Bamboo Solutions, the leading provider of technologies that enhance Microsoft SharePoint, has released the latest version of SharePoint Project Management Central (PM Central^TM). PM Central provides dynamic, interactive workspaces for project teams, enhancing the rich native collaborative capabilities of the Microsoft SharePoint platform. Customer feedback has fueled product features since its inception, and release 2.0 continues that tradition. The most-requested collaboration and project management features have been delivered in the new release and, combined with unlimited user licensing, these new features substantially raise the bar for managing projects across the enterprise in SharePoint.

Since the initial release in 2009, hundreds of organizations have chosen PM Central over other applications, because of its cost savings, user-friendly interface, resource management and improved collaborative ability to view work and schedule from all projects. PM Central builds on the native capabilities of the SharePoint platform, providing data aggregation, enhanced tracking and scheduling, robust document management and collaboration, and sophisticated communication tools. As a standardized Project Management Information System (PMIS), PM Central excels at project portfolio management, task and schedule management, team communication, document management and collaboration, and issue, cost, risk and resource management. The latest version provides managers with greater flexibility when planning, budgeting and executing against defined goals. The new features expand on project-management best practices to dramatically improve users’ ability to perform and manage their daily work and projects beyond simple data and task management in SharePoint.

New features include:

• Usability – A number of improvements simplify a manager’s workload and facilitate the management of multiple tasks and projects. Create schedules based on Start Date and variables such as Due Date, Duration or Work; edit multiple task items at one time; and filter project information department via a 3-tiered architecture for enhanced multi-level tracking and reporting.
• Improved Dashboard and Reporting – Project budgets, costs, risks and progress are much easier to assess through additional charts and reports. Display key performance indicators (KPI) to compare values between the project’s planned work and cost and the actual work and cost. Baselining capabilities, Gantt views and KPIs, custom reports, and more make identifying risks and monitoring project health easier.
• Enhanced Project and Resource Management – Resource Management improvements allow project managers to add a resource to a project using the Enterprise Resource Pool or a SharePoint account. Resources can also be added to a project during task creation. Task and project allocation enable managers to assign a percentage of a resource’s time to work on a task or project.

“Customer feedback has driven PM Central’s development since its inception,” said Lam Le, Chief Operating Officer of Bamboo Solutions. “The extensive enhancements in PM Central 2.0 come directly from professional project managers. As a result, that this version is far more than a SharePoint tool to manage projects; it’s a true professional project management tool that happens to be integrated with the SharePoint platform.”

PM Central 2.0 for SharePoint 2007 is available for immediate download via Bamboo’s online store. A SharePoint 2010 version will be available before the end of the calendar year. PM Central includes pre-built site definitions and Bamboo’s most popular Web Parts, which can be immediately utilized and further customized across the SharePoint deployment. Licensing is per server, supporting an unlimited number of users. Existing customers who have procured PM Central as part of Bamboo’s Project Management Suite and with the premium support are entitled to a free upgrade to the new release. For more information, visit http://store.bamboosolutions.com/pmcentral.aspx.