Microsoft Project

General Information

Technologies must be operated and maintained in accordance with Federal and Department security and privacy policies and guidelines. More information on the proper use of the TRM can be found on the TRM Proper Use Tab/Section.

Website:	Go to site
Description:	Microsoft Project is a project management software program designed to assist in developing a project plan, assigning resources to tasks, tracking progress, managing the budget, and analyzing workloads. Please Note: Project is a part of the Office family but is not part of the Office Suite. This evaluation covers the ProPlus Edition. The TRM decisions in this entry only apply to technologies and versions owned, operated, managed, patched, and version-controlled by VA. This includes technologies deployed as software installations on VMs within VA-controlled cloud environments (e.g., VA Enterprise Cloud (VAEC)). Cloud services provided by the VAEC, which are listed in the VAEC Service Catalog, and those controlled and managed by an external Cloud Service Provider (i.e., SaaS) are not in the purview of the TRM. For more information on the use of cloud services and cloud-based products within VA, including VA private clouds, please see the Enterprise Cloud Solutions Office (ECSO) Portal at: https://dvagov.sharepoint.com/sites/OITECSO
Technology/Standard Usage Requirements:	Users must ensure their use of this technology/standard is consistent with VA policies and standards, including, but not limited to, VA Handbooks 6102 and 6500; VA Directives 6004, 6513, and 6517; and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) standards, including Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS). Users must ensure sensitive data is properly protected in compliance with all VA regulations. Prior to use of this technology, users should check with their supervisor, Information Security Officer (ISO), Facility Chief Information Officer (CIO), or local Office of Information and Technology (OI&T) representative to ensure that all actions are consistent with current VA policies and procedures prior to implementation.
Section 508 Information:	This technology has been assessed by the Section 508 Office and found non-conformant. The Implementer of this technology has the responsibility to ensure the version deployed is 508-compliant. Section 508 compliance may be reviewed by the Section 508 Office and appropriate remedial action required if necessary. For additional information or assistance regarding Section 508, please contact the Section 508 Office at Section508@va.gov. Please see reference tab for more information concerning product versions.
Decision:	View Decisions

Decision Source:	TRM Mgmt Group
Decision Process:	One-VA TRM v24.3
Decision Date:	03/27/2024 at 02:56:32 UTC
Aliases:	Microsoft Office Project; MS Project
Introduced By:	SCCM
Vendor Name:	Microsoft

Vendor Release Information

The Vendor Release table provides the known releases for the TRM Technology, obtained from the vendor (or from the release source).

Version	Release Date	Vendor End of Life Date	Vendor Desupport Date
2003	11/17/2003	04/08/2014	04/08/2014
2007	01/27/2007	10/10/2017	10/10/2017
2010	07/15/2010	10/13/2020	10/13/2020
2013	07/16/2012	04/11/2023	04/11/2023
2016	09/22/2015	10/13/2020	10/14/2025
2019	09/24/2018	10/10/2023	10/14/2025
2021

Current Decision Matrix (03/20/2024)

Users must ensure their use of this technology/standard is consistent with VA policies and standards, including, but not limited to, VA Handbooks 6102 and 6500; VA Directives 6004, 6513, and 6517; and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) standards, including Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS). Users must ensure sensitive data is properly protected in compliance with all VA regulations. Prior to use of this technology, users should check with their supervisor, Information Security Officer (ISO), Facility Chief Information Officer (CIO), or local Office of Information and Technology (OI&T) representative to ensure that all actions are consistent with current VA policies and procedures prior to implementation.

The VA Decision Matrix displays the current and future VA IT position regarding different releases of a TRM entry. These decisions are based upon the best information available as of the most current date. The consumer of this information has the responsibility to consult the organizations responsible for the desktop, testing, and/or production environments to ensure that the target version of the technology will be supported. Any major.minor version that is not listed in the VA Decision Matrix is considered unapproved for use.

Legend:

White	Approved: The technology/standard has been approved for use.
Yellow	Approved w/Constraints: The technology/standard can be used within the specified constraints located below the decision matrix in the footnote[1] and on the General tab.
Gray	Unapproved: This technology or standard can be used only if a POA&M review is conducted and signed by the Authorizing Official Designated Representative (AODR) as designated by the Authorizing Official (AO) or designee and based upon a recommendation from the POA&M Compliance Enforcement, has been granted to the project team or organization that wishes to use the technology.
Orange	Divest: VA has decided to divest itself on the use of the technology/standard. As a result, all projects currently utilizing the technology/standard must plan to eliminate their use of the technology/standard. Additional information on when the entry is projected to become unapproved may be found on the Decision tab for the specific entry.
Black	Prohibited: The technology/standard is not (currently) permitted to be used under any circumstances.
Blue	Planning/Evaluation Constraint:The period of time this technology is currently being evaluated, reviewed, and tested in controlled environments. Use of this technology is strictly controlled and not available for use within the general population. If a customer would like to use this technology, please work with your local or Regional OI&T office and contact the appropriate evaluation office displayed in the notes below the decision matrix. The Local or Regional OI&T office should submit an inquiry to the TRM if they require further assistance or if the evaluating office is not listed in the notes below.

