Title Details

Robert Happy, PMP, MCT, MCTS, is President and Senior Consultant of Project Management Practice, Inc., a PMI Registered Education Provider and Microsoft Certified Partner. Robert has over 17 years' project management experience. He is the author of Implementing an Effective Project Management Culture, which was presented and published at the 2001 Project Management Institute's (PMI) international symposium.

Introduction xxiii

Part I Getting Started the Right Way 1

Chapter 1 Project 2010 as an Enabling Tool forProject Managers 3

Why Do People Think Project Is Hard to Use? 4

Accidental or Not, Knowledge Is Important 4

Credentials Will Help Close the Gap 5

Is It Me, or Is It the Software? 6

When to Use Project 7

Projects Are Supposed to End—Really 9

Projects vs. Product Life Cycles 9

Consider the Impact 10

Strategic Importance of Project 2010 12

Strategy Drives Projects 12

Working on the Right Projects in the Right Way 13

Improving Results with a Proven, Effective Approach 15

Planning, Communicating, and Tracking 16

Proven Effective over Time 16

Summary 17

Key Terms 18

Chapter 2 Mapping the Project-Management Process Groups to Microsoft Project 2010 19

Mapping Project to Your Methodology Will Increase Effectiveness 20

An Overview of the PM Process Groups 21

Initiating Processes and Project Usage 23

Planning Processes and Project Usage 26

Executing Processes and Project Usage 30

Monitoring and Controlling Processes and Project Usage 33

Closing Processes and Project Usage 35

Summary 38

Key Terms 38

Chapter 3 Overview of Enterprise Project Management 39

What Is EPM? 40

Enterprise Project Management Overview 40

Enterprise Standards and Controls 42

EPM as a Central Repository for Resources and Projects 44

Enterprise Resource Capabilities 44

Central Repository for Projects 47

When to Consider EPM 48

Understanding Roles within EPM 50

Executives and EPM 50

Resource or Functional Managers and EPM 50

Team Members and EPM 52

Project Managers and EPM 52

Portfolio Managers and EPM 54

Mapping EPM to PMBOK 55

Summary 56

Chapter 4 Getting Started and Setting Up the Microsoft Project Environment 57

Getting Started, and Moving Around Project 58

Welcome to the Ribbon 59

The Default Gantt Chart with Timeline View 62

Other Views 64

Using Project Templates to Get Started 67

Importing Plans from Excel 69

Key Options and Settings You Need to Know About 71

Manual or Automatic Scheduling 71

Project Summary Task and Outline Number 71

Scheduling Approaches and Default Task Types 74

Other Options 79

Working with Calendars 79

Creating New Calendars 79

Controlling Conversion Factors 81

Project Start- and End-Date Options 82

Displaying the Project Start and Current Dates in a Gantt Chart 83

Summary 84

Hands-On Exercises 86

Part II Planning Essentials 89

Chapter 5 Creating and Entering the Work Breakdown Structure and Task Arrangement 91

