Nearly everyone I know dreads the thought of facing a new software application. Many project managers feel the same way and are still using old fashioned written to-do lists and plans rather than having everything in front of them at the click of a mouse. The projects you have waiting in the pipeline, all have the following points in common.

A goal which needs to be reached
The need for a project manager
A series of individual tasks
A set time for each task to be completed
Good timing so as each task complements the next
Resources (namely people, equipment, rentals etc)
A budget for calculating the cost of your resources

These are the core elements of project management and all of this data has to be entered into Microsoft Project. When you have entered all of the data, you have built a baseline. This is where Project starts to work its magic and will present you with a series of reporting options to help you look at your project in closer detail and share your progress with your team members, clients and management.

A project sadly doesn't just fall neatly into place, it can change instantly or present hurdles along the way so your baseline gives you a preview of how your project looks before you take any action. You can now start inputting some tasks and compare the activity taking place with your baseline as both sets of data are saved in your schedule. By tracking activity in your project you can check if you are on time or falling behind. Print this out in a report and show your boss how progress is going, even if it is bad. Then, after you have broken the news you can use Project to make some necessary adjustments and put everything back on track.

Let's take a look at some scheduling and tracking tools.

The Gantt Chart
A spreadsheet covered with columns of data coupled with a graphical representation of the tasks you need to complete along the horizontal timeline. The data in these columns (task name, start date, finish date, resources for tasks) help you to understand the limitations of each task and the timing available in the graphical area. This is an easy way for you to see exactly what is going in terms of costs and time.

The Network Diagram
This feature allows you to view the flow of your work rather than the exact timing of tasks and is a great way to see if one task is flowing smoothly into the next.

Why take the risk?
Microsoft Project can help you significantly with risk management as it allows you to experiment with 'what if' scenarios. This means that you can play around with start dates, the length of a task, problems that might occur such as over spending, to see if those changes will throw your schedule off track or speed things up.

Using all of your resources
As soon as you have found the right person for every task, you need to be sure that all of your resources are working effectively. This means that each team member has to have an adequate workload, tools on hand and effective use of them. The resource graph usage chart allows you to quickly spot any resources which are being over allocated so as you can see if they can be assigned to other areas.

Don't run the risk of overbooking
In Project, there is a tool called resource levelling. This will allow you to automatically reschedule resources if they should become overbooked.

Don't start from scratch
One particularly useful feature are the built-in templates which allow you to get things up and rolling in an instant.

For example, there is a Project Office template which contains a sample of tasks broken down into phases along with task durations and some pre-defined dependencies. It also has some built in editable resources.

To keep your finger even more on the pulse, Project features Enterprise Project Management which is a handy function that can help you easily share information, ideas and documents. For instance, you could request team progress updates or distribute documents to the team and benefit from their input.

There are many ways to start a new project. Let's look at some.
You could utilise the Project Guide which runs you through a sequence of steps. There are four sections in the guide namely:

Tasks
Resources
Track
Report

There will be at least ten links within each of these categories which help you to streamline your requirements to your exact needs. This in turn may instigate a series of further sub-actions to help you with creating your project.

Alternatively, you could customize the project yourself. Simply open Project 2007 where will you be presented with a blank project file.

Start with some obvious data such as the start date. To do this, click on 'Project' which will open up a dialogue box. In this box, you can set the start date and finish date. You will also want add the current date and a status date so as you can keep an eye on your project at various stages.

The next thing to do is set the working calendar which could be either Standard time, Night Shift or 24 Hours depending on the working hours of the organisation you are working for. For example, if they work a routine eight hour day, set the working calendar to Standard Time. Set a priority for your project by talking with the stakeholders. This way you can prioritise the needs which are of high priority and those which are lower so as Project can automatically distribute resources as necessary.

Next, click on settings in the Project Information Dialog Box and then OK. You will see before you a blank project schedule for which you can create your Project plan. Take a look at the Project Guide pane on the left of the spreadsheet. There are many ways to view your project; here are some of the most important ones.

The View Bar.
This allows you to go into different views by clicking the bar filled with icons on the far left.

The Project Guide
On the right of the View Bar you will find the Project Guide Task Pane. This is your information centre where you can have help building your project.

The Sheet Section
Located in the middle of the view. A great spreadsheet interface where you can enter, edit and view information related to your project.

The Chart Area
Located on the far right to show task information in the form of a graph. This can be viewed the moment you start assigning tasks.

Taskbars
These shows the length and timing of tasks along with any additional progress you wish to record.

The Timescale
Shows increments of time along the top of the chart area. This is a highly useful tool for interpreting time duration in each taskbar. Adjust the increments to view your project with a longer or shorter time span, such as weeks or even days.

Now it is time to start building your project by entering some tasks. Click on a cell in the Task Name Column of the spreadsheet and type in a task.

You can now take your new found knowledge even further by looking up the help topics within the application in order to make project management easy to manage.