 New Features in Project Professional 2013The most important thing about Project Professional 2013 is that all of the features we have grown use to are still there and perform in the same manner. There are series of new and revised features:
REVISED INTERFACE: The first thing you notice about Project Professional 2013 is that the interface is very similar to Project 2010.
The two major differences are the Tabs are in all UPPERCASE and that there is a new tab REPORT. This new tab give user's access to the most important change in Project Professional 2013, the totally new reports as explained below.
Another very powerful feature of Project Professional 2013, in fact of all of the Office 2013 applications is the "App Store" The App Store is where organizations that create adds-on for Project / Visio / Office have listed them so users can add them to their personal copies of the software. Some apps are free and some charge, regardless when or how they are acquired they appear in the PROJECT tab, Apps for Office group - the screen capture shows two apps that the author has acquired. It should be noted that the MindMapper app also works with Excel, Word and PowerPoint 2013. While the Sensei Task Analyzer only works with Project Professional 2013.
The other major change in the interface is the BackStage. All of the Microsoft 2013 BackStages are organized with similar options - Info, New, Open, Save, Save As, Print, Share, Export, Close, Account and Options. For Project Professional 2013 users it means that the Publish command becomes a sub-option of the Info entry.
TASK PATHS: Project Professional 2010 introduced us to the "Task Inspector" which is very helpful in focusing on what is controlling a specific task. In Project Professional 2013 there is another new feature "Task Paths". This option allows the project manager to select a task and indicate what they want highlighted in terms of its predecessors and successors. This feature is really helpful when a tasks has a number of predecessors and successors.
UPDATED REPORTS, including Burndown reports - many people consider this the major change in Project Professional 2013. The previous versions text based reports have disappeared to be replaced by a series of graphical reports that can easily be customized. The Project Professional 2013 Visual Reports are identical to those in Project Professional 2010.
One of the best reports, especially for those using Agile development is the Burndown report. The following screen capture shows the author's customized Burndown report.
DATE SUPPORT, for users with a distant time horizon, Project Professional 2013 now supports dates - both task and project - up to Dec. 31st, 2149. For those who wonder the limit in Project 2010 is 12/31/2049.
New Features in Project Server 2013
In the January issue of BeMo News we listed the four most significant changes in Microsoft Project Server 2013, to view this issue visit http://www.bemopro.com/MediaCenter.aspx and select Vol. 3 Issue 1 these were not the only changes. Specifically: DEMAND MANAGEMENT in Project Server 2013 is still based on Enterprise Project Type (EPT). The following schematic shows the components of Demand Management.
In Project Server 2010 out-of-the-box there was an OPTIONAL sample workflow that included a series of defined Phases, Stages and Project Detail Pages (PDPs) with a series of associated Enterprise Custom Project fields.
In Project Server 2013 out-of-the-box there is NO predefined workflow. There are series of Phases and Project Detail Pages (PDPs) similar to Project Server 2010. Since there is no predefined workflow there is no requirement for workflow related Enterprise Custom Project fields.
To be clear Project Server 2013 fully supports workflow organizations must define their own or acquire Project Server adds-on like that provided by our partner Nintex. SECURITY: Project Server 2013 offers two different security modes:
- SharePoint Permission Mode (this is new in Project Server 2013) - in this mode the security permissions are very closely aligned with SharePoint Server's security model.
- Project Permission Mode - this is the classical Project Server security mode. Very similar to Project Server 2010.
It is possible to switch from SharePoint Permission mode to Project Permission mode or vice versa; however all of the current security settings are deleted and Project Server must be manually configured.
ADMINISTRATION OF PROJECT SERVER:
Project Server 2013 is built-on SharePoint Server 2013. Those administrative controls that are more IT-related have been moved from Project Web App (PWA) Server Settings to the SharePoint Central Administrative site, General Application Setting's section. For users familiar with Project Server 2010 the following have been moved to SharePoint Central admin:
- Daily Schedule Backup
- Administrative Backup / Restore
- OLAP Database Management
- Server Side Event Handlers.
PROJECT PROFESSIONAL 2013 AND PROJECT SERVER 2013: There are no major changes in Project Professional 2013 when connected to Project Server 2013. As mentioned above the most obvious change is that there is no Publish option in the BackStage Quick Launch, instead it is an option on the Info page.
The other significant change is in the BackStage Open option. When selected it first shows a list of all possible locations where data can be stored. For example the following is the authors initial Open options:
The first sub-entry if selected would give access to Project Server- when the author set-up the connection between Project Professional and Project Server he named it Content Pack.
Last difference a project schedule that is opened from Project Server 2013 will always Open in Read-Only mode. The project manager must check it out - switch the status to Read-Write.
Next Issue
In the next issue of BeMo News we will compare BeMo Project Online with Microsoft's Project Online. We will also introduce Project Pro for Office 365, which Is Microsoft's subscription-based version of Project Professional 2013.
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