Course Details

Al Mihad Computer Centre Al Nahda Project Planning – Primavera & MS-Project

art 1 -The Basics of Project Scheduling

Lesson 1 Overview and Context

• • Participants' Backgrounds, Needs, and Expectations
  • What is a Project?
  • Recurring Theme 1 - Simplicity, Transparency, and No Loss of Control
  • Recurring Theme 2 - Effort versus Accuracy -- the Asymptotic Curve

Lesson 2 Customizing the Microsoft Windows Environment

• • Using Windows Explorer
  • File Name View Options

Lesson 3 Opening Microsoft Project and Customizing the User Interface

• • Verifying the Version Number and the Application of Service Releases/Service Packs
  • Help Facilities -- Too Much? -- How To Turn Off
  • A Tour of the Screen - Names & Definitions
  • Notice lateral scroll bars at the bottom of both sides of the screen
  • Menu Bar, Tool Bars, Icons, and the View Bar. (P2010: Ribbons)
  • Turning Off Personalized Menus
  • Customizing Tool Bars (P2003-2007) and Ribbons (P2010)

Lesson 4 Starting a New Project

• • Selecting a Project Start Date
  • Start Date versus End Date Scheduling
  • Entering Tasks - Observe What Project Does
  • Adding and Hiding Columns, and a Quick Discussion of Project's Data Base

Lesson 5 Durations and the Time Scale

• • Duration Defined
  • Elapsed Duration
  • The Time Scale -- Various Ways to Manage It
  • The Third Timescale Level

Lesson 6 Outlining a Project

• • Summary Tasks and Detail Tasks ("Parent" and "Child" Tasks)
  • Properties of Summary Tasks
  • Outline Levels
  • The "Line Zero" Project Summary Task
  • Viewing Outline Numbers
  • WBS Numbers and Outline Numbers -- Differences
  • Viewing Outline Levels - Preview of Filters

Lesson 7 Linking Tasks

• • Standard Links (FS) using the Link and Unlink Icons
  • Selecting Adjoining Tasks with the Shift Key
  • Selecting Non-Adjoining Tasks with the Control Key - The Order Matters!
  • Linking Graphically - Slightly Dangerous
  • Three Other Types of Links (SS, FF, and the bizarre SF)
  • Entering Links in the Task Information Box and Other Forms
  • Power Linking by Typing Directly into the Predecessors or Successors Columns
  • Linking Summary Tasks -- Controversy and Confusion ("Hidden Hands")

Lesson 8 Adding Lags to Links

• • Lags: Positive, Negative, and Percentage
  • Combining Lags with SS and FF Link Types
  • Documenting the Reasons for Lags with Notes
  • Small Negative Lags versus Large Negative Lags
  • An Alternative to Lags

Lesson 9 Date Constraints

• • Constraints Frequently Set in Error - By Typing or Pasting Dates
  • Eight Types of Constraints - Most of These Should be Avoided
  • When Constraints Conflict with Links - a Switch Determines Who Wins
  • When are Date Constraints OK to Use?
  • Documenting the Reasons for Constraints with Notes

Lesson 10 Milestones

• • The Purpose of Milestones - When Are They Useful?
  • Conflicting Definitions with Other Applications like MPM
  • The Milestones Filter

Lesson 11 Working with Project Tasks

• • The Deadline Feature
  • More About Notes - Capacity and the Ability to Insert Objects
  • Adding Hyperlinks to Tasks, and How they Compare with Notes
  • Recurring Tasks
  • Splitting Tasks
  • Moving Tasks Around in a Schedule - Methods and the Level Problem
  • Moving Columns to New Positions
  • To Autolink or Not To Autolink Inserted or Moved Tasks
  • Saving Work with Autosave, and Version Control Issues
  • The Language of Tasks: When Verbs, When Nouns
  • How Logic Flows Through an Unconstrained Schedule
  • How Detailed Should Schedules Be?

Lesson 12 The Critical Path

• • Understanding The Critical Path
  • Different Views that Show the Critical Path
  • Adding the Critical Path to the Gantt View with a Wizard
  • Microsoft's Critical Path Options in the Tool Box (Tools-Options-Calculation)
  • The Impact of Date Constraints on the Critical Path
  • The Impact of Task Progress on the Critical Path -- The Different Effects of FS and SS Links
  • The Impact of Deadlines on the Critical Path -- A Departure from the Classic Definition of "Critical"
  • Elapsed Durations, ALAP Tasks, and their Effect on Critical Path