Release/Version Information:

VA decisions for specific versions may include a ‘.x’ wildcard, which denotes a decision that pertains to a range of multiple versions.

For example, a technology approved with a decision for 7.x would cover any version of 7.(Anything) - 7.(Anything). However, a 7.4.x decision would cover any version of 7.4.(Anything), but would not cover any version of 7.5.x or 7.6.x on the TRM.

VA decisions for specific versions may include ‘+’ symbols; which denotes that the decision for the version specified also includes versions greater than what is specified but is not to exceed or affect previous decimal places.

For example, a technology approved with a decision for 12.6.4+ would cover any version that is greater than 12.6.4, but would not exceed the .6 decimal ie: 12.6.401 is ok, 12.6.5 is ok, 12.6.9 is ok, however 12.7.0 or 13.0 is not.

<Past

CY2016

CY2017

CY2018

Future>

Release

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

2003

Unapproved

2007

Divest
[5, 6]

Unapproved

2010

Approved w/Constraints
[5, 6]

Approved w/Constraints
[8, 9, 10]

Approved w/Constraints
[9, 10, 11, 12, 13]

2013

Approved w/Constraints
[1, 5, 6]

Unapproved

2016

Unapproved

Approved w/Constraints
[9, 10, 11, 12, 13]

2019

Unapproved

2021

Unapproved

Decision Constraints


[1]	This Technology is currently being evaluated, reviewed, and tested in controlled environments. Use of this technology is strictly controlled and not available for use within the general population.

[2]	Product must remain patched and operated in accordance with Federal and Department security and privacy policies and guidelines. Configuration and deployment standards for Microsoft Office images which are defined and maintained by the Client Services organization within VA Enterprise Systems Engineering must be followed and adhered to unless an appropriate waiver is granted.

[3]	Product must remain patched and operated in accordance with Federal and Department security and privacy policies and guidelines. Configuration and deployment standards for Microsoft Office images, which are defined and maintained by the Client Services organization within VA Enterprise Systems Engineering must be followed and adhered to unless an appropriate waiver is granted. Office 15.0/2013 is under evaluation and is currently not approved for production except as part of an official Enterprise System Engineering (ESE) production pilot or production test of this version as approved by ESE Client Services or an AERB waiver while under evaluation.

[4]	Configuration and deployment standards for Microsoft Office images, which are defined and maintained by the Client Services organization within VA Enterprise Systems Engineering must be followed and adhered to unless an appropriate waiver is granted. Office 15.0/2013 is under evaluation and is currently not approved for production except as part of an official Enterprise System Engineering (ESE) production pilot or production test of this version as approved by ESE Client Services or an AERB waiver, while under evaluation. As of this writing, no deployment date for Windows Office 15.0/2013 has been determined. Note: VA Product Development has issued a policy memo as of January 2014 that sets policy for the use of preferred scheduling software in Product Development organizations. Please see the reference section of this TRM entry for more information.

[5]	Technology must remain patched and operated in accordance with Federal and Department security policies and guidelines in order to mitigate known and future security vulnerabilities.

[6]	Configuration and deployment standards for Microsoft Office images which are defined and maintained by the Client Services organization within VA Enterprise Systems Engineering must be followed and adhered to unless an appropriate waiver is granted. Office 15.0/2013 is under evaluation and is currently not approved for production except as part of an official Enterprise System Engineering (ESE) production pilot or production test of this version as approved by ESE Client Services or an AERB waiver while under evaluation. As of this writing, no deployment date for Windows Office 15.0/2013 has been determined. Note: VA Product Development has issued a policy memo as of January 2014 that sets policy for the use of preferred scheduling software in Product Development organizations. Please see the reference section of this TRM entry for more information.

[7]	As of April 23, 2015, per the Deputy CIO of Architecture, Strategy and Design (ASD), all technologies in use by the VA require an assessment by the VA Section 508 office. Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1998 is a federal law that sets the guidelines for technology accessibility. A VA Section 508 assessment of this technology has not been completed at the time of publication. Therefore, as of April 23, 2015 only users of this technology who have deployed the technology to the production environment, or have project design and implementation plans approved, may continue to operate this technology. In the case of a project that has implemented, or been approved for a specific site or number of users, and that project needs to expand operations to other sites or to an increased user base, it may do so as long as the project stays on the existing version of the technology that was approved or implemented as of April 22, 2015. Use of this technology in all other cases is prohibited.

