Project Management with Outlook?

How Microsoft Outlook Simplifies a Project Manager's Job

Mark Manager

As Bizco's head project manager I'm usually in charge of multiple projects simultaneously. I juggle resources, schedules, employees and tasks across the board. I need something that streamlines all these processes and automates my daily tasks.

Because when my boss, Victor Vice President, asks me about a project's status, I want tell him everything, down to the last detail. Fortunately TrackerOffice, a package of Microsoft Outlook tools, simplifies and automates our project management processes, which makes my job a whole lot easier.

Project Tracker
As a project manager, I juggle schedules, people and resources for multiple projects. Project Tracker allows me to easily track each of these variables. I can track project related details as well as overall project progress, down to the status of each employee's individual tasks. TrackerOffice also simplifies project document management and scheduling meetings.

Reporting
Having all of this data rolled up in one place helps me to effectivly manage projects. I can quickly determine the progress and financial status of my projects with Gantt charts and other reports like Budget vs. Actual, and make sure that everything is on track.

Personnel Tracker
As a project manager, it's great to have access to an employee database, right in the Outlook client I message from. It makes it easy for me to contact anyone I need to within my organization quickly, without having to spend time tracking them down.

Customer Tracker
I need to access detailed information about each of my project customers so that I can contact them regarding project updates or questions. Having customer account profiles on hand with all of the key contact information is a great help.

Purchase Tracker
It's great having a simple way of managing the purchase requests that come across my desk. With Purchase Tracker, I can quickly review any requisitions I get and approve or disapprove them with a click. There's a world of difference between this and the old paper routing systems we used to have. I need to simply monitor my e-mail and approve or disapprove purchase requests as I receive them.

Time Tracker
Once I've assigned tasks to individuals, I need to know whether my employees are managing their time well for each of these billable tasks. With this tool, I can review my employees' hours each week and track our progress against the original projected dates and budgets for each project. It's my responsibility to sign off on employee/contractor time cards and verify that time has been charged to appropriate projects, tasks or activities.