Lesson 13 Filters

• • What Kind of Schedules Really "Need" Filters? -- Large Ones!
  • Filters (1) - The "Show" Button is a Kind of Filter - Very Useful for Top-Down Analysis
  • Filters (2) - Autofilters are a Second Kind of Filter - Quick and Easy, and They Can Be Combined
  • Filters (3) - The Filter Box Lists All Standard and Custom Filters Available
  • Creating and Saving Custom Filters - Very Powerful, Very Useful for Special Views
  • What is a Highlight Filter?
  • Linking a Filter with a View

Lesson 14 Sorting and Grouping

• • When Would Sorting be Useful
  • Sorting (1) - The Quick Sort -- Several Choices in the Menu
  • Problems and Limitations with the Quick Sort
  • Sorting (2) - The Full Sort -- Managing the Two Check Boxes
  • Restoring Original Line Order with the Sort by ID Option
  • The "Grouping" Function

Lesson 15 Customizing Fields

• • Changing Field Names - 2 Ways
  • The View-Specific Change Technique -- Double Click Column Header
  • The Durable Change Technique -- Customizing the Field
  • Limiting Entries into Optional Fields with Data Validation
  • Adding a Formula to an Optional Field
  • Adding "Stoplight" Graphics to an Optional Field
  • Separate Customization Choices for Summary Tasks

Lesson 16 Other Views and Display Options

• • The Calendar View
  • The Network Diagram View (Formerly Called "PERT" View)
  • The Relationship Diagram View
  • Splitting the Screen, and Managing the Two Split Halves
  • The "Arrange All" Function -- For Managing Multiple Open Projects

Lesson 17 Reports

• • The Standard Reports
  • Editing and Customizing Reports
  • Using the Gantt View instead of Microsoft Project's Reports

Lesson 18 Adding Graphics and Multimedia Objects to the Gantt Area

• • Adding a Text Box
  • Adding Clip Art
  • Adding Sound and Video Objects

Lesson 19 Formatting for Printing

• • Wrapping Text to Handle Long Task Names
  • What Columns Will Appear in Print -- a Big Problem Resolved
  • Gantt Bar Appearances - the Bar Styles Dialogue Box
  • Adding and Removing Text and Dates from Gantt Bars and Milestones
  • Link Appearances -- Suppressing Links in Large Schedules
  • The Scaling Option - Get More Space with the Percent Scaling Tool
  • Building Headers with Variable Inserts
  • Building Footers with Variable Inserts - a Suggested Standard
  • Turning the Legend On and Off
  • The Final Setup Tab: Showing Notes, Blank Pages, Etc.
  • Last Look at Zooming - Where is the Print Date Range Dialogue Hidden?
  • Extra Polish: Adding Logos to Headers for Special Presentations
  • Formatting Options are Stored in Views

Lesson 20 Exporting Project Images and Data to Other Applications

• • Exporting Gantt Views to Word and PowerPoint with the Camera Icon
  • Exporting with the PrintScreen Key and ALT-PrintScreen
  • Exporting Data to Excel -- the Outline Level Problem
  • Exporting Data to Access -- the Choice of Power Users

Lesson 21 The Organizer

• • Overview of the Organizer: the 2-Library Concept
  • What Project Does When it Looks For a New View or Filter, etc.
  • Where Modifications are Saved - the Local Library
  • What the Global Library is (GLOBAL.MPT), and Why it is Useful
  • Making Custom Filters, Views, etc. Available to Other Schedules on Your Computer
  • Sharing Custom Filters, Views, etc. with Friends and Colleagues
  • More about Views - What They Contain and What They Don't

 

Part 2 - Working with Resources

Lesson 22 The Resource Sheet

• • Entering and Naming Resources - Two Ways
  • Maximum Availability -- What it Means
  • Showing Availability as a Percentage or Decimal
  • Human Resources, Fixed Cost Items, and Material Resources
  • Resource Rates and Costs
  • Adding Resource Notes

Lesson 23 Assigning Single Resources to Tasks

• • Many Ways to Assign Resources
  • Virtues of the Resource Assignment Icon and Box
  • Adding a Resource at Less than its Maximum Availability
  • Filtering on Resources
  • Look at Project Total Cost as Resources are Added: The Statistics Box

Lesson 24 Assigning Multiple Resources to Tasks

• • Whiteboard Lecture: The Project Triangle -- Relationships Among Scope, Resources, and Time
  • Creating a Schedule for Each Task Type, With and Without "Effort Driven"
  • Watch What Happens When the Second Resource is Added - Another Big Problem Clarified

Lesson 25 Special Tools for Resource Assignment and Cost Estimating

• • The "Usage" Views: Resource Usage and Task Usage
  • Resource Editing and Contours
  • The Concept of "Assignment"
  • Assignment Information Options
  • Five Cost Schedules

Lesson 26 Managing Resource Workloads

• • Viewing Resource Workloads and Task Assignments
  • The Resource Graph -- Note Peak Units Problem Versus Total Work
  • Analyzing Resource Conflicts With Split Screen Views
  • Whiteboard Notes: The Manager's Knowledge and Options
  • Replacing a Resource

Lesson 27 Resource Leveling

• • Definition and Overview of Leveling
  • Demonstration of Leveling with a Sample Schedule
  • Look at "Leveling Delay" in the Detail Gantt View
  • Leveling Options: Level Within Slack, and Other Options
  • Task Priority and How it Changes Leveling
  • Clearing Leveling - Doesn't Always Remove Splits
  • Discussion: When Leveling Makes No Sense, and When it Might

Lesson 28 Working with Calendars

• • Using Calendars
  • Creating a New Base Calendar
  • Setting the Overall Project Calendar in Project-Project Information
  • Assigning Resources to Different Base Calendars
  • Customizing Resource Calendars
  • Problem: A Day for You Isn't a Day for Me: The Options Tab Controls what a Day of Duration Means
  • Problem: Assign Work to a Resource when the Resource Isn't Working (First with Fixed Duration, Then with Fixed Units)
  • Assigning a Calendar to a Task
  • Resource Availability Dates

 

Part 3 - Tracking Progress

Lesson 29 The Baseline

• • Definition and Use of a Baseline
  • Saving a Baseline
  • Saving Interim Plans
  • Multiple Baselines -- Why? When These Are Useful
  • Clearing a Baseline -- When and Why
  • Comparing the Baseline to Actual Data - Available Views and Reports

Lesson 30 Tracking Progress with the Percent of Completion Method

• • Overview of the Percentage Method
  • Using the Percentage Icons
  • Inserting the % Completion Column
  • What is % Work Complete, and How Does it Differ from % Complete
  • Physical % Complete, and How it Differs from % Complete and % Work Complete
  • Summary Tasks Build Averages as Individual Tasks are Tracked
  • Percentages Translate to Costs in the Statistics Box and in Reports
  • Moving Up the Accuracy Curve -- Add the Actual Start, Actual Finish, and Actual Work Columns
  • Still Greater Accuracy -- Track the Hours by Resource, and Remaining Hours, with the Split Screen

Lesson 31 Tracking Actual Hours with the Usage Views

• • Overview of the Actual Hours Method
  • Working in the Resource Usage and Task Usage Views
  • Why the Plan Changes to Equal the Actuals
  • How the Plan Reschedules Undone Work -- Depends on Task Types
  • Dangers of the Percentage Icons when Using the Actual Hours Method
  • Conclusions about the Actual Hours Method

Lesson 32 Earned Value Concepts

• • The Background for Earned Value
  • Cost Variance and Schedule Variance
  • Performance Indexes
  • The Earned Value Data Fields in MS Project
  • Companion Tools for Earned Value such as MPM -- What Value Do They Add?
  • Does Anyone Use Microsoft Project Alone for Earned Value?

Lesson 33 Progress Lines and Updating Tools

• • Adding Progress Lines to a Schedule
  • Using the "Update Tasks" Dialogue Box
  • Updating an Entire Project to a Status Date

Lesson 34 Issues and Problems Arising With Tracking

• • Partially Complete Tasks Preceding Other Partially Complete Tasks
  • Tasks Won't Move Once Started
  • Task Splitting to Reschedule Unfinished Portions

 

Part 4 - Working with Multiple Projects

Lesson 35 Resource Pooling

• • Overview of Resource Pooling
  • Setting Up a Resource Pool as a Separate Project File
  • Linking into the Pool with Tools-Resources-Share Resources Dialogue Box
  • The Same Dialogue Box as Seen from the Resource Pool File
  • Split Screen Views in the Resource Pool -- Add the "Project" Column for Clarity

Lesson 36 Consolidating Projects

• • Consolidating the Quick Way with "New Window"
  • Observe the Simultaneity of the Consolidation and the Individual Project
  • Consolidating by Inserting Projects
  • The Outline Level Issue -- Can't Promote to the Top
  • What Happens When a File is Moved or Renamed

Lesson 37 Links Among Projects in a Consolidation

• • Building Links Across Project Boundaries
  • Note the Information in the Predecessor and Successor Fields
  • Revisiting the Individual Projects -- the Ghost Tasks and Line Numbers
  • Regenerating Broken Links with the Multiple Project Dialogue Box