Introduction toMicrosoft® Office Project 2003 – Training Guide

Module I

Abstract

This “Introduction to Microsoft Office Project 2003” training guidewill enable you to use Project 2003 and benefit from itsproject management functionality. The training imparted applies to Microsoft Office Project Standard 2003 and Microsoft Office Project Professional 2003. It is designed for project managers just beginning to use Project 2003 and for those still searching for an effective project management tool. This training guide does not cover all the functionalities in Project Standard 2003 and Project Professional 2003 and is intended to be a quick training to get you started on using Project.

July 2005

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1

Introduction to Microsoft Office Project 2003 – Training Guide (Module 1)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Overview

Module I

1Introduction

1.1Target group

1.2Content

2Settings

2.1Introduction to the user interface

2.2Recommended settings for first steps in Project

3Build the project plan

3.1Determine tasks

3.2Change and erase tasks

3.3Group/ structure tasks

3.4Importing Tasks from Microsoft Office Excel®

3.5Define Milestones

3.6Define Task Dependencies

3.7Setting up the timeline

4Assign and manage resources

4.1Create Project Team

4.2Assign team members to tasks

APPENDIX A: Additional Reference Resources

Overview

This Training Guidefocuseson project managers who are new toMicrosoft Office Project 2003.It is designed for project managers just beginning to use Project 2003, and for those still searching for an effective project management tool. The training imparted applies to Project Standard 2003 and Project Professional 2003.It is designed to deliver a concise introduction to Projectwhich allows project managers to use the tool efficiently from the start and achieve immediate results. It does not cover all the functionalities in Project Standard 2003 and Project Professional 2003.

This Introduction to Microsoft Office Project2003 training will guide you through the entire project management lifecycle. The course is divided into two one-hour blocks of training (modules); Module I focuses on planning and Module II focuses on updating and managing your project plan.

Following this introduction in Module I, Chapter 2 presents basic settings within Project which will enable you to adopt a best practices approach for project planning. Based on this approach, Chapters 3 and 4 cover necessary aspects of project planning.

In Module II Chapter 1 shows you how to update your project plan, including such tasks as determine baseline and updating progress. Chapter 2 and 3 cover controlling the current project status and reporting possibilities.Chapter 4 provides a brief overview of how you can benefit from Project’s project management methodology in the future. Of course, Project has additional functionality not covered by this training guide; once you feel comfortable with the features presented here, you may want to explore the tool’s more advanced features.

To enhance the effectiveness of this training guide, MPP files are included for you to practice each concept. To begin using Project, simply read through this guide and repeat the steps yourself in Project. The following symbols will make using this Training Guide even more effective:

An MPP file is available for you to review the presented concepts

Additional information will be presented

Helpful hint

Highlights some of the advantages of using Project

Module I

1Introduction

Due to the ever-increasing number of projects and programs in most companies, effective and efficient project management is more necessary now than ever before.

1.1Target group

Have you ever searched for an effective tool to help manage a project, yet ended up using Microsoft Office Excel®? Don’t worry, you are not alone. Many project managers find themselves in such a situation and react just like you – they keep using Excel. The reason is pretty simple - people are used to Excel and Project seems to be too complex to offer quick support.

Projects managed in Excel generally begin similarly. With the need to track tasks, milestones, and deadlines, the project manager sets up a table – it’s easy to do, does not take too much time, and seems at first to be sufficient.

Problems occur when the project is underway and things do not go as planned, as is the case with most projects. “How does a delay in one task influence the milestone, the project deadline?” “Will other tasks be affected by this delay?” “Do I have to reschedule working times for some of my team members?” In the absence of an effective project management tool, the project manager must expend a great deal of effort to gather the necessary information.

If you are new to project management, we recommend that you begin using Project right away – it will be so beneficial for you. Not only will predefined views for the whole project lifecycle help you plan, track and report on your project, they will also guide you from a project management perspective.

1.2Content

Projectis a powerful tool which supports individual project management as well as enterprise project management. However, this training is limited only to project and team management as highlighted in the following figure.

