Group F Today we are going to be comparing two different Project Management tools, Google drive and Microsoft Project Management focusing on there functionality, limitation and how they enable virtual collaboration. Each group member will has researched and made a slides on what they found out:  Eldon will focus on Google Drive`s functionality and collabration  Salah will focus on Google Drive`s functionality and limitation  Suhail will focus on Project management`s limitation and advantage  Aisling will focus on Project management`s functionality and Collaboration.

Introduction to Project Management Tools  Project management, involves taking an idea and breaking down that idea into structured plans.  Every project has a start, middle point and end point  Project management tools are tools which can be used to support keeping track of all the components which are attached to the project Eldon Chinyamakobvu

Google Drive  Google Drive is an online cloud service which allows people to save, share and edit documents on.  Google drive is a very essential, less expensive project management tool “ Salah ”  Google Drive has the capabilities of opening up 30+ different types of files from programs like PDF, word, Excel, PowerPoint. Figure 1 Figure 1 : Google Drive logo Eldon Chinyamakobvu

Functionality.  Google drives’ user interface features a brilliant grid view which is helpful, allowing the user to view files at a glance.  It includes a left-hand navigation with links to important places such as your drive, folders that are shared between you and others, recent documents etc.  One of the useful functions is a little reminder that is displayed  on the bottom left hand corner of every page that tells the user  how much space he is currently using. The left-hand navigation also contains two useful buttons that allow files to be uploaded in just one click. Reference for images on slide: (Screen shots from) drivehttps://drive.google.com/#my- drive Salaheddine Meftah

Example of Documents Eldon Chinyamakobvu

Accessibility  Also Google drive can work on multiple devices and each device will be capable of editing viewing and editing the documents, this means that you can work from anywhere on a project. Like the Nexus 7 Eldon Chinyamakobvu

Advantages of Google Drive. Google Drive enables virtual collaboration and has many advantages as well as drawbacks. One of the main advantage of Google drive is that it is a free tool that can be used to help with project management. Other advantages include a brilliant viewer that can view over 30 file types from your internet browser. Google drive is available for use on most popular devices and tablets such as apple and android devices. The Google calendar is also available on G drive which can be integrated and synced with your personal providing dates and notifications on important dates and deadlines. Salaheddine Meftah

Advantages of Google Drive. (2) Google drive features an offline feature which allows the user to create, comment, edit and view documents, slides or sheets when there is no network connection. Finally, and one of my personal best is the ‘Go back in time’ feature as Google have called it which allows you to roll back to find previous documents up to 30 days old! Salaheddine Meftah Reference for images on slide: (Screen shots from) drivehttps://drive.google.com/#my- drive

Disadvantages/Limitations. Storage Limitation - 15Gb which may sound a lot but when used by project developers who need to upload large files they will soon find that 15Gb is not enough Google drive also has a upload speed limit which isn't very fast compared to other alternatives. Salaheddine Meftah

Disadvantages/Limitations. (2) Presentations, documents, spreadsheets etc created by Google docs as well as files that are uploaded by the user have limitations on them such as not being able to view files which are larger than 25Mb offline or within Google Drive. Hidden Limitation of 1,024,000 characters per document Cell limit on spread sheets with 400,000 cells per spread sheet. The number of people who can edit files at the same time is 50 which is more than enough for when i have used this for my ALL project. However when it comes to large projects with a lot of organisations and people involved this might be a limitation to consider. Finally a single file can only be shared between 200 users including viewers and editors. Salaheddine Meftah

Collaboration  Google drive allows you to share documents with a number of different people.  Project leader is given the owner ship of what material is share with whom and what that person can do with that information.  Enables virtual collaboration by allowing over 180 users to create, share and view the same documents “Salah”  view, edit and many other options. Eldon Chinyamakobvu

An example of the control system Eldon Chinyamakobvu

G drive Linking with other Programs  The service is also linked to the many other services which are provided by Google, YouTube, Gmail and many others.  There is a great deal of different methods which information can be share between people.  Key for combination for collaborative working is Gmail. Eldon Chinyamakobvu

 Gmail you can set up calendar events, send s to people in your group.  This information can be shared with every one and they can all view this information. “Eldon” Eldon Chinyamakobvu

