An important caution to keep in mind ... the situation you describe sounds
like you're scheduling on-going activity rather than a "project" per se.
The needs of the two types of schedule are actually very different.
On-going business activity never ends but projects do. Projects are, by
definition, time-limited activities with a definite beginning point and an
observable ending point after which there is no further activity and
everyone disbands (at least as far as the project universe is concerned).
MS Project is designed to help you model the workflow that gets you from
begining to the end in the most efficient manner but with no end-date target
to work with, it has no way to determine "efficient" and its tools are not
able to work as designed.
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm for the FAQs



"T" <T@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:5307E9D3-C743-4EBE-B765-E3DCBD2F1DAC@microsoft.com...
> From talking with someone from my team today the idea is that there would
> be
> one person that alters the schedule... my boss on the other hand would
> like
> to be able to see that schedule (and the other front line leaders for that
> matter) from his computer (in preferably outlook) when needbe. What
> would
> be the best way to use the Project file to send out action items and
> appointments via outlook so you can eliminate the redundancy of keeping
> the
> Outlook and Project items separate?
>
> Thoughts?
>
>
>
> "Rod Gill" wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> Start with the fact that MS Project is not a time management tool! In
>> schedules, it is typical to only schedule meetings on a weekly basis.
>> Why?
>> because time information is not in Project. If a meeting time needs to
>> change, Outlook can show empty time slots for each person to make
>> scheduling
>> a meeting easy. project can't. Outlook can send appointment emails and
>> collect acceptances etc.
>>
>> I would use Project to schedule when meetings need to occur (by week) and
>> use Outlook to schedule the date and time.
>>
>> If you use other tools such as Project Server or some other tools just to
>> schedule meetings, it will consume hours of effort per meeting just so
>> you
>> can save 5 minutes per meeting!!
>>
>> Keep it simple, but if you need the other features that Project Server
>> offers then maybe.
>>
>> --
>>
>> Rod Gill
>> Microsoft MVP for Project
>>
>> Author of the only book on Project VBA, see:
>> http://www.projectvbabook.com
>>
>>
>>
>> "T" <T@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:E00414B1-1F41-4F21-AB4D-9985B852FE6D@microsoft.com...
>> >I have been reading a bunch of posts regarding this issue and am still
>> >very
>> > shaky on the best approach for me.
>> >
>> > I work for a consulting company and have been composing a "schedule"
>> > for
>> > them using MS Project which they are using to track all
>> > tasks/assignments
>> > within the group in addition to regularly scheduled meetings and
>> > events.
>> >
>> > This is mainly being used for management (roughly 6 people) and the
>> > idea
>> > is
>> > that one person can maintain the schedule and give updates every week.
>> > MS
>> > Project Standard 2007 seems fine for this (I have just been able to use
>> > pictures of the GANT chart for weekly meetings).
>> >
>> > One function they want is to be able to use the schedule and take the
>> > assigned weekly meetings created in Project to send out Outlook invites
>> > to
>> > the managers (possibly even send out task reminders in the future?) to
>> > eliminate the redundancy of creating something in project and
>> > re-creating
>> > it
>> > in Outlook.
>> >
>> > I am trying to find the least costly method for going about doing this.
>> > I
>> > have read things about Project Server, Project Web Access, etc, but I
>> > am
>> > not
>> > sure if that is the least cost method for going about doing this.
>> >
>> > Thanks
>>
>>