What Is a WBS, and Why Is It Important? 92

What Is a WBS? 92

Creating a WBS, and Its Importance to Project 93

Right-Sizing Your Plan 96

Progressive Elaboration and Defining Project Phases and Milestones 97

Determining Your Project Tasks and Milestones 99

Entering Your WBS: Phases, Tasks, and Milestones 100

Getting to Know the Task Name Column 100

Outlining (Indenting and Outdenting) Tools 102

Collapse and Expand: Show Outline 106

Managing Your WBS 107

Using the WBS Coding Tool 107

Conducting What-if Scenarios with Multilevel Undo 109

Summary 111

Hands-On Exercises 112

Chapter 6 Estimating and Entering Duration or Work 115

Estimating Duration vs. Estimating Work—What’s the Difference? 116

Estimating Duration for a Project 117

Entering Duration Estimates for a Project 118

Using the Task Information Dialog Box 125

Estimating Work for a Project 126

Program Evaluation and Review Technique 127

What Is PERT? 128

Summary 130

Hands-On Exercises 131

Chapter 7 Setting Dependencies and the Critical Path 133

Setting Dependencies 134

Understanding Dependencies 134

Dependency Types 135

Dependency Scenarios and Creating Networks 136

Impact of User-Controlled (Manual) Scheduling on Dependencies 139

Setting Dependencies in Project 143

Using Constraints and Deadlines 150

Constraints 150

Deadlines 154

Understanding and Viewing the Critical Path 156

What Is the Critical Path? 157

Calculating the Critical Path 158

Viewing the Critical Path and Slack in Project 159

Summary 162

Hands-On Exercises 163

Chapter 8 Assigning Resources and Costs 167

Setting Up Your Resource Pool 168

Using the Resource Sheet View 168

Sharing Resources across Projects 178

Assigning Resources and Costs 180

Using the Resource Names Column 180

Split-Screen View and Details 181

Assign Resources Function 187

Task Information 187

Team Planner (Project Professional Only) 189

Analyzing Resource Usage and Resource Leveling 191

Analyzing Resource Utilization 191

Resource Leveling 194

Summary 199

Hands-On Exercises 201

Chapter 9 Understanding the Calculation Engine for Automatic Scheduling 203

Six Factors that Drive the Calculation of Time (Dates and Duration) for Automatic Scheduling 204

Project Start Date 204

Calendars 206

Task Constraints and Deadlines 207

Task Durations 210

Task Dependencies 210

Resource Assignments and Task Types 211

Four Factors that Affect the Calculation of Cost 212

Standard and Overtime Rates 213

Cost Per Use 214

Fixed Cost 214

Resource Assignment Level 215

Switching from Manual Scheduling to Automatic Scheduling 217

Task Level 217

Summary-Level Impact 218

Summary 222

Hands-On Exercises 223

Part III Communicating and Reporting Essentials 225

Chapter 10 Understanding Views 227

Understanding Major View Components 228

Data Group 230

Other View Commands 234

Task Views 235

Accessing Other Views from the Gantt Chart 237

Timeline View 238

Task-Usage Views 240

Network Diagram 242

Calendar View 244

Resource Views 246

Team Planner View (Project Professional) 247

Resource Sheet View 247

Resource Usage View 249

Resource Form 250

Resource Graph 251

Summary 252

Hands-On Exercises 253

Chapter 11 Using Tables and Custom Fields 255

Creating Custom Fields 256

Custom Text Fields 257

Other Custom Fields 265

Using Tables and Creating Custom Tables 267

Using Existing Tables 267

Creating Custom Tables 271

Summary 279

Hands-On Exercises 280

Chapter 12 Using Filters, Groups, and Sorts 283

Using Filters and Highlights 284

Using Predefined Filters 284

Using Highlights 287

Creating Custom Filters 288

Using Groups 291

Built-in Groups 291

Custom Groups 296

Using Sorts and Auto-filters 298

Sorts 298

Auto-Filters 299

Summary 301

Hands-On Exercises 302

Chapter 13 Creating Custom Views, Formatting, and Reporting 305

Creating Custom Views 306

Key Elements of a View 306

Creating a Custom View 307

Formatting Text and Bar Styles 311

Formatting Text Styles 311

Formatting Bar Styles 313

Sharing and Sending Project Information and Reports 318

Enhanced Copy and Paste 319

Copy Picture 320

The Organizer and the Global.MPT Template 320

SharePoint Synchronization 323

File Types 324

Visual Reports 325

Summary 327

Hands-On Exercises 328

Chapter 14 Creating Master Schedules with Inserted Projects 331

Creating Master Schedules 332

Setting Up a Master Project File 332

Setting Up Cross-Project Links 335

Cross-Project Linking Options and Showing Links Between Projects 337

Critical Path Across Projects 340

Default Settings 340

Changing the Settings 341

Reporting and Analyzing Across Projects 342

Sharing Resources Across Projects 342

Analyzing Resources Across Projects 345

Roll-Up Reports 346

Summary 348

Hands-On Exercises 349

Part IV Tracking and Analyzing Essentials 351

Chapter 15 Setting and Maintaining Baselines 353

Understanding and Setting Baselines 354

Understanding Baselines 354

Setting a Baseline 355

Viewing Baselines 356

Tracking Gantt View and the Variance Table 356

Formatting the Gantt Chart to Display the Baseline 358

Maintaining Baselines 359

Clearing a Baseline 360

Rolling-Wave Planning with Baselines 361

Adding New Tasks After a Baseline Has Been Set 362

Resetting a Baseline 363

Multiple Baselines 364

Summary 366

Hands-On Exercises 367

Chapter 16 Updating and Tracking Status 369

Understanding and Entering Percent Complete 370

Different Types of Percent Complete 370

Entering Percent Complete 373

Understanding and Entering Actuals 375

Current and Status Date 