Hi,
I've been using Microsoft Project for years (also Artemis and Primavera Planner in the past) and now, given the obsolescence of Microsoft Project Professional and the still not powerful new Project Online, I consider migrating to Smarsheet.
Microsoft Project is very powerful for timelines, but our increasing need is to configure and refine our change panels, forms, reports, and interact with project participants. Agile approaches are also popping up increasingly, besides the traditional predictive project timelines.
At first sight, Smartsheet seemed to be very flexible for configuration with no need of asking for supplier intervention.
And you, how was your experience going from MS-Project to Smartsheet?
Thanks / Kind Regards,
Eire Zimmermann
Hi @Eire Zimmermann,
I helped an organization evaluate both MS-Project and Smartsheet when they were conducting their PM tool RFP.
The short of it is this, MS Project is not caught up with the modern automation and low-code capabilities that you will see in many SaaS PM tools today (Smartsheet, Asana, Workfront, etc.).
Being able to add simple automation with logic like, "If 'Project Status' = 'Red', then Alert XYZ Stakeholder" is made simple with Smartsheet. With this type of low-code functionality, you can begin to remove that robotic, manual work of typing up emails and sending messages from your day-to-day.
Moreover, Smartsheet's reporting capabilities are something that I have yet to see any other PM tool on the market compete with. Think reports for important launch dates, milestones, past due tasks, or at-risk items.
Then when you add the capabilities of the Smartsheet's logic-driven forms for project intake, you really have a system that can become a pseudo-ERP/workforce management tool. Not to mention Smartsheet's cost is much lower compared to MS Project since you only pay for licenses that manipulate data.
Hope this helps in some regard,
Ian
@Eire Zimmermann,
Smartsheet is amazingly flexible. You can configure a template project plan, and view it either as a traditional Gantt chart or as a kanban style board with multiple simultaneous swimlanes derived from any column that is configured as a drop-down list. This allows you to work with the same plan in multiple ways based upon the type of team or preference of the team.
The only thing of note that Smartsheet cannot do (or at least I did not find it yet) is to level a plan based upon resources and task priority. With the workflow engine, you can automatically send emails based upon any rule you configure. I had RACI columns for every task so I could auto-notify folks when the task was done. Very cool stuff.
Dashboards are okay but not as powerful as other tools in that each component on the page does not know about any of the other components to auto filter. Pretty limiting. I export data to another external visualization tool like Domo if the budget allows it.
@James John Wilson thanks for this elaborated answer.
Unfortunately I have never used Microsoft Project so I can’t compare. My use with Smartsheet was pretty basic and more for project plans.
Hi @Deborah Gamelin, @Donee Damore, @Ian Herzing and @Andrea Bracken,
Can you please chime in and share your thoughts/advice with @Eire Zimmermann?
Thanks.