Comparison

Linetrack vs.
Microsoft Project

Microsoft Project is a mature scheduling tool – built for one project and one responsible planner. This comparison shows what MS Project does well, where the boundary runs once several departments and projects draw on the same resources, and in which cases MS Project remains the right choice.

Linetrack compared with Microsoft Project for scheduling and capacity planning in industrial projects

In short

Microsoft Project is a tool for the individual planner, Linetrack one for many planners. MS Project works a single project through in depth: task relationships, the critical path and automatic resource levelling. Linetrack puts every project on one shared data foundation where departments maintain their own share, also computes the critical path, and compares baselines against scenarios – with a cross-project capacity histogram below the bar chart on top of that. The dividing line is not the scheduling maths, it is the number of people involved.

400+

Excel spreadsheets and
planning tools replaced

56%

already had a PM system
and switched anyway

1512+

industrial projects
managed in parallel

10 days

median to the first
self-planned project

*Every figure on this page comes from a full survey of all live Linetrack implementations, as of August 2026. The initial problems were surveyed with multiple answers allowed, 3.8 at the same time on average.

Starting point

What Microsoft Project was built for

Microsoft Project is not a spreadsheet with bars, it is a genuine scheduling tool. It understands task relationships, derives the critical path from them, handles resource levelling and uses baselines to record how a plan looked at an earlier point in time. Anyone who has to work a single undertaking through in depth, and to demonstrate the knock-on effects of a delay, is well served by it.

The product family is more differentiated than the shared name suggests: MS Project Desktop is the classic application for the individual planner. Project Online and Project Server add a cloud or server layer for multi-project operation, including an enterprise resource pool and portfolio views. Project for the web is the lightweight variant for simple task lists. Which system categories exist alongside it is set out in the software comparison; the mechanics of the bar chart itself are covered on the Gantt planning page.

Where it breaks

Where the single-planner tool reaches its limit

The limit of MS Project is not its scheduling maths. It lies in how many people may work on one plan at the same time, and how many projects share the same departments. Across the Linetrack implementations surveyed, more than 400 planning tools were replaced, MS Project plans among them. 56% of customers already had a PM system in place and switched anyway.

A plan has exactly one author. MS Project Desktop is designed as a tool for the planner. Departments do not work inside the file, they report in – by phone, e-mail or meeting note. The project manager then transfers those updates into the plan by hand.
Keeping the plan current falls to the project manager. Because every contribution has to be typed in, the plan is only ever as current as the last transfer. 59% of customers named manual status chasing as one of their initial problems.
The capacity question is asked at department level. MS Project works with named resources and their calendars inside the plan that is open. The question in an industrial project, however, is: is engineering overbooked in March across every running project? That cannot be answered in any single file.
Multi-project operation depends on an additional layer. Project Online and Project Server solve exactly this – with an enterprise resource pool and portfolio views. That capability, however, depends on an additional cloud or server layer with its own licensing, rollout and administration effort. And even there, departments rarely plan for themselves; they keep contributing to someone else's plan.
Suppliers sit outside the plan. Bought-in parts, external assembly and outsourced electrical engineering appear as tasks in the bar chart, but the people delivering them do not work in it. Their status arrives by e-mail and is entered afterwards – with the same lag as any other contribution.

None of these points is a defect in Microsoft Project. They follow from what it was cut out for: one plan, one owner. As soon as twenty projects draw on the same design engineers, electrical planners and fitters, the task shifts from scheduling maths to coordination – and with it to multi-project management.

Core argument

Not the scheduling maths, the number of people involved

Comparisons with Microsoft Project usually fail because they make the tool smaller than it is. MS Project calculates task relationships, derives the critical path, levels resources and holds baselines against the current state. In the schedule analytics of a single project it is strong – and better at it than much of what presents itself today as the modern alternative.

The decisive question in mechanical and plant engineering is a different one: how many people may keep a plan current at the same time, and how many projects draw on the same departments? A plan with exactly one author is only ever as current as that person's last round of typing.

The test is simple: ask which department is overbooked in March. In a single project file that cannot be answered. Through the enterprise layer of Project Online or Project Server it can – but only if every plan really is maintained there and every resource comes from the same pool. That is where it fails in practice, not on the software's ability to calculate.

Linetrack starts one layer earlier: not a better file, but a shared data foundation with roles and permissions per area of responsibility. Departments maintain their own share, the bar chart is merely the view onto it, and the capacity histogram underneath reads the same data across every project. How schedules and capacity connect is explained on the scheduling and capacity planning page.

As current as the last round of re-keying

The same week, two operating models. What is measured is how much of the actual status is reflected in the plan at any given moment.

one author maintains the planeach department maintains its own part

Share of the actual status reflected in the plan

MondayMonday: 100% with a single author, 100% with many maintainers.
TuesdayTuesday: 82% with a single author, 98% with many maintainers.
WednesdayWednesday: 64% with a single author, 97% with many maintainers.
author catches upThursdayThursday: 100% with a single author, 99% with many maintainers.
FridayFriday: 71% with a single author, 98% with many maintainers.

A single-author plan is only current right after the re-keying and drifts from there. Dates, though, get promised somewhere in between, not on the update day.

In comparison

Microsoft Project
versus Linetrack

This table does not compare feature lists but design intent: what each tool was built for. Seven points where that difference shows up in day-to-day work.

