Primavera vs MS Project | Top 19 Best Differences You Should Know

Difference between Primavera vs MS-Project

Primavera is a project management software like MS-project software. Like MS-project primavera software consists of portfolio management, product management, collaboration management and various other controls related to the project management. Primavera software integrates with other enterprise soft wares like ORACLE, ERP, etc. Primavera software is best suited for project planning, reporting and progress updating, tracking. Both Primavera vs MS-Project are commonly known as project management softwares used for project planning and execution for reducing the hustles and bustles of the project management and to increase productivity and efficiency. Primavera and MS-Project both are the greatest inventions of technology in the field of project management to eliminate the waste and unnecessary wastes from the business process.

Head To Head Comparison Between Primavera vs MS-Project(Infographics)

Below is the top 19 difference between Primavera vs MS-Project

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Key differences between Primavera vs MS-Project

Both Primavera vs MS-Project are popular choices in the market; let us discuss some of the major Difference Between Primavera vs MS-Project:

The key difference between Primavera and MS-Project software is that the Primavera software is a database based software whereas the MS-Project is a file-based software. Primavera is more powerful software when compared to the MS-Project software as it reduces the project risks. As the inconsistencies, defects, and flaws are already scheduled and analyzed with the help of project management software, the excess costs can be cut down. Primavera project management software was created as an enterprise software from the beginning whereas the MS-Project software was earlier created as a desktop application and then it was migrated to the project server and the enterprise capabilities were added to the Microsoft project software for serving the purpose of an enterprise project management. Primavera P6 is now planning and slowly migrating to function out of the windows based operating system to explore the functionalities and to increase the number of platforms on which it works. Both the software, Primavera vs MS-Project are project management software however they possess minor differences between them and are hence can be used for different types of projects based on the nature of the project. The decision of choosing the enterprise project management software depends on the requirement of the organization and nature of their projects.

Primavera vs MS-Project Comparison Table

Below is the topmost comparison between Primavera vs MS-Project

S.No
Primavera Software
MS-Project Software

1.
It supports unlimited baselines.
MS-Project supports 11 baselines.

2.
Primavera allows multiple users to work on a single project and the specific features to be used.
Multiple User Access MS Project doesn’t allow multiple users to work on a single project

3.
Primavera allows issue and disk recording.
MS-Project lacks the feature of project issues and risk tracking.

4.
In Primavera web, support information like the planning and documentation of the project can be converted into HTML directly from the software without the help of any third party software.
MS-project does not provide any feature to convert data from one format to another directly from the software. Third-party software can be used for this purpose if you are using MS-project software.

5.
It allows creating sub-activities of activity by breaking the main activity into different steps with own start and finish date.
MS-Project does not provide any such functionality for creating sub-activities.

6.
Primavera allows you to create a blank custom field. However, it does not set formulas to the fields. Thus, users have to set the formulas manually in each field for each column.
MS-Project allows creating custom fields with complex formulas and additional values to the field which reduces the manual effort of the user.

7.
Primavera supports multiple activities relationship in which more than one type of relationship can be created between the activities.
MS-Project software does not support multiple activity relationship. It allows establishing only one type of relationship between activities.

8.
Primavera supports the feature of creating a Website. This project website allows creating a website comprising details like project issues, risks, resources, etc. which has been feed as input to the Primavera project management software.
MS-Project does not provide any feature for creating the project website.

9.
Primavera software supports multiple project creation, tracking, and viewing. It allows tracking, multiple projects or Work Breakdown Structure comparisons, cost and units calculations.
MS-Project allows multiple projects creation but it does not allow other functions on the multiple projects like tracking multiple projects, cost, other calculations, and comparisons simultaneously.

10.
Primavera software P6 supports unique ID feature and is helpful in projects using activity ID systems.
MS-Project does not support unique ID feature and the activity ID is dependent on the position of the activity.

11.
Primavera allows activity sorting by different fields like sorting by date, activity id, etc.
Microsoft Project allows flexible activity control in which the individual activities can be moved from their positions to the position where you want it to display.

12.
Primavera allows adding different project expenses like training cost, traveling cost, etc. in addition to the project expenses.
MS-Project does not allow to calculate other expenses.

13.
It supports up to 200 columns including custom columns, each column giving useful information.
MS-Project on the contrary part supports up to 40 columns only.

14.
Primavera allows the creation of WBS (Work Breakdown Structure) in which activities can be added.
In MS-Project activities are made to appear or function like WBS.

15.
Primavera supports a larger number of activities.
MS-Project supports less number of activities when compared to Primavera.

16.
Primavera supports shuffling of onscreen activities using sorting, grouping, etc.
MS-project lacks on-screen activity shuffling.

17.
Primavera software is best suited for developed countries.
MS-project software is best suited for developing countries.

18.
Primavera is a database based project management software.
MS-Project is file based project management software.

19.
Primavera supports a feature known as Progress spotlight to highlight table rows in a particular color.
MS-Project does not support any such direct feature instead allows you to create filters for the same.

Conclusion

After analyzing both the project management software, it is concluded that P6 is best suited for larger projects involving multiple users, large project structures, organizations where most projects are part of a larger project and integrated in networked systems, whereas MS-Projects are best suited for single projects that do not require heavy recording details and corporations with less number of projects and the projects which are largely dependent on external resources.

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