Microsoft Project 2013 · the Missing Manual by Biafore, Bonnie -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Microsoft Project 2013: The Missing Manual A Note Regarding Supplemental Files The Missing Credits

About the Author About the Creative Team Acknowledgments

Introduction

What’s New in Project 2013 Where Microsoft Project Fits In Choosing the Right Edition Complementary Software About This Book

About the Outline The Very Basics About→These→Arrows About MissingManuals.com About the Missing CD Safari® Books Online

1. Project Management: The Missing Manual

1. Projects: In the Beginning

What’s So Special About Projects? What Is Project Management? Why Manage Projects? Picking the Right Projects

The Importance of Business Objectives Common Selection Criteria

Payback Period Net Present Value Internal Rate of Return

Gaining Support for a Project

Identify Who Has a Stake in the Project Documenting Stakeholders

Publicizing a Project and Its Manager

2. Planning a Project

Project Planning in a Nutshell

The Benefits of Project Plans

Defining the Project

What’s the Problem? Defining the Project’s Goal and Objectives What Strategy Will You Use to Solve the Problem? Identifying Project Results Gauging Success Defining Project Boundaries Documenting Project Assumptions

Documenting How You’ll Run the Project Laying Out Project Processes

Communicating Managing Change Managing Quality Managing Risk

Identifying Risks Assessing Risks Planning Risk Response Tracking Risks

2. Project Planning: More Than Creating a Schedule

3. Getting to Know Microsoft Project

Launching Project 2013 Getting Around Project

Navigating the Ribbon and the Quick Access Toolbar

Managing Files in Backstage View A Tour of the Other Ribbon Tabs Finding Commands on the Ribbon Taming the Project Ribbon Work Quicker with the Quick Access Toolbar

Working with Views

Choosing a View The Anatomy of Project Views

ScreenTips and Smart Tags

Scheduling Manually or Automatically

Manually Scheduling Tasks

Setting the Start and Finish Date for a Task Creating Tasks with Incomplete Information Planning from the Top Down

Automatically Scheduling Tasks Setting the Task Mode

Setting the Task Mode for New Tasks Switching the Task Mode as you Work Changing the Mode of an Existing Task

4. Creating a Simple Project

Creating a New Project File Creating a Task List

Creating Work Tasks Defining How Long Tasks Should Take Adding Milestones

Organizing Work Putting Tasks in the Right Order Switching Tasks to Auto Scheduled Mode Assigning People and Other Resources

Add People to Your Project Assign Resources to Tasks

Saving Your Project

5. Setting Up a Project File

Creating a New Project File

Creating a Blank Project File Using a Template to Create a Project File Specifying a Template Folder Creating a Project File from an Excel Workbook

Setting the Project Start Date Saving a New Project

File-Saving Shortcuts

Setting File Format and Location Setting up Project to Save Automatically Settings for Saving to your Computer and the Cloud

Saving Projects to Other File Formats Protecting Your Project Files

Opening a Project File

File-Opening Shortcuts

Setting Standard Workdays

Choosing a Project Calendar Setting Calendar Options

Defining Work Times with Calendars

Creating New Calendars Modifying Calendars Defining Work Weeks and Exceptions

Understanding Work Weeks Understanding Exceptions Defining Work Weeks for a Calendar Defining a Work Week’s Working and Nonworking Days and Times Setting Aside Holidays and Other Exceptions to the Work Schedule Defining Recurring Exceptions

Applying Calendars

6. Identifying the Work to Be Done

Breaking Down Work into Manageable Chunks

Identifying Work from the Top Down Developing a WBS from Start to Finish Constructing a WBS from the Bottom Up When Is Enough Enough?

