Project management is required in various professions, including engineering and manufacturing. Microsoft Project is commonly used to monitor significant project performance in several ways.
Scheduling, as well as administration, are critical in program management, and Microsoft Project is a popular tool that many project leaders use regularly.
What, on the other hand, does the professional edition bring? In this article, we’ll look at the differences between Microsoft Project Standard and Professional.
Key Takeaways
- Microsoft Project Standard offers basic project management features, while Professional provides advanced tools and capabilities.
- Microsoft Project Professional supports collaboration and resource management better than the Standard edition.
- Microsoft Project Professional offers integration with other Microsoft applications, such as Skype for Business and SharePoint, while the Standard edition does not.
Microsoft Project Standard vs Professional
Microsoft Project Standard is the entry-level edition of the software. It is designed for small and mid-sized businesses and individual project managers. Microsoft Project Professional is the more advanced edition of the software. It is intended for larger organizations and project teams that need more advanced project management tools and features.
Microsoft Project Standard is program management software that facilitates project organizations to run their initiatives.
Microsoft Project allows you to organize projects, assign responsibilities, manage resources, prepare reports, and more, depending on your plan.
When it originally came out, it included a comprehensive suite of services and quickly dominated the project management software market.
Although Microsoft Project is part of the broader Microsoft Office applications, it is not included with other Office applications; the standard edition is still a good MPP software for beginners.
Planning and scheduling are undoubtedly the far more crucial aspects of program management.
They are the Project’s foundation, and they have the power to make or ruin it, and the Professional edition does its best to provide the designated roles.
It describes when and where each activity should be accomplished, for example. The assignments are then distributed to multiple members of the team, and any resources needed are provided.
This ensures that the whole process runs well and everyone understands their roles and responsibilities.
Comparison Table
| Parameters of Comparison | Microsoft Project Standard | Microsoft Project Professional |
|---|---|---|
| Description | Microsoft Project Standard is program management software that facilitates project organizations to run their initiatives. | $5 per month is the essential standard edition cost. |
| Tasks | To manage projects and organize tasks by project managers. | To manage collaborative works and enable pro tools in the Microsoft Projects Standard edition. |
| Cost | $50 for a Professional addon over the Microsoft Project Professional. | The standard edition of Microsoft projects cannot be used for collaborative tasks and multi-plan working. |
| Collaborative Works | Texting and chatting are enabled in the Microsoft Projects Professional. | The Professional edition allows collaborative tasks along with inactive tasks. |
| Texting | Texting and chatting with co-workers is not available in the Standard edition. | Texting and chatting is enabled in the Microsoft Projects Professional. |
What is Microsoft Project Standard?
Microsoft Project is a project administration software application that Microsoft creates and sells.
It’s intended to help a project leader create a timetable, assign resources to projects, measure performance, manage budgets, and analyze workloads. The firm’s third Microsoft Windows-based program was Microsoft Project.
It quickly rose to prominence as the most popular PC-based project management tool. Budgets are created for the particular Project on contract work plus personnel charges.
The software calculates the cost, equal to the work multiplied by the rate, and then rolls up to the planning stage, any synopsis assignments, and eventually, the operational levels.
Each resource can have its calendar, indicating which days and shifts it is accessible on. The cost of resource assignment is calculated using resource rates, which are rolled up and summed at the utility scale.
The program organizes task performance regarding resource capacity as indicated in the resource calendars. Every resource can be allocated to many tasks in various plans, and each lesson can be given lots of help.
There is no limit to the number of resources defined in a tag.
As a result, it is impossible to estimate how many completed items may be made from a given quantity of raw materials.
As a result, Microsoft Project is unsuited for dealing with production challenges caused by a lack of accessible materials. Extra software is required to operate a sophisticated plant to produce physical commodities.
What is Microsoft Project Professional?
Microsoft Project Professional is a $50 upgrade to the standard Microsoft Project program. Compared to Project Standard, it features a few more resource management features.
This features a user-friendly drag-and-drop mechanism for managing the resources you’re in charge of at any time.
An integrated project and asset management system are now available, giving you more control over a more extensive range of projects and working groups.
Onedrive, Microsoft’s website, communication, and corporate social media tool, is indeed built-in to Project Professional.
When linked to Sharepoint, Project Professional may be used to make audio conversations, send and receive instant messages to coworkers, and transfer files and other documents amongst users.
Many collaboration capabilities are available in Project’s professional edition. Collaboration is likely a problem if your firm is developing or is currently enormous.
Improved company presence necessitates the ability to utilize Skype from both the office and the field.
Consider upgrading for this purpose, taking advantage of timesheet tracking, and synchronizing with the web and server versions for more collaborative requirements.
Main Differences Between Microsoft Project Standard and Professional
- Microsoft Project standard has limited access to messaging and texting, whereas, in Professional, it can be done seamlessly.
- The Microsoft Project standard is cheaper than the Professional edition. The Professional costs $50 per month.
- Microsoft Project standard is good for beginners, whereas the professional version is best for people with multiple projects.
- Microsoft project standards cannot be used collaboratively, whereas the professional version can be.
- The project standard cannot host and work with inactive tasks, whereas Microsoft Project Professional can work and host on inactive tasks.
Last Updated : 11 June, 2023
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Sandeep Bhandari holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Computers from Thapar University (2006). He has 20 years of experience in the technology field. He has a keen interest in various technical fields, including database systems, computer networks, and programming. You can read more about him on his bio page.
It’s fascinating how the Professional edition can handle collaborative tasks and inactive tasks, making it a more versatile option for larger organizations and project teams. Definitely a great upgrade for those looking for more advanced project management tools.
I find it ironic that the ‘Standard’ edition of Microsoft Project still carries a significant price tag, considering its limited access to collaborative works. Would it be more accurate to call it ‘Basic’ instead?
The comparison table is quite informative, and it clearly shows the additional features and capabilities that the Professional edition offers. For those who need more than basic project management, the upgrade seems like a no-brainer.
The Professional edition seems to provide a much wider range of capabilities, especially in terms of collaboration and resource management. It’s like taking Microsoft Project to the next level.
Absolutely, the ability to text and chat with coworkers and handle more complex tasks make the Professional edition a game-changer in project management.
I couldn’t agree more. The upgrade to Professional is definitely a smart move for organizations that are looking to optimize their project management processes.
Microsoft Project Standard may be cheaper, but the Professional edition is definitely worth the extra investment. The advanced tools and capabilities, as well as better integration with other Microsoft applications, make it a superior choice.
The vast difference in capabilities between the Standard and Professional editions of Microsoft Project really shows the importance of choosing the right tool for effective project management. It’s clear that Professional is the way to go for more advanced needs.