Objectives - MS Project 2010

* Understanding Project Scheduling * Introduction to Microsoft Project * Working with Project Tasks * Basic views, time scales and reports

Whether you are a project manager or not, project management techniques are extremely helpful in meeting goals and objects. Project management techniques define a path to a specified goal and then supervise the implementation.

MS Project can help you establish your initial plan as well as monitor progress. MS Project can quickly produce reports and other information that will help keep management, customers, and your project team informed. To get the most from MS Project, not only do you need to understand project management terminology, you also need to be familiar with the software itself. Therefore, do not attempt to quickly finish the lab, but take your time and read all instructions carefully.

Understanding Project Scheduling

A typical project is composed of tasks and resources. After tasks are identified, you organize the tasks in a logical hierarchy, also called a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). Eventually, this sequence will show the interdependencies of each task. Then each task is given a duration. In MS Project, this can be in weeks, days, hours or minutes. You can also specify a milestone, which will represent an event that marks the completion of a group of related tasks.

To accomplish any task, you need resources. Resources can include people, equipment, material or special facilities necessary to complete a task. Resource availability and scheduling are important constraints to completing a task.

Once you establish a plan, complete with tasks and resources, you will often need to refine the plan before saving it as a baseline. The baseline is your guideline to help manage the project.

MS Project Basics

When you first