Project 2016 LiveLessons

Project 2016 LiveLessons provides team members, project managers, and executives the fundamentals of learning to create, organize, and manage projects, create timelines, analyze information and resources, make informed decisions based on that information, and see projects through to delivery without missing a step.

Description

Project 2016 LiveLessons is an easy-to-understand, but comprehensive, video course that introduces viewers to Project 2016. This course begins with an introduction into Project 2016's interface and perspectives into how Project receives data for calculations, and then outputs it into categories of information. Following common and best practices, this course teaches viewers how to design and configure a project, enter and sequence tasks correctly, create and assign resources, create a realistic schedule, and manage and track the project to its conclusion. The newest features of Microsoft Project 2016 are used to view multiple Timelines, plan and track using snapshots of the schedule as changes occur, and report on progress by exploring the reporting capabilities of Project 2016 and Office 2016.

Skill Level

• Beginner—Intermediate

What You Will Learn

• Set up and configure MS Project
• Design a project
• Schedule tasks
• Define and assign resources
• Analyze and resolve resource schedule errors
• Configure Project for tracking
• Track progress in Project
• Export data for reporting in Excel and Visio
• Configure and customize reports

Who Should Take This Course

• Anyone using Project 2016 for the first time
• Anyone who has little or no training in Project Management
• Anyone who has little or no training in MS Project 2016
• The occasional Project Manager
• Anyone wishing to refresh their skills in using Microsoft Project

Course Requirements

• No requirements to be a project manager or scheduler.
• It is helpful to have basic skills in using Microsoft Windows applications: how to left-click and right-click a mouse; how to select an item from a list.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Lesson 1: Initiating a Project

MS Project gives the illusion that you can immediately type in project data and schedule from a plan. In reality, it is a database that requires some initial configuration and set-up, which is conducted in different locations in the interface. Once data is entered, Project analyzes it and presents it in many ways and in many formats. This lesson shows how to navigate the interface and where to find what you’re looking for in order to make data-informed decisions.

Lesson 2: Entering and Organizing a Project

Projects and their tasks exist on a continuum that goes from an unorganized list to a sophisticated breakdown of products, sub-products, and the tasks to create them. In this lesson, the design of a project is linked to how Project reports and includes best practices for organizing a project.

Lesson 3: Sequencing Project Tasks

Sequencing tasks correctly is a key element in scheduling. Seldom is every task in a project sequential. This lesson presents the many types of sequences, including how and where in the interface to create or view and analyze them.

Lesson 4: Estimating Time and Work Needs

Estimating work, duration, and resource needs can be very difficult. This lesson describes how these three variables relate to each other and how MS Project assists the project manager as an estimating tool.

Lesson 5: Creating and Assigning Resources

Although Project is not an enterprise resource planning tool, it still captures resource availability, schedule, work, and cost at the project level. This lesson identifies MS Project’s capabilities in resource management and reports.

Lesson 6: Managing and Tracking the Project to Conclusion

This lesson illustrates how to solve resource conflicts with task schedules, and how to take a snapshot of the project’s work, schedule, and cost details for use in tracking and reporting. The techniques presented reflect current best practices.

Lesson 7: Saving and Archiving the Project

A project manager has decisions to make even after the project is completed. If the project went well, the Project file may be saved for use as a template or archived in various file formats for later use. Often it is used to identify lessons learned. This final lesson shows the methods used in each case.

Summary

About LiveLessons Video Training

The LiveLessons Video Training series publishes hundreds of hands-on, expert-led video tutorials covering a wide selection of technology topics designed to teach you the skills you need to succeed. This professional and personal technology video series features world-leading author instructors published by your trusted technology brands: Addison-Wesley, Cisco Press, IBM Press, Pearson IT Certification, Prentice Hall, Sams, and Que. Topics include: IT Certification, Programming, Web Development, Mobile Development, Home and Office Technologies, Business and Management, and more. View all LiveLessons on InformIT at: http://www.informit.com/livelessons.