Adding Tasks to Your Project File

Creating Tasks Creating Milestones Creating Repeating Tasks Importing Tasks from Another Office Program

Importing Tasks from Word or Outlook Using an Excel Template to Import Data

Organizing Tasks

Inserting Summary Tasks Reorganizing the Task List Outline Building a WBS from the Top Down Rearranging Tasks

Inserting Additional Tasks Copying Tasks Moving Tasks Deleting Tasks

Documenting Task Details

Documenting Work Details in Word Adding Details in Task Notes

Setting Up a Custom WBS Code

7. Building a Schedule

Estimating Task Work and Duration

Understanding Work and Duration Getting Good Estimates

How Accurate do Estimates Need to be? Ways to Estimate Work Getting Estimates from the Right People Don’t Ask for Only One Number Don’t Pad Estimates Give Feedback on Estimates

Getting Estimates into Project

Exporting Work Packages to Excel Importing Estimates into Project

Linking Tasks

How Tasks Affect One Another Creating Finish-to-Start Task Dependencies Creating and Modifying All Types of Task Links

Filling in Links in Gantt Chart View Working on Task Links in the Task Information Dialog Box Defining Task Dependencies in the Table Area Editing Links by Double-Clicking Them

Removing Task Links Delaying or Overlapping Tasks

Scheduling Tasks to Accommodate Specific Dates

Manually Scheduling Task Dates Types of Constraints Setting and Changing Constraints Preventing Unwanted Date Constraints Setting Deadline Reminders Scheduling Task Work Time with a Task Calendar

8. Building a Team for Your Project

Identifying Project Resources

Who’s Responsible for What

Creating a Responsibility Matrix in Excel Filtering a Responsibility Matrix in Excel

Resource Planning Who Reports to Whom

Creating a Project Organization Chart in Microsoft Visio

Understanding Project’s Resource Types Adding Resources to Your Project File

Adding Resources in Resource Sheet View Adding Resources from Excel

Copying and Pasting Resource Data Importing Resource Data Using an Excel Template

Adding Work Resources from Your Email Address Book

Removing Resources from Your Project Defining When Work Resources Are Available

Specifying a Resource’s Work Schedule Specifying How Much Your Resources Are Available When Availability Varies

Defining Costs for Resources

Setting Up Work and Material Costs When Pay Rates Vary Specifying Cost for Cost Resources

Using Generic or Tentative Resources

Using Generic Resources Working with Proposed Resources

Adding More Resource Information

Filling in Other Resource Fields Adding a Note to a Resource

9. Assigning Resources to Tasks

Assigning Work Resources to Tasks

Assigning Resources with the Dialog Box Assigning Resources in Task Form View Assigning Resources in a Gantt Chart Table

Copying a Resource to Multiple Tasks

Finding the Right Resources

Finding Resources by Criteria Finding Resources with Available Time Reviewing Availability in Detail

Quickly Assigning Resources with Team Planner

Anatomy of Team Planner View Assigning Tasks with Team Planner Scheduling Tasks with Team Planner Eliminating Overallocations with Team Planner

Assigning Material Resources to Tasks Assigning Cost Resources to Tasks Reviewing Resource Assignments Understanding Duration, Work, and Units

Assignment Units vs. Peak

Modifying Resource Assignments

Adding and Removing Resources from Tasks When Effort Drives the Schedule Controlling Assignment Changes with Task Types

Keeping Resources Assigned with the Same Units Maintaining Task Duration Maintaining the Same Amount of Work

10. Setting Up a Project Budget

Putting a Price Tag on Your Project Reviewing Cost Information

Seeing Overall Project Costs

Viewing the Total Project Cost in the Project Summary Task Viewing the Total Project Cost in Project Statistics

Seeing Costs for Tasks, Resources, and Assignments Adding Custom Budget Information

Comparing Costs to Your Budget

Step 1: Create and Designate Budget Resources Step 2: Assign Budget Resources to the Project Summary Task Step 3: Enter Budget Cost and Work Values

