Microsoft Project 2019 For Dummies

Introduction

About This Book  

Foolish Assumptions  

Icons Used in This Book

Beyond the Book  

Where to Go from Here  

Part 1: Getting Started with Project 2019

Chapter 1: Project Management, Project 2019, and You

• Introducing Project Management  
• Defining project manager
• Identifying what a project manager does
• Introducing Project 2019
• Getting to Know You
• Navigating Ribbon tabs and the Ribbon
• Displaying more tools
• Tell Me What You Want to Do

Chapter 2: Starting the Project

• Creating the Project Charter
• Introducing the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
• Organizing the Work
• Starting the Project
• Entering project information
• Weighing manual scheduling versus automatic scheduling
• Entering the WBS
• Entering tasks
• Importing tasks from Outlook
• Inserting hyperlinks
• Inserting one project into another
• Promoting and demoting: The outdent-and-indent shuffle
• Saving the Project

Chapter 3: Becoming a Task Master

• Creating Summary Tasks and Subtasks
• How many levels can you go?
• The project summary task
• Moving Tasks Up, Down, and All Around
• Moving tasks with the drag-and-drop method
• Moving tasks with the cut-and-paste method
• Now You See It, Now You Don't: Collapsing and Expanding the Task Outline
• Showing Up Again and Again: Recurring Tasks
• Setting Milestones
• Deleting Tasks and Using Inactive Tasks
• Making a Task Note

Chapter 4: The Codependent Nature of Tasks

• How Tasks Become Dependent
• Dependent tasks: Which comes first?
• Dependency types
• Allowing for Murphy's Law: Lag and lead time
• Setting the Dependency Connection
• Adding the dependency link
• Words to the wise
• Understanding that things change: Deleting dependencies

Chapter 5: Estimating Task Time

• You're in It for the Duration
• Tasks come in all flavors: Identifying task types
• Effort-driven tasks: 1 + 1 = ½
• Estimating Effort and Duration
• Estimating techniques
• Setting the task duration
• Controlling Timing with Constraints
• Understanding how constraints work
• Establishing constraints
• Setting a deadline
• Starting and Pausing Tasks
• Entering the task's start date
• Taking a break: Splitting tasks

Chapter 6: Check Out This View!

• A Project with a View
• Navigating tabs and views
• Scrolling around
• Reaching a specific spot in your plan
• More Detail about Views
• Home base: Gantt Chart view
• Resourceful views: Resource Sheet and Team Planner
• Getting your timing down with the Timeline
• Going with the flow: Network Diagram view
• Calling up Calendar view
• Customizing Views
• Working with view panes
• Modifying Network Diagram view
• Resetting the view

Part 2: Managing Resources

Chapter 7: Creating Resources

• Resources: People, Places, and Things
• Becoming Resource-Full
• Understanding resources
• Resource types: Work, material, and cost
• How resources affect task timing
• Estimating resource requirements
• The Birth of a Resource
• Creating one resource at a time
• Identifying resources before you know their names
• Many hands make light work
• Managing Resource Availability
• Estimating and setting availability
• When a resource comes and goes
• Sharing Resources
• Skimming from resource pools
• Importing resources from Outlook

Chapter 8: Working with Calendars

• Mastering Base, Project, Resource, and Task Calendars
• Setting the base calendar for a project
• Understanding the four calendar types
• How calendars work
• How one calendar relates to another
• Scheduling with Calendar Options and Working Times
• Setting calendar options
• Setting exceptions to working times
• Working with Task Calendars and Resource Calendars
• Setting resource calendars
• Making the change to a resource's calendar
• Creating a Custom Calendar Template
• Sharing Copies of Calendars

Chapter 9: Assigning Resources

• Finding the Right Resource
• Needed: One good resource willing to work
• Custom fields: It's a skill
• Making a Useful Assignation
• Determining material and cost-resource units
• Making assignments
• Shaping the contour that's right for you
• Benefitting from a Helpful Planner

Chapter 10: Determining a Project's Cost

• How Do Costs Accrue?
• Adding up the costs
• When will this hit the bottom line?
• Specifying Cost Information in the Project
• You can't avoid fixed costs
• Entering hourly, overtime, and cost-per-use rates
• Assigning material resources
• How Your Settings Affect Your Costs

