Microsoft Project Server

Microsoft Office Project Server is a project management server solution made by Microsoft since 2000. It uses Microsoft SharePoint as its foundation, and supports interface from either Microsoft Project (Professional edition) as a client application or by web browser connecting to its Project Web App (PWA) component.

Microsoft extends the capabilities of Microsoft Project with Project Server and Project Web App (PWA, formerly Project Web Access). Microsoft Project Server stores project information in a central SQL Server database, protected from unauthorized access and corruption. A Project Administrator can control security defining users and access rights.

The Project Center supports reports across an organization at the project level. Managers can drill down into project details. Tasks, Projects and Resources can have Enterprise Custom Fields defined (similar to Custom Fields in the Microsoft Project desktop application).

The project manager needs to communicate project plans and to distribute task assignments to team members. The assignment of tasks can be distributed to team member home pages in PWA. They need to communicate status and changes to keep the project manager up to date. Project Server supports electronic communication over the web via PWA. Team members can update their tasks' status via PWA and the My Tasks list or via a Time Sheet.

Resource workloads can be analyzed by project and by resource with the Resource Center, allowing organizations to forecast future resource requirements and make more efficient use of resources.

The view definition is easier to understand and more robust with PWA than with Microsoft Project. Views can be protected to assist standardization. Project Server stores custom calendars, views, tables, filters, and fields, in an Enterprise Global area where users have access to the latest version every time they restart Microsoft Project.

For each published project in Microsoft Project a Project Workspace can be created. A Project Workspace is a Microsoft SharePoint Teamsite where the Project team can share documents, issues and risks.

Versions for Windows include:

The architecture of Project Server 2007 contains significant changes.

The 2003 Microsoft Project version employed ODBC to connect to the server, which is problematic over low bandwidth and high latency connections. This problem is often skirted by remotely using a PC with the same network (LAN) as the server.

The 2007 version uses SOAP to access the server. Although this facilitates clients over low bandwidth / high latency connections, it adds a level of complexity (in the form of a Queue) that must be managed by an administrator. Specifically, a job in the queue could get stuck and block other jobs from completion. The advantage of the queue is that MS Project uses a local cache, enabling the user to continue to work on his project plan even when he is not connected to the server.

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