Microsoft Project versions

Microsoft Project has several different editions or versions,

depending on the needs of the users and the organization. Below is
a brief description of the latest versions.

Microsoft Project 2016

 Project Standard 2016 – Allows a single user to easily create
modern reports to measure progress and communicate project
details effectively with their team and stakeholders.
 Project Professional 2016 – Includes all the capabilities in Project
Standard 2016, as well as collaboration capabilities to quickly
launch and deliver projects, while leveraging the power of Office
365 or SharePoint to work from virtually anywhere. This version
integrates Skype for Business to call or instant message members
of the Project Professional team.
 Project Online Professional – Offers the latest version of Project
Professional as a subscription through Office 365. The software
updates automatically (with options for customizable policies) and
users on the go can work from the computer of their choice by
streaming full content. Desktop client with Project on Demand.
 Project Online Essentials – For use with projects that are managed
with Project Online or Project Server. Allows team members to
access timesheets, manage tasks, add issues and risks, and
collaborate from anywhere.
 Project Online Premium – Provides a flexible online solution for
project portfolio management (PPM) and daily work. Delivered
through Office 365, Project Online enables organizations to get
started, prioritize project portfolio investments, and deliver the
 desired business value, from virtually anywhere and on almost any
device.
 Project Server 2016 – A flexible on-premise solution for project
portfolio management (PPM) and daily work. Team members,
project participants, and business decision makers can get
started, prioritize project portfolio investments, and deliver
expected business value from virtually anywhere. This version
requires SharePoint 2016, which is licensed separately.

Microsoft Project 2013

 Project Standard 2013 – Allows a single user to easily create
modern reports to measure progress and communicate project
details effectively with their team and stakeholders.
 Project Professional 2013: Includes all the capabilities in Project
Standard 2013, as well as collaboration capabilities to quickly
launch and deliver projects, while leveraging the power of Office
365 or SharePoint to work from virtually anywhere. This version
integrates Lync 2013 to call or instant message Project
Professional team members.
 Project Pro for Office 365: Offers the latest version of Project
Professional as a subscription through Office 365. The software
updates automatically (with options for customizable policies) and
users on the go can work from the computer of their choice via
streaming. The complete desktop client with Project on Demand.
 Online Project – Provides a flexible online solution for project
portfolio management (PPM) and daily work. Delivered through
Office 365, Project Online enables organizations to get started,
prioritize project portfolio investments, and deliver the desired
business value, from virtually anywhere and on almost any device.
 Project Server 2013 – A flexible, on-premises solution for project
portfolio management (PPM) and daily work. Team members,
project participants, and business decision makers can get
started, prioritize project portfolio investments, and deliver
expected business value from virtually anywhere. This version
requires SharePoint 2013, sold separately.
Microsoft Project 2010
 Microsoft Project Standard 2010 – A single-user edition of the
software. This version is aimed at the desktop user.
 Microsoft Project Professional 2010: Includes all the capabilities of
Project Standard 2010, as well as collaboration features that allow
users to work together when the organization is also using
Microsoft Project Server 2010.
 Microsoft Project Server 2010: Maintains project plan information
and data on a server. Project Server allows multiple users to
access that data through its client applications, Microsoft Project
Professional and Microsoft Project Web Access.
Microsoft Project 2007
 Effective Work Planning: Helps plan work efficiently, from small
projects to large-scale operations. You can use Project 2007 to
plan schedules, allocate resources, manage budgets, and set
realistic expectations for your team, management, and customers.
You can easily track data and estimates such as percentage
complete, budget vs. actual cost, and earned value by using a set
of predefined metrics.
 Effective resource management: To manage its resources, so that
the organization can achieve its long-term objectives. Inaccurate
estimation of workloads and long-term capacity can result in
unplanned recruiting and rapid layoff cycles, loss of knowledge,
increased overhead, and low employee morale. Project 2007
provides visibility into work transactions, time sheets, and
resource capabilities. You can create resource plans to coordinate
hiring and outsourcing strategies with long-term business goals.
 Efficient communication and collaboration: With increasing
geographic and cultural diversity in organizations, it is important
to promote teamwork and maintain a common goal. Project 2007
enables knowledge sharing between teams and helps them work
collaboratively to achieve project goals. Project 2007 is adaptable
and quickly adapts to activities in case of updates.
 Quick access to information: Data consolidation is simple and
saves time because you can group data by any predefined or
custom field. This ensures quick retrieval of information when
necessary. Additionally, in Project 2007, you can easily track
changes across multiple versions of a project. This helps track
scope and schedule changes.
 Effective leveraging of existing data: Enables rapid leveraging of
data across different platforms. With its built-in integration with
Office 2007, Project 2007 allows users to work with the Microsoft
Office enterprise project management (EPM) solution when
 working with Office Outlook or Office SharePoint. Additionally,
Project 2007 is integrated with other Office applications. This
helps convert existing task lists in Office Excel and Office Outlook
into ready-to-use project plans with minimal effort.
Microsoft Project Features

