Business Impacts of Microsoft Project

I believe that Fashion Wholesaler would not benefit enough from the installation of Microsoft Project (MS Project) to outweigh the cost of implementation and training.

MS Project is a software application designed to enable proper planning using organization of tasks, calculation the duration of each task involved and evaluating the most effective way to complete a project within budget and on or before the expected deadline. This software has many functions that are extremely helpful to businesses that often rely on heavily calculated project timelines. As a first time user of this software I found it very frustrating to use. Because of the level of intricacy and detail in order for someone to operate this software to its full capability I believe that training would be mandatory prior to implementation.

In regards to answering if Fashion Wholesaler should adopt MS Project I think the answer to that is No. Fashion Wholesaler does not work enough with massive projects, tight timelines and extensive budgets to warrant the time and money needed to install and train employees on this software. Currently, Fashion Wholesaler relies on Excel, Microsoft Word and AccountEdge software to complete orders both large and small. MS Project could cost anywhere from $34/month or $1,160/month depending on how many computers/users would be engaged with the software. Since Fashion Wholesaler is a very small company of about 5 full time employees that work in the office if we were to entertain the idea of implementation we would only need it on one computer - the main server. Let's take the low end price of $34/month to calculate expenses:

Price: $34/month. Equates to $408 for the year.

Now since this software is so detailed and extensive some training will be required. Since we would all have to learn to be proficient on the software we can calculate the cost of training each employee roughly. I am going to calculate conservatively and assume it will only take people two hours of training to become proficient.

Receptionist 1: $15/hour * 2hrs  = $30
Receptionist 2: $10/hour * 2hrs = $20
Designer = $30/hour * 2hrs = $60
Logisitics Manager = $25/hour * 2hs = $50

Total = $160. This total is the amount of money lost in salaries that could have been spent working on processing orders, creating garments, and working on other projects.

MS Project IT Specialist salary = $175/hr * 8hrs = $1,400.

Now if you take into account the bill for the specialist that is a total of $1,560. Now add in the fee for the software we are looking at $1,968 for implementation, training and first year expenses.

Knowing that Fashion Wholesalers do not operate enough projects to utilize this software it doesn't seem to make much sense for them to invest in it and waste the time or money in implementing it properly