Microsoft Project For Dummies

Chapter 17

You’re Behind — Now What?

IN THIS CHAPTER

Analyzing plan versions and notes to understand what went wrong

Experimenting with what-if scenarios

Benefitting from more time or more people

Adjusting the timing going forward

Let’s face it: A project rarely proceeds as planned. Every project has issues (situations that must be handled before the project can move forward) and risks (uncertain events that can prevent a project objective from being met). One day the project is doing just fine, and the next day it’s $75,000 over budget. Or it appears that you’ll miss the drop-dead finish date by two weeks.

The first step is to find the cause and then fix it so that you can move forward and try to save the project. To try to save the day when the project rolls off the track, you need to analyze the options and make tough choices. Project can help you analyze possible solutions and anticipate the likely results. After you decide what to do, you can update Project to reflect the solutions.

Using Project with Risk and Issue Logs

You can proactively document problems on the project ...