Classes :: class description :

Microsoft Project

Course objectives

Upon completion of this course, students will be able to

•  Plan a project by using Microsoft Project.

•  Identify the steps involved in project planning.

•  Effectively link tasks and work with time constraints.

•  Resolve resource and time conflicts.

•  Assign resources and their work schedules to tasks.

•  Use the different views, reports, and drawing tools available in Microsoft Project.

Outline

Module 1: Introduction to Microsoft Project

• Overview of project management standards and terminology.
• The role of Microsoft Project in the Microsoft Enterprise solution.
• Installing and configuring Microsoft Project.
• Customizing the user interface.

Module 2: Getting Started with Microsoft Project

Defining the deliverables

• Identifying the project's goals, assumptions and limitations.
• Creating project files and entering project data.
• Maximizing project templates.

Planning activities

• Outlining stages, tasks and milestones.
• Analyzing the project using Work Breakdown Structures (WBSs).

Creating project calendars

• Developing and assigning calendars to tasks and resources.
• Integrating customized calendars with project calendars to schedule activities.

Scheduling project tasks

• Estimating task durations.
• Linking and interrelating tasks.
• Constraining tasks.

Module 3: Creating and assigning resources and costs.

Managing resources with Microsoft Project

• Evaluating resource needs.
• Estimating resource and task costs.

Adding resources to the project

• Assigning and staffing resources.
• Organizing assignments and workloads.
• Budgeting the project and activities.

Module 4: Keeping projects on track

Finalizing a project plan

• Saving a project baseline.
• Reviewing baseline information.

Updating a project progress

• Incorporating actual progress.
• Identifying existing and potential schedule problems.
• Manipulating and rescheduling tasks to keep the project on track.
• Monitoring resource progress and balancing workloads.

Module 5: Reporting and analyzing on project data.

Generating project reports

• Filtering and sorting tasks and resources.
• Setting up and printing reports and views.

Customizing views and reports

• Visualizing complex project data.
• Analyzing the project data.

Deploying project data

• Publishing project data online.
• Sharing project information with other programs (e.g., Microsoft Excel)

Module 6: Managing multiple projects and troubleshooting project plans

Linking, moving and copying project data

• Exchanging project data with other applications
• Implementing master projects and subprojects.

Troubleshooting active projects

• Troubleshooting time and schedule problems.
• Troubleshooting cost and resource problems.
• Troubleshooting scope-of-work problems.