Aspect	Microsoft Project
What is planned	A project plan as a file with exactly one owner	A project in a shared data foundation; the bar chart is the view onto it
Who plans	One responsible planner, departments contribute	Roles and permissions per area of responsibility, departments maintain their own share
Scheduling logic	Task relationships, critical path, automatic resource levelling, baselines	Task relationships with critical path; a shift ripples through the chain
Capacity across projects	Via the enterprise resource pool in Project Online or Project Server – an additional system layer	Capacity histogram directly below the bar chart, across projects, with no second layer
Scenarios before deciding	Alternatives as a copy of the plan or as a further baseline	Scenarios simulated in the same system; nothing is replanned automatically, people decide
Feedback from the shop floor	A status report that is transferred into the plan	Task tracking on the task itself, via desktop and mobile app
Suppliers in the schedule	Represented as tasks; their own access only through additional licences	Actors in the schedule in their own right, collaboration licence free of charge

Two qualifications. First: in the scheduling logic row, Microsoft Project is ahead – not on the critical path or baselines, which Linetrack offers too, but on automatic resource levelling. Second: the remaining rows are not a feature gap on either side but a question of design intent – single-planner work versus collaborative planning. What becomes of it over the course of a project is shown by the planned-versus-actual comparison.

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Multi-tier backups

Hourly, daily, and monthly backups with a typical recovery time of under one hour.

An honest boundary

When Microsoft Project stays the right choice

There are situations in which switching buys you nothing. Four of them are clear-cut enough to belong on this page:

One project, one planner. Where exactly one undertaking is planned through in depth and one person owns it, MS Project plays to its strength. The coordination effort that a shared data foundation removes never arises in the first place.
Automatic resource levelling and formal proof of delay. Where delays have to be demonstrated formally for variation orders and claims, the mature network analytics and automatic resource levelling in MS Project is the more suitable tool. Linetrack does not serve that requirement.
An established Microsoft enterprise landscape. If Project Online is already running, administered and mastered by the project managers, the enterprise layer exists and is paid for. A switch then has to deliver more than an answer to the department utilization question.
MS Project files as a contractual deliverable. Some clients explicitly require schedules in MS Project format, including a prescribed structure and task numbering. Where that is written into the contract, MS Project stays part of the process – regardless of what is used for planning internally.

Work breakdown structure in Linetrack with work packages, tasks and responsible departments

The case where Linetrack makes the difference is a different one: many parallel projects, several departments sharing resources, and external parties who are meant to report back themselves. How that looks in mechanical and plant engineering is described on the industry page. The two are not mutually exclusive – individual plans may still be built in MS Project and imported for the cross-project view.

Migration

How the move from MS Project works

The most common objection to switching is the existing planning: years of schedules sit in MS Project and nobody wants to re-enter them. That is precisely what the import is there for – it is a finished standard feature that reads tasks, durations and dependencies straight out of existing schedules instead of having them typed in again.

This import is part of the product; no extra interface development is required for it. The same applies to Primavera, Excel and SAP. Which systems are connected beyond that, and where a continuous sync makes more sense than a one-off data transfer, is set out on the interfaces and integrations page.

Scheduling and resource planning in Linetrack after importing existing MS Project schedules

The real difference begins after the data transfer: departments get access to their own area of responsibility and maintain it themselves instead of feeding a single project manager. The median time between kick-off and the first self-planned project is ten working days – regardless of company size. The phases of that rollout are described on the implementation page.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Still have questions?

Book a meeting with our team.

What is the difference between Linetrack and Microsoft Project?

MS Project plans one project from the perspective of one responsible planner: task relationships, critical path, automatic resource levelling and baselines within a single plan. Linetrack plans several projects from the perspective of a company: all projects sit on one shared data foundation, departments maintain their own share, critical path and baselines are available too, and the capacity histogram below the bar chart shows utilization across projects. The wider frame is set out on the multi-project management page.

Can Microsoft Project plan several projects and shared resources?

Yes – but not with the desktop application alone. Project Online and Project Server provide an enterprise resource pool and portfolio views and do cover multi-project operation. That capability, however, depends on an additional cloud or server layer with its own licensing, rollout and administration effort. And it only works if every plan really is maintained there and every resource comes from the same pool.

Does Linetrack calculate the critical path?

Yes. Linetrack computes the critical path from the dependency relationships and highlights it in the bar chart; the highlighting can be toggled on and off. When a task moves, the shift ripples through the chain of linked successors, and the consequence is immediately visible in the bar chart and in the capacity histogram. What Microsoft Project offers beyond that is automatic resource levelling. How the bar chart is built in Linetrack is shown on the Gantt planning page.

Can existing MS Project plans be moved into Linetrack?

Yes. The MS Project import is a finished standard feature and part of the product: tasks, durations and dependencies from existing schedules are read in, so the existing planning does not have to be re-entered. No additional development effort arises for it. The same data transfer exists for Primavera, Excel and SAP.

How long does it take to move from MS Project to Linetrack?

The median time between kick-off and the first self-planned project is ten working days – regardless of company size. The legacy plans are imported, after which departments get access to their own area of responsibility. The effort lies less in the software than in changing how people work: from contributing to one person's plan to maintaining their own share of a shared one.

What does Linetrack cost compared with Microsoft Project?

Linetrack does not comment on Microsoft's licensing models – they differ by product and by contract. For Linetrack the figure is: from 10 € per user and month, modular by number of users, roles and the functional modules booked. Suppliers receive a collaboration licence free of charge, and a planning simulation before the decision is free of charge as well. A reliable figure for your setup comes out of the first conversation.

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