Microsoft Project Support Course
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PUBLISHED BY
Microsoft Corporation
One Microsoft Way
Redmond, WA 98052-6399
© 1998 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Microsoft Project 98 Support Course
Part Number: 098-80553
June, 1998
Written By:
Andy Rabun and Jim Sommers
ÿ
Table of Contents
Module 1 - Introduction 1
Lesson 1.1: Introduction to Project Management 3
Overview 4
Lesson 1.2: Introduction to Microsoft Project 11
How Microsoft Project Helps 12
New/ Improved Features 13
Usage Features 13
Scheduling and Costing Features: 13
Data Import/Export Features 15
Visual Basic Applications Features 15
Workgroup Features 15
Module 2 - Setup 1
Lesson 2.1: Setup 3
Microsoft Project 98 Setup 4
System Requirements 4
Setting Up Microsoft Project on a Network 6
Installing the Workgroup Message Handler 10
New Microsoft Project 98 Limits 12
Tools Options Registry Settings 14
Lesson 2.2: Upgrade Issues 21
Overview of Microsoft Project 98 file system 22
File Formats Supported in Microsoft Project 98 22
Automatic Updating 28
Global Upgrade Mode in the Organizer 31
Cross-Language Upgrading 32
Module 3 - Import and Export 1
Lesson 3.1: Overview of the File System 3
Overview of Microsoft Project 98 file system 4
File Formats Supported in Microsoft Project 98 4
Code Page Support 9
Lesson 3.2: Import-Export Interface 19
The Microsoft Project 98 Import-Export Interface 20
ODBC Interface 20
Reading and Writing Data in Microsoft Project 98 20
Changes to the File Open and File Save Dialogs 21
The Read and Write Process 23
Saving a Complete Project to an Arbitrary Database via ODBC 26
Concurrent Usage and Project Locking 30
Database Permissions 32
Database Modification or Corruption 32
Lesson 3.3: Database Structure for Full Saves 66
Saving Entire Projects to a Database 67
Supported ODBC Databases 67
Database Overview 67
Database Table and Field Names 74
Enumerated Types versus Text Strings 74
Enumerated to Text Conversion Tables 75
Note Fields 94
Custom Fields 95
Project_Information table 102
Reserved_CommandBars table 109
Reserved_ExternalDataLinks table 109
Reserved_ImportExportMaps table 111
Reserved_Filters table 111
Reserved_Modules table 112
Reserved_Reports table 112
Reserved_Tables table 113
Reserved_CustomForms table 113
Reserved_V_iews table 114
Calendars table 115
Calendar_Working_Times table 116
Calendar_Exceptions table 117
Task_Dependencies table 118
Reserved_AssignmentPoolInfo table 119
Task_Information table 123
Resource_Information table 129
Assignment_Information table 133
Resource_Rates table 137
Assignment_Remaining_Work table 138
Assignment_Actual_Work table 139
Assignment_Overtime_Work table 140
Assignment_Actual_Exceptions table 141
Assignment_Baseline_Work table 141
Assignment_Baseline_Cost table 142
Assignment_Actual_Cost table 142
Resource_Baseline_Work table 143
Resource_Baseline_Cost table 144
Task_Baseline_Work table 145
Task_Baseline_Cost table 146
Task_Percent_Complete table 146
Task_Baseline_Interim_Splits table 147
Lesson 3.4: HTML File Type 152
Selective Export to HTML 153
Exporting With and Without a Template 157
The Charset Tag 160
The HTML Output 161
Exporting Special Characters 163
Module 4 - Viewing and Editing 1
Lesson 4.1: User Interface Overview 3
User Interface Overview 4
Menus 10
Microsoft Project 98 default menus 10
Toolbars 19
Outline symbols in Usage views 42
Double-clicking task, resource, and assignment records 43
Expanding Inserted Projects 43
Lesson 4.2: Customizing the User Interface 51
Custom Fields 52
How to Create/Modify the Menu Bar and Toolbars 59
Lesson 4.3: Formatting Improvements 62
Rich Edit Features 63
Lesson 4.4: Filter Improvements and AutoFilter 78
New Microsoft Project 98 Filter Features 79
Filters in Usage Views 85
Lesson 4.5: Printing and Reports 96
Printing Improvements in Microsoft Project 98 97
Maximum number of rows in the header, footer, and legend 103
Crosstab Report Definition Improvements 104
Duration and Work Labels 106
Changes to the Task and Resource Reports 107
Report Gallery Improvements 109
New Shipping Reports 109
Printing Resource Cost Rate Tables 109
Usage views as an alternative to crosstab reports 110
Lesson 4.6: View Changes and Improvements 113
View Changes and Improvements 114
View Overview 114
New and Improved View Types in Microsoft Project 98 116
Changes in the Microsoft Project 98 More Views list 116
Lesson 4.7: Usage Views 126
Introduction to Usage Views 127
Column Widths 129
Timescale Zooming and Nonworking Time 130
Outlining and Grouping 131
The Unassigned Resource 132
Displaying and Formatting Different Sets of Timephased Data 132
Default Format of the Task Usage View 136