Fig. 1: Scope of training

This training will address the following core activities of project and team management:

Structuring the project

Scheduling and controlling completion dates

Assigning work to team members

Additional Projectfunctionality, such as cost planning and controlling and resource capacity management, can be addressed through other comprehensive training courses.

This training will cover the project life cycle, from initial project planning (create a work breakdown structure, edit tasks, work with dependencies, estimate durations, milestones, adjust tasks, estimate effort, completion dates) through resource planning (create project team, assign team members to tasks) to updating the plan (set a baseline, revise and update the project structure, edit the plan, update task progress, controlling plan vs. baseline). Additionally, you will learn how to apply basic settings to your Project installation, to make this tool as easy to use as Excel. For this training, you will need Microsoft Office Project Standard 2003 or Microsoft Office Professional 2003.

This Training Guide will provide you with all necessary knowledge to allow you to get started with Project. Simply follow the steps in this guide and use the MPP files to practice what you learn. Our training approach will provide you with a means to use Projectin a way which resembles the look and feel of Excel, but incorporates the powerful functionality of Project.

Note: Planning projects with Project is at least as easy as planning projects with Excel.In the following you will learn how Project allows you to …

> access planned data due to durations, start, finish, etc. of tasks

> easily restructure a project plan

review the effects of changes to the project structure

> export information to other Microsoft Office programs

> print hardcopies of selected data

> compare planned data with actual data, graphically as well as (alpha) numerically

2Settings

2.1Introduction to the user interface

This chapter discusses Project’s main user interface, including a discussion of where to find needed menu commands.

Start Project


Create new project plan
  • Define a new project plan in the empty project schedule Project generates each time you open the tool.
  • If you want to create an additional new project plan, selectFile/ New to start the process of creating a new project plan (see Fig. 6).

Fig. 6: Create a new project plan

Learn more about the user interface

  • The control elements of Project function just as they do in otherMicrosoft Office programs, such as Microsoft Office Word and Excel. You can easily find the menus and toolbars.Opena menu such as File or Edit, and use your mouse to point to Newin the dropdown list.


Enable View Bar
  • Project offers you different views to review and input information. SelectView/View Bar to show the view bar (see Fig. 7), where you canselect a view with one mouse click. Click the icons in the view bar to see the information presented by the different views. Click on the views Tracking GanttandGantt Chart.

Fig. 7: Enable View Bar

2.2Recommendedsettings for first steps in Project

This chapter reviews the recommended settings when beginning to use Project. These settings help you concentrate on the functions which allow you to use Project right away.


Adjust best practices in Tools/ Options

The following preferences are best practices for easy project management with Project. They effectively define the easiest planning approach and, by deactivating the planning wizard. adjust the look and feel to a simpler one,

  • To regulate how Project calculates, selectTools/Options. Then choose the Schedule tab (see Fig. 8).
  • SetDefault task typeFixed Duration.
  • New Tasks are effort drivendeselect the check box.

Fig. 8: Schedule options

To activate the planning wizard, select Tools/Options. Then choose the General tab. Select Advice from Planning Wizard (see Fig. 9).

Fig. 9: General options – Planning Wizard

Display the project summary task to display the total duration of the project.

  • To display the project summary task, selectTools/Options, and then choose the View tab.
  • SelectShow project summary taskand Show outline number; this will give you a better overview of your project structure (see Fig. 10).

Fig. 10: View options

3Build the project plan

The purpose of this chapter is to show you how to build a project plan in Project. Because this training is focused on offering a simple yet effective introduction to Project, the practical examples have been designed to also be simple yet effective. For this training, all examples will revolve around a simple project - planning a business trip. We selected this project as an example because you have most likely already planned a vacation, and you have an idea about what activities going on a trip with business colleagues entails.

By using this same project plan in every chapter, you will be able to seehow subsequent chapters (and concepts) build upon earlier ones.

