Microsoft Office Project 2007 All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies (For Dummies: Home & Business Computer Baiscs)

Microsoft Office Project 2007 All-In-One Desk Reference For Dummies......Page 5
About the Authors......Page 7
Authors’ Acknowledgments......Page 9
About This Book......Page 27
How This Book Is Organized......Page 28
Conventions Used in This Book......Page 30
Icons Used in This Book......Page 31
Where to Go from Here......Page 32
Book I: Project Management......Page 33
Contents at a Glance......Page 34
The Life of a Project......Page 35
Everybody Plays a Role......Page 39
Getting a Few Project Management Concepts under Your Belt......Page 40
Resource Management Basics......Page 44
The Basics of Computerized Project Management......Page 47
What You Have to Put Into Project......Page 50
Keeping a Project on Track......Page 58
Keeping Others in the Loop......Page 59
First Things First: Define the Business Need......Page 61
Target Practice: Project Goal Setting......Page 62
Taking a Look at Your Project’s Scope......Page 64
Breaking Your Project into Phases......Page 65
Exploring Menus and Toolbars in Project......Page 71
Navigating Project......Page 74
Finding Another View......Page 78
Changing Views......Page 81
Displaying and Hiding Project Guide......Page 87
Exploring the Many Versions of Project......Page 89
Getting out of Hot Water with Multiple Undo......Page 90
Spotting Changes with Change Highlighting......Page 92
Knowing What’s Driving Your Tasks......Page 93
Making Reports More Visual......Page 94
A New Resource: Cost......Page 96
Working with Budgets......Page 97
Book II: Project Basics......Page 99
Contents at a Glance......Page 100
Creating That First Project......Page 101
Making Global Project Settings......Page 105
Save That Project!......Page 109
Tackling Task Basics......Page 111
The Many Different Ways to Create a Task......Page 114
A View for Every Need......Page 123
Finding Just the Right View for You......Page 125
Discovering Various Task Views......Page 126
What Resource Views Tell You......Page 129
The Best Views for Tracking Progress on Your Project......Page 132
Displaying Combination Views......Page 134
The Big 4: Base, Project, Resource, and Task Calendars......Page 137
Understanding Calendar Options and Working Times......Page 140
Getting the Project Calendar Set Up......Page 144
Letting Project Guide Make Calendar Settings For You......Page 145
Making Changes to Task Calendars......Page 147
Setting Up Resource Calendars......Page 148
Creating Your Own Custom Calendar Template......Page 151
Sharing Calendars with Other Projects......Page 152
Entering the Universe of Project Help......Page 155
Exploring Microsoft Office Project Help......Page 156
Going Online to Find the Answer......Page 160
Running Diagnostics......Page 162
Putting Project Guide to Work......Page 163
Book III: Getting Your Plan in Order......Page 167
Contents at a Glance......Page 168
A To-Do List . . . or a Project Schedule?......Page 169
Creating Structure in the Schedule......Page 175
So, What Happens When You Reorganize the Outline?......Page 178
Understanding Outline Numbers......Page 189
Letting Project Assign Outline Numbers......Page 190
Understanding Outline Codes......Page 191
Designing Your Own Outline Numbers......Page 192
Outline Numbers and Codes and Renumbering......Page 198
What’s a WBS Code?......Page 203
Creating WBS Codes......Page 204
Creating a WBS Chart......Page 205
Customizing WBS Codes......Page 209
WBS Codes and Renumbering......Page 212
Connecting Projects with Hyperlinks......Page 217
Consolidating Projects......Page 221
Dependencies in Consolidated Projects......Page 235
The Critical Path in a Consolidated Project......Page 241
Sharing Resources Using a Resource Pool......Page 244
Book IV: Establishing Task Timing......Page 253
Contents at a Glance......Page 254
Understanding What Drives Timing......Page 255
Scheduling Backwards or Forwards......Page 257
Surviving Schedule Shock......Page 260
Finding Just the Right Task Type......Page 263
Setting Task Duration......Page 267
Starting and Pausing Tasks......Page 272
Understanding Effort-Driven Tasks......Page 275
Why Dependencies Are Needed......Page 277
Understanding Dependencies......Page 278
Setting Dependencies......Page 282
Visualizing Task Dependencies......Page 288
Beginning with the Start and Finish Dates......Page 293
Understanding How Constraints Work......Page 294
Establishing Constraints......Page 297
Setting a Deadline......Page 298
Book V: Working with Resources and Costs......Page 301
Contents at a Glance......Page 302
What Exactly Is a Resource?......Page 303
All Kinds of Resources......Page 304
Creating Resources......Page 309
Accruing Costs All Over the Place......Page 315
Assigning Costs to Resources......Page 317
Locating the Right Resource for the Job......Page 325
Your Assignment Is . . .......Page 331
Making Sure of Availability......Page 337
Sharing Resources......Page 339
When Do My Resources Work?......Page 341
E-mailing an Assignment to Your Team......Page 343
How Your Settings Affect Your Budget......Page 347
How Project Calculates Costs......Page 349
Examining Cost Data......Page 351
The Value of a Project Summary Task......Page 355
Book VI: Communicating Project Information......Page 359
Contents at a Glance......Page 360
What’s a View?......Page 361
Making a View Handy to Display......Page 365
Sorting Tasks in a View......Page 367
Filtering a View......Page 369
Grouping Information......Page 377
Using Combination Views......Page 382
Customizing a View......Page 386
Creating a New Combination View......Page 387
Printing Your Project......Page 389
Understanding Tables......Page 395
Understanding Indicators......Page 399
Making Changes to a Table......Page 402
Customizing Tables......Page 407
Working with the Details of Usage Views......Page 409
Preparing and Printing Reports......Page 415
Preparing Big Picture Reports......Page 418
Reporting on Task Status......Page 420
Reporting on Costs......Page 421
Reporting on Assignments......Page 422
Viewing Custom Reports......Page 424
Adapting Reports to Suit Your Needs......Page 427
Preparing a Visual Report......Page 433
Visually Reporting on Resource Usage......Page 437
Visually Reporting on Assignment Usage......Page 439
Preparing Visual Task Summary Reports......Page 440
Preparing Visual Assignment Summary Reports......Page 441
Customizing Visual Reports......Page 443
Book VII: Resolving Problems in Your Plan......Page 449
Contents at a Glance......Page 450
Filtering to Spot Resource and Schedule Problems......Page 451
Filtering in Action......Page 457
Working with Groups......Page 459
Keeping Resources in Line......Page 463
Combining Solutions......Page 474
Timing is Everything......Page 477
Doing It All in Less Time......Page 478
Making Your Project Timing Realistic......Page 482
Getting to a Final Project Plan......Page 489
Selling Changes to Shareholders......Page 492
Contents at a Glance......Page 498
Book VIII: Tracking......Page 497
Understanding Baselines and Interim Plans......Page 499
Setting a Baseline......Page 500
Saving an Interim Plan......Page 503
Changing a Baseline or Interim Plan......Page 504
Clearing Baselines and Interim Plans......Page 506
Viewing the Critical Path......Page 507
What’s Involved in Tracking?......Page 513
Collecting Tracking Information......Page 514
Setting Up to Track......Page 515
Ways to Record Actuals......Page 522
Viewing Progress......Page 532
The Basics of Earned Value Fields......Page 543
Examining Cost Variance......Page 545
Physical % Complete Versus % Complete......Page 548
Book IX: Advanced Project Topics......Page 553
Contents at a Glance......Page 554
Controlling the Project Guide’s Behavior......Page 555
How Many Times Can You Undo?......Page 557
Switching Between Open Projects......Page 558
Customizing the Way You Open......Page 560
Customizing the Way You Save......Page 562
Customizing the Toolbars......Page 564
Customizing the Menus......Page 571
Using the Organizer to Share Project Elements......Page 577
Changing Fonts......Page 581
Applying Special Formatting to Gantt Chart View......Page 584
Working with the Network Diagram......Page 595
Modifying Calendar View......Page 604
Creating a Macro......Page 611
Using a Macro......Page 615
Using Graphic Objects in Project......Page 629
Getting Tasks from Outlook......Page 631
Importing Excel and Access Information into Project......Page 633
Importing Text or Comma-Separated Files into Project......Page 642
Copying Pictures into Office Programs......Page 645
Saving Visual Reporting Information......Page 651
Exporting Project Data to Excel......Page 654
Exporting Project Data to Text Files......Page 656
Book X: The Basics of Project Server......Page 661
Contents at a Glance......Page 662
What Is Project Server?......Page 663
Planning the Implementation of Project Server......Page 666
Understanding the Structure of the Project Server Database......Page 673
Reviewing Defaults......Page 674
Working with Users......Page 676
Working with Views......Page 677
Working with the Enterprise Global Template......Page 678
Creating Enterprise Custom Fields......Page 679
Establishing Enterprise Calendars......Page 680
Working with Enterprise Resources......Page 681
Loading Projects into the Project Server Database......Page 683
Managing Timesheet and Task Settings......Page 684
Customizing Project Web Access......Page 685
Checking in Enterprise Projects and Resources......Page 687
Backing Up and Restoring......Page 688
Managing the Queue......Page 690
Logging onto Project Server......Page 691
Working with Web-based Projects......Page 693
Creating Status Report Layouts......Page 704
Receiving Task Updates from Team Members......Page 705
Understanding the Project Web Access Home Page......Page 709
Customizing the Home Page......Page 711
Working with Your Tasks......Page 713
Working with Your Timesheet......Page 716
Integrating the Outlook Calendar with Project Web Access......Page 719
Reporting Status......Page 722
Glossary......Page 725
Index......Page 735