Microsoft Undertaking and Microsoft Groups are undertaking administration instruments that may assist your software program growth crew collaborate and enhance productiveness to ship high-quality merchandise on schedule and inside funds. Which of those PM instruments higher suits your crew’s wants, although? Preserve studying to see what Microsoft Undertaking and Microsoft Groups have to supply so you’ll be able to reply that query.
Microsoft Undertaking Options
True to its identify, Microsoft Undertaking is undertaking administration software program that helps growth groups keep organized and on the identical web page, no matter location. The PM software program is geared in direction of skilled undertaking managers and technical customers for one major cause: it has a steep studying curve. Fortunately, Microsoft Undertaking’s steep studying curve is warranted because it has a strong set of options that make prolonged onboarding time worthwhile, together with:
- Centralized views
- Gantt charts
- Kanban boards
- Interactive roadmaps
- Timesheet administration instruments
We start our take a look at Microsoft Undertaking’s options with its residence display. Dubbed Undertaking Residence, it offers undertaking managers a centralized view and acts as a one-stop store for beginning new tasks or accessing current ones, viewing knowledge, and getting a chook’s eye view of the whole lot happening in a undertaking.
Microsoft Undertaking presents a number of views to assist undertaking managers observe progress, together with the timeline (Gantt) view, Plus Grid, and Kanban board views. Microsoft Undertaking’s activity boards are customizable, and it additionally has interactive roadmaps and timesheets. Different options price mentioning embrace customized reporting and collaboration, though that’s restricted to Microsoft Groups or different integrations.
Microsoft Undertaking Pricing
Microsoft Undertaking has three pricing plans that come by way of cloud-based or on-premises options. The cloud-based options are priced as follows:
- Undertaking Plan 1: $10 per consumer, per thirty days
- Undertaking Plan 3: $30 per consumer, per thirty days
- Undertaking Plan 5: $55 per consumer, per thirty days
Swap to on-premises, and you’ll select between these pricing choices:
- Undertaking Commonplace 2021: $679.99
- Undertaking Skilled 2021: $1,129.99
- Undertaking Server: Customized pricing
Whereas Microsoft Undertaking has loads of options for bigger groups looking for superior performance, a take a look at its pricing reveals that it’s dearer than different PM software program options in the marketplace, plus it lacks a free plan. Preserve this in thoughts in case your growth crew is on a strict funds.
Microsoft Undertaking Strengths And Weaknesses
Microsoft Undertaking is understood for having the next strengths for undertaking managers and builders.
Microsoft Undertaking Strengths:
- Helps a number of methodologies, together with Agile, Scrum, and Kanban
- Useful resource administration and useful resource allocation
- Scalable to bigger groups
- Constructed-in workload administration instruments
Undertaking managers and builders might flip to Microsoft Undertaking for a number of causes. It’s perfect for customers of different Microsoft merchandise and may present a well-known really feel, and it’s extremely customizable and versatile with its assist for Waterfall, Agile, and hybrid methodologies – to not point out its Kanban and Scrum options. The house display’s centralized view is especially useful for getting began and accessing what you want while you want it.
Microsoft Undertaking’s strengths proceed with its a number of views, stable time monitoring and reporting, useful resource administration, and workload administration. And, in contrast to different PM software program with restricted options appropriate for smaller groups, Undertaking has sufficient performance to serve bigger groups as properly.
Microsoft Undertaking Weaknesses:
- Steep studying curve
- Collaboration options not the best out of the field
- Restricted integrations in comparison with different PM software program
Microsoft Undertaking’s weaknesses are highlighted by the aforementioned steep studying curve that eliminates it as a viable resolution for newbies. The software program additionally falls quick within the collaboration division. Why? As a result of to collaborate in Microsoft Undertaking, you will want the assistance of some outdoors instruments, resembling Microsoft Groups, Outlook, or Skype.
Relating to integrations, they’re restricted as properly. Positive, you’ll be able to combine Undertaking with different Microsoft instruments, however outdoors of that, you’ll yearn for extra. Lastly, Microsoft Undertaking can get dear as you go into its extra premium plans, making it a troublesome go for smaller groups on a funds.
You possibly can study extra by studying our Microsoft Undertaking Overview.
