Microsoft Project 2003

Project managers everywhere rely on Microsoft Office Project Standard to plan and manage their projects. With Project Standard 2003, you can:

Set Up Projects Quickly

Set up projects quickly leveraging existing data residing in other programs, follow step-by-step guides, and access up-to-date and relevant assistance in the familiar Microsoft Office interface of Project Standard 2003.

Resource Assignments
Assign resources to your tasks or make resource adjustments to resolve conflicts and over-allocations. Add resources directly from the Active Directory directory service or the Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 address book.

Guided Planning and Management
Quickly master the project management process with the Project Guide, a step-by-step, interactive aid that helps you set up projects, manage tasks and resources, track schedules, and report project information.

Leverage Existing Data or Use Templates
Save time by quickly converting existing task lists created in Microsoft Office Excel 2003 or Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 into project plans. Or, use one of the many templates provided with Project Standard 2003 as a starting point for your project.

Dynamic Scheduling
Immediately assess the impact of task and resource changes to your overall project schedule. Project Standard 2003 automatically updates project information so you can prioritize work effectively and make better decisions.

Find Help As You Need It
Access built-in online help to get the latest training, articles, templates, and other resources to help you use Project Standard 2003 more effectively.

Keep Project Teams Aligned

Take advantage of Project Standard 2003 to present and share project information clearly and effectively—in a variety of ways—to keep the various project stakeholders informed and aligned.

Generate Predefined Reports

Report your data using a set of predefined reports to print out the task, resource, assignment, or cost information you want to share. Or, use a wizard to generate an Extensible Markup Language (XML) file from project data to create custom reports.

To keep project teams aligned, you have to present project data to different stakeholders in different formats. Compare how you communicate project data using Project 98 or 2000 with Project Standard 2003. With Project Standard 2003, you can meet the needs of different audiences by presenting project data in their preferred format and print custom formatted reports.

Present Project Data in Other Programs

The various project stakeholders, such as team members and management, may prefer project information in different formats — such as a report or a presentation. Using the new Copy Picture to Office wizard, you can keep these stakeholders aligned by transferring and presenting project data in Microsoft Office Word, Microsoft Office PowerPoint, and Microsoft Office Visio.

Some stakeholders may prefer a graphical representation of project data to better understand how the work is broken down in the project. Using the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) Chart Wizard in Project Standard 2003, you can transfer project data to Microsoft Office Visio to create a WBS diagram.

Format and Print Custom Reports

In the past, creating formatted printed reports of project data was cumbersome. Now you can follow an easy step-by-step guide in Project Standard 2003 to format and print your current view of project information as a report.

Share Project Plans

Share your project plan with others in your organization by saving it to a central workspace on a Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services site. Windows SharePoint Services is a component of Microsoft Windows Server 2003. Use the Shared Workspace task pane in Project Standard 2003 to view lists of people who have access to a shared workspace, files stored there, and other useful information.

Efficiently Track and Analyze Projects

Use the flexible tools in Project Standard 2003 to track, monitor, and analyze projects efficiently to keep them on time and within budget.

Easily Identify Scope and Schedule Changes

Collaborate efficiently on project plans by tracking feedback from others with ease. Quickly identify scope and schedule changes by using the Compare Project Versions tool to compare two project versions side by side.

To keep projects on time and within budget, you have to track and analyze project data and may have unique ways of doing so. You thus need a flexible tool that can adapt to your needs and help you track projects without wasting time.

Track Project Performance

Track project progress, monitor variances between estimates and actual figures, and maintain historical records—with the ability to store 11 full project baselines over the course of any project.

Use Flexible Tracking and Analysis

Compute and track core metrics that are unique to your project by defining custom fields based on formulas. Graphical indicators can alert you when specific conditions are met. You can also organize and sort project information by using predefined or custom groupings.