Wednesday, Aug. 13, Chris Capossela, general manager of Microsoft® Office Project at Microsoft Corp., will discuss how Microsoft Office Project 2003 will help companies deal with the changing project management environment to improve collaboration and increase productivity. Capossela also will provide updates on the new version of Project 2003, including information on pricing, licensing and availability. Joining Capossela will be Kevin Myette, director of business operations at Recreational Equipment Inc. (REI). Myette will discuss how his company anticipates the move to the Microsoft Office EPM solution will lead to increased efficiency and better use of resources to enable it to expand its capacity and take on additional high-level work through the solution's cross-process collaboration and participatory project management capabilities.

Integration of the Microsoft Enterprise Project Management (EPM) solution and Microsoft Office Project Standard 2003 with the Microsoft Office System business productivity tools offers several advantages. Executives can more easily gain visibility into their project portfolio, and employees can better collaborate on the documents, issues and risks associated with their projects, using familiar applications. Capossela will illustrate how these changes promote better overall participation and exchange of project information. He also will showcase the new Microsoft Office Project 2003 product features, including the following: