MS PROJECT SERVER OR PRIMAVERA P6?

Mathieu,
PM6 is what you need
Alexandre

Have a look at a solution from Asta using PowerProject or TeamPlan

We have been using Project Central for the past 6 years. This is the earlier version of Project Server. The advantage of using P/Server is that the engineers book their time directly to activities within the programme. All this data is then automatically sucked into the programme to give you values of progress, forecast costs, resource profiles etc. etc. all integrated into one common data-warehouse.

Now all this sounds very good...and in principle it IS very good. However, if you want to avoid total crap emerging from the data-warehouse, it is absolutely essential that the administration of the programme data is undertaken extremely thoroughly. If not, the data will become rat-sh*t very quickly.

One of the main issues is that engineers are extremely sloppy when it comes to booking against the correct activity, or amending their remaining hours. As the source of the "working data" is in the hands of the engineers, all susbequent data will depend on their weekly bookings.

Ultimately, it doesn’t matter how good the software functionality is, if all you are manipulating is poo. So, be warned......and believe me, it really is hard work to keep some levels of sanity to the data.

James.

Hi Mathieu,

Although I currently use MS Project, I would agree with Mal.

If I had to choose, I’d take Asta over Primavera and either of those two over MS Project.

Powerproject / Teamplan will probably work out cheaper to implement, you can import / export from / to Primavera and MS Project and it also has a free viewer so subs / clients don’t have to purchase the application to look at the schedule.

I’m not sure it’s that well known in France, but in the UK it’s arguably the weapon of choice for the construction industry.

You can download a free demo here.

Regards,

Darren

I agree with Darren, James and Mal.

The European scheduling software like Asta and Spider is a way ahead of the US counterparts in functionality and a lot cheaper. But the software is only a small part of the equation. The people and business processes, including the discipline to ensure the data is correctly processed is the most important and the right people will make any software work irrespective of how good or bad it is. With good software people who do not know what they are doing will make a bigger mess quicker!

Paul E Harris
Eastwood Harris Pty Ltd, Melbourne, Australia
Planning and Scheduling Training Manual & Book Publishers, Consulting and Training
www.eh.com.au

Hello all,
the problem is: Asta PowerProject / TeamPlan are not at all known in France; AstaDev has tried to establish a partnership with french companies to locate and distribute the products, with no success
in my opinion, Matthieu should benchmark PM 6 and Sciforma PSNext
Alexandre

Alexandre,
is it a real problem? If the software is really good and exports the resulting schedules to well known packages like MS Project and Primavera then it may be successfully used everywhere. At the moment we have branches only in 5 countries and happy customers in 22. I am sure that AstaDev can support its French customers across the Channel.

I agree with Paul - any software is a tool that shall be properly used. Project Management System implementation is a key to success. The tool alone is useless regardless of its functionality.

Best Regards,
Vladimir

Vlad,

I think the problem comes when trying to recruit planners, as if the software is rare, then so are the people who can use it.

Oliver

Vladimir,
nice to read from you again
French people and managers are very much like "Les moutons de Panurge" in Rabelais’ stories, I mean they are reluctant to use some piece of software that the otjers do not know or use
Matthieu will have a very hard time trying to push Asta Powerproject or your Spider in a corporate environnement in which even the names are unknown
The one time AstaDev reseller in France tried to promote PowerProject within the main EC companies here 2 years ago, and the answer was always the same: What’s that? We do not know even the company
On the reverse, who knows or use Sciforma PS8 and PSNext outside the US, France and Switzerland? These products are far ahead of MS Project, they are #2 in France with a 25% marketshare, and PlanningPlanet ignores them
That’s the story, a sad story but these are facts, I doubt that Matthieu will be allowed to spoil his company’s time and money trying to promote even the best product, that nobody has even heard about
About AstaDev support in France: I was the local support 2 years ago, with a Level 2 engineer in the UK; and then AstaDev broke his partnership with the local distributor and there is no support in French since then
About your foreign customers and distributors: what about coming next year for the annual Project Management show in Paris?
Alexandre

My 2 cents gentlemen.

I think what’s happening is similar to what happened to Miscrosoft vs. Apple Operating Systems or Microsoft vs. Linux Operating Systems. Since Miscrosoft got the headstart with promoting and marketing their product first, and people were impressed and got used to it, they were able to capture large chunk of the market and kept it. Some companies are reluctant to make the change, either their happy with the product or they just resist change.

The bottom line is,why fix it if it’s not broken.

This sounds like P3 vs. P5/P6 all over again, doesn’t it?

As for the P3/6 debate.

’It was better for my grandad to learn how to send an email rather than for me to start hand-writing letters’