Frequently Asked Questions

We manage your data in Microsoft’s cloud solution, Microsoft 365 (formerly known as Office 365). Learn more about Microsoft 365. With Microsoft 365, the data is yours. You own it. You control it. Moreover, it’s yours to take with you if you decide to leave the service. Microsoft takes every precaution to make sure that your environment is secure and compliant.

Visit the Microsoft 365 Trust Center to find detailed and up-to-date information directly from Microsoft.

First, let’s be clear about what Microsoft 365 is. It’s not just the desktop applications of Microsoft Office like Outlook, Word, and Excel. It’s also Microsoft’s managed services for hosted email, file sharing, online meetings, and more. Learn more about Microsoft 365.

Whether your company is using Microsoft 365 or desktop versions of Microsoft Office, there’s no additional licensing fee required for VPO; however, VPO runs in its own, separate Microsoft 365 tenant so that we can provide better administration and support service to our customers.

While we don’t generally offer a free trial, we do offer month-to-month licensing of VPO, so your investment to try it on a project is controllable. We don’t require an annual contract, so if after a month or two you determine that VPO is not a good fit for you, you can cancel at any time.

We recommend evaluating VPO by using it on an actual project, because your time is valuable. We understand that it takes some investment of your time and training to determine if a project management system is going to work for you.

With VPO, there are no large upfront fees, or investments in expensive hardware or software licenses. It’s easy to try it out on a pilot project.

After a client selects VPO, typically we create and configure their VPO tenant within a few days. You’ll have early access to your environment, but you’re not on your own. We schedule a kickoff meeting and four additional online video training sessions with your team.

The training is role-based, and focused on how your specific team will use VPO.

Each training session is recorded, and may be viewed by your team any time afterward. Sessions each run about an hour in length. Typically customers prefer to do one training session per week, equating to an average onboarding/training duration of five weeks (though these may happen more quickly based on your team’s availability).

No problem! Many of our customers request features that are unique to their requirements or their end client’s requirements. VPO is easily customizable, and that’s the major difference between it and an off-the-shelf application. With VPO, we start by using our proven software modules and best practices to get you up and running quickly, and then we work with you to tailor the system as needed. This may include adding new functionality or adjusting existing capabilities. We believe that a solution should support your processes, not force you to change your processes.

VPO is an application that’s installed in the Microsoft 365 cloud, in an environment that we create and maintain for you. You’ll have access to an online, browser-based, and mobile-friendly experience. As the owner of your VPO data and documents, you decide how and with whom (architects, engineers, vendors, subcontractors, etc.) to share project information and documentation, securely. We administer VPO for you, leaving you free to manage your projects.

Yes, VPO is a Web-based application and works with Web browsers like Chrome, Safari, and Firefox, as well as with Microsoft’s browsers.

First, let’s be clear about what Microsoft 365 is. It’s not just the desktop applications of Microsoft Office like Outlook, Word, and Excel. It’s also Microsoft’s managed services for hosted email, file sharing, online meetings, and more. Learn more about Microsoft 365.

If your organization doesn’t have Microsoft 365, that’s fine; we provide it as part of VPO. If your company is considering moving to Microsoft 365, you’ll be one step ahead, because we’ll set up Microsoft 365 when we set up VPO.

It depends on each customer’s requirements and needs; however, we typically leverage the following apps in our VPO deployments:

SharePoint, OneDrive, Project Online, Project Professional, Skype for Business, Power BI, Office Online, Office Mobile App, Office Pro–which includes the latest versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and more. Some third-party apps are used as needed, as well.

As new Microsoft apps become available, we add them to our VPO solution if they enhance our customers’ ability to manage projects more effectively.

Microsoft Project Online provides Project Portfolio Management capabilities, including what-if analysis, resource management, and visibility across your projects. It works with Microsoft Project Professional, the desktop version of Project, enabling you to work with your tool of choice to create and manage your projects. Alternatively, you can use Project Online in a Web browser to edit project information. You can start new projects using templates, and take advantage of central resource planning.

Learn more about Project Online.