Features introduced in Microsoft Project 2016

 Multiple Timeline View – View more than one visually enhanced
timeline view to help visualize different phases of your project
plan. You can set start and end dates for each timeline from this
view.
 Resource Commitments: Request a resource in the project and
your resource manager can accept or reject your request. If
accepted, your resource will be blocked to ensure availability.
 Resource Views: A designated space for resource administrators
to view and accept or reject all resource requests.
 Resource Capacity Heatmaps: New reporting feature that allows
you to quickly see how your resources are being used.
 Tell Me: Instead of searching Project or online help resources, Tell
Me will search for whatever solution you need.
 Add-ins: Microsoft Project add-ins are now easier than ever to
integrate with your project. Apps from Microsoft partners can be
downloaded in the same efficient way as templates from the Office
store.
 New Themes: Change the theme of your project to the theme you
prefer: colorful, dark gray and white.
 In-App Feedback: You can now give your feedback, feedback, and
suggestions directly to Microsoft in the File tab by clicking the
Feedback section.
Features introduced in Microsoft Project 2013
Improved reporting
 Customizable reports: Users can create professional reports
without having to export the data to another program. This
includes adding images, boxes, animations, links, and more.
 Pre-installed reports: Take full advantage of new graphics and
formatting capabilities. Add or remove elements from these
previously created reports, including changing colors.
 Burn Reports: Displays planned work, completed work, and
remaining work as lines on a graph. They give you a status at a
glance, letting you know if your project is behind or ahead of
schedule.
 Lync integration – Start an instant messaging session, video chat,
email, or phone call with team members by hovering over a name.
 Task Path Tracing – Helps organize a complex Gantt chart by
allowing users to highlight the chain of links (or task path) for any
task. When you click on a task, all of its predecessor tasks are
displayed in one color and all of its succeeding tasks are displayed
in another color.
 Increased Date Range – Set project dates to 12/31/2149, a century
longer than Project 2010 limits.
 Meeting Sharing: In online meetings, users can now share project
reports, timelines, or exported data as PowerPoint slides, Word
documents, Excel spreadsheets, and OneNote notes from any
compatible device, even if Office is not installed.
 Cloud storage: Allows users to access and share project
schedules, Excel spreadsheets, and other Office files.
 Online Access: With Project Online, users can access a full version
of Project from almost anywhere, even on PCs that don't have
Project 2013 installed.
Features introduced in Microsoft Project 2010
 SharePoint Synchronization: This feature allows you to publish a
project's schedules as a SharePoint 2010 task list and receive
task updates from team members and keep the two matches even
as one or the other changes.
 Manual Scheduling: This feature, called “user-controlled
scheduling” by Microsoft, allows you to set task durations and
start and end dates with just point-and-click.
 Placeholder text: You can now create a project plan even if you
don't have all the details yet. Project 2010 allows you to enter text
notes in the Date or Duration fields and update them later when
you know the details.
 Active and Inactive Tasks: You can also perform what-if analysis
by turning tasks on or off to see what impact it has on your
schedule, resources, and budget.
 Timeline View: This view shows the entire schedule in a model
that is easy for non-project managers to understand and follow.
 Team Planner – This feature allows you to drag and drop resources
(people and materials) to test various project scenarios.
 Task Inspector – If a task has a scheduling conflict or a resource
is over-allocated, this feature allows you to troubleshoot the issue.
Microsoft Project 2016 Update

In the fall of 2015, Microsoft released a new version of Microsoft

Project that improved its resource management and capacity
planning. They also integrated Office 365 features and increased
their cloud-based capabilities.

With those additions, project managers can communicate more

effectively with their suppliers and the resource allocation
manager.

They improved views and access for resource managers, and gave
project managers the ability to limit who has access to make it
easier for resource managers. They also provided new heatmaps
and visualization options for resource managers to quickly see
their supplies and deadlines.

Conclusion
MS Project inspired many competing products, although the latest
and greatest of them takes a completely different approach to
helping project managers in their daily tasks.

Many new project management solutions have simplified the

process, allowing even non-technical teams to access the benefits
of more complicated programs like Microsoft Project.
While Microsoft Project retained the core approach and
functionality of the milestone, the entire paradigm of project
management solutions has been modified to allow for greater
mobility, security, and stability.

Teams looking for the benefits of Microsoft Project without the

cost or complexity have more options today than when Project
was first released.