Part 3: Before You Baseline

Chapter 11: Fine-Tuning Your Plan

• Everything Filters to the Bottom Line
• Setting predesigned filters
• Putting AutoFilter to work
• Creating do-it-yourself filters
• Gathering Information in Groups
• Applying predefined groups
• Devising your own groups
• Figuring Out What's Driving the Project
• Inspecting tasks
• Handling task warnings and suggestions

Chapter 12: Negotiating Project Constraints

• It's about Time
• Applying contingency reserve
• Completing a task in less time
• Getting What You Want for Less
• The Resource Recourse
• Checking resource availability
• Deleting or modifying a resource assignment
• Beating overallocations with quick-and-dirty rescheduling
• Finding help
• Leveling resources
• Rescheduling the Project

Chapter 13: Making the Project Look Good

• Looking Good!
• Formatting the Gantt Chart
• Formatting taskbars
• Zeroing in on critical issues
• Restyling the Gantt chart
• Formatting Task Boxes
• Adjusting the Layout
• Modifying Gridlines
• Recognizing When a Picture Can Say It All
• Creating a Custom Text Field

Chapter 14: It All Begins with a Baseline

• All about Baselines
• Saving a baseline
• Saving more than one baseline
• Clearing and resetting a baseline
• In the Interim
• Saving an interim plan
• Clearing and resetting an interim plan

Part 4: Staying on Track

Chapter 15: On the Right Track

• Developing a Communications Management Plan
• Gathering data
• Applying a tracking method
• Using the tracking tools
• For everything, there's a view
• Tracking Work for the Record
• Specifying the status date
• Remaining on track
• Determining the percent complete
• Recording start and finish information
• Knowing what to do when John works three hours and Mary works ten
• Uh-oh -- we're in overtime
• Specifying remaining durations for auto-scheduled tasks
• Entering fixed-cost updates
• Moving a Task
• Update Project: Sweeping Changes
• Tracking Materials
• Tracking More Than One: Consolidated Projects
• Consolidating projects
• Updating consolidated projects

Chapter 16: Project Views: Observing Progress

• Seeing Where Tasks Stand
• Baseline versus actual progress
• Lines of progress
• Delving into the Detail
• Tracking Progress Using Earned Value Management
• Calculating Behind the Scenes
• Earned-value options
• An abundance of critical paths

Chapter 17: You're Behind -- Now What?

• Using Project with Risk and Issue Logs
• Printing interim plans and baselines
• Printing task notes
• What-If Scenarios
• Sorting tasks
• Filtering
• Examining the critical path
• Using resource leveling (again)
• Determining which factors are driving the timing of a task
• How Adding People or Time Affects the Project
• Hurrying up and making modifications
• Throwing resources at the problem
• Shifting dependencies and task timing
• When All Else Fails
• Taking the time you need
• Finding ways to cut corners

Chapter 18: Spreading the News: Reporting

• Generating Standard Reports
• What's available
• Overviewing the dashboard reports
• Creating New Reports
• Gaining a new perspective on data with visual reports  
• Creating a visual report
• Fine-Tuning a Report
• Dragging, dropping, and sizing
• Looking good!
• Spiffing Things Up
• Call the Printer!
• Working with Page Setup
• Getting a preview
• Printing, at last!
• Working on the Timeline
• Adding tasks to the Timeline
• Customizing the Timeline
• Copying the Timeline

Chapter 19: Getting Better All the Time

• Reviewing the Project
• Learning from your mistakes
• Debriefing the team
• Comparing Versions of a Project
• Building on Success
• Creating a template
• Mastering the Organizer

Part 5: The Part of Tens

Chapter 20: Ten Golden Rules of Project Management

• Roll with It
• Put Your Ducks in a Row
• Expect the Unexpected
• Don't Put Off until Tomorrow
• Delegate, Delegate, Delegate
• Document It
• Keep the Team in the Loop
• Measure Success
• Maintain a Flexible Strategy
• Learn from Your Mistakes

Chapter 21: Ten Cool Shortcuts in Project 2019

• Task Information
• Resource Information
• Frequently Used Functions
• Subtasks
• Quick Selections
• Fill Down
• Navigation
• Hours to Years
• Timeline Shortcuts
• Quick Undo and Repeat

Appendix: glossary

Index