Project 2013 In Depth

Project 2013 In Depth

by Scott Daley
Released August 2013
Publisher(s): Que
ISBN: 9780133143386

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Book description

Do more in less time!

This book’s packed with intensely useful Project 2013 knowledge, tips, and shortcuts you just won’t find anywhere else. It’s the fastest, best way to master every phase of project management with Project 2013: initiation, planning, scheduling, resource assignments,
tracking, revision, completion, and more. You’ll get comfortable with Project 2013’s most valuable new features…master powerful new cloud-based tools for running your projects…even learn to manage complex project portfolios for your entire organization!

•    Discover what’s new in Project 2013 and get started with new projects fast

•    Apply project management best practices through Project 2013

•    Initiate, plan, and organize projects to maximize your odds of success

•    Create realistic schedules for your project and all your team members

•    Define task logic to intelligently link sequences of activities

•    Identify and eliminate bottlenecks before they interfere with your project

•    Use Project’s automated scheduling engine to optimize efficiency

•    Review and tweak your schedule using views, tables, filters, and groups

•    Track your project’s progress and analyze your performance to date

•    Adjust resources, tasks, and schedules to reflect project changes

•    Officially close your project, and evaluate it via Lessons Learned analyses or Earned Value tracking

•    Tailor Project 2013 to your individual and organizational needs

•    Leverage Project 2013’s powerful cloud-based collaboration features

•    Customize reports, including Project 2013’s advanced Visual Reports

•    Work with multiple projects at once and resolve complex resource allocation problems

•    Integrate Project 2013 with other Microsoft Office and third-party applications All In Depth books offer

•    Comprehensive coverage with detailed solutions

•    Troubleshooting help for tough problems you can’t fix on your own

•    Outstanding authors recognized worldwide for their expertise and teaching style

Learning, reference, problem-solving...the only Project 2013 book you need!