Microsoft Groups Options
It’s powerful to have a dialog on collaborative instruments with out mentioning Microsoft Groups. Why? As a result of it is likely one of the most generally used collaborative instruments in the marketplace. A few of its major options embrace:
- On-line conferences and video conferencing
- Able to internet hosting massive conferences and webinars of 1,000+ members
- Language captions in movies for over 40 languages
- File sharing
On-line conferences and video conferencing are the highlights of Microsoft Groups’ function set. It may possibly host interactive conferences for as much as 1,000 individuals and webinars for as much as 10,000. Whereas these numbers are spectacular, the bells and whistles that include Groups’ on-line conferences are even higher. It presents a video preview earlier than getting began, personalized backgrounds, recordings, reside captions for 40 languages, a speaker coach to assist your displays circulate, and a elevate your hand button. Groups’ on-line conferences additionally function a darkish mode to forestall eye pressure, a downloadable participant checklist, and capabilities for designating presenters, eradicating uninvited visitors, and muting background noise.
Growth groups may use Microsoft Groups to carry telephone calls. You possibly can have one-on-one or group calls, switch calls, entry voicemail, and get transcripts of conversations.
Microsoft Groups’ chat could also be simply nearly as good as its video conferencing capabilities. The chat presents wealthy textual content enhancing, crew channels, video replies, gifs and reactions, @mentions, inline message translation, pinned chats, scheduled ship, and extra.
Whereas Groups’ video conferencing and chat promote collaboration, the software program additionally has different choices for staying in contact and sharing concepts. Microsoft Groups has file sharing, real-time content material enhancing, model historical past monitoring, computerized sync, and integrations with Trello, Slack, and different widespread apps to develop its collaborative performance much more.
Microsoft Groups Pricing
Microsoft Groups’ Free plan lets undertaking managers maintain on-line conferences (calls and video) for as much as 100 individuals. That ought to be ok for many groups looking for primary collaboration, however Microsoft additionally has different paid choices that embrace additional options like file sharing, storage, transcripts, and superior safety. Beneath are Microsoft Groups’ pricing plans:
- Microsoft Groups Necessities: $4 per consumer, per thirty days
- Microsoft 365 Enterprise Primary: $6 per consumer, per thirty days
- Microsoft 365 Enterprise Commonplace:$12.50 per consumer, per thirty days
- Microsoft 365 Enterprise Premium: $22 per consumer, per thirty days
Microsoft Groups Strengths And Weaknesses:
Beneath are a few of Microsoft Groups’ strengths and weaknesses as a undertaking administration and collaboration software.
Microsoft Groups Strengths:
- In depth collaboration options, together with chat and video conferencing
- File sharing, chat, and video conferencing in a single central location
- Very user-friendly and simple to make use of
With regards to collaboration, Microsoft Groups has all of it. Growth groups looking for a collaborative software will discover its versatility refreshing, because it presents avenues for video conferencing, chatting, file sharing, and many others., multi function place. Microsoft Groups excels at video conferencing and chat, however presents Skype integration for followers conversant in the normal messaging app.
Past that, Groups’ strengths are that it’s user-friendly, has stable assist and safety, supplies wonderful audio and video high quality, plus presents 99.9 p.c uptime for premium customers.
Microsoft Groups Weaknesses:
- Person interface may use some updates
- Customers report glitches when display sharing
The place may Microsoft Groups enhance? Followers of Slack and related messaging apps might desire these acquainted platforms over Groups’ chat. The consumer interface, whereas principally intuitive, may take a little bit of time for newbies to get accustomed to, and display sharing tends to get glitchy typically.
You possibly can study extra in our Microsoft Groups Overview.
Microsoft Undertaking and Microsoft Groups Variations
The largest distinction between Microsoft Undertaking and Microsoft Groups is their function units. Microsoft Undertaking is loaded with options to assist handle tasks from A to Z, whereas Microsoft Groups focuses extra on collaboration in a number of varieties.
Microsoft Undertaking vs. Microsoft Groups: The Verdict
Between Microsoft Undertaking and Microsoft Groups, which is the higher decide on your software program growth crew? The reply to that’s that it is determined by your wants. Each are fairly totally different by way of what they provide, so your distinctive wants will decide which is the higher selection.
If you would like a number of options for managing tasks, resembling activity administration, reporting, roadmaps, time monitoring, useful resource administration, collaboration (with the assistance of Groups), and so forth, then Microsoft Undertaking is the decide. However should you simply want one thing to assist your crew collaborate with out all these additional bells and whistles – a collaboration software versus a undertaking administration software – then Microsoft Groups is a superb choice.
Different Undertaking Administration Instruments
Nonetheless not satisfied Microsoft Undertaking or Microsoft Groups is the proper undertaking administration software on your group? Now we have a number of undertaking administration software program round-ups that may aid you discover the proper PM resolution:
