Microsoft Project Essentials

You need to gather information about the various tasks involved, resources required to accomplish the tasks, and the overall cost in order to plan a project. Microsoft Project acts as a tool that assists you in managing your projects. In this course, you will create and modify a project plan. Once the plan is created, you will set a baseline, track project actuals and report against the plan using Microsoft Project.

This course is suitable for anyone using Microsoft Project 2013, 2016 or 2019 Standard or Professional editions and Microsoft Project Online Desktop Client. If you’re attending at a QA location, the course will be delivered on Microsoft Project Professional 2016.

Note, this course does not cover browser based versions of Microsoft Project, such as Project for the Web, Project Online or Project Web App.

See QAPRWEB for our new Project for the Web course content.

• Identify the components of the Microsoft Project environment
• Use views to work with a project plan
• Create a new project plan
• Create the project schedule
• Manage resources in a project plan
• Finalise a project plan
• Track progress
• View and report project plan information

• Attendees do not need to have any experience of using Microsoft Project
• An understanding of project management concepts would be beneficial
• Attendees must be comfortable opening, closing and saving files, and be able to navigate through files and folders in a Windows environment

Module 1: Get Started with Microsoft Project

• Introduction to Microsoft Project
• Exploring the Microsoft Project Environment
• Displaying an Existing Project Plan in Different Views

Module 2: Creating a Project Plan

• Creating a New Microsoft Project Plan
• Setting Project Working Time
• Project Information
• Creating Summary Stages or Phases
• Editing the Task List
• Defining the Activity List
• Creating and Applying Task Calendars
• Referencing a Work Breakdown Structure

Module 3: Creating the Project Schedule

• Task Durations
• Defining Milestones
• Manual Scheduling and Finish to Start Relationships
• Automatic Scheduling
• Task Relationships
• Adding Stages to the Timeline
• Identifying the Critical Path
• Working with Constraints and Deadlines
• Recurring Activities
• Adding Notes to a Task
• Referencing Other Files in Tasks

Module 4: Manage Resources in a Project Plan

• Resource Types
• Working with Resource Calendars and Availability
• Adding Resource Costs
• Assigning Resources to Tasks
• Effort-Driven Scheduling
• Resolving Resource Overallocation
• Splitting Activities

Module 5: Introduction to Project Tracking

• Setting a Project Baseline
• Entering Actuals
• Viewing Progress in a Project Plan

Module 6: Viewing and Reporting Project Detail

• Filter, Group and Highlight Project Information
• Printing Views
• Using Standard Reports in Microsoft Project