Microsoft Project Version 2002 Inside Out (Inside Out (Microsoft))

Chapter 21

As a project manager, one of your most important duties is to facilitate communication. Your project communications plan should include the methods to be used, the different media, the intended audiences, the frequency, and the purposes for communicating. Of all these communication requirements, perhaps the most crucial is internal project team collaboration. In all projects, the team members need to know what is going on and how they are progressing.

For team collaboration using Microsoft Project, the most robust solution is to use Microsoft Project Server and Web Access. This flexible and versatile tool enables a wide range of information sharing between project team members and you, the project manager. The content and the format of the information are expansive and can be customized to fit your project team's needs ideally. You assign and update tasks and send project information to team members and selected project stakeholders. The team members can view their assignments and project information, and send updates, task changes, and status information back to you.

In Microsoft Project 2002, the Microsoft Project Server and Web Access solution is the next generation of Microsoft Project Central, which you might have used with Microsoft Project 2000.

In addition to these functions, Microsoft Project Server with Web Access enables you to work with project issues, project reports, graphic views, and specialized content available to team members who are using Microsoft Project Web Access. Microsoft Project Web Access can also be integrated with SharePoint Team Services for additional functionality. With Microsoft Project Server and Web Access, your team members and stakeholders can provide updates to multiple managers, view the entire project, customize their Microsoft Project Web Access information display, sort, filter, and group project information, and more.

This chapter provides an overview of Microsoft Project Server and Web Access, the system administrator's role, and the functions used by the project manager.

For information about functions used by team members and other stakeholders using Microsoft Project Web Access, see Chapter 22, "Communicating Information Using Microsoft Project Web Access." For guidelines for setting up Microsoft Project Server and Web Access, see Appendix A, "Installing Microsoft Project 2002."