[8]	If free trialware is utilized, the software must be purchased or removed at the end of the trial period. Office 15.0/2013 and Office 16.0/2016 are currently not approved for production. Additionally, Project will remain on 2010 as the VA did not pay for maintenance and will be re-evaluated during the next contract renewal.

[9]	Due to National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) identified security vulnerabilities, extra vigilance should be applied to ensure the versions remain properly patched to mitigate known and future vulnerabilities. The local ISO can provide assistance in reviewing the NIST vulnerabilities.

[10]	Users should check with their supervisor, Information Security Office (ISO) or local OIT representative for permission to download and use this software. Downloaded software must always be scanned for viruses prior to installation to prevent adware or malware. Freeware may only be downloaded directly from the primary site that the creator of the software has advertised for public download and user or development community engagement. Users should note, any attempt by the installation process to install any additional, unrelated software is not approved and the user should take the proper steps to decline those installations.

[11]	If free trialware is utilized, the software must be purchased or removed at the end of the trial period. Office 15.0/2013 is currently not approved for production.

[12]	Due to potential information security risks, cloud based technologies may not be used without the approval of the Enterprise Cloud Solution Office (ECSO). This body is in part responsible for ensuring organizational information, Personally Identifiable Information (PII), Protected Health Information (PHI), and VA sensitive data are not compromised. (Ref: VA Directive 6004, VA Directive 6517, VA Directive 6513 and VA Directive 6102).

[13]	Veterans Affairs (VA) users must ensure VA sensitive data is properly protected in compliance with all VA regulations. All instances of deployment using this technology should be reviewed by the local ISO (Information Security Officer) to ensure compliance with VA Handbook 6500.

Note:

At the time of writing, version 2021 is the most current version released.

A standard configuration of this technology was developed by the DDE team. At the time of writing, the baseline version is 2016.

References

The following reference(s) are associated with this entry:
Type	Name	Source	Description

Technology Components

Note: This list may not be complete. No component, listed or unlisted, may be used outside of the technology in which it is released. The usage decision for a component is found in the Decision and Decision Constraints.
Name	Description
No components have been identified for this entry.

VA Categories View the VA Categorization Framework

Domain Area	Category	Customer Guidance	Category Locked By ELT Date
Collaboration and Electronic Workplace Productivity Software	Standard Office Suite
Systems Management Systems Management Tools	Project Management

Operating Systems Supported by the Technology

Windows Client - Approved w/Constraints
Windows Server - Approved w/Constraints

Technologies/Standards Relationships

Runtime Dependencies:

Microsoft .NET Framework
Microsoft Edge. - (required for some configurations)
Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) - (required for some configurations)
Microsoft OneDrive - (required for some configurations)
Safari - (required for some configurations)

Comparable Technologies:

Companion Technologies/Supported Standards:

General Analysis

Adoption Benefits

The technology has a comprehensive set of documentation.
The enterprise holds an enterprise license for this technology and users can contact the VA Office for licensing or software details.
This technology is designed to assist in developing a project plan, assigning resources to tasks, tracking progress, managing the budget, and analyzing workloads and may improve productivity for staff whose responsibilities include project management.
The vendor of this technology is an industry leader in the subject matter.

Adoption Risks

There are other approved solutions that provide similar functionality available on the TRM. The use of several similar solutions may increase organization requirements for support and maintenance.
Although this vendor utilizes Federal Information Processing (FIPS) 140-2 encryption, there is no indication based on the vendor documentation or the Cryptographic Module Validation Program (CMVP) that this technology is Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) 140-2 certified.
Microsoft Internet Explorer, a dependency of this technology, is in End of Life status and must no longer be used.
This technology has a free trial period, which carries the potential for the disruption of service delivery and inaccurate financial planning.
The potential of vendor lock exists when utilizing proprietary vendor technology.
The potential exists to store Personally Identifiable Information (PII), Protected Health Information (PHI) and/or VA Sensitive data and proper security standards must be followed in these cases.
There are known Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs) associated with this technology. Please see https://nvd.NIST.gov/vuln/search for more details.

Architectural Risks

This technology includes cloud-based functionality which has potential information security risks.
This technology is not portable as it runs only on Windows platforms.

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Current Decision Matrix (03/20/2024)

Decision Constraints

References

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VA Categories View the VA Categorization Framework

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Comparable Technologies:

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General Information

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Current Decision Matrix (03/20/2024)

Decision Constraints

References

Technology Components

VA Categories View the VA Categorization Framework

Operating Systems Supported by the Technology

Technologies/Standards Relationships

Runtime Dependencies:

Comparable Technologies:

Companion Technologies/Supported Standards:

General Analysis

Adoption Benefits

Adoption Risks

Architectural Risks

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