 Google drive can be a very effective collaboration tool, if its combined with the other programs that are a part of Google, such as hang out and Gmail. “ Eldon ”  As a collaboration tool, Google drive provides excellent features such as being available on different platforms and devices making it easy accessible on the go and allowing many users to work on the same files at the same time. “ Salah ”  However there are limitations such as upload size limits and speeds which may be points to consider when comparing with alternatives. “ Salah ”  To get extended features you will need to pay for a upgrading fee, which might not be a consideration for all users. “ Eldon ” Google Drive Conclusion

Microsoft project What does MS project do for you? It helps the project team members to control and complete the project successfully. You can create: - Gantt charts - Pert chart - Calendar These are there for setting milestones and deadlines for each task which will make everything more organised. Mohammed Suhail

Microsoft Project Management Information When starting the project, you can input details such as start date, finish date and current date, as pictured in Figure 1. You can also specify the number of working hours per day, week and month, and the start and end time for each day, which is shown in Figure 2. Figure 1Figure 1. Partial screenshot from a video Figure 2Figure 2. Partial screenshot from a video Aisling Harrison Bond

Gantt Charts Microsoft Project Manager allows you to create Gantt charts in order to manage your project. Figure 3Figure 3. Image from microsoft.com Aisling Harrison Bond You can outline your project using indenting and outdenting, by assigning subtasks to a summary task. You can also set tasks as milestone tasks, for example, start and finish.

Gantt Charts – Linking Tasks 1. Finish-to-Start 2. Start-to-Start 3. Finish-to-Finish 4. Start-to-Finish With Gantt charts, you have to link tasks, or create task dependencies, in order to show how the project will progress. Microsoft Project Manager allows four types of linking, or task dependencies (Microsoft):Microsoft Figure 4Figure 4. Image from microsoft.com Figure 5Figure 5. Image from microsoft.com Figure 6Figure 6. Image from microsoft.com Figure 7Figure 7. Image from microsoft.com Aisling Harrison Bond

Project Statistics Microsoft Project Manager can generate project statistics to show start and finish times, baseline times against the actual times, as well as the cost of the project, once all the information has been added. This is shown in Figure 8. Figure 8Figure 8. Partial screen clipping of a video Aisling Harrison Bond In terms of planning a real project, this could be taken to the client to see whether the project met the requirements, and could go ahead.

SharePoint Tasks & Project Sites SharePoint is a feature of Microsoft Project Management that allow all of a person’s work to be collected in one location, and this location can be a Project Site. Project Sites allow for collaboration of a Project Team on smaller scale projects. Aisling Harrison Bond Figure 9Figure 9. Image from microsoft.com

Advantages All the useful and right tools are included that you will need to manage a project Create professional charts and diagrams Better control on the finances and resources involved in the project There are templates that can be used to save time which can save money too. Mohammed Suhail

Limitations Cannot handle huge projects have to be simplified into smaller parts in the project the collaboration involved in the MS project is poor. Cost needs to be considered in every area. Training needs to be discussed and carried out for staff that need it to use the software. You will have to update the plan each time. If not then the project could fail Mohammed Suhail

Disadvantages & Limitations Cost: Project Standard 2013 is £559.99, and Professional is £ This puts is at a disadvantage to cheaper or free project management tools. Mobile Access: Whilst project data has mobile access, this is web based rather than app based. Complexity: If the user has not previously used Gantt charts, they may find the software confusing to use. Aisling Harrison Bond

Comparison Of Google drive and Project Management  Google drive is free, this means that its can be easily accessed by anyone, whereas Project management requires that the licensing is purchased. “Eldon”  However, if you require additional space on Google drive, you have to pay for it. If it were being used for a large scale project, then the memory could be filled quickly “Aisling”  Google drive has app on tablets, mobile and desktops. Project management has a mobile site but there is no app access to it. This limits access for an individual who is involved in project. “Eldon”  Google drive is simple to use, however Project management is more complex, so it may require some training for use. Especially as it focuses on Gantt charts, which the user may not be familiar with “Aisling”

 As a group if we had to choice between the two, we would go with Google drive. This is because, its simple and effective for a small group collaboration. We all have a Gmail account so this can be used to synchronise with the project calendar, Google drive, , hangout and other collaborative programs. “Eldon”  Another factor is that we have already been using Google Drive as a method of folders, sharing, viewing and editing documents as group for the ALL project. “Aisling”  However, for a larger organisation or company, Project management may be more appropriate, as it has the capacity to delegate tasks to team members, and can generate an estimated timeframe and cost for the project “Aisling” Group Conclusion