Everything You Need to Know about Microsoft Project Online

Project managers are always on the lookout for adaptable and practical enterprise portfolio management solutions

Project managers are always on the lookout for adaptable and practical enterprise portfolio management solutions. Fortunately, they have this ability thanks to MS Project Online, a tool that offers a multitude of benefits to complete their projects successfully. Keep reading for more details about this tool in this article. 

What Is Microsoft Project Online?

The cloud-based service from Microsoft has three different plan tiers: MS Premium Online, Project Online Essentials, and Professional Online. The plans offer expanded capacity for central resource and project portfolio management (PPM) administration. Due to the lack of additional servers or on-site infrastructure, they are also much simpler to update and scale. Depending on their subscription plan, users can use a desktop client or a web app to access this tool. If you’re new and don't know how to get started with this project management solution, the MS Project Online tutorial will be helpful. 

Microsoft Project Online Licensing 

Online Microsoft Project users can pay a monthly or yearly fee for this subscription-based software. Project Online has two subscription options: 

• Project Plan 3, which includes Project for the Web, Project Online, and desktop clients. It facilitates efficient planning, status tracking, scheduling, and more.
• Project Plan 5, which includes Project Online and desktop clients. It provides features for demand management, enterprise resource management, portfolio analysis, and more. 

Each user needs a subscription license for installation on a maximum of five supported devices and online access. Project Server or other on-premises solutions can be obtained through Microsoft Volume Licensing.

Should I Buy Microsoft Project Online or On-Premises?

The choice between on-premises or Microsoft Project on cloud solutions depends on your business needs and personal preference. Many organizations prefer on-premises solutions for security reasons. However, the installation has infrastructure requirements that some businesses cannot handle. Instead, they opt for Project Online, which is a great option due to its ease of deployment, integration with other products, and lack of on-premises infrastructure requirements. 

Features of Microsoft Project Online

The following are some of the features of this tool:

• Pre-built reports based on the Gantt chart, Microsoft Teams, and editable templates.
• Advanced portfolio analytics as well as selection for effective identification, selection, and delivery of project portfolio.
• Project analysis to determine which of your projects will give the best return on investment.
• Enterprise resource management.
• Financial management for better estimates of benefits and costs.
• Program management for delivery of the forecasted profits of the entire program.
• Roadmap that provides a highly visual, combined timeline view.

Who Uses Microsoft Project Online?

Administration, decision-makers, portfolio managers, project managers, and resource managers can all benefit from using Microsoft project manager online. Team leaders or other important project participants can have access established for them. 

Program and project managers employ Project Online to manage tasks, allocate resources, and generate reports when putting a plan into practice and overseeing the creation of a new product. 

On the other hand, the project teams use the product for communication and time-tracking purposes. 

Microsoft Project Online System Requirements

You don't need additional infrastructure or hardware to use this solution; the subscription includes maintenance. However, you may run into issues if your devices lack basic browser functionality, adequate hard disc space, memory, and graphics capabilities. Additionally, MS Project Online doesn’t include backups. For this reason, you may need a third-party solution for backup needs. 

Project Online Data Protection

Microsoft Project Online offers reliable security. However, data loss or human errors are still possible. 

FluentPro G.A. Suite is one of the best tools for data protection, governance, and recovery of MS Project Online data. It provides automated backup, recovery, and archiving of your data in this project management software. In addition, the solution automates the configuration management lifecycle for Office 365. 

Here is a small sample of the benefits of using FluentPro G.A. Suite:

• Less time spent on PWA administration.
• Automated backup and disaster recovery.
• Excellent governance capabilities.
• Reduction of data loss risks, exceptional protection, and maximum productivity levels. 
• Fewer costs associated with human error consequences.
• Increased MS Project Online usage efficiency.

Learn more about Project Online backup and restore.

The Future of Microsoft Project Online

Microsoft has stated on its website and in customer communications that it is no longer investing in new functionality or features for the tool. However, it still provides a wide range of functionalities and support. So, Project Online is a great option for enterprise project portfolio management with lots of advanced capabilities.

(Devdiscourse's journalists were not involved in the production of this article. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of Devdiscourse and Devdiscourse does not claim any responsibility for the same.)