Clarizen vs Microsoft Project

2021. Planview acquires Clarizen and Changepoint



Planview has made significant moves in the industry through the acquisition of two renowned companies: Clarizen, a global leader in enterprise Collaborative Work Management, and Changepoint, a prominent provider of enterprise Portfolio Management solutions. This strategic transaction will bring together Planview, Clarizen, and Changepoint customers, creating a premier community of PMOs, PPM, and Professional Services Automation (PSA) practitioners. With an expanded portfolio of solutions, customers will have access to enhanced tools and resources to strategically plan and successfully execute their critical initiatives. This transformative combination has garnered positive feedback from customers thus far, signaling its potential to revolutionize the industry. These acquisitions closely follow Planview's acquisition by TPG Capital and TA Associates in December 2020, demonstrating the commitment to accelerating Planview's growth and advancing its vision for Agile and PPM for Enterprises. With Clarizen and Changepoint as its largest acquisitions to date, Planview sets the stage for its growth strategy in 2021.


2019. Microsoft Project becomes user-friendly


Microsoft Project may be renowned as the most famous and legendary project management software, but it can hardly be described as simple and user-friendly, especially when compared to many of the new cloud services available, such as Asana, Basecamp, Trello, or Wrike. Recognizing this, Microsoft has undertaken a massive redesign of the system. As you can observe in the presentation video, the focus is on simplicity, aiming for a user experience so intuitive that even a child could navigate it. However, the developers have also successfully incorporated several new features, including a kanban board, resource management, budget analysis, and time and expense tracking. Furthermore, Microsoft Project is now available as a subscription service, with a cost of $10 per month per user.


2016. Microsoft unveiles Project Server 2016, inpired by Cloud



Microsoft has made an announcement regarding the general availability of Project Server 2016, a solution that brings significant project and portfolio management (PPM) benefits to our on-premises customers. According to Microsoft, Project Server is engineered to perform and scale just like their cloud service, as it is built using the same underlying code. In terms of functionality, the release of Project Server 2016 shares many similarities with its 2013 predecessor. However, it introduces enhancements in resource management, such as the inclusion of resource engagements with heat map displays, and improves the transparency between project planning and line planning. Additionally, the Resource Plan feature has been removed from the Project Web App interface, as it is now integrated into Microsoft Project 2016. Microsoft has also introduced a content pack for Power BI Dashboards, which seamlessly integrates with their cloud-based Project Online offering.


2012. Microsoft Project and SharePoint will join Office 365



Together with SharePoint 2013 (probably in early 2013) Microsoft will release its project management system Microsoft Project 2013. These two systems have become inseparable, because SharePoint is used as a collaboration layer under the administrative component of MS Project. With the new version, this integration will become even tighter. You'll be able to start a new project by creating a simple page with a task list and calendar in SharePoint, and only when you need more close control over the project you'll be able to turn on this project management in the MS Project. But of course, the main news about Project 2013 is appearance of the online version Project Online, that will be available in the Office 365 cloud. And, (like in case with new SharePoint Online), developers will be able to create their own add-ons and even sell them via Office marketplace. ***


2009. Project 2010 to become a part of Sharepoint



Today at the MS Project Conference in Phoenix Microsoft previewed the next generation of its project management system MS Project 2010. And the new version is quite interesting. It's generally known, that the main lack of MS Project is that it's not suitable for collaboration. Common users never understood its interface, and it never provided collaborative tools. Microsoft fixed this problem in its own way. First, MS Project will work only on top of SharePoint 2010 Server and will be integrated in it. So users will be able to create a project site (with Gantt Chart and task list) and easily share it in Sharepoint. Second, Project 2010 will be connected to Exchange Server and all the project tasks will be available in Outlook, Outlook Web Access and Outlook Exchange for Mobile. ***


2009. Clarizen 3.0 add Issue and Expense management

Clarizen 3.0 introduces a range of new features, such as the ability to handle business issues, track expenses, and access Gantt charts. Additionally, the company has made enhancements to Clarizen's design and expanded its website tutorials to facilitate user learning. The two major updates in this version are Issue management and Expense management. With Clarizen's Issue management pane, project managers can easily identify project problems, assign responsible individuals to address the issues, and provide detailed descriptions of what needs to be resolved. In the Expenses pane, users can generate expense reports, entering their own expense descriptions or selecting from those predefined by the project manager. If expense categories have been created by the project manager, users can choose the appropriate items from a drop-down list; otherwise, they can add their own categories. Clarizen offers various pricing plans, starting from $24.95 per user per month and ranging up to $49.95 per user per month, depending on the number of licenses required and the subscription duration.


2009. Clarizen: Project Management for Non-Project Managers

Israeli startup Clarizen positions itself as a project management and collaboration tool specifically targeted at individuals who are not project managers. Despite entering the market relatively late, Clarizen boasts several essential features: a user-friendly interface and a touch of distinctive differentiation. Unlike traditional project management tools, Clarizen was designed to cater to operational and functional managers. This strategic decision addresses a crucial aspect of project management, namely the challenging setup stage that often requires meticulous planning before implementation. Non-professional project managers frequently struggle with this process due to their limited familiarity with such methodologies. To overcome this obstacle, Clarizen enables project participants to contribute to the planning, even if the project is already underway. This collaborative approach to planning and execution is beneficial for teams within the same organization as well as those spanning multiple companies with distributed resources.