Microsoft Project vs Oracle Primavera Portfolio Management comparison

"The ability to break down project phases is most valuable. Being able to align the tasks and reporting with project milestones and progress is also valuable."

"The reporting features are quite strong. Being able to do team reports and find out what work is pending, what work needs to be done are key in my day-to-day management of the team. The earned value analysis capabilities and critical path capabilities inside the tool help me make sure that I'm keeping the projects on track."

"We have not had any problems with Microsoft's technical support. We are happy with the support."

"The most valuable feature is the Auto resource leveling tool because it shows students that often, expert resources get over-scheduled, and that dealing with the issue by just using the auto-resource leveling tool would have a large impact on the delivery date."

"In my experience, this solution is one of the best for the waterfall management model."

"Technical support has been very helpful."

"Microsoft Project is used to track the project delivery and the project management."

"The most valuable feature of Microsoft Project is status reporting."

"It is very, very good in planning for large projects."

"The most valuable features were the cost breakdown structure and work breakdown structure."

"I like Primavera's planning capabilities."

"The most valuable features were the cost breakdown structure and work breakdown structure."

"The ability to streamline the process of obtaining signatures from our contractors is valuable."

"Oracle Primavera Portfolio Management is a well-engineered product from an IT perspective."

"The solution's tech support is good."

"Delay analysis and extension of time claims are some of the key features."

"It needs to be more comprehensive."

"There are some things about it that I've always hated, and they haven't really changed them. It makes a lot of assumptions. It is also difficult to put business rules in it. You have to de-link it from the consecutive task if you don't want to do a What-If analysis, and sometimes, if you forget to do that, it changes everything. It is a pain in the neck to undo it. I would also like to see better integration with graphics. The graphics are primitive, and they need some major work. I would like to have the ability to do some small macros within the project for fuzzy logic. For example, if you're not sure how long a task takes, you can get the earliest guess. It is very time and manpower intensive to keep it up to date. You need to constantly update it. You will find that you are spending more time working on the Microsoft Project file rather than working on your project. I don't want to devote a person to just do that. That's silly. You can link it to some more modern applications so that it is dynamic when a real-time resource schedule changes, but it is not at all dynamic. It is only as dynamic as the person using it. It would be nice if we could plug it in real time for each project, subproject, or task. If something is going on, I want to see it in real time. Sometimes we have international clients, and they don't use the same calendar. They have a Thursday and Friday weekend, and we have a Saturday and Sunday weekend. I can change it in Microsoft Project, but I would like to be able to do it globally. There may be a way to do it, but I just haven't figured it out yet. I would like to be able to specify globally what weekend we want or what we want to call a weekend. We might have a project that works seven days a week. Some tasks are automated outside, like manufacturing processes. Embedding external processes is almost impossible because, in a practical sense, we don't have people who can do a lot of programming here, and also the interface of Microsoft Project is not the easiest because a lot of it is proprietary. It would be nice if we can link different tasks to external sources of inputs and outputs so that we could integrate them with a master project plan and see in real time what's going on. For example, you are manufacturing a batch of a chemical, and I have to rely on if a customer is making some type of complex chemical. Their system does not interfere with ours. We have to get the outputs from their system and enter them manually into the project to see the effect. That takes time. If you're talking about hours, you going to spend three to four hours, but there is the risk of getting it wrong or making a mistake. On tight projects, every minute counts. I would like to see some control system interfaces with Microsoft Project. A modern machine shop has a lot of computer numerical control (CNC) computers. In fact, virtually all machining is done with a CNC machine. Even 3D additive manufacturing is made with CNC. That data can go to a computer, and that computer can spit it out to a project so that you can see in real time whether you are going to finish a day ahead. If you had to finish a day ahead, you could talk to the systems' software, which can say that if I have this machine working for another hour and this one for one hour or less, I would be able to meet the schedule. It can then make those changes, but it can't do that. Everything needs to be done manually, which takes more time, and there's a risk of mistakes. It requires smarter automation and more machine learning. There is no machine learning capability in Microsoft Project. It just doesn't exist. That's why I say it is only suitable for small-sized to medium-sized companies and small projects. Most people don't have the problems that I have. I don't have them all the time, but when I have them, they're big. When you're bidding on a project that has to get done, you find yourself spending most of the time working on Microsoft Project, whereas you should be spending these hours managing the project. Thinking on a bigger scale, I would like better integration with Office, Visio, and Access. If you make a change in one, it should cascade to others and vice versa. It doesn't do that. It is not a dynamic program. I would like to see a dynamic program or at least the capability of being dynamic, that is, even if it is close to real time where it outputs to a module, and the module then talks to real-time things. The real-time data goes back into the module, and the module updates the project plan. Such dynamic capability would be nice. It may not be real time, but it is at least close. I would like to be able to link directly to the data in an Excel spreadsheet so that I don't have to keep going back and forth updating it. I don't want to have to create a dynamic link library. Whenever I change the data in Excel, it should update in Visio or PowerPoint. If I'm doing a pie chart or any kind of graphic, I don't want to constantly update my graphics. I want to link them together, and I want them updated automatically. I know it is a wishful thing. They don't make major changes every time they come out with a new version. They don't fix the issue. They just add a few features."

"The solution could be more flexible when it comes to integration."

"The solution's interface seems to be an outdated one. So, I would like its interface to be improved."

"It is positioned at the more high end. Sometimes it's more complicated than we need."

"Microsoft Project should include more visualization, queries to filter out data, and more reporting structures."

"There needs to be better integration with other Microsoft products such as SharePoint, and the like."

"When a project plan becomes huge, it is painful to arrange and structure the project in Microsoft Project. Currently, you require a separate product for managing agile projects, and people are using Jira and Rally to manage stories in agile. Primarily, on the software development side, people are kind of moving away from Microsoft Project."

"The solution's user interface is an area with shortcomings that need improvement."

"The reporting could improve project management. We need multiple source reports. If someone is new to the support it has a steep learning curve."

"There is scope for development in integrating with some AI products."

"They should work on integrating the solution with ERP."

"Primavera could be better integrated with other products, and it needs more cost management features."

"The scalability has room for improvement."

"There is a need for improvement in the interfacing and possibly better integration with other programs."

"There is a need for improvement in the interfacing and possibly better integration with other programs."

"We purchase perpetual licenses due to the high cost of subscriptions, which are about 1,000 Australian dollars."

"You do not have to invest much in terms of configuring this solution to suit your needs."

"The license is a one-time payment but it is expensive."

"I rate the solution's pricing a three out of ten."

"Its price could be reduced a little."

"Licensing costs vary depending on the user volume. The pricing is good, I'd rate it four out of five."

"The solution is expensive."

"The product is not expensive. My company has opted for an annual subscription."

"Oracle Primavera Portfolio Management is an expensive solution. There is an upfront cost to purchase the solution and then there are annual fees to use the solution."

"My company has made an annual payment towards the costs of the solution. Price-wise, the solution is okay."

"The solution itself is cost-effective."

"The solution is highly priced compared to one of its competitors."