Microsoft Project, or MSP, is a popular project management solution that has a number of uses for project development and analysis. MSP is a large and flexible application that is designed to appeal to a large variety of end users, from project managers through to individual developers and programmers. The MSP application works primarily through the creation of critical path schedules, although a number of third-party add-ons are available that work through the critical chain and event chain methodology. MS Project is officially a part of the Microsoft Office suite, although it obviously appeals to a different demographic of users and is not included in any of the commercial editions of MS Office.
MS Project is quite an abstract application that works at a fairly low level of development, and because of this it has a number of uses. MS Project can create budgets which are based on assignment work, as well as those that are based on resource rates. Resources are generally assigned directly to tasks, and estimations calculated that equate work rates with task levels, costs, and resource definitions. Lots of people use MS Project to define particular resources, such as people, equipment, and materials, so that they can manage these resources in the most efficient manner on a project by project basis. Since its inception way back in 1984, MS Project has been through a number of enhancements and extensions, and it is now tightly integrated with a number of other Microsoft applications.
MS Project 2010 have been extended through the introduction of Microsoft Office Project Server and Microsoft Project Web Access, through SQL database access, online updates, and the ability to share information with users such as timesheets, resource workloads, and admin tools. Microsoft Project and Microsoft Project Server have become the basis of the entire Microsoft Office Enterprise Project Management (EPM) product, which is used by thousands of people every day for the development and management of plans, the assignment of resources, and the analysis of workloads throughout all areas of information technology. Whether to make a website or manage a marketing campaign, MS Project is an essential tool for tens of thousands of people on a daily basis.