Microsoft® Office Project 2007 All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies®

Chapter 3. Reviewing Timing and Costs

<feature><title>In This Chapter</title>

✓	Viewing timing information
✓	Saving time
✓	Saving money
✓	Keeping your schedule realistic

</feature>

The two key issues for most people when trying to finalize their project plan are time and money. When that finish date is staring back at you, a full three months later than the date your boss gave you, it gives you pause. If the total project costs are 50 percent higher than you’d hoped, you still have some work to do (if costs are lower, count your blessings and send your plan off to your boss right away).

In this chapter we explore some steps you can save to trim time and dollars from your plan before you hand it in to the powers that be.

Timing is Everything

The weekly staff meeting has just ended. As you linger over your last bit of donut, you realize you and your boss are the only two left in the room. Your boss turns to you and asks you, after weeks of planning, if you’re finally ready to commit to a final project date. Your palms sweat, you gulp down the last bit of donut, add a week to the last finish date Project gave you to cover yourself, and then you promise to deliver the impossible.

Before you go to your boss and make any promises, make sure you’re comfortable with two things: the total time it takes to complete the project and the critical path (the longest series of tasks that must be completed on time in order for you to meet the overall project deadline).

Project allows you to feel much more confident ...