Microsoft Project For Dummies

Blow past the jargon and get hands-on, practical guidance on managing any project with Microsoft Project 

Lean. Agile. Hybrid. It seems that project management these days comes with more confusing buzzwords than ever. But you can make managing your next project simple and straightforward with help from Microsoft Project For Dummies. 

This book unpacks Microsoft’s bestselling project management platform and walks you through every important feature, step-by-step, until you’re ready to take on virtually any project, no matter the size. From getting set up for the first time to creating tasks, managing resources and working with time management features, you’ll learn everything you need to know about managing a project in Microsoft’s iconic software. 

You’ll also find: 

• Totally updated guidance that applies to both the desktop version and Microsoft’s new subscription-based Microsoft Project Online 
• Helpful information on integrating Agile practices and techniques into your project 
• “Golden rules” that keep a project on-track and on-time 
• Ways to effectively manage your resources with Microsoft Project’s built-in functionality 

Managing a project, big or small, is no easy task. Luckily, Microsoft Project For Dummies can take a lot of the hassle out of your day-to-day life. Learn how to take advantage of this powerful software today! 

Cynthia Snyder Dionisio is a project anagement consultant with a passion for curriculum design and online training. Author of Microsoft Project 2019 For Dummies, she’s helped thousands of employees find success in their project management careers.

