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Chapter 14 Managing Projects 581

in one aspect of a project affect others. Project Professional 2010 provides col-
laborative project management capabilities when used with Microsoft Office
Project Server 2010. Project Server stores project data in a central SQL Server
database, enabling authorized users to access and update the data over the
Internet. Project Server 2010 is tightly integrated with the Microsoft Windows
SharePoint Services collaborative workspace platform. These features help
large enterprises manage projects in many different locations. Products such as
Easy Projects .NET and Vertabase are also useful for firms that want Web-based
project management tools.
Going forward, delivery of project management software as a software
service (SaaS) will make this technology accessible to more organizations,
especially smaller ones. Open source versions of project management software
such as Open Workbench and OpenProj will further reduce the total cost of
ownership and attract new users. Thanks to the popularity of social media such
as Facebook and Twitter, project management software is also likely to become
more flexible, collaborative, and user-friendly.
While project management software helps organizations track individual
projects, the resources allocated to them, and their costs, project portfolio
management software helps organizations manage portfolios of projects
and dependencies among them. Project portfolio management software
helps managers compare proposals and projects against budgets and resource
capacity levels to determine the optimal mix and sequencing of projects that
best achieves the organization’s strategic goals.

LEARNING TRACK MODULES

The following Learning Tracks provide content relevant to topics covered in
this chapter:
1. Capital Budgeting Methods for Information System Investments
2. Information Technology Investments and Productivity
3. Enterprise Analysis (Business Systems Planning) and Critical Success Factors

MIS_13_Ch_14_global.indd 581 1/17/2013 2:32:03 PM