version 2002 users benefit from the full range of improvements to the Microsoft Project version 2002 product line (see What’s New in Microsoft Project version 2002 above).

Microsoft Project Professional enables you to do the following:

  • Standardize and customize the use of Microsoft Project for the way your enterprise specifically does business. All information is gathered, organized and reported consistently across the organization to provide an accurate picture of all projects.
  • Analyze project performance and resource utilization through standardized data from all projects. With clear visibility of enterprise projects, informed decisions can be made for enterprise priorities and initiatives.
  • Access, assign and manage resources to leverage the many resources and skill sets available throughout the enterprise. Up-to-date information is provided on the availability and utilization of thousands of resources in an enterprise.
  • Take full advantage of the information resources in the enterprise through the choice of multiple Microsoft Project Servers for different sets of enterprise projects and resources.

Enterprise Resource Management

  • Enterprise resources.All resource assignments throughout the enterprise are visible to project managers from a central enterprise resource pool. Centralized resource information enables accurate information regarding resource availability. Resources can be checked out, edited and checked in again.
  • Resource Substitution Wizard.This feature automatically analyzes the skills required for project tasks, matches tasks with people in the enterprise who possess those skills, and determines resource availability, thereby building an optimized project team.
  • Build team from enterprise.You can find people throughout the enterprise who have the right skills and availability to work on your project. You can also filter and query the enterprise resource database to fine-tune your project for the right resources.
  • Availability graphs.This allows project managers to quickly identify when and why resources are underallocated or overallocated.

EnterpriseCustomization

  • Enterprise template.Tailored fields, calendars, views, modules and other consistent Microsoft Project elements are applied throughout all projects in the enterprise through the Enterprise template. Individual project templates also are available in the enterprise database.
  • Enterprise custom fields.The enterprise project administrator can use enterprise custom fields to create, for example, formulas, outlines and pick lists for skill codes. Project management efforts can therefore be tailored to the specific processes of the enterprise itself.

What is the difference between Microsoft Project Professional and Microsoft Project Standard?

Microsoft Project Professional has all the features of Microsoft Project Standard. In addition, Microsoft Project Server enables the enterprise project and resource management functionality found within Microsoft Project Professional. It supports storing projects in the central repository, use of the enterprise global template to promote standards across projects, enterprise resources and skill-based resource assignment and substitution, and a host of tools that help managers and executives analyze and model projects across an organization.

What languages is Microsoft Project Professional version 2002 available in?

Microsoft Project Professional will be available in the following languages:

English / German / Portuguese (Brazilian)
Chinese (traditional) / Japanese / Spanish
French / Korean

Microsoft Project Server 2002

What is Microsoft Project Server 2002?

Microsoft Project Server is the upgrade to Microsoft Project Central server that was included with Microsoft Project 2000. In addition to project workgroup collaboration features, such as time sheets and status updates, portfolio and project views, and text-based status reports, Microsoft Project Server provides document sharing and issue tracking related to projects. When used with Microsoft Project Professional, Microsoft Project Server offers an enterprise project management solution providing a scalable, flexible and open platform that works with your existing business systems and processes.

In addition, Microsoft Project Server supports enterprise project management when used with Microsoft Project Professional. It provides a centralized repository for all projects to enforce standardization, a central resource pool with associated skills, portfolio modeling to do what-if analysis, and portfolio analysis to do cross-project reporting.

Who can benefit from Microsoft Project Server 2002?

Users of Microsoft Project Standard version 2002 and Microsoft Project Professional version 2002 can benefit from using Microsoft Project Server to enable collaboration as well as the workgroup features of Microsoft Project Standard and the enterprise project management features of Microsoft Project Professional.

  • Project managers can publish, update and track projects.
  • Team members can review and update information on projects by using Microsoft Project Web Access to update information to Microsoft Project Server.
  • Business decision-makers and executives can access and analyze updated project information in consolidated views to make business decisions.

What new features are included in Microsoft Project Server 2002?

The workgroup functionality that is enabled when using Microsoft Project Standard includes the following new features:

  • Notifications
  • Documents storage
  • Issues tracking

The Enterprise features that are enabled when using Microsoft Project Professional with the Server include the following:

  • Centralized repository
  • Enterprise global template
  • Enterprise resources
  • Resources Center views
  • Enhanced project portfolio view
  • Portfolio analysis
  • Portfolio modeling

What languages is Microsoft Project Server 2002 available in?