PM Central or Project Server 2007 – What To Buy?

Hi Alex,

Thank you for taking your time to provide feedback, we really appreciate it.  We do think highly of Project Server as an application for PMP, and it does provide a very fine system for project management.  Where we disagree is in the ability for “non-techie” functional users to quickly get the system up and running out of the box - even if SharePoint is used as the collaboration front end.  We think that anyone can certainly customize PS to provide an easy to use system, just that it often requires a fairly major effort from SP developers.

I do want to respond to several of your points individually:

Regarding "Ease of Use"

As you  suggest, "ease of use is a subjective issue, and reasonable people might disagree.  As a certified PMP, with many years of experience managing teams in a Project Server environment, I would tell you that ease of use and complexity of the user experience has consistently been an issue with my team members.  Our design philosophy in architecting PM Central was to create a tool that virtually any end user could interact with comfortably with limited training or introduction.  Regardless of your personal evaluation of Project Server’s “ease of use”, Bamboo is committed to simplicity and usability as a primary design principle for our project management solution.

Regarding Custom Site Templates

Sure, with Project Server, administrators can create and customize their own templates to fit the needs of their organization.  My point is that “out-of-the-box” SharePoint templates generally lack all of the features and functionality project managers need.  We hear this feedback constantly from other Bamboo customers.  By Comparison, PM Central offers a much more robust workspace fully optimized for project teams.  PM Central is designed for people and teams who either don’t have the time or inclination to spend designing a project management site template.  PM Central is packed with features like resource management, rollups of tasks, risks & issues from across multiple projects, dashboards with KPI’s etc. etc.  

Additionally, PM Central offers the advantage that you don’t need a SharePoint administrator or developer to create and customize the project site.  Anyone with rights can create a full featured project site that already has all of these key features.

Regarding Rollup Items

PM Central’s rollup capabilities are powered by Bamboo’s List Rollup Web Part, the premier data aggregation solution for SharePoint.  This functionality is available whether you’re running WSS or MOSS.  Frankly I think you are over-representing the native rollup capabilities of Project Server, but regardless, PM Central offers the most powerful rollup engine in the marketplace, and you don’t need MOSS to run it.

Regarding Document Management & Tree View

The feedback we hear from project teams is that tree view is a critical capability of PM Central’s document management capabilities.  This view provides a logical hierarchy that dramatically improves findability of key project artifacts.  

Regarding Search within a SharePoint List

PM Central’s built in list search capabilities are powered by Bamboo’s List Search Web Part, another perennial best seller at Bamboo.  Again, it works with WSS or MOSS.  We have found that conveniently providing project teams with the built-in ability to search a specific list of tasks, issues, risks etc. is very much appreciated, and offers significant efficiencies compared to other options.

Regarding Grid View and In-Line Editing

PM Central’s inline editing capabilities include tasks, issues and risks.  Again these capabilities are available regardless of whether you’re running WSS or MOSS.  With PM Central, you don’t need to create a data view, no extra configuration or design is required.  Again, it’s all about simplicity, convenience and ease of use.

Again, we’re not bashing Project Server or claiming that there aren’t other ways to accomplish all of the functionality that’s possible with PM Central.  We are confident that PM Central provides a robust set of features that project teams need and appreciate.  We’ve done our best to make these features easy to deploy and easy to use, regardless of whether you’re using WSS or MOSS.  

We appreciate your detailed feedback, and are definitely interested in hearing about additional features you would find valuable in PM Central or any of Bamboo’s products designed for SharePoint project managers.

Thanks,

PM Girl