The team had very little time to develop their proficiency with project management software and deliver results. The fact that Microsoft Project was easy to learn made a critical difference. Patrick explains that the challenge presented by the executive committee forced the three systems administrators to become project managers practically overnight.
This job was made more difficult by the fact that their solution for a seamless transition to the Microsoft Windows 95 platform had to provide for zero downtime.
The team spent more time planning and less time learning thanks to Microsoft Project’s intuitive interface. Patrick notes that his group of administrators are computer literate and prefer to explore by toggling buttons instead of reading manuals in order to get what they needed. The common interface Microsoft Project shares with other Microsoft Office products helped to speed the learning process.
The Microsoft Windows 95 rollout required choosing vendors to provide equipment, training services, and other tasks. Vendors had to be selected from many possible choices although only a few would be able to meet cost and time objectives. The systems administrators had only 30 days to sift through a large pool of potential suppliers.
Microsoft Project’s ability to produce instant results for "what if" scenarios saved Patrick’s team valuable time in narrowing the choice of vendors to the few that met their selection criteria.
The systems administrators also used the "what if" forecasting capability to document functions and quantify the duration of their regular duties. This allowed them to hire contractors to fill in while they were engaged in the Microsoft Windows 95 rollout.