Project Management - what scheduling tool?

[2seas]

I have approximately 3 years experience in PMO/Project Support/Project Management working for an IT company. I recently decided it would be a great idea to take voluntary redundancy and look for a new challenge. Ideally a short term contract role.

I've been revising my CV and I feel my scheduling abilities are a weak point. I was thinking about going on a course to strengthen them up a bit. The question is - what is the most popular/most desired scheduling tool? I spent the last 2 years using MS Project 2003.

I want to make sure i keep my skills up to date with the market but since I have only been working a few years and for the same company i really don't know what's in use out there in the wider world.

So if anyone works in a similar role could you let me know what scheduling tool you use or what scheduling tool you believe to be in the highest demand in the IT/Project Managment sector?

Also if anyone in a similar role has a CV they wouldn't mind sharing I would really aprreciate it...

[skeeterm5]

The last three organisations I have worked for have all used MS Project, but I sense an undercurrent for Clarity (although IMHO this name is a bit of an oxymoron!).

S

[2seas]

skeeterm5 said:

The last three organisations I have worked for have all used MS Project, but I sense an undercurrent for Clarity (although IMHO this name is a bit of an oxymoron!).

S

was it project 2003?

[bga]

All the IT projects I have worked on have used variants of MS Project. Project 2003 is most commonly used, with a few on 2007.

[randlemarcus]

Project for projects.

Project Server for a small number of projects which have some linkage.

Clarity for programmes, and for reporting significant numbers of unrelated projects to a central point. But then you get into the SAP/Oracle ERP integration, and it gets complex and expensive.

To answer your actual question, concentrate on the fundamentals of project control, and dont fuss overmuch around the toolset.

[Podie]

randlemarcus said:

To answer your actual question, concentrate on the fundamentals of project control, and dont fuss overmuch around the toolset.

Agreed, the specific toolset is not a huge issue - as long as you have experience of something. It is of far greater importance to show that you can control and manage a project. In this climate a proven ability to deliver on time and under budget will help.

Know how to run a project and you'll be in with a shout... that said we had an interviewee who couldn't tell the difference between a risk and an issue...

[anonymous-user]

My answer would be 'if you need to ask then Microsoft project', you can set it up on your home PC and play with it and learn a lot. But I've never seen it used on a big project, diffrent industries tend to have diffrent packages, market leader today in oil and gas is Primevera.

[Rabbitinthelight]

Tool = Underling

Scheduling = Telling them what to do!

Problem solved. My work here is done

[Rabbitinthelight]

Berw said:

My answer would be 'if you need to ask then Microsoft project', you can set it up on your home PC and play with it and learn a lot. But I've never seen it used on a big project, diffrent industries tend to have diffrent packages, market leader today in oil and gas is Primevera.

Berw, repeat after me D I F F E R E N T

[Lefty Guns]

Primavera definitely the standard in the oil industry for projects ($50m - $60b). We use P6 now but were on P3e for a few years before.

[Kermit power]

Lefty Guns said:

Primavera definitely the standard in the oil industry for projects ($50m - $60b). We use P6 now but were on P3e for a few years before.

I worked there for a few years, but left before Oracle bought them. How has the transition been as a customer?

For the OP, it's worth noting that there's actually 2 different products. P3e as was, now P6 I assume, is really focused on big, heavy, activity intensive projects. That's what makes it such a standard for big construction projects, oil & gas and the like.

The other project, which I'm assuming is now "Oracle's Primavera Project Portfolio Management" was bought in through the acquisition of a company called Evolve. It's much lighter on the project side (although I imagine now fully integrated to P6) but conversely far, far more extensive on all the resource management side of things.

Horses for courses, but if the OP is looking at managing IT projects and portfolios, then the latter is probably going to be better suited unless the IT projects in question are incredibly complex.

[Kermit power]

Another thought. Has anyone looked at www.daptiv.com? PPM offered through a Software as a Service model. Looks quite interesting? I don't work for them btw!

[Lefty Guns]

Kermit power said:

Lefty Guns said:

Primavera definitely the standard in the oil industry for projects ($50m - $60b). We use P6 now but were on P3e for a few years before.

I worked there for a few years, but left before Oracle bought them. How has the transition been as a customer?

I'm not a planner but work beside 6 or 7 of them. They seem very happy with it

[Kermit power]

Lefty Guns said:

Kermit power said:

Lefty Guns said:

Primavera definitely the standard in the oil industry for projects ($50m - $60b). We use P6 now but were on P3e for a few years before.

I worked there for a few years, but left before Oracle bought them. How has the transition been as a customer?

I'm not a planner but work beside 6 or 7 of them. They seem very happy with it

Cool! They seem to have been sensible and more or less left them to get on with their own thing. My guess is what Oracle really wanted was the IT PPM side of the business to integrate in with everything else they do, and the heavy project stuff happens to be a nice cash cow for them that they can keep running nicely on the side.