Why should my company use an enterprise wide Project Management tool such as MS Project 2002 or Primavera? Also, what will make the implementation successful?
why? it can help avoid conflicts with the team trying to update files simultaneously.
with right one, access can be from online, as sometimes a programmer gets inspiration at 3 am and 3 hours away from the office. then he can log in and get the code input and saved, the right enterprise tool can log when it happenes, and you can see exactly when your team is most productive. which is often outside normal business hours when the option is available.
when set up right, any team member can get latest code from it, and work on it at will, it manages updates to the code, and nightly you can compile a cvs snapshot that will help in tracking development.
personally, I would probably buy the needed licenses from VA and use their sourceforge software, on their server. for enterprise is only 2500 per person / year. ( the web portal is 200,000 / year) the enterprise is more secure than the web portal also. all transactions with the server are encrypted tunnels, no possible data loss to outside parties.
that is an enterprise management tool, their web portal actually.
you can see why I say these tools are extremely usefull.
Having everyone use the same tools gives everyone the same language, streamlines the process and speeds up both the reviewing and training processes. It allows PMs to step into a project already underway (not that your company has ever had a PM leave in the middle of a project) and gives you a filter to hire someone who is already familiar with your PM language, tools and methodology.
Successful implementation depends on the metrics you determine from the beginning. WHY are you implementing this? Is it to web-enable project reports, have a consistent PM methodology or provide more accurate and consistent analysis to determine ROI on your projects? If it gives you what you need (and more) then it is a successful implementation.
An enterprise wide tool will give you consistency across the organisation. With resource pools centralised it also gives you better control over staffing on projects.
An important element to take into account is the ability to share files easily and in a standard fashion. Combined with good configuration management your project plan can become the starting place for the entire project. If templates are linked in to tasks on your plan template then the tool can be a central driving point.
To help with a succesful implementation, you need to look at early adoption of the tool onto some key projects and track the benefit gained to demenstrate it. You will also need to ensure proper training and support for these early projects, with the later training being facilitated by the early adopters playing a mentorship role. Another aspect is that of senior management support. If they do not show the commitment and support for the initiative, people are unlikely to go for the newtool and result in it's non-usage.
A final comment - when evaluating tools also take a look at Scitor's Project Scheduler v8. We currently utilise it very succesfully across the couple of hundred projects being run in our organisation.