Microsoft Mission vs. Microsoft Groups

Microsoft Mission and Microsoft Groups are challenge administration instruments that may assist your software program improvement workforce collaborate and increase productiveness to ship high-quality merchandise on schedule and inside funds. Which of those PM instruments higher matches your workforce’s wants, although? Preserve studying to see what Microsoft Mission and Microsoft Groups have to supply so you possibly can reply that query.

Microsoft Mission Options

True to its identify, Microsoft Mission is challenge administration software program that helps improvement groups keep organized and on the identical web page, no matter location. The PM software program is geared in direction of skilled challenge managers and technical customers for one main motive: it has a steep studying curve. Fortunately, Microsoft Mission’s steep studying curve is warranted because it has a sturdy set of options that make prolonged onboarding time worthwhile, together with:

• Centralized views
• Gantt charts
• Kanban boards
• Interactive roadmaps
• Timesheet administration instruments

We start our have a look at Microsoft Mission’s options with its house display screen. Dubbed Mission House, it provides challenge managers a centralized view and acts as a one-stop store for beginning new tasks or accessing latest ones, viewing knowledge, and getting a chicken’s eye view of every little thing occurring in a challenge.

Microsoft Mission provides a number of views to assist challenge managers observe progress, together with the timeline (Gantt) view, Plus Grid, and Kanban board views. Microsoft Mission’s process boards are customizable, and it additionally has interactive roadmaps and timesheets. Different options price mentioning embody customized reporting and collaboration, though that’s restricted to Microsoft Groups or different integrations.

Microsoft Mission Pricing

Microsoft Mission has three pricing plans that come by way of cloud-based or on-premises options. The cloud-based options are priced as follows:

• Mission Plan 1: $10 per consumer, per 30 days
• Mission Plan 3: $30 per consumer, per 30 days
• Mission Plan 5: $55 per consumer, per 30 days

Change to on-premises, and you may select between these pricing choices:

• Mission Customary 2021: $679.99
• Mission Skilled 2021: $1,129.99
• Mission Server: Customized pricing

Whereas Microsoft Mission has loads of options for bigger groups in search of superior performance, a have a look at its pricing reveals that it’s dearer than different PM software program options available on the market, plus it lacks a free plan. Preserve this in thoughts in case your improvement workforce is on a strict funds.

Microsoft Mission Strengths And Weaknesses

Microsoft Mission is thought for having the next strengths for challenge managers and builders.

Microsoft Mission Strengths:

• Helps a number of methodologies, together with Agile, Scrum, and Kanban
• Useful resource administration and useful resource allocation
• Scalable to bigger groups
• Constructed-in workload administration instruments

Mission managers and builders could flip to Microsoft Mission for a number of causes. It’s supreme for customers of different Microsoft merchandise and may present a well-recognized really feel, and it’s extremely customizable and versatile with its assist for Waterfall, Agile, and hybrid methodologies – to not point out its Kanban and Scrum options. The house display screen’s centralized view is especially useful for getting began and accessing what you want while you want it.

Microsoft Mission’s strengths proceed with its a number of views, strong time monitoring and reporting, useful resource administration, and workload administration. And, not like different PM software program with restricted options appropriate for smaller groups, Mission has sufficient performance to serve bigger groups as properly.

Microsoft Mission Weaknesses:

• Steep studying curve
• Collaboration options not the best out of the field
• Restricted integrations in comparison with different PM software program

Microsoft Mission’s weaknesses are highlighted by the aforementioned steep studying curve that eliminates it as a viable resolution for freshmen. The software program additionally falls quick within the collaboration division. Why? As a result of to collaborate in Microsoft Mission, you will have the assistance of some outdoors instruments, similar to Microsoft Groups, Outlook, or Skype.

Relating to integrations, they’re restricted as properly. Certain, you possibly can combine Mission with different Microsoft instruments, however outdoors of that, you’ll yearn for extra. Lastly, Microsoft Mission can get expensive as you go into its extra premium plans, making it a tricky go for smaller groups on a funds.

You possibly can study extra by studying our Microsoft Mission Overview.