Sorting 136
Filtering 139
Usage Views as Master and Slave Panes 141
Moving (changing the cell with focus) in a Timescaled Grid 144
Selection Behavior in a Timescaled Grid 145
Fill Up/Down/Left/Right in a Timescaled Grid 146
Inserting and Deleting in a Timescaled Grid 147
Deleting Rows in Usage Views 147
Inserting Rows in Usage Views 148
Editing Names in Usage Views 148
Adding Duplicate Assignments 148
Drag and Drop in Usage Views 149
Cutting, Copying and Pasting Records 152
Task Fields Shared with Assignments 155
Resource Fields Shared with Assignments 156
Timephased Usage Fields 157
Lesson 4.8: OLE and Copy Picture 162
OLE Support 163
Inserting a Project object 164
Project as an In-Place Container 173
Lesson 4.9: Office Assistant 201
Office Assistant 202
Introduction to Office Assistant 202
General Behavior 203
Office Assistant Alerts Format 208
PlanningWizard Interface 210
Module 5 - Scheduling 1
Lesson 5.1: Schedule from Project Start/Finish Date 3
Scheduling a Project from Finish 4
ASAP and ALAP task behavior. 5
Task Leveling Delay 5
Resource Assignment Delay 8
No Later Than Constraints 8
Flexible vs. Fixed Durations 9
Lesson 5.2: Calendars and Availability 11
Calendars Overview 12
Selecting Weekday letters versus date cells 13
Working Time Formatting 14
The New command (in the Change Working Time dialog) 16
The Options command (in the Change Working Time dialog) 16
Week Starts On 18
Fiscal Calendar 20
Lesson 5.3: Constraints 27
New setting: Tasks will always honor their constraint dates 28
Lesson 5.4: Task Types and Effort Driven Options 31
Task Type and Effort Driven settings 32
Fixed Work and Effort Driven Settings 34
Interface changes related to the Type and Effort Driven fields 34
Increasing the value in the task Duration field 35
Decreasing the value in the task Duration field 37
Extending a task or task part in the Gantt Chart 39
Reducing a task or task part in the Gantt Chart 40
Summary Tasks and Subproject Tasks 40
Effort Driven Calculations 40
Adding/Removing assignments if the task has Actual Work 42
Restrictions When Assigning a Resource to an Effort Driven Task 45
Summary Tasks and Inserted Project tasks are Never Effort Driven 46
Lesson 5.5: Resource Contouring 48
Resource Contouring 49
Smallest Timeslice 50
Technical Definition of a Contour 50
Even Distribution of Edited Timescaled Data 51
Preservation of Contour Shape 51
Assignment Information General Tab 55
Assignment Information Tracking Tab 57
Assignment Information Notes Tab 58
Derivation of the Equation 64
Formulas for Edited Contours 67
Usage Records that Can be Edited 67
Editing Assignment Timephased Work 67
Editing Assignment (Total) Duration, Units, and Work 68
Editing Task Timephased Work 70
Editing Task Total Work 71
Edits to Task Duration 79
Microsoft Project 4.x default assignment work 82
Microsoft Project 98 default assignment work 85
Actual and Remaining Duration 89
Editing Assignment Start and Finish Dates 89
Editing Assignment Actual Start and Actual Finish Dates 90
Predefined versus Edited 93
Editing Assignment Timephased Actual Work 93
Editing Assignment Remaining Work 94
Editing Assignment (Total) Actual Work 95
Editing Assignment % Work Complete 95
Editing Task Timephased Actual Work 95
Editing Task Actual Work 96
Task Remaining Work 96
Task Actual Start Date 96
Task Actual Finish Date 97
Task % Complete 100
Update Task Status Updates Resource Status 100
Task % Work Complete 101
In Schedule From Start Projects: 102
In Schedule From Finish Projects: 102
How Overtime is Scheduled 104
How Changes Task Duration impacts OT 108
How Changes to Assignment Units impacts OT 108
How OT is Scheduled Within a Day 108
Actual Overtime 108
How OT is related to other Assignment Fields 109
The Microsoft Project 98 Save Baseline Command 113
Microsoft Project 4.x Baseline Features 113
Microsoft Project 98 Improved Baseline Features 113
Increases/decreases in Work always occur at the end of the Assignment. 115
Lesson 5.6: Task Splitting 121
Task Splitting and Scheduling 122
Splits Caused by Leveling 126
Stop and Resume Fields 128
Split In-Progress Tasks 134
Baseline and Interim Plan Split Information 134
Task versus Assignment Splits 137
Splits and Predefined Work Contours 137
Basics of Dragging 138
Summary Tasks Do Not Support Splits 138
Splitting an existing task or split part 138
Dragging to reschedule the remaining part 140
Creating a new split part 144
Linking 151
Assigning Resources 151
Gantt Chart Bar Styles for Split Tasks 152
Calendar View 156
Lesson 5.7: Multiple Critical Paths 161
Multiple Critical Paths 162
Lesson 5.8: Leveling 165
Leveling 166
Task, Resource and Assignment Fields Related to Leveling 166
