Project 2003 Server Is Enterprise Ready

Microsoft is looking for partners to host Project 2003 Server, and the first to sign up was Centennial, Colo.-based hosting company Quantum pm. CRN Test Center engineers evaluated a Microsoft Project 2003 Server in the Quantum pm hosted environment, which enables multiple data centers worldwide to accommodate large enterprises that might need thousands of simultaneous connections. With Quantum pm, Microsoft has taken Project 2003 Server beyond the shrink-wrap software mindset, as evidenced by the complex business-process and enterprise management features it contains.

Quantum pm sources told Test Center engineers that Microsoft has intentionally opened Project 2003 Server to integrate with other systems. Its database architecture is open and published.

When a customer installs a client/server application, all the midtier, application-level functions are exposed at the code level, so all the Active Server Pages that are needed to make the product run include the source code. According to Quantum pm, Microsoft is working with partners to extend the product to other marketing or financial products that customers might want to integrate.

The environment uses Windows SharePoint Services to manage documents. If a customer has another document management system it wants to use, Quantum pm is willing to shut down Windows SharePoint Services and have that system work with Project 2003 Server's files. However, additional integration work must be done to pass data into Project 2003 Server. Microsoft is not offering plug-ins to competitive products but instead has left the product open so other competing products can integrate with it,a significant opportunity for solution providers. In general, channel partners can profit greatly by offering Project 2003 Server integration services to customers. Most integration work will have to be done on the client side.

CRN Test Center engineers believe that Microsoft is now directly competing against vendors in the personal-service-automation space by offering similar features such as project and resource management.

Project 2003 Server now uses role-based administration to control access to data and features, and an application launcher helps users jump into the tool by inputting their name and particular role.

Project 2003 Server is being offered with a number of role templates to help users fit into roles quickly. With the executive role, for instance, users can see certain views or information that others cannot. Quantum pm is offering a trial hosted environment to help users experiment with the product.

Project 2003 Server's online access environment works almost identically to the client/server product. Some of the new features that target enterprise users are resources, time sheets, updates and status requests. The resources feature, for instance, tracks the available resource pool across multiple projects and locations.

Project managers have a more formal role when tracking all of their work in charts. For example, managers can now accept or reject individual tasks designated to users in a chart. By rejecting a task, a user would have to re-evaluate his schedule and adjust the time allotted for the task. Simply put, before submitting time sheets to a client, project managers now have an automatic method of tracking the amount of time spent on a given project.

Per-project-basis teams can also manage project risks and pending issues and adjust them at a task level. Similarly, a team can deposit documents into a Project 2003 Server repository and have them directly associated with individual project schedules and tasks. Therefore, documents can be accessed and modified on a task level. Project 2003 Server can also stamp documents with version numbers.

The left-hand side of Project 2003 Server's interface has buttons that users can select to access major features. There are major administrative functions, too, that allow users to change passwords or roles. On the right side of the main work pane, there is a function to hook up Project 2003 Server with Outlook.

Microsoft has also made it easy to navigate throughout the product. Functions change as a user moves between screens such as project risks and issues. Now, users don't have to know a lot of technical details to access information anywhere in Project 2003 Server. According to Quantum pm, managers usually end up navigating the client-side project schedule and resource schedule while users prefer to stay in the Web panes because they're so easy to use.

CHANNEL PROGRAM SNAPSHOTS
>MICROSOFT PROJECT 2003 SERVER
PRICE: $1,499
HOSTING COMPANY: Qunatum pm
TECH RATING:

CHANNEL RATING:

CHANNEL OVERVIEW: Microsoft, Redmond, Wash., is working to streamline its channel program and provides a broad range of support, training and general assistance to solution providers. Training courses, Webcasts, forums and other technical resources are available at Microsoft's developer network Web site, www.msdn.com. Also available as part of Microsoft's tiered channel program: on-site hands-on and online training, volume rebates, demos and sales resources.

Note: Vendors can earn up to five stars for technical merit and five for their channel program. If the average of these two scores is four stars or greater, the product earns CRN Test Center Recommended status.