Microsoft Groups Options

It’s robust to have a dialog on collaborative instruments with out mentioning Microsoft Groups. Why? As a result of it is without doubt one of the most generally used collaborative instruments available on the market. A few of its most important options embody:

• On-line conferences and video conferencing
• Able to internet hosting massive conferences and webinars of 1,000+ members
• Language captions in movies for over 40 languages
• File sharing

On-line conferences and video conferencing are the highlights of Microsoft Groups’ function set. It might probably host interactive conferences for as much as 1,000 folks and webinars for as much as 10,000. Whereas these numbers are spectacular, the bells and whistles that include Groups’ on-line conferences are even higher. It provides a video preview earlier than getting began, custom-made backgrounds, recordings, reside captions for 40 languages, a speaker coach to assist your displays movement, and a increase your hand button. Groups’ on-line conferences additionally function a darkish mode to stop eye pressure, a downloadable participant checklist, and features for designating presenters, eradicating uninvited friends, and muting background noise.

Improvement groups also can use Microsoft Groups to carry cellphone calls. You possibly can have one-on-one or group calls, switch calls, entry voicemail, and get transcripts of conversations.

Microsoft Groups’ chat could also be simply pretty much as good as its video conferencing capabilities. The chat provides wealthy textual content enhancing, workforce channels, video replies, gifs and reactions, @mentions, inline message translation, pinned chats, scheduled ship, and extra.

Whereas Groups’ video conferencing and chat promote collaboration, the software program additionally has different choices for staying in contact and sharing concepts. Microsoft Groups has file sharing, real-time content material enhancing, model historical past monitoring, computerized sync, and integrations with Trello, Slack, and different widespread apps to broaden its collaborative performance much more.

Microsoft Groups Pricing

Microsoft Groups’ Free plan lets challenge managers maintain on-line conferences (calls and video) for as much as 100 folks. That needs to be adequate for many groups in search of fundamental collaboration, however Microsoft additionally has different paid choices that embody further options like file sharing, storage, transcripts, and superior safety. Under are Microsoft Groups’ pricing plans:

• Microsoft Groups Necessities: $4 per consumer, per 30 days
• Microsoft 365 Enterprise Fundamental: $6 per consumer, per 30 days
• Microsoft 365 Enterprise Customary:$12.50 per consumer, per 30 days
• Microsoft 365 Enterprise Premium: $22 per consumer, per 30 days

Microsoft Groups Strengths And Weaknesses:

Under are a few of Microsoft Groups’ strengths and weaknesses as a challenge administration and collaboration instrument.

Microsoft Groups Strengths:

• Intensive collaboration options, together with chat and video conferencing
• File sharing, chat, and video conferencing in a single central location
• Very user-friendly and simple to make use of

In terms of collaboration, Microsoft Groups has all of it. Improvement groups in search of a collaborative instrument will discover its versatility refreshing, because it provides avenues for video conferencing, chatting, file sharing, and so on., multi function place. Microsoft Groups excels at video conferencing and chat, however provides Skype integration for followers aware of the normal messaging app.

Past that, Groups’ strengths are that it’s user-friendly, has strong assist and safety, gives glorious audio and video high quality, plus provides 99.9 p.c uptime for premium customers.

Microsoft Groups Weaknesses:

• Consumer interface may use some updates
• Customers report glitches when display screen sharing

The place may Microsoft Groups enhance? Followers of Slack and comparable messaging apps could want these acquainted platforms over Groups’ chat. The consumer interface, whereas principally intuitive, may take a little bit of time for freshmen to get accustomed to, and display screen sharing tends to get glitchy generally.

You possibly can study extra in our Microsoft Groups Overview.

Microsoft Mission and Microsoft Groups Variations

The largest distinction between Microsoft Mission and Microsoft Groups is their function units. Microsoft Mission is loaded with options to assist handle tasks from A to Z, whereas Microsoft Groups focuses extra on collaboration in a number of varieties.

Microsoft Mission vs. Microsoft Groups: The Verdict

Between Microsoft Mission and Microsoft Groups, which is the higher choose to your software program improvement workforce? The reply to that’s that it depends upon your wants. Each are fairly totally different when it comes to what they provide, so your distinctive wants will decide which is the higher alternative.

If you would like a number of options for managing tasks, similar to process administration, reporting, roadmaps, time monitoring, useful resource administration, collaboration (with the assistance of Groups), and so forth, then Microsoft Mission is the choose. However should you simply want one thing to assist your workforce collaborate with out all these further bells and whistles – a collaboration instrument versus a challenge administration instrument – then Microsoft Groups is a good possibility.

Different Mission Administration Instruments

Nonetheless not satisfied Microsoft Mission or Microsoft Groups is the appropriate challenge administration instrument to your group? We now have a number of challenge administration software program round-ups that may assist you discover the appropriate PM resolution: