Project 2003 Personal Trainer

Description:

Now included with Microsoft Office, Project 2003 is the world's leading project management tool. With extensive help resources and printing assistance, Project 2003 enables users to organize and track tasks and resources efficiently to keep projects on time and within budget.

If you want to realize the immense potential of Microsoft Project 2003 and harness the many features and functionality of this powerful tool, you need Project 2003 Personal Trainer. It includes everything you want to know about Project 2003--and then plenty more. It's the most complete and engaging tutorial available for Microsoft Project.

As part of O'Reilly's new Personal Trainer Series, this book is based on content from CustomGuide (www.customguide.com), a leading provider of computer training materials that fly in the face of traditional, dry course materials that bore users to tears. CustomGuide is dedicated to delivering courseware, quick references, software bulletins, and e-learning courses that are fun, flexible, and easy to use.

And this book is no exception to their rule. Project 2003 Personal Trainer lets you, whatever your technical expertise (or lack thereof), learn exactly what you need to know--at your own pace. Unlike many consumer software tutorials that dumb down (and dull up) the material or make it exceptionally technical and confusing, this book is written in a style that you'll find entertaining, easy to follow, and most of all, clear and informative.

Beginning with the fundamentals of planning and managing a project with Microsoft Project 2003, the book then includes sections on:

• working with the task list
  
• managing costs, timelines, and available resources
  
• using the project database
  
• viewing and updating a project
  
• tracking progress
  
• creating reports
  
• handling multiple projects

The fully illustrated Project 2003 Personal Trainer features dozens of time-saving, task-oriented lessons, includes detailed diagrams, and comes with a fully interactive CD tutorial to guide your learning--everything you need to become a Project pro.

 

Table of Contents:

About CustomGuide, Inc.

Introduction

1. The Fundamentals
Lesson 1.1

     Planning the Project
Lesson 1.2

     Understanding Project Management
Lesson 1.3

     What's New in Project 2003?
Lesson 1.4

     Understanding the Project 2003 Screen
Lesson 1.5

     Using Common Views
Lesson 1.6

     Using More Views
Lesson 1.7

     Creating a New Project
Lesson 1.8

     Entering the Project Scheduling Date
Lesson 1.9

     Selecting the Project Calendar
Lesson 1.10

     Adjusting Working Hours
Lesson 1.11

     Adjusting Working Days
Lesson 1.12

     Creating a New Base Calendar
Lesson 1.13

     Using the Project Guide
Lesson 1.14

     Printing a View
Lesson 1.15

     Printing the Current View as a Report Lesson 1.16
     Getting Help

     Chapter One Review

2. Entering the Task List
Lesson 2.1

     Entering Tasks
Lesson 2.2

     Estimating Task Duration
Lesson 2.3

     Entering Task Duration
Lesson 2.4

     Entering a Milestone
Lesson 2.5

     Organizing Tasks into Phases
Lesson 2.6

     Linking Tasks
Lesson 2.7

     Editing Task Links
Lesson 2.8

     Unlinking Tasks
Lesson 2.9

     Creating Recurring Tasks
Lesson 2.10

     Using the Task Information Dialog Box
Lesson 2.11

     Using Task Notes
Lesson 2.12

     Using Task Hyperlinks
Lesson 2.13

     Moving and Copying a Task
Lesson 2.14

     Inserting and Deleting a Task

     Chapter Two Review

3. Entering and Assigning Resources
Lesson 3.1

     Entering People Resources
Lesson 3.2

     Entering Equipment Resources
Lesson 3.3

     Entering Material Resources
Lesson 3.4

     Adjusting Individual Resource Working Schedules
Lesson 3.5

     Using Resource Notes
Lesson 3.6

     Understanding Effort-Driven Project Scheduling
Lesson 3.7

     Assigning Resources to Tasks
Lesson 3.8

     Assigning Additional Resources to Tasks
Lesson 3.9

     Assigning Material Resources to Tasks

     Chapter Three Review

4. Viewing the Project
Lesson 4.1

     Using Split Views
Lesson 4.2

     Sorting Information
Lesson 4.3

     Grouping Information
Lesson 4.4

     Filtering Information
Lesson 4.5

     Using AutoFilters
Lesson 4.6

     Viewing Details
Lesson 4.7

     Using Zoom

     Chapter Four Review

5. Working with Tasks
Lesson 5.1

     Overlapping Tasks
Lesson 5.2

     Delaying Tasks
Lesson 5.3

     Setting Task Deadlines
Lesson 5.4

     Setting Task Constraints
Lesson 5.5

     Splitting Tasks
Lesson 5.6

     Understanding Task Type
Lesson 5.7

     Assigning a Task Calendar
Lesson 5.8

     Understanding Task Indicators

     Chapter Five Review

6. Working with Resources
Lesson 6.1

     Delaying Resource Start Time
Lesson 6.2

     Applying Predefined Resource Contours
Lesson 6.3

     Specifying Resource Availability Dates
Lesson 6.4

     Grouping Resources
Lesson 6.5

     Assigning a Resource Calendar

     Chapter Six Review

7. Working with Costs
Lesson 7.1

     Entering Resource Overtime Rates
Lesson 7.2

     Specifying Pay Rates for Different Dates
Lesson 7.3

     Adding Pay Rates for a Resource
Lesson 7.4

     Applying a Different Pay Rate to an Assignment
Lesson 7.5

     Using Material Resource Consumption Rates
Lesson 7.6

     Entering Task Fixed Costs

     Chapter Seven Review

8. Balancing the Project
Lesson 8.1

     Scheduling Resource Overtime
Lesson 8.2

     Identifying Resource Overallocation
Lesson 8.3

     Balancing Resource Overallocations Manually
Lesson 8.4

     Balancing Resource Overallocations Automatically

     Chapter Eight Review

9. Updating Project Progress
Lesson 9.1

     Saving a Baseline Plan
Lesson 9.2

     Updating Project Progress
Lesson 9.3

     Updating Task Actual Values
Lesson 9.4

     Updating Task Completion Percentage
Lesson 9.5

     Updating Actual Work
Lesson 9.6

     Updating Actual Costs

     Chapter Nine Review

10. Checking Project Progress
Lesson 10.1

     Viewing Project Statistics
Lesson 10.2

     Viewing Project Costs
Lesson 10.3

     Viewing the Project's Critical Path
Lesson 10.4

     Checking Duration Variance
Lesson 10.5

     Checking Work Variance
Lesson 10.6

     Checking Cost Variance
Lesson 10.7

     Identifying Slipped Tasks
Lesson 10.8

     Saving an Interim Plan

     Chapter Ten Review

11. Working with Reports
Lesson 11.1

     Opening a Report
Lesson 11.2

     Adding Page Elements to a Report
Lesson 11.3

     Sorting a Report
Lesson 11.4

     Defining Report Contents
Lesson 11.5

     Saving a Project as a Web Page

     Chapter Eleven Review

12. Working with Multiple Projects
Lesson 12.1

     Creating Links Between Projects
Lesson 12.2

     Consolidating Projects
Lesson 12.3

     Viewing Critical Paths for Multiple Projects
Lesson 12.4

     Viewing Consolidated Project Statistics
Lesson 12.5

     Creating a Resource Pool

     Chapter Twelve Review

Index