Is project right for me?

[jw007]

Before I invest too much time and money in MS Project 2003 I'd
like to see if it will be the right software for my application.

I run an Audio/Video installation company. We operate similar to a
general contractor or builder.

I am trying to find something that will let me keep track of each job
that we are working on...not so much for time management, but more for
my installers to have one central point to post the current job state,
view estimated dates for 3 major job milestones; wiring, trimout and
completion. Also, I really need to keep track of what is not finished
on the job...like a punch list or a to do list. I would also like to
attach files to each job.

The punch list would be great if I could somehow list all of the
things left on all jobs in 1 list.
What do you think?

Thanks,
Jason

 

[Rob Schneider]

Since you don't need/want to do time management, and you don't' "seem"
to be doing project modeling/planning ... my hunch is that you'll not
find direct benefit using Project for this purpose. Your's would be
some sort of task tracking system. Something that years ago would have
been written from scratch in Access, Paradox, or something like that. In
today's world I would expect that there would be available specialised
applications, to buy or open source, which would meet your needs. I
don't know directly what's available in this arena but I would think
these apps can be found via Google and then doing further research on
these products.

Your app sounds interesting. I envision having something where the
folks in the field can punch their status/input into their hand held
PDA's (or phones?), update via a wireless or docking when back in the
office. That way they could have easy access to the punch list both in
the office (to gather the parts and resources) and at the job (to finish
the work) ... I digress ...

Hope this is useful to you. Let us know.

rms