After each sub-chapter (3.1, 3.2,…), compare your project plan with the associated MPP practice file. If you did the exercises as directed, the project plan you generated should resemble the MPP practice file. If your generated project plan differs from the MPP practice file, you might want to use the MPP practice file as your starting point for the next exercises (rather than simply building on the project plan you created).

3.1Determine tasks

Enter Task Details to identify and document the specific activities that must be performed in order to produce the deliverables and sub-deliverables identified in the project “Planning a business trip.”

Note: Defined tasks should always be composed of an object and a verb. The task “Material for the journey” could be related to “Buy material for the journey” or “Sell material for the journey”.

First set the project start date

  • From the Projectmenu,selectProject Information…
  • Enter a start date of May 23, 2005 (see Fig. 11)

Fig. 11: Setting the Start date

  • ClickOK

Enter tasks in the table area of the current view, called Gantt Chart view.

In the Task Name field, enter the name of the following tasks (see Fig. 12):

  • ”Create participants list for the business trip”
  • “Check basic conditions”
  • “Book bicycles for a day trip ”
  • “Organize accommodations and meeting rooms”

Fig. 12: First project plan

Note: Instead of creating a new project plan from scratch, you may want to base your project on one of the standard templatesProject provides, or you can select one from

The following steps demonstrate how to choose a template:

  • ChooseNew... from theFilemenu and click on the link On my computer…(seeFig. 13).

Fig. 13: Template from your computer

  • ClicktheProject Templatestab from the Templates dialog and choose an appropriate template (see Fig. 14). ClickOK.

Fig. 14: New project template

Open the Project file Planning a business trip 3.1.mpp and compare it to your project plan.

3.2Change and erase tasks

You decide to first determine the destination yourself, and then the participants will be selected. Change the order of the tasks in your project plan to display this change.

  • In the gray area of the Entry table, click on the ID of the task “Check basic conditions” to select the entire row.
  • Point the mouse at the bottom edge of the box. The mouse pointer changes to a white arrowhead with a move cursor. Click once, and then drag and drop the task to its new position before the task “Create participants list for the business trip”. A gray indicator bar displays visually where the task row will be positioned (see Fig. 15). This action moves all the information about the selected task.

Fig. 15: Changed order of the tasks

You decide it would be best to rent the bicycles on location. Delete the task “Book bicycles for a day trip”.


DELETE a Task
  • In the gray area of the Entry table, click on the ID of the task “Book bicycles for a day trip” to select the row of the task you want to delete.
  • Press the DELETE key.
  • See the result in Fig. 16.

Fig. 16: Plan without the Task “Book Bicycles for a day trip”

Open the Project file Planning a business trip 3.2.mpp and compare it to your project plan.

3.3Group/ structure tasks

You want to structure the tasks into sub-tasks and summarize them.Then, you will create new tasks and add them to the new hierarchical project plan.

  • Insert a new task into the project plan.


INSERT a Task
  • In the Entry table, click on the field “Create participants list for the business trip”, where the new task is to be inserted.
  • Press the INSERT key on the keyboard three times.
  • Three blank rows will be inserted above the highlighted row (see Fig. 18).

Fig. 17: New task

  • Insert the following tasks:
  • “Define destination for the business trip”
  • “Find out about weather conditions”
  • “Define a day trip”
  • Reclassifythese newly entered tasks as sub-tasks.
  • Select the tasks that you want to identify as sub-tasks, from “Define destination for the business trip”through“Define a day trip”(see Fig. 18).

Fig. 18: Marked tasks


Indent/ Outdent Task(s)
  • Click the Indent button () to indent the tasks and make them subtasks of the preceding task “Check basic conditions”, as shown inFig. 19.

Fig. 19: Intend tasks

  • Mark tasks and use the Indent and Outdent buttons to create summary tasks and sub-tasks.

Learn to undo a summary task

  • Select a sub-task of the summary task "Check basic conditions".
  • Click the Outdent button () to outdent the sub-task, pushing it to a higher level of the hierarchy
  • As you outdent the sub-task, summary task formatting will be removed from the appropriate task.
  • Redefine the outdented task as a sub-task.

Apply these principles to structure other tasks.