'India holds immense opportunity for EPM market'

What are the main features of Project Server 2002?

In developing Microsoft Project 2002, we focused a tremendous amount of energy on understanding how customers are evolving project management from something that individual groups do, to something that's an integral part of the line-of-business applications spanning the entire enterprise. With Microsoft Project 2002, we have created a family of products that work well together and provide customers with the flexibility to pick the right set of functionality for their specific needs.

Microsoft Project 2002 gives customers insight into how their resources are being used, and provides the modeling tools needed for 'what-if' analysis, so they can understand the best way to deploy resources across various projects

Microsoft's Project 2002 has four key product offerings, with each being tailored to the needs of a specific group of users. Microsoft is probably the only company that offers such a wide option to its users.

• Microsoft Project Standard
is aimed at the business managers and helps them to keep track of schedules and resources, share project information, and analyze results.


• Microsoft Project Professional
caters to the project and resource managers and it enables standardization for enterprise project management.


• Microsoft Project Server
is aimed at the IT Professionals providing them with a leading technology platform for collaboration and enterprise project management with the scalability, security and flexibility to integrate with their company's existing business systems.


• Microsoft Project Server CAL
is for the executives and team members and enables them to access and update project information. The Access is based on permissions, so anyone can view, update and analyze Web-based project information. Real-time reporting and scenario analysis tools provide critical information for better decision-making. This functionality is enabled through Microsoft Project Web Access.

Don't more broad-based enterprise solutions such as ERP take care of project management aspects too?

To put things in perspective, ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) is for one time project where you can define the roles you want each individual to play. Many companies also use this tool to allocate materials in supply chain management functions, so ERP is not only for planning an individual's role in a project undertaken by the company. On the other hand, Enterprise Project Management solutions are capable to handling multiple projects at the same time.

One can also map the progress of an individual worker on a project; keep track of budgets, intellectual capital, etc, with these solutions. Basically, ERP and EPM, complement each other , as a matter of fact the biggest market for EPM is with users who are large enterprises with a lot of ERP data , EPM solutions helps them to use the same more effectively to improve productivity with "what if " analysis and "portfolio Management" functions.

Actually, Project as a desktop product was launched first in 1998 and then an upgraded version of the product i.e. Project 2000 was launched. The new suite, Project Server 2002, launched this year, allows collaboration across multiple locations and it is highly scalable than the earlier versions that were confined to desktops. Its enterprise capability makes it the best-suited productivity tool available.

Currently, Microsoft has 2,000 customers for Project across MNCs (banks and FIs), software houses and government organizations with some presence in manufacturing. In addition to enterprise customers, it also has 2,000 SME customers. Microsoft's business model for this product range is built around annuity sales to enterprises that purchase software assurance; providing them with free upgrades for two years.

We already have a strong presence in the IT services sector with companies like Infosys, Technova, HCL, Wipro and Net Kraft joining our bandwagon. Now we would extend our focus on to the Manufacturing segment also as EPM has a huge opportunity in this segment. Manufacturing and construction requires a lot of organizing and systematic work as the success of the project depends upon how well it has been structured. Hence we feel that our products can play a very important role in this segment by implementing PM solutions effectively.

From the organization point of view, Microsoft Project is designed for three types of customers. First is the professional project manager who wants the best tool available to plan and manage projects and enable teams to collaborate on these projects. Second is the general business manager who, although not a project manager by title, works on daily projects day to day. A good example is a marketing manager who works on delivering advertising campaigns. These business managers may be new to using a project management tool, so Microsoft Corp. has provided a new feature in Microsoft Project 2002 that guides new users through the steps required to plan and manage a project.

The third group of core customers is executives who need to see high-level views of their organization's project portfolio and analyze that data easily. These are the people who travel and can use Web access to log from in anywhere and get the required reports in the most secure Windows environment.

In developing Microsoft Project 2002, we focused a tremendous amount of energy on understanding how customers are evolving project management from something that individual groups do to something that's an integral part of the line-of-business applications spanning their entire enterprise. As today's business executives face tight economic times, they want a better grasp of what's driving costs throughout their organization. Which projects are the most costly? Which projects are running late? Microsoft Project 2002 gives customers, an insight into how their resources are being used and provides the modeling tools needed for 'what-if' analysis, so they can understand the best way to deploy resources across various projects. Successful project management requires cost-effective, timely completion of projects that align with business objectives.

An organization can manage its projects to achieve better business results by ensuring that the infrastructure and tools are in place for project teams to collaborate, learn from past experiences, and acquire the necessary information to act quickly. We're excited to be delivering these capabilities to customers for the first time. By building Microsoft Project 2002 on top of solid building blocks such as Windows Server, Microsoft SQL Server and SharePoint Team Services, we have been able to focus on delivering powerful enterprise capabilities and still make the product easier for all our users.

The Enterprise Project Management market holds tremendous potential, not only overseas, but also in India. In fact, according to a report issued by IDC in 2000, the EPM Market was pegged at $5 million, with a projected growth of $2.1 billion by 2004. Another analyst body, the META Group, predicts that by 2005, 40 per cent Global 2000 organizations will employ Enterprise Project Management as a core discipline for implementing enterprise solutions.

In addition to that, EPM will become the primary mechanism for coordinating enterprise value investments, ranging from e-business and CRM initiatives to legacy system renewal. In India, Project Management solutions have been restricted to a niche audience - and are deployed mainly in the construction and manufacturing verticals.

According to our estimates, only 4 per cent of Indian organizations have deployed Project Management solutions so far - which presents a huge opportunity for our solution. The ISV community is a key stakeholder in this respect. All over the world, we have received tremendous response from the developer community. With a SOAP interface and documented schema, Microsoft Project Server can serve as a platform for business applications where project and resource management are key components.

Initially our focus would be to sustain our leadership in the Project Management and IT services market and gain mindshare. Our product will be available through some of our key partners - including consulting companies like PwC, and other enterprise partners. We would also to work towards creating greater awareness for the platform and for the benefits of Enterprise Project Management in general. For this, we are working closely with Project Management Institute of India.

We will be conducting road shows, corporate training and pilot programmes - we have conducted one round of such events already, and have received tremendous feedback from our corporate customers. In fact, we have test run our product with several key customers, and have got a very positive response so far from companies such as Infosys, HCL Technologies, Net Kraft and Technova.

As such we would have a two pronged approach to sustain leadership of our product by ensuring increased penetration on the desktop category as well as getting into the Enterprise Project Management segment.