I saw an online conversation recently where the first person person asked the second person to write up a project management on SharePoint tools comparison, so that the first person could then know which was the best tool.  Seemed like a reasonable request.  The second person said he was doing just that.  As it happens the first person is very closely aligned with one tool, so it is hard to know how he can be fully objective.  Then which of us is fully objective I guess!  I of course can see some value in this exercise.  However!  The real question is of course what are the requirements of the first person's organization.  In any event, I figure that it is probably more valuable to give the first person a list of really good questions to ask so they can make up their own mind once they gather the data.  Or maybe the first person would use this list - or one like it.  Here is my suggestion for such a list!  These questions are based on the questions we get asked at BrightWork day in day out.  These are what evaluating teams ask us.  Let me know if you think I missed any questions.  Look forward to your feedback as ever.

Ease of Deployment

• Platform - SharePoint Dependencies
• Is the all the product functionality available on WSS, the free version of SharePoint?
• Platform - Other Dependencies
• Apart from SharePoint what other products are required to run your product?
• Platform - Microsoft Project Integration
• Does the product have links to Microsoft Project Desktop?
• Does the product require Microsoft Project Desktop?
• Does the product require Microsoft Project Server?
• Platform - Online / SaaS Offering
• Is there an option to start with an online version of the product and if required move it in-house later?
• Ease of Installation
• Is the product easy to install?
• Ease of Getting Started
• How quickly can we be up and running managing projects?
• Advanced Deployment Options
• Is there a comprehensive deployment option if our project management needs are more involved?
• Deployment - Simple or Complex
• Is the deployment simple or complex and can we start small and grow?
• Availability of Training
• Is there comprehensive product training readily available?
• User Interface Design Criteria
• What was the primary driver and influences for the user interface design?

Ease of Customisation

• Multiple Templates
• Does the product ship with project management templates of different types to get us started quickly?
• Configuration Flexibility
• Are the templates and the resulting projects easy to configure?
• Reporting Flexibility
• How flexible are the reporting options?
• Online Support
• Apart from the normal support desk, is there an online support mechanism if we get stuck?

Range of Functionality

• PM Capabilities
• Does the product support a wide range of project management capabilities?
• Task Management
• What type of task management is supported in the software?
• PM Role Support
• What project management roles does the product support?
• PM Process Support
• What project management processes does the product support?
• Non Project Work Management
• Does the product support non-project management work in the same application?
• Project Portfolio Management
• Does the product support the demand and pipeline for new work and for new projects?
• Charts, Graphs and KPI's
• Does the product support charts and graphs and key indicators and if so native within the product or with companion products?
• Features Added to SharePoint
• Summarize the key features your product has added to SharePoint to enable project management?

Future Proof Investment

• Product Maturity
• How long has the vendor been developing the product?
• Product Commitment
• Does the vendor have one product or multiple competing products?
• Product Composition
• Is this product a bunch of web-parts strung together after the fact or is it a real solution designed from the ground up?
• Microsoft Development Partnership
• How closely does the vendor participate with Microsoft on new versions of SharePoint and Project?
• Thought Leadership
• Is there evidence to suggest that the vendor provides any thought leadership in this space?
• Active Release Cycle
• Is there an active and regular release cycle and do we have to take every release?
• Multiple Languages
• Does the product properly support languages other than English (over and above the native SharePoint support)?
• Analyst Recognition
• Has the vendor been recognized by the Analyst community?

Evaluation Support

• Successful Customers
• Can you point to testimonials from successful customers?
• Realistic Pricing
• How realistic and competitive is the pricing?
• Evaluation Options
• What evaluations options exist?
• Evaluation Support
• Can we be fully supported during our evaluation?