Project Management Central integrates with Microsoft Project to allow organizations of every size to maximize their investments in Microsoft Project and SharePoint.

Bamboo Solutions, the leading provider of technologies that enhance Microsoft® SharePoint®, has released the latest SharePoint Project Management Central (PM Central) version. Since its initial release in 2009, PM Central has consistently enhanced the rich native collaborative capabilities of the Microsoft SharePoint platform. With its latest 3.0 release, those enhancements include critical integration points with Microsoft Project, one of the cornerstones of the Microsoft Office Enterprise Project Management (EPM) product.

Since many project managers working in a SharePoint environment create their project schedules in Microsoft Project, the latest release of PM Central allows users to easily import their Microsoft Project schedule into SharePoint via a PM Central tasks list. Once imported to SharePoint, project managers are able to sync changes between their PM Central tasks list and the Microsoft Project plan, offering an ongoing interrelationship between SharePoint lists and Microsoft Project. PM Central will also automatically validate data imported from Microsoft Project to a SharePoint tasks list, ensuring that imported data will not represent duplicate content.
PM Central is not designed exclusively for project managers but for all project team members, from developers to executive management. This “user first” philosophy allows project managers to efficiently create a standard schedule for multiple projects while also making it easy for team members to update as needed and for executive management to check the status of the project at a glance. With additional built-in integration with Bamboo’s Workflow ConductorTM, the latest PM Central release also includes out-of-the-box support for change management, including approval workflows for project site creation and change requests.

“PM Central’s integration with Microsoft Project provides experienced project managers with the ability to utilize Microsoft Project’s rich scheduling features as well as reuse their standard template during the project planning phase,” said Dux Raymond Sy, Microsoft SharePoint MVP and author of SharePoint for Project Management. “Once a project is underway, the integration allows all project participants to enjoy the collaborative benefits of PM Central. Task changes made through PM Central can be updated to Microsoft Project later. This can be a significant time saver for project managers by freeing them from the challenges associated with keeping their ‘living’ project schedule in sync with the original project schedule.”

Hundreds of organizations have deployed PM Central since its 2009 debut because of its cost savings, user-friendly interface, resource management, and improved collaborative ability to view work and schedule from all projects. Building on the native capabilities of the SharePoint platform, PM Central provides 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. Now integrating with Microsoft Project, the new features in the latest release dramatically improve users’ ability to perform and manage their daily work and projects by combining the power of Microsoft Project with the ease of use of SharePoint Project Management Central.

PM Central 3.0 for SharePoint 2010 and 2007 is available for immediate download via Bamboo’s online store. 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. For more information, visit http://store.bamboosolutions.com/pmcentral.aspx.

For More Information:

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