Table of contents

  1. About This eBook
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright Page
  4. Contents at a Glance
  5. Contents
  6. About the Author
  7. About the Technical Editor
  8. Dedication
  9. Acknowledgments
  10. We Want to Hear from You!
  11. Reader Services
  12. I: Getting Started with Microsoft Project 2013
    1. 1. Power of Microsoft Project 2013
      1. Essentials of Project Management
      2. What Project Can Do for You
      3. Enterprise Versus Standard Thinking
      4. What’s New in Project 2013
      5. Consultants’ Tips
    2. 2. Microsoft Project Quick Start
      1. Five Process Groups for Projects
      2. Navigating Project
      3. Using Team Planner to Start Managing Resources Quickly
      4. Define Project Scope
      5. Create a Project Schedule Using Microsoft Project
      6. Track Your Project
      7. Close Your Project
      8. Consultants’ Tips
    3. 3. Microsoft Project and the Project Management Domain
      1. History of Project Management
      2. Exploring Project Management Industry Standards
      3. WBS, Phases and Control Points, Methodologies, and Life Cycles
      4. Using Microsoft Project with Methodologies and Life Cycles
      5. Accommodating Teaming Styles
      6. Consultants’ Tips
  13. II: Organizing for Success—Project Initiation and Planning
    1. 4. Getting Started After the Business Initiative Is Approved
      1. Organizing Projects for Success
      2. Work Breakdown Structure
      3. WBS Numbering
      4. Scope Control and Change Control
      5. Consultants’ Tips
    2. 5. Setting Up Project for Your Use
      1. Setting the Task Mode
      2. Defining Project Information
      3. Defining Calendars
      4. Defining Custom Fields
      5. Defining Environment Options
      6. Consultants’ Tips
    3. 6. Creating Your Project Schedule
      1. Entering Project Tasks
      2. Manipulating the Task List
      3. Copying, Cutting, and Moving Tasks
      4. Defining Summary Tasks and Subtasks
      5. Defining Milestones
      6. Attaching Notes to Tasks
      7. Attaching Hyperlinks to Tasks
      8. Defining Recurring Tasks
      9. Creating WBS Codes
      10. Using Other Views to Create Tasks
      11. Using the Timeline View
      12. Consultants’ Tips
    4. 7. Defining Task Logic
      1. Manipulating Your Schedule
      2. Linking Tasks
      3. Defining Constraints
      4. Performing Advanced Actions on Tasks
      5. Consultants’ Tips
    5. 8. Defining Project Resources
      1. Understanding How Project Uses Resources and Costs
      2. Defining Resources and Resource Information
      3. Using the Resource Sheet View
      4. Defining Resource Information Using the Resource Information Dialog Box
      5. Using the Resource Fields to Define Resource Details
      6. Defining Resource Costs
      7. Using the Task Form View to Add Additional Resources
      8. Understanding Resource Constraints
      9. Working with Resources
      10. Consultants’ Tips
    6. 9. Understanding Work Formula Basics
      1. Understanding Task Levels
      2. Work, Duration, and Units
      3. Tasks with Multiple Assignments
      4. Understanding Resource and Task Assignments
      5. Reviewing the Essential Components of Work Resource Assignments
      6. Understanding the Resource Assignment Fields
      7. Understanding the Work Formula
      8. Selecting Task Settings
      9. Schedule Modifiers That Affect the Complexity of the Scheduling Engine
      10. Consultants’ Tips
    7. 10. Scheduling Single and Multiple Resource Assignments
      1. Mechanisms: Methods for Adding Resources
      2. Creation: Assigning a Single Resource
      3. Creation: Assigning Multiple Resources
      4. Maintenance: Modifying Existing Resource Assignments
      5. How-To’s: Modifying Resource Assignments
      6. Consultants’ Tips
    8. 11. Using Standard Views, Tables, Filters, and Groups to Review Your Schedule
      1. What Can I View Using Microsoft Project?
      2. Viewing Strategies
      3. Understanding Standard Views
      4. Understanding Standard Tables
      5. Understanding Filtering and Grouping
      6. Combining Views, Tables, Filters, and Groups to Review Project Schedule Details
      7. Consultants’ Tips
    9. 12. Performing a Schedule Reality Check
      1. Auditing the Schedule for Reasonableness
      2. Reviewing the Big Picture: Critical Path Analysis
      3. Reviewing the Project-Level Statistics
      4. Strategies for Analyzing Costs
      5. Finalizing the Schedule
      6. Baselining the Schedule
      7. Consultants’ Tips
  14. III: Project Execution Through Completion
    1. 13. Tracking Your Project Progress
      1. Overview of Tracking
      2. Working with Project Baselines
      3. Tracking Your Project’s Performance and Costs
      4. Entering Tracking Information at the Task Level
      5. Entering Tracking Information at the Assignment Level
      6. Understanding the Calculation Options That Affect Tracking
      7. Using Microsoft Project’s Facilities for Updating Tasks
      8. Consultants’ Tips
    2. 14. Analyzing Performance
      1. Reviewing the Current Status of a Project
      2. Analyzing Performance with Earned Value Analysis
      3. Using Analysis Views and Reports
      4. Analyzing the Critical Path
      5. Consultants’ Tips
    3. 15. Using Reports for Tracking and Control
      1. Using Reports
      2. Using Visual Reports
      3. Consultants’ Tips
    4. 16. Revising the Schedule
      1. When Things Don’t Go According to Plan
      2. When Recovery Is the Only Option
      3. Rebaselining Strategies
      4. Consultants’ Tips
    5. 17. Closing the Project
      1. Project Close Process Group
      2. Performing Final Reporting
      3. Performing a Project Retrospective: Lessons Learned
      4. Archiving Your Schedule
      5. Celebrating Your Project Results
      6. Consultants’ Tips
  15. IV: Tailoring Microsoft Office Project 2013 to Your Needs
    1. 18. Managing Project Files Locally and in the Cloud
      1. Saving and Protecting Project Files
      2. Creating and Using Project Templates
      3. Working with the Organizer and the Global File
      4. Consultants’ Tips
    2. 19. Formatting Views
      1. Sorting the Tasks or Resources in a View
      2. Formatting Text Styles for Categories of Tasks and Resources
      3. Formatting Font for Selected Text
      4. Formatting Gridlines
      5. Using the Outline Options
      6. Formatting Timescales
      7. Using Page Breaks
      8. Formatting the Gantt Chart Views
      9. Formatting the Calendar View
      10. Formatting the Network Diagram View
      11. Formatting the Task Form and Resource Form Views
      12. Formatting the Resource Graph View
      13. Formatting the Resource Usage View
      14. Formatting the Task Usage View
      15. Formatting the Task Sheet and Resource Sheet Views
      16. Consultants’ Tips
    3. 20. Reports Part I: 2013 Reports
      1. Understanding the New Reports
      2. Customizing Sections of Reports
      3. Customizing Reports
      4. Creating Reports
      5. Using the Common Customization Controls
      6. Saving and Sharing Custom Reports
      7. Consultants’ Tips
    4. 21. Reports Part II: Visual Reports
      1. Understanding OLAP Cubes for Visual Reports
      2. Understanding Excel and Visio in Relation to Project
      3. Reporting Capabilities
      4. Sharing and Saving Visual Reports
      5. Consultants’ Tips
    5. 22. Customization Almost Beyond Reason: Views, Tables, Filters, Groups, Fields, Toolbars, and Menus
      1. Creating and Customizing Tables
      2. Creating and Customizing Views
      3. Printing Views
      4. Creating and Customizing Filters
      5. Creating Custom Groups
      6. Creating and Customizing Fields
      7. Organizing Views and Other Custom Elements in Project Files
      8. Customizing the Ribbon
      9. Customizing the Quick Access Toolbar
      10. Customizing the Status Bar
      11. Consultants’ Tips
  16. V: Microsoft Project 2013 Knowledge In Depth
    1. 23. Working with Multiple Projects
      1. Using Windows Commands
      2. Comparing Project Versions
      3. Displaying Tasks from Different Projects in the Same Window
      4. Creating Master Projects
      5. Creating Links Between Tasks in Separate Projects
      6. Consultants’ Tips
    2. 24. Resolving Resource Allocation Problems
      1. Understanding How Resource Allocation Problems Occur
      2. Visualizing Resource Allocation Conditions
      3. Resource Graphs
      4. Strategies for Correcting Resource Allocation Problems
      5. Consultants’ Tips
    3. 25. Exporting and Importing Project Data
      1. Exchanging Project Files Across Microsoft Project Versions
      2. Exchanging Project Data with Other Applications
      3. Working with Import/Export Maps
      4. Exchanging Data with Microsoft Excel
      5. Working with Web-Enabled Project Data
      6. Working with Text File Formats
      7. Importing a Task List from Outlook
      8. Consultants’ Tips
    4. 26. Manipulating Data Using Other Applications
      1. Copying Data Between Applications
      2. Linking Data Between Applications
      3. Working with Objects
      4. Placing Objects into Project
      5. Placing Objects into Other Applications
      6. Consultants’ Tips
  17. Index

Product information

  • Title: Project 2013 In Depth
  • Author(s): Scott Daley
  • Release date: August 2013
  • Publisher(s): Que
  • ISBN: 9780133143386