Resource Leveling Dialog 168
Leveling and Hard / Soft Constraints 177
Examples of the interaction between leveling related settings 176
Leveling from a Finish Date 181
Recurring Tasks Default to Do Not Level 181
Leveling Progress Indicator 181
Leveling Gantt View 180
Overtime 182
Leveling Alerts/Messages 182
Changing Project Type or Changing Task Type 184
Module 6 - Tracking 1
Lesson 6.1: Progress 2
Status Date Setting 3
Status Date and the Update Project dialog 4
Status Dates and Inserted Projects 4
The effect on timephased Actual Work 7
Distribution of timephased % Complete edits within a cell 9
Calculating Summary task total and timephased % Complete 16
Editing Summary task total % Complete 18
Changes from Microsoft Project 4.x 25
BCWS, BCWP, and ACWP Calculations 27
BCWS (Budgeted Costs of Work Scheduled) 29
BCWP (Budgeted Costs of Work Performed) 30
ACWP (Actual Costs of Work Performed) 31
Calculations Related to Summary Task Progress 37
Calculating Summary Progress dates 38
Calculations Involving Summary Task Total and Timephased % Complete 43
Setting Progress Dates and Formatting Progress Lines 51
Dates and Intervals tab in the Progress Lines dialog, 51
Line Styles tab in the Progress Lines dialog 60
Progress Line Drawing Calculations 64
Filtering and Sorting 64
Progress Line Z-ordering 64
How to Calculate Progress Points 64
Split Tasks 69
Excessive Calculation Time Alert 69
Printing Progress Lines 70
Lesson 6.2: Costing 74
Cost Rate Tables 75
Rate Tables and the Resource Rate Fields 75
Default Resource Cost Rate Tables 76
Editing Rate Tables 76
Resource Cost Accrual Setting 78
Resource Pools 79
Printing the Variable Costs 80
Default Fixed Cost Accrual 82
Fixed Cost Accrual setting for individual tasks 82
Prorated Fixed Cost Contribution to Actual Cost 83
Importing Old Microsoft Project Files 83
Actual Cost Calculations 84
The 'Actual costs are always calculated by Microsoft Project' option 84
The 'Edits to total Actual Cost will be spread to the status date' option 85
Edits to timephased Actual Cost 88
Actual Cost calculations that roll up or down 89
Summary Actual Costs 89
Remaining Actual Costs 89
How changing Actual Start effects Actual Cost 89
Lesson 6.3: Recurring Tasks Improvements 92
Recurring Tasks Improvements 93
Module 7 – Database Modifications 1
Lesson 7.1: Working with Projects in a Database 2
Supported Databases 3
Performance Tuning 7
Lesson 7.2: Adding and Changing Records in the Database 15
Working with Microsoft Project Data in the Database 16
Module 8 - Multiple Projects 1
Lesson 8.1: Inserted Projects 3
Inserted Projects 4
Definitions 5
Overview of Features 5
User Interface 5
Window New Window 7
Inserted Project Information dialog 8
Inserted Project Display Behavior 9
Editing Rules 12
Navigating an Inserted Project 12
Saving Inserted Projects 13
Currency 13
Custom Fields 13
Backwards Compatibility 14
Effects on Existing Commands 14
Lesson 8.2: Cross Project Links 19
Cross Project Linking 20
Terminology 22
Creating and Editing Cross Project Links 23
Editing Ghost Tasks 28
Link Updates and Maintenance 32
Project Calculations 35
Circular Loop Detection 36
Lesson 8.3: Resource Pools 38
Resource Pools 39
Information stored in the Pool 39
Information stored in a Sharer 39
Viewing task, resources and assignments 40
Opening a Pool or Sharer 40
Updating the Pool 42
Refreshing the Pool 44
Local Options 44
Module 9 - Workgroup Features 1
Lesson 9.1: Overview of Workgroup Features 3
Workgroup Features Overview 4
Web Workgroup Features 4
Web vs. E-mail 4
Lesson 9.2: E-mail-based Workgroup Messaging 7
E-mail-based Workgroup Messaging 8
Updated Message Handler 8
Workgroup related fields 9
New TeamStatus Features 13
Overtime 18
Additional Customizable Workgroup Fields 18
Mapping between Microsoft Project 98 and Outlook fields 19
Work-related calculations between Microsoft Project and Outlook 19
Adding/Deleting Tasks 21
Unsolicited TeamStatus Reports 21
Setting Reminders in Outlook 22
Outlook Journal Integration 24
Custom OLE Properties 25
Lesson 9.3: Web-based Workgroup Messaging 32
Web Workgroup Messaging 33
Supported Web Servers 34
Supported Browsers 34
The New Tools Options Workgroup tab 35
Setting up the Microsoft Project Web Workgroup site 38
Sending Web workgroup messages from Microsoft Project 41
Receiving Web workgroup messages in Microsoft Project 42
Running MSPJHTTP.EXE 46
The Login page 48
The TeamInbox page 49
The Navigation Bar 53
Microsoft Project Web Workgroup Help 54
Changing the Password 55
The Task List page 56
The Task List Options page 58
Microsoft Project Support Group Created Date 6/18/98
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