I need some information from someone who actually uses MSProject

[Murray]

I work for a small architectural firm with about 30
employees.
We are looking at purchasing MSProject 2003. We would like
to purchase two or three copies now and five more later.
The Project Managers will use the software to manage their
Projects and the firms Partners would like to be able to
view the different Projects Progress.
We are currently running 2000 Server and do not
have an Exchange Server. I am confused about what the
different functionality of Standard and Pro versions are.
Where does Server fit in to this? Do you buy one copy for
the whole office or do you need a separate license for
each user. I spoke with a sales rep that told me if we
wanted to run 3 copies of Project, we needed to buy one
copy of Server and two copies of Pro. He said that we
could install Server on a workstation and we could use it
just like a Pro install. This didn't seem right so if
anyone who really uses this Product could give me some
good information or point me to a link I would truly
appreciate it.

 

[JackD]

I work for a small architectural firm with about 30
employees.
We are looking at purchasing MSProject 2003. We would like
to purchase two or three copies now and five more later.
The Project Managers will use the software to manage their
Projects and the firms Partners would like to be able to
view the different Projects Progress.
We are currently running 2000 Server and do not
have an Exchange Server. I am confused about what the
different functionality of Standard and Pro versions are.
Where does Server fit in to this? Do you buy one copy for
the whole office or do you need a separate license for
each user. I spoke with a sales rep that told me if we
wanted to run 3 copies of Project, we needed to buy one
copy of Server and two copies of Pro. He said that we
could install Server on a workstation and we could use it
just like a Pro install. This didn't seem right so if
anyone who really uses this Product could give me some
good information or point me to a link I would truly
appreciate it.

This is not accurate.
Project comes in a couple of different flavors.

First is project standard. It is generally the same as previous versions of
project and runs on a desktop. It has relatively few options for
collaboration and for updating/viewing via the web.

The next is project pro. It has the same functions as standard, but also
adds enterprise features when used in conjunction with project server.

Project server is - as the name implies - a server. It stores project data
and makes it available in different forms (reports, views, etc.) to users of
project pro, or to people using the web client. It does not function like
another copy of project pro - despite what your rep says.

Finally there is project web access which is a client license to connect to
project server over an intranet or whatever.

It is fairly complicated to describe all the interactions, but you can look
at the material at http://microsoft.com/office/project and see what
microsoft has to say about it.

I would suggest that if you are going to go the server route, that you find
a consultant to help you out. I'm not a consultant so don't ask me, but it
is not a simple thing to get everything running correctly if you are not
familiar with it.

-Jack

 

[Murray]

Thanks much for the info.
I'm starting to figure out that this will be no easy task.