Entering Budget Totals for the Project Entering Budget Totals by Time Period

Step 4: Associate Resources with Their Budget Types

Creating a Custom Resource Text Field Classifying Resources by Budget Category

Step 5: Compare Budget Resource Values

Setting the Project’s Fiscal Year

11. Reviewing and Fine-Tuning Your Plan

Reviewing the Schedule and Cost

Understanding the Critical Path and Slack Time Reviewing the Critical Path

Displaying the Critical Path in Project Filtering the Task List to Show Critical Tasks Showing Critical Tasks in a Gantt Chart Table Comparing Finish Dates to Deadlines When Too Many Tasks are Critical When the Critical Path is Incomplete

Reviewing Project Costs

Using Project Cost Reports

Project Tools for Change

See Why Tasks Occur When They Do Seeing What Changes Do Undoing Changes

Making Sure Tasks Are Set Up Correctly

Reviewing Task Dependencies

Highlighting Task Paths Reviewing Dependencies in Task Form View

Finding and Changing Manually Scheduled Tasks to Auto Scheduled Freeing Tasks from Date Constraints

Building Reality into Assignments

Replacing Generic Resources with Real Ones Assigning Part-Time Workers Modeling Productivity in Project Adjusting Tasks for Resource Capability

Balancing Workloads

Finding Resource Over- and Under-Allocations

Finding Overallocated Resources with Resource Sheet View Finding Overallocations with Team Planner View Viewing Assignments with Resource Usage View Finding Overallocations with Resource Graph View Viewing Assignments in Resource Allocation View

Accepting Overallocations Eliminating Overallocations with Team Planner Rescheduling a Task to Another Day Replacing Resources Adjusting Work Contours Delaying Assignments Leveling Assignments

Prepping Your Schedule for Leveling Prioritizing Projects and Tasks Changing Task Priority Changing Project Priority Using Leveling Gantt View Setting Leveling Options Applying and Clearing Leveling

Shortening the Schedule

Adjusting Resource Assignments

Increasing Units to Decrease Duration Using Slack Time to Shorten the Schedule

Splitting Tasks into Smaller Pieces Overlapping (Fast-Tracking) Tasks

Finding Tasks to Fast-Track Modifying Task Dependencies to Overlap Tasks

Paying More for Faster Delivery

Time Vs. Money Using a Spreadsheet to Choose Tasks to Crash

Reducing Project Costs

Checking for Cost Errors Adjusting the Schedule to Reduce Cost Adjusting Assignments to Reduce Cost Rethinking Your Budget

Playing What-If Games

Inactivating Tasks Comparing Projects

12. Saving the Project Plan

Obtaining Approval for the Plan Storing Project Documents Preserving the Original Plan in Project

Setting a Baseline

Editing a Set Baseline

Setting Additional Baselines Adding New Tasks to a Baseline Saving Sets of Start and Finish Dates Clearing a Baseline Viewing Baselines

Viewing Baseline and Current Values in a Gantt Chart View Viewing Baseline Values in a Table

3. Projects in Action

13. Tracking Status

Methods for Tracking Status

Updating Assignments vs. Updating Tasks What Data to Collect

Preparing to Update Your Project

Setting Tasks to Auto Scheduled Mode Setting a Baseline Project Settings for Status Updates

Settings in the Schedule Category Settings in the Advanced Category

Setting Up a View to Make Updating Easy

Obtaining Status Data

Collecting Task Status from Team Members

Creating an Update Form Gathering Status Updates Importing Information from Other Tracking Systems

Collecting Status Data about Other Resources

Updating Schedule Status in Project

Setting the Status Date Updating Tasks That Run on Schedule Updating Completed Tasks That Didn’t Run on Schedule Updating Tasks That Are in Progress

Updating Actual and Remaining Duration Updating Actual and Remaining Work Updating Percent Complete and Remaining Duration

Updating the Project Using Resource-Assignment Status

Entering Actual Work Complete and Remaining Work Entering Percentage of Work Complete Entering Actual Work by Time Period

Updating the Whole Project

Rescheduling Unfinished Work in the Project Updating the Project as Scheduled

Updating Project Costs

Updating Actual Costs for Work Resources Updating Actual Costs for Material Resources Updating Actual Costs for Cost Resources Updating Actual Fixed Costs on Tasks

14. Evaluating and Correcting Project Performance

Scheduled, Baseline, and Actual Values Is the Project on Time?