Introduction 1

About This Book 1

What’s Not in This Book 2

Foolish Assumptions 2

Icons Used in This Book 3

Beyond the Book 3

Where to Go from Here 4

Part 1: Getting Started with Project 5

Chapter 1: Project Management, MS Project, and You 7

Project Management Evolution 8

What’s in a Name: Projects, Project Management, and Project Managers 9

Project managers and Scrum masters 10

The role of the project manager 11

The role of the Scrum master 12

Introducing Microsoft Project 13

Getting to Know You 14

Navigating Ribbon tabs and the Ribbon 17

Displaying more tools 20

Tell Me What You Want to Do 22

Chapter 2: Starting the Project 23

Creating the Project Charter 24

Introducing the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) 26

Organizing the Work 27

Starting the Project 28

Entering project information 29

Entering the WBS 31

Indenting and outdenting (a.k.a promoting and demoting) 32

Entering tasks 33

Weighing manual scheduling versus automatic scheduling 35

Inserting one project into another 37

Inserting hyperlinks 38

Chapter 3: Becoming a Task Master 41

Creating Summary Tasks and Subtasks 41

How many levels can you go? 43

The project summary task 43

Moving Tasks Up, Down, and All Around 45

Moving tasks with the drag-and-drop method 45

Moving tasks with the cut-and-paste method 46

Now You See It, Now You Don’t: Collapsing and Expanding the Task Outline 47

Showing Up Again and Again: Recurring Tasks 48

Setting Milestones 50

Deleting Tasks and Using Inactive Tasks 51

Making a Task Note 52

Chapter 4: The Codependent Nature of Tasks 55

How Tasks Become Dependent 56

Dependent tasks: Which comes first? 56

Dependency types 57

Allowing for Murphy’s Law: Lag and lead time 59

Setting the Dependency Connection 60

Adding the dependency link 60

Words to the wise 62

Understanding that things change: Deleting dependencies 64

Chapter 5: Estimating Task Time 67

You’re in It for the Duration 68

Tasks come in all flavors: Identifying task types 68

Effort-driven tasks: 1 + 1 = ½ 71

Estimating Effort and Duration 72

Estimating techniques 72

Setting the task duration 74

Controlling Timing with Constraints 76

Understanding how constraints work 76

Establishing constraints 76

Setting a deadline 78

Starting and Pausing Tasks 79

Entering the task’s start date 80

Taking a break: Splitting tasks 81

Chapter 6: Check Out This View! 83

A Project with a View 83

Navigating tabs and views 84

Scrolling around 86

Reaching a specific spot in your plan 87

More Detail about Views 88

Home base: Gantt Chart view 88

Resourceful views: Resource Sheet and Team Planner 89

Getting your timing down with the Timeline 90

Going with the flow: Network Diagram view 91

Calling up Calendar view 91

Customizing Views 92

Working with view panes 93

Modifying Network Diagram view 98

Resetting the view 100

Part 2: Managing Resources 103

Chapter 7: Creating Resources 105

Resources: People, Places, and Things 105

Becoming Resource-Full 106

Understanding resources 106

Resource types: Work, material, and cost 107

How resources affect task timing 108

Estimating resource requirements 109

The Birth of a Resource 110

Creating one resource at a time 110

Identifying resources before you know their names 112

Many hands make light work 113

Managing Resource Availability 113

Estimating and setting availability 114

When a resource comes and goes 115

Sharing Resources 116

Skimming from resource pools 116

Importing resources from Outlook 119

Chapter 8: Working with Calendars 121

Mastering Base, Project, Resource, and Task Calendars 122

Setting the base calendar for a project 122

Understanding the four calendar types 122

How calendars work 123

How one calendar relates to another 123

Scheduling with Calendar Options and Working Times 124

Setting calendar options 125

Setting exceptions to working times 126

Working with Task Calendars and Resource Calendars 128

Setting resource calendars 129

Making a change to a resource’s calendar 130

Creating a Custom Calendar Template 132

Sharing Copies of Calendars 134

Chapter 9: Assigning Resources 137

Finding the Right Resource 137

Needed: One good resource willing to work 138

Custom fields: It’s a skill 139

Making a Useful Assignation 140

Determining material and cost-resource units 140

Making assignments 141

Shaping the contour that’s right for you 145

Benefitting from a Helpful Planner 147

Chapter 10: Determining a Project’s Cost 149

How Do Costs Accrue? 150

Adding up the costs 150

When will these costs hit the bottom line? 151

Specifying Cost Information in the Project 152

You can’t avoid fixed costs 153

Entering hourly, overtime, and cost-per-use rates 154

Assigning material resources 156

Part 3: Before You Baseline 159

Chapter 11: Fine-Tuning Your Plan 161

Everything Filters to the Bottom Line 161

Setting predesigned filters 162

Putting AutoFilter to work 163

Creating do-it-yourself filters 166

Gathering Information in Groups 167

Applying predefined groups 169

Devising your own groups 169

Figuring Out What’s Driving the Project 171

Inspecting tasks 172

Handling task warnings, suggestions, and problems 173

Chapter 12: Negotiating Project Constraints 175

It’s about Time 176

Applying contingency reserve 176

Completing a task in less time 177

Getting What You Want for Less 180

The Resource Recourse 181

Checking resource availability 181

Deleting or modifying a resource assignment 183

Beating overallocations with quick-and-dirty rescheduling 184

Finding help 184

Leveling resources 185

Rescheduling the Project 188

Chapter 13: Making the Project Look Good 189

Looking Good! 190

Formatting the Gantt Chart 190

Formatting taskbars 190

Zeroing in on critical issues 194

Restyling the Gantt chart 194

Formatting Network Diagram Boxes 195

Adjusting the Layout 197

Modifying Gridlines 199

Recognizing When a Picture Can Say It All 201

Creating a Custom Text Field 202

Chapter 14: It All Begins with a Baseline 207

All about Baselines 208

Saving a baseline 208

Saving more than one baseline 210

Clearing and resetting a baseline 211

In the Interim 212

Saving an interim plan 213

Clearing and resetting an interim plan 214

Part 4: Staying on Track 217

Chapter 15: On the Right Track 219

Tracking Views 220

Setting the status date 220

Tracking status with the Task sheet 221

Using the Tracking table 221

Tracking buttons 222

Determining the percent complete 223

Tracking status with Task Usage view 224

Tracking status with Resource Usage view 224

Uh-oh — you’re in overtime 225

Specifying remaining durations for auto-scheduled tasks 226

Entering fixed-cost updates 227

Moving a Task 228

Update Project: Sweeping Changes 230

Tracking Materials 232

Tracking More than One Project 233

Chapter 16: Project Views: Observing Progress 235

Seeing Where Tasks Stand 236

Baseline versus actual progress 236

Lines of progress 236

Delving into the Detail 240

Tracking Progress Using Earned Value Management 242

Viewing the Earned Value table 244

Earned value options 244

Calculating behind the Scenes 246

An abundance of critical paths 246

Chapter 17: You’re Behind — Now What? 249

Using Project with Risk and Issue Logs 249

Documenting issues 250

Printing interim plans and baselines 250

What-If Scenarios 251

Sorting tasks 252

Filtering 253

Examining the critical path 254

Using resource leveling (again) 255

Determining which factors are driving the timing of a task 256

How Adding People or Time Affects the Project 257

Hurrying up and making modifications 257

Throwing resources at the problem 258

Shifting dependencies and task timing 259

When All Else Fails 261

Taking the time you need 261

Finding ways to cut corners 262

Chapter 18: Spreading the News: Reporting 265

Generating Standard Reports 266

What’s available on the Report tab 266

Dashboard reports 267

Creating New Reports 268

Gaining a new perspective on data with visual reports 270

Creating a visual report 270

Fine-Tuning a Report 271

Dragging, dropping, and sizing 272

Looking good! 273

Spiffing Things Up 274

Calling the Printer! 276

Working with Page Setup 277

Getting a preview 279

Finalizing your print options 280

Working on the Timeline 281

Adding tasks to the Timeline 281

Customizing the Timeline 283

Copying the Timeline 283

Part 5: Working with Sprints Projects 285

Chapter 19: Setting Up a Sprints Project 287

Creating a Sprints Project 287

Enjoying a Whole New View 290

The Task Board and Task Board sheet 291

The Sprint Planning Board and Sprint Planning sheet 292

The Current Sprint Board and Current Sprint sheet 293

The Backlog Board and the Backlog sheet 293

Adding Information to Tasks 294

Prioritizing Tasks 296

Inserting a Sprints Project into a Plan-Driven Project 296

Chapter 20: Tracking a Sprints Project 299

Viewing Your Sprints Project Data 299

Using filters to focus 300

Using tables to arrange data 300

Being a groupie 302

Sorting tasks 302

Creating Sprints Reports 303

Chapter 21: Getting Better All the Time 307

Reviewing the Project 308

Learning from your mistakes 308

Fine-tuning communication 309

Comparing Versions of a Project 310

Building on Success 312

Creating a template 312

Mastering the Organizer 314

Part 6: The Part of Tens 317

Chapter 22: Ten Golden Rules of Project Management 319

Roll with It 319

Put Your Ducks in a Row 320

Expect the Unexpected 321

Don’t Put Off until Tomorrow 322

Delegate, Delegate, Delegate 322

Document It 323

Keep the Team in the Loop 323

Measure Success 324

Maintain a Flexible Strategy 325

Learn from Your Mistakes 325

Chapter 23: Ten Cool Shortcuts in Project 327

Task Information 327

Resource Information 328

Frequently Used Functions 329

Subtasks 330

Quick Selections 330

Fill Down 331

Navigation 331

Hours to Years 331

Timeline Shortcuts 331

Quick Undo 332

Glossary 333

Index 341

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