Group F
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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.
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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
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Project management, involves taking an idea and breaking down that idea into structured
plans.
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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 : Google Drive logo
Eldon Chinyamakobvu
Functionality.
Salaheddine Meftah
 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.
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Reference for images on slide:
(Screen shots from) https://drive.google.com/#mydrive
The left-hand navigation also contains two
useful buttons that allow files to be uploaded
in just one click.
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.
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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 email 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!
Reference for images on slide:
(Screen shots from) https://drive.google.com/#mydrive
Salaheddine Meftah
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)
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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.
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Hidden Limitation of 1,024,000 characters per document
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Cell limit on spread sheets with 400,000 cells per spread sheet.
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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 emails 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 Conclusion
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”
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:
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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 1. Partial screenshot from a
video
Figure 2. Partial screenshot from a
video
Aisling Harrison Bond
Gantt Charts
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Microsoft Project Manager allows you to create Gantt charts in order to manage your
project.
Figure 3. Image from microsoft.com
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.
Aisling Harrison Bond
Gantt Charts – Linking Tasks
• 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):
1. Finish-to-Start
Figure 4. Image from microsoft.com
2. Start-to-Start
Figure 5. Image from microsoft.com
3. Finish-to-Finish
Figure 6. Image from microsoft.com
4. Start-to-Finish
Figure 7. Image from microsoft.com
Aisling Harrison Bond
Project Statistics
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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 8. Partial screen clipping of a video
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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.
Aisling Harrison Bond
SharePoint Tasks & Project Sites
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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.
Figure 9. Image from microsoft.com
Aisling Harrison Bond
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 £949.99. 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.
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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”
Group Conclusion
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, email , 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”