Checking Status at the Project Level Keeping Your Eye on Critical Tasks Looking for Delayed Tasks

Looking for Tasks Heading for Trouble

Is the Project Within Budget?

Comparing Costs Using Views and Filters Evaluating Costs with Reports Comparing Project Costs to a Budget

Earned Value Analysis

Gauging Performance with Earned Value Measures Analyzing an Earned Value Graph Using Additional Earned Value Measures Viewing Earned Value in Project Controlling How Project Calculates Earned Value

Getting Back on Track

A Review of Project-Tuning Techniques Assigning Overtime Reducing Scope by Inactivating Tasks

15. Managing Change

Setting Up a Change-Management System

Managing Change Requests The Change Review Board: Deciding on Changes Tracking Change Requests

Managing Changes in Project

Finding the Effects of a Proposed Change

Creating a What-If Copy of a Project Setting a Change Request Baseline Flagging Change Requests in Project Inactivating Change-Request Tasks Until You Need Them

Updating Project with Approved Change Requests

16. Reporting on Projects

An Overview of Project’s Reports

Overall Status Financial Performance Task Management Resource Management

Working with Graphical Reports

Generating Graphical Reports Customizing Graphical Reports

Specifying What to Display Customizing a Chart Customizing a Table Customizing a Text Box Organizing Report Elements Report-wide Customization Creating a Custom Report from an Existing Report Creating a Brand-New Graphical Report

Working with Visual Reports

Generating a Visual Report Rearranging and Formatting Excel Visual Reports

Adding the Measures you Want to see to the Graph Filtering the Data that Appears Categorizing Information Summarizing and Drilling Down Formatting the Chart

Rearranging and Formatting Visio Visual Reports Customizing Visual Report Templates Saving Report Data

Printing Views to Report Project Information

17. Closing a Project

Obtaining Project Acceptance Tying Up Loose Ends Producing Project Closeout Reports

Summarizing a Project Reporting Performance

Cost Performance Schedule Performance Quality Performance

Documenting What You Learned

Don’t Skip this Step! Gathering What you Learned Remembering Your Lessons

What to Do with Project Information

4. Project Power Tools

18. Working on More Than One Project

Managing Multiple Projects

Creating a Master Project Removing a Project from a Master Project Linking Tasks in Different Projects

Sharing Resources Among Projects

Creating a Resource Pool Connecting a Project to a Resource Pool Opening and Saving Sharer Projects Detaching a Sharer Project from the Resource Pool Editing Resource Pool Information

19. Exchanging Data Between Programs

Copying Information

Copying Project Data to Other Programs Copying Data from Other Programs into Project Creating Pictures of Project Information

Importing and Exporting Data

Importing Data into Project Exporting Data from Project Using an Existing Map Exchanging Data with Excel

Exporting an Entire Project to Excel Exporting Project Data to Excel Importing Data from Excel

Working with Project and Visio

Displaying Project Data in a Visio Gantt Chart Displaying Project Data in a Visio Timeline Exporting Visio Gantt Charts to Project Exporting Visio Timelines to Project

Integrating Project and Outlook

Adding Project Tasks to Outlook Importing Tasks from Outlook Copying Tasks from an Email Building a Resource List from an Outlook Address Book Sending Project Information to Others

Sending Project Files Via Email

20. Linking and Embedding

Understanding Linking and Embedding Linking and Embedding Project Data

Linking Project Files to Other Programs Linking Project Table Data to Other Programs Embedding Project Files in Other Programs

Linking and Embedding Data into Project

Linking and Embedding Entire Files into Project Embedding Parts of Files in Project Linking Tabular Data in Project

Working with Linked and Embedded Objects

Editing Linked Objects Managing Linked Objects Editing Embedded Objects

Hyperlinking to Information

Creating a Hyperlink to a File or Web Page Modifying Hyperlinks Creating a Hyperlink to a Location in the Project File

