MS Project

Introductory Level Course Code: MP200301

Duration: One Day Course

Course Objectives

This course enables trainees to:

• Understand project management fundamentals and how they are applied to MS Project
• Plan the tasks and resources within a project
• Compare the project progress with the original plan
  
• Print and report on relevant project information
  
• Use filters and views to control the display of information

Course Outline

• Understanding the Project Screen
  
• Setting the Working Time and Project Calendar to match your Organisation's working pattern
  
• Entering Tasks and Durations; adding Notes
  
• Formatting entries
  
• Creating links between tasks - click and drag; adding types and lag
  
• Entering and assigning Resources (Duration versus Work!)
  
• Grouping Resources
  
• Task Properties
  
• Entering working and non-working time for resources - holidays etc.
  
• Outlining the project: the advantages of structured planning
  
• Levelling Resources - rescheduling tasks so that employees are not over-allocated
  
• Constraining Tasks
  
• Baselining your Project - When you are satisfied that the plan is as accurate as possible
  
• Saving and File Formats - password protection
  
• Creating a Template for future projects
  
• Feeding back Actual Progress on tasks
  
• Tracking Project Progress against the plan
  
• Printing - copying screen images for printing or incorporation into other files
  
• Reporting - Using the standard reports provided within MSProject
  
• Using Filters and AutoFilter to display selected tasks or resources
  
• Views - View menu and the View Bar

Target Audience

This course is intended for first time users of Microsoft Project who wish to use it to to improve their development, monitoring and reporting of projects.

Pre-requisites

Delegates should be comfortable using Windows and an another application such as Excel or Word; it is helpful but not essential if they have some knowledge or experience of Project Management

Advanced Level Course Code: MP200302

A One Day Course (on our schedule) but a second day workshop is recommended to apply the learning to the workplace.

Course Objectives

This course enables trainees to:

• understand the Project environment and how to define their organisation's calendar; default settings and create a resource pool
• use structured Planning processes in using outlining and sub-project techniques
  
• understand the Levelling process and modify the Project's default views to assist Manual Levelling
  
• define new filters, tables and views
  
• handle a multiple project environment more effectively.

Course Outline

• Project Management Theory
  
• Fundamentals review including useful shortcuts
  
• The Project Environment: the Project calendar; default settings; Creating a new default calendar; making use of a Resource Pool
  
• Outlining: the advantages of Structured Planning; Viewing different outline levels; Creating Custom Groups
  
• Controlling Resource Levelling, by day, by hour, by minute if necessary
  
• Feeding-back Actuals and Tracking Project Progress
  
• Defining Filters, Tables and Views
  
• Customising and Annotating Gantt Symbols
  
• Consolidating Projects
  
• Using the Organiser
  
• Exchanging Data with Other Applications
  
• Manage your workgroup: Publishing and Collaboration; Project on the Company Intranet; Assignments; Team Update and Team Status messages; Creating Personal Gantt Charts for Resources
  
• Designing Custom Reports
  
• Introducing Macros

Target Audience

This course is intended for existing users of Project who wish to enhance their understanding and control of the Project environment.

Workshop

One day, but duration can be customised

The purpose of this workshop is to take the theory covered in the previous two courses and apply it to your own project or company requirements. Thinking about the outputs (reports) will be critical; much of your time will also be spent on ensuring your tasks have a logical structure, and your resources, their availability and costs, are logged.
Workshops can be run for groups or individuals. Run on a company basis means you can deal with confidential issues (objectives, costs and resources) that it might otherwise be difficult to discuss at any other time.

Pre-requisites

Delegates should have attending at least the introductory course.

Please note: on our scheduled courses, Project Standard is the version used. Courses are also run on a customised basis at which point we could deal with the features of Professional and Project Server if these are required. We should be happy to discuss your requirements further.