L E C T U R E

1. L E C T U R E 8 INTRODUCTION TO MS PROJECT 2007

2. Starting Project Standard • On the Windows taskbar, click the Start button. • The Start menu appears. • On the Start menu, point to All Programs, click Microsoft Office, and then click Microsoft Office Project 2007

4. Starting Project Standard • On the File menu, click New. • The New Project task pane appears. • In the New Project task pane, under Templates, click On computer. • The Templates dialog box appears. • Click the Project Templates tab. • Click New Business (you may need to scroll down through the list of Project Templates to see it), and then click OK.

7. Exploring Views • The working space in Project is called a view. • Project contains dozens of views, but you normally work with just one view (sometimes two) at a time. • You use views to enter, edit, analyze, and display your project information. • The default view-the one you see when Project starts-is the Gantt Chart view shown here.

9. Views focus on either task or resource details. • The Gantt Chart view, for example, lists task details in a table on the left side of the view and graphically represents each task as a bar in the chart on the right side of the view. • The Gantt Chart view is a common way to represent a project plan, especially when presenting it to others. • It is also useful for entering and fine-tuning task details and for analyzing your project.

10. Click on the View menu, and select the various views. • The Gantt chart view is the one that you’ll likely use the most often. • Try the View menu > Resource Sheet.

11. In this example, the resources are people, but they’re generic. “Lawyer,” instead of the name of a specific lawyer.

12. On the View menu, click Resource Usage. • The Resource Usage view replaces the Resource Sheet view. • This usage view groups the tasks to which each resource is assigned. • Another usage view, the Task Usage view, flips this around to display all of the resources assigned to each task. • Usage views also show you the work assignments per resource on a timescale, such as daily or weekly.

13. On the View menu, try Task Usage. • Click on task 3, Define Business Vision. • Then click on the Scroll to Task button. The timescale appears.

14. Try the View menu > Calendar. • This would be a good view to print and share with your project sponsor. • It doesn’t show dependencies, or who does what, but it’s simple and easy to read.

15. Combination views • On the View menu, click Gantt Chart. • On the View menu, click More Views. • In the Views box, click Task Entry, and then click the Apply button. • You’ll see the Gantt Chart at the top of the Project window, and the Task Form view at the bottom.

16. Up in the Gantt chart view, select task 3, Define Business Vision. • You’ll see the details about that task in the Task Form. • Amongst other details, we see the “Resource Name” here, and how much work the resource has been assigned to the task. • Also, you can display any two views you want by clicking on the Window menu, and choosing Split. • Undo it by clicking back on the Window menu, and choosing Remove Split.

17. Exploring Reports • Exploring Reports • There are two types of reports in Project: • Reports that are for printing • Reports that are for exporting Project data to other software applications, like Excel and Visio. • On the Report menu, click Reports. • Choose Custom, and then click the Select button. • Visual reports use Excel and Visio templates included with Project to produce nicely designed charts and diagrams.

18. On the Report menu, click Reports

19. Click Custom, and then click the Select button. • The Custom Reports dialog box appears, listing all predefined reports in Project and any custom reports that have been added. • On the Reports list, click Resource (work), and then click the Preview button. • Project displays the Resource (work) report in the Print Preview window.

20. There are lot of great reports in here: • Choose Resource > Work > Preview.

22. On the Report menu, click Visual Reports. • The Visual Reports dialog box appears, listing all predefined visual reports in Project.

24. For Show Report Template Created In, make sure that Microsoft Office Excel is selected and that the All tab is visible. • Click Resource Remaining Work Report, and then click View

26. Creating a New Project Plan • A project plan is essentially a model you construct of some aspects of the real project you anticipate-what you think will happen or what you want to happen.

27. On the File menu, click the New command. • Then, in the New Project task pane, click Blank Project. • Project creates a new, blank project plan. • Next, you’ll set the project’s start date

28. On the Project menu, click Project Information.

29. In the Start date box, type or select 1/8/12. • Click OK to close the Project Information dialog box. • On the Standard toolbar, click the Save button • In the File name box, type the File name. • Click Save to close the Save As dialog box.

30. Set the Start date at 1/7/08. • Click OK to close the Project Information dialog box. Click the down arrow to get the calendar to appear.

31. To have Project autosave, for example, once every 10 minutes: • Go to the Tools menu > Options, select the Save tab, and set this:

32. Set Nonworking Days • We’ll be using the project calendar. • We’ll set the working time and the non-working time • Do you have a second shift, or an overnight shift? Will people be working on the project on weekends? • You’ll want to put in holidays, vacation days, and any other breaks. • How finite you need to be here, though, depends a lot on the types of projects you’re managing.

33. On the Tools menu, click Change Working Time.

34. In the “For calendar” drop-down menu, you have three choices: • 24-hours – there’s no non-working time • Night shift – Monday night through Saturday morning, 11pm – 8am • Standard – 8am to 5pm Monday through Friday

35. Leave the calendar set at “Standard (Project Calendar) • Let’s make an exception – everyone has January 28th off, for a EID event. • In the Exceptions tab, under the Name field, type “Staff at Eid event.” • In the Start field, type 1/28/08, and then press Enter (on your keyboard). • Or, you can select the date in the calendar, or you can select it from the drop-down menu in the Start field.

36. That date’s now scheduled as non-working time for this project. • Click OK to close the Change Working Time dialog box. • Scroll to Monday, January 28th in the Gantt Chart view. You’ll see that it’s greyed out.

37. Entering Project Properties • Like other Microsoft Office programs, Project keeps track of several file properties. • Some of these properties are statistics, such as how many times the file has been revised. • Other properties include information you might want to record about a project plan, such as the project manager’s name or keywords to support a file search. • Project also uses properties in page headers and footers when printing.

38. On the File menu, click Properties. • The Properties dialog box appears. • Click the Summary tab if it is not already visible. • In the Subject box, type Video production schedule. • In the Author box, type your name. • In the Manager box, type your name, type your manager’s name, or leave the box blank. • In the Company box, type Southridge Video. • Select the Save preview picture check box.

40. The next time this file appears in the Open dialog box with the Preview view option selected, a small image showing the first few tasks of the project will be displayed. • Click OK to close the dialog box.