5. Customizing Project

21. Viewing What You Want

Creating Your Own Views

Modifying Basic View Contents

Screen Types Modifying a Single View Modifying a Combination View

Creating a New View Modifying a Gantt Chart View

Changing the Way Types of Task Bars Look Changing the Way Selected Task Bars Look Changing Task Bar Text Designing Your Own Task Bar Style Stacking More than One Task Bar in the Same Space Changing the Layout of Task Bars Changing How Gridlines Look Fast Formatting with the Gantt Chart Wizard

Customizing the Timescale Changing a Usage View’s Appearance Customizing the Timeline

Adding Tasks to the Timeline Changing the Appearance of Tasks on the Timeline Customizing the Info on the Timeline

Customizing Team Planner View Customizing Resource Graph View

Choosing Fields to Display Changing the Way Resource Graph Bars Look

Modifying a Network Diagram

Choosing Fields and Formatting for Network Diagram Boxes Laying Out Boxes

Customizing Calendar View

Changing Tables

Switching the Table in a View Changing a Table’s Contents Modifying a Table Definition

Creating a New Table

Formatting Text

Changing Categories of Text Changing Selected Text

Filtering Through Information

Applying Filters Creating and Editing Filters Defining Filters

Comparing a Field with a Value Comparing Two Fields Creating Compound Filters Creating Changeable Filters

Quick and Dirty Filtering with AutoFilter

Grouping Project Elements

Working with Groups Creating a Group Changing Group Intervals

Defining Your Own Fields

Understanding Custom Fields Customizing a Field Creating Lists of Valid Values Calculating Field Values Calculating Values in Summary Rows Displaying Values Graphically Coding Tasks and Resources

Selecting and Naming a New Outline Code Setting Up a Template for Outline Code Values Setting Up an Outline-Code Lookup Table

22. Customizing the Ribbon and Quick Access Toolbar

Customizing the Quick Access Toolbar Customizing the Ribbon

Turning Tabs On and Off Creating Custom Tabs Creating Custom Groups Adding Commands to Custom Groups Rearranging Tabs and Groups Renaming Tabs and Groups Removing Ribbon Elements Restoring a Built-in Tab or Group Resetting Ribbon Customizations

Sharing a Custom Ribbon and Quick Access Toolbar

23. Reusing Project Information

Understanding the Types of Templates Storing Project Settings and Elements

Storing Customized Project Options

Sharing Custom Elements

Copying Elements Between Files

Making Customized Elements Available to new Projects Sharing a Customized Element with Someone Else

Removing Customized Elements from Files Renaming Customized Elements

Building Templates for Projects

Creating a Project Template Making Your Templates Easy to Find Editing a Template Creating a Project File from a Template

24. Saving Time with Macros

What You Can Do with Macros Recording Macros Running Macros

Running Macros from the Macros Dialog Box Running a Macro from the Ribbon Using Keyboard Shortcuts to Run Macros

Viewing and Editing Macro Code Learning More About Programming Project

6. Appendixes

A. Installing Project

Installing Project on Your Computer

32-Bit or 64-Bit Project? Before You Install Installing Project 2013 for the First Time Customizing Your Installation Upgrading Project from an Earlier Version Installing Project Pro for Office 365

Activating Project Maintaining and Repairing Project

Adding and Removing Features Repairing Your Project Installation Uninstalling Project

B. Getting Help

In Search of Project Help

Searching for Answers Online and Offline Help

Microsoft Office Online Interactive and In-Depth Assistance

Discuss Among Yourselves Project Blogs Getting Social with Project

C. Keyboard Shortcuts

How to Use Keyboard Shortcuts Project Keyboard Shortcuts

All-Time Keyboard Shortcut Favorites Project Outlining Displaying Project Information Moving Around in a Project View Selecting Elements in a Project View Table Editing Within a View Navigating Within Dialog Boxes and Forms Help Shortcuts

Index About the Author Copyright

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