Microsoft Project is brimming with features to help you manage any project, large or small. But learning the software is only half the battle. What you really need is real-world guidance: how to prep your project before touching your PC, which Project tools work best, and which ones to use with care. This book explains it all, helping you go from project manager to project master.
- Get a project management primer. Discover what it takes to handle a project successfully
- Learn the program inside out. Get step-by-step instructions for Project Standard and Project Professional
- Build and refine your plan. Put together your team, schedule, and budget
- Achieve the results you want. Build realistic schedules, and learn how to keep costs under control
- Track your progress. Measure your performance, make course corrections, and manage changes
- Use Project's power tools. Customize Project's features and views, and transfer info directly between Project and other programs
Table of Contents......Page 7
About the Author......Page 19
The Missing Manual Series......Page 20
What’s New in Project 2010......Page 23
Where Microsoft Project Fits In......Page 27
Choosing the Right Edition......Page 28
Complementary Software......Page 29
Getting Around Project......Page 30
About This Book......Page 34
What’s So Special About Projects?......Page 41
What Is Project Management?......Page 42
Why Manage Projects?......Page 45
Picking the Right Projects......Page 46
Gaining Support for a Project......Page 53
Publicizing a Project and Its Manager......Page 57
Planning a Project......Page 61
Project Planning in a Nutshell......Page 62
Defining the Project......Page 65
Documenting How You’ll Run the Project......Page 73
Laying Out Project Processes......Page 74
Navigating the Project Ribbon......Page 81
The Project Window......Page 85
Creating a Project Schedule......Page 86
Saving Your Project......Page 98
Breaking Work into Task-Sized Chunks......Page 99
Identifying the Work to Be Done......Page 100
Building a WBS in Microsoft Project......Page 106
Documenting a WBS in Another Program......Page 112
Setting Up Custom WBS Codes......Page 115
Documenting Work Package Details......Page 118
Estimating Task Work and Duration......Page 123
Getting Good Estimates......Page 124
Getting Estimates into Project......Page 131
Planning with Manually Scheduled Tasks......Page 138
Creating a New Project File......Page 145
Saving a New Project......Page 151
Opening a Project File......Page 156
Setting Up Options For a Project......Page 157
Adding Tasks to a Project......Page 163
Inserting, Moving, and Deleting Tasks......Page 170
Copying Tasks......Page 172
Modifying a Task’s Level in the Outline......Page 174
Making a Schedule That’s Easy to Maintain......Page 177
How Tasks Affect One Another......Page 178
Building Relationships Between Tasks......Page 180
Scheduling Task Work Time with Calendars......Page 186
Setting Specific Task Dates......Page 187
Building a Team for Your Project......Page 197
Identifying Project Resources......Page 198
Understanding Project’s Resource Types......Page 202
Adding Resources in Microsoft Project......Page 204
Providing Detailed Resource Information......Page 211
Connecting Resources to Tasks......Page 223
Assigning Work Resources to Tasks......Page 224
Assigning Material Resources to Tasks......Page 239
Understanding Duration, Work, and Units......Page 241
Modifying Resource Assignments......Page 242
Adding and Removing Resources from Tasks......Page 243
Does the Schedule Work?......Page 251
Making Sure Tasks Are Set Up Correctly......Page 252
Defining Work Schedules with Calendars......Page 260
Task Inspector: Help with Schedule Problems......Page 273
Building Reality into Assignments......Page 275
Balancing Workloads......Page 281
Setting Up a Project Budget......Page 307
Putting a Price Tag on Your Project......Page 308
Incorporating Resource Costs......Page 310
Preparing for Cost Calculations......Page 311
Reviewing Cost Information......Page 317
Comparing Costs to Your Budget......Page 324
Reducing Project Costs......Page 337
Setting the Project Fiscal Year......Page 341
Assigning Accounting Codes......Page 342
Refining a Project Schedule......Page 349
Evaluating the Project Schedule......Page 350
Project Tools for Change......Page 358
Adjusting Resource Assignments......Page 362
Splitting Tasks into Smaller Pieces......Page 368
Overlapping Tasks......Page 369
Paying More for Faster Delivery......Page 372
Playing What-If Games......Page 375
Saving the Project Plan......Page 381
Storing Project Documents......Page 382
Preserving the Original Plan in Project......Page 384
Tracking Progress......Page 403
Picking the Best Way to Track Progress......Page 404
Obtaining Progress and Cost Data......Page 405
Entering Actual Progress in Project......Page 410
Evaluating Project Performance......Page 429
Scheduled, Baseline, and Actual Values......Page 430
Is the Project on Time?......Page 431
Checking on Work......Page 438
Is the Project Within Budget?......Page 440
Earned Value Analysis......Page 442
Getting Back on Track......Page 450
Managing Change......Page 455
Setting Up a Change Management System......Page 456
Managing Changes in Project......Page 460
Reporting on Projects......Page 469
An Overview of Project’s Reports......Page 470
Text-Based Reports......Page 476
Working with Visual Reports......Page 484
Printing Views to Report Project Information......Page 498
Closing a Project......Page 501
Tying Up Loose Ends......Page 502
Producing Project Closeout Reports......Page 503
What to Do with Project Information......Page 509
Working on Multiple Projects......Page 513
Managing Multiple Projects......Page 514
Sharing Resources Among Projects......Page 522
Exchanging Data Between Programs......Page 529
Copying Information......Page 531
Importing and Exporting Data......Page 536
Sharing Projects with SharePoint......Page 556
Linking and Embedding......Page 565
Linking and Embedding Project Data......Page 567
Linking and Embedding Data into Project......Page 572
Working with Linked and Embedded Objects......Page 576
Hyperlinking to Information......Page 581
Integrating Project and Outlook......Page 586
Viewing What You Want......Page 595
Creating Your Own View......Page 596
Changing Tables......Page 632
Changing the Way Text Looks......Page 638
Filtering Through Information......Page 642
Grouping Project Elements......Page 654
Defining Your Own Fields......Page 661
Understanding Custom Fields......Page 662
Customizing a Field......Page 663
Coding Tasks and Resources......Page 674
Customizing the Ribbon and Quick Access Toolbar......Page 679
Customizing the Ribbon......Page 680
Customizing the Quick Access Toolbar......Page 687
Reusable Project: Templates......Page 689
Sharing Custom Elements......Page 690
Storing Project Settings and Elements......Page 691
Building Templates for Projects......Page 697
Saving Time with Macros......Page 703
Recording Macros......Page 704
Running Macros......Page 707
Viewing and Editing Macro Code......Page 710
Learning More About Programming Project......Page 711
Installing Project......Page 715
Installing Project on Your Computer......Page 716
Activating Project......Page 720
Maintaining and Repairing Project......Page 722
Getting Help for Project......Page 725
In Search of Project Help......Page 726
Microsoft Office Online......Page 732
Interactive and In-Depth Assistance......Page 733
Keyboard Shortcuts......Page 737
How to Use Keyboard Shortcuts......Page 738
Keyboard Shortcuts for Microsoft Project......Page 739
Selecting Elements in a Project View Table......Page 742
Index......Page 745
