Learn Microsoft Project 2010

What is Microsoft Project? And how can it benefit me? Microsoft Project is designed to assist you in managing your projects. It will help you to see where you are with costs, budgets, and general project information. Once you have input your projects information, Microsoft Project can be of great assistance to help keep track of everything.

Have you used earlier versions of Project? Wonder what's new? This clip is designed to take you thru some of the wonderful new features of Project 2010. You will notice, one of the biggest changes deals with the Ribbon Interface. Task Mode is now able to provide you more flexibility, and adding columns is easier!! Check out these new features as well as some others that will prove to be of value to you, and help you work with the program better.

This clip provides users a quick tour of the environment, showing a closer and more in depth look at such features as the Ribbon, Quick Access Tool Bar, Tabs, Gantt chart options, and Backstage View.

There are a lot of different views provided for use, Gantt Chart Views, Resource Sheets Views, Task Views, Team Planner Views, and Calendar Views. Any way you need to be able to see the data, there is a view set-up for it.

Ever wondered how to create a plan? In this clip you will learn how to create a plan from scratch, using a blank document, or creating a plan using a built in template that can be modified to fit your environment.

Have you wondered how to enter tasks, move the order of the tasks, insert additional tasks, and delete unwanted information, all with out re-typing? This clip will show you how to do all of that in only 3 minutes!

Its never been easier than click and type to enter your projects duration. As you head down the duration column and enter the duration for every task, watch your Gantt Chart grow.

Do you have tasks that occur again and again? Then watch this clip on how to create a task once and have it appear multiple times.

A specific look at creating Project Summary Tasks that will display summary information for the entire project. Learn how to use Outlining as well as selecting sub-tasks and displaying numbers for easier viewing of your project tasks. All this in just 4 minutes!

There are different Link types for different situations. Sometimes one must finish before another task can start. Other times they can start at the same time. By learning to use your Link Task Button and your Task Information Box you can link your tasks accordingly.

Sometimes a new task can start before another task has fully finished. Or other times a task finishes and we have to wait before the next task can begin. This is Lag and Lead time. How can we adjust our Task Information Dialog Box to help us correct our Lag or Lead time? This clip will give you the answer in just over 2 minutes.

Are your deadlines sneaking up on you? In this clip see how to enter Deadlines and set up Constraints on tasks, and see what they will do to the project plan.

When we need additional information for some tasks, where do we put it? What if there is something unusual in our plan that we need to remember? By just double clicking the task, and using the Notes Tab you have the ability to add notes wherever needed. By taking advantage of this option you will be able to remember additional information about a task, resource, or just about anything.

The Resources Sheet keeps track of all the resources that help get your project completed.  What people, materials, and equipment will complete those tasks? How do we enter this information? In just 5 minutes see how to add your resources and help organize the work, material, and costs.

Sometimes our resources aren't on the same time or date schedule as the project. Their availability is not the same as everyone else. What can we do? We can make a Resource Calendar just for them, and mark their availability. In just under 4 minutes, learn how to do this.

How do we know who is completing the tasks that need to be done? How do these tasks get assigned out? Watch this clip and in just over 3 minutes, learn how to:

• Assign out tasks to the correct resource
• Remove or replace a resource as needed
• Assign multiple tasks for one person or
• Assign more than one person the same task

Inevitably conflicts come up. See how to easily identify them using 5 different views to help you:

• The Gantt Chart View
• Team Planner View
• Resource Sheet
• Resource Graph View
• Resource Usage

Now that we have identified our over allocation, how can we resolve the conflict? In this clip learn how to manually resolve the conflict, or learn to use the Leveling Tool to level your resource.

It can be frustrating to constantly reload your resource sheet with all the resources, updating their rates, and having to maintain them in many different places. Imagine being able to enter them in once, and then use them in multiple plans. In this clip you will learn to do just that, by using the Resource Pool Tab.

If you are comparing back to a budget, see how to include the budget into the plan. By using your summary task and resource column you can add the budget work and the budget costs into the project summary task. By doing this you will have the budget numbers readily available to compare with your actuals.

Have you ever been asked " Can you have the job done any sooner?" Sometimes there are some ways to shorten the duration of the project. This clip gives you different suggestions to help you shorten the project duration time.

A baseline is used so you have a point to compare back to. When should you set the baseline? How do you set the baseline for the entire project? In under 3 minutes learn the answers to these questions.

As the project moves along, we need to mark when a task is complete. This clip shows you the manual way to enter in the progress, as well as the usage of the tracking table. The Tracking Table View is another valuable tool to help with task progress.

Costs can change mid-project. Maybe a material is costing more than what was planned on, or maybe an employee gets a raise. Project needs to be able to calculate the costs so the budget reports are accurate. See how to adjust what is affected using your Resource Sheet View, and Cost Rate Table.

Filtering is a tool that helps to hide the tasks you don't want to see, and to show the tasks you do want to see.

Grouping, is what it sounds like, it helps us display our tasks in groups. See how to use already built-in groups, or how to create your own custom group to fit what you need.

Do you find that you are constantly flipping between views? Can there be a way to view two at the same time, to save yourself from flipping? In this clip, learn how to make single views as well as combination views.

Learn how to transfer all of your customized creations, such as your custom Calendars, Views, Groupings and Filters to the Global Project Template. What ever you have created, its there and can be copied to have available for every project from here on forward.

How do you create easy access to necessary documents that aren't in Project? Use Hyperlinks. By using Hyperlinks you can link external files to the project plan so they are there when you need them, and can be opened right from Project.

View your data in Charts. By charting your project data you make an easy way to understand what is going on in your project, at a glance.

Ready to use templates are good, but sometimes we need to change them up a bit.  In this clip learn a simple way to customize your Baseline Cost Report and change the data displayed in the visual reports.

After you have finished customizing your Visual Reports can they be saved as a template for re-use? In just under 3 minutes, learn how to add the template to your display and be able to re-use your custom creation.

Keep your project plan current and up to date by using the many built-in reports.

If you work similar projects again and again, instead of having to start over and over, we can build a plan, and then save it as a template. This is a really nice time saver.