Project 2010 Introduction Intermediate Training Course

What is Project Management?

The application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to a broad range of activities in order to meet the requirements of a particular project.

The Microsoft Project Map

The Microsoft Project Map outlines the three phases of the project life cycle:

1. Build a plan
2. Track and manage a project
3. Close a project

Project Triangle

All projects involve time, money, and scope. Change one and the others are impacted. At the centre of the triangle is Quality - affected by any change in the other three.

          TIME + MONEY + SCOPE = QUALITY

PRINCE2 stand for (PRojects IN Controlled Environments) and is a process-based method for effective project management.

PRINCE2 projects have the following characteristics -

• A finite and defined life cycle
• Defined and measurable business products
• A corresponding set of activities to achieve the business products
• A defined amount of resources
• An organisation structure, with defined responsibilities, to manage the project

PRINCE2 offers best practice guidance on project management and has the following features:

Its focus on business justification

A defined organisation structure for the project management team

Its product-based planning approach

Its emphasis on dividing the project into manageable and controllable stages

Its flexibility to be applied at a level appropriate to the project.

https://www.prince2.com/uk

First released as Microsoft Project V1 in early 1990 the software has grown into a rich application designed to help Project Managers:

Organise

List and group the tasks that together will lead to the desired Project outcome

Identify and assign the resources required to their respective tasks

Schedule

Use dependencies between tasks plus constraints to position tasks on the Gantt chart

Manage

Forecast costs and spending (Cash flow)

Allow the plan to be modified to account for actual progress

Monitor and report on progress including spend and workload

The Microsoft Project 2016 family of products consists of Microsoft Project Standard 2016, Microsoft Project Professional 2016, Microsoft Project Server 2016 and Project Online

The content of this course refers to features available in the two desktop versions (Standard and Professional). Most of the end user features are available in both versions, the main difference being that the Professional version is required if you want to connect to Project Server or sync tasks with SharePoint.

• File > New > Select a template or from one of the suggested searches or Select > New from an existing project.

Microsoft Project 2016 has numerous features not available in versions prior to Project 2010 which are explored during this course:

Customisable fluent user interface (the new ribbon) and Quick Access Toolbar

Backstage view

Timeline view

Team Planner (Professional version only)

Manual v Auto scheduling

Task Inspector

Active/inactive tasks

Top down summary tasks

The default Project view is the Gantt Chart view which consists of a table of data on the left hand side of the screen and a Gantt bar chart on the right. The Divider Bar separates the two and can be repositioned to display more of the table or more of the chart. The Gantt table consists of rows and columns. Just like on a spreadsheet, the intersection of a row and a column is called a cell. The Gantt bar chart graphically displays your schedule.

The Quick Access Toolbar (QAT) is a customizable toolbar that can display either above or below the Ribbon.  Click the Customize Quick Access Toolbar  
(on the right of the QAT) to change how it is displayed:

When the Ribbon is collapsed, you see only the tabs.  To use the Ribbon while it is collapsed, click the tab you want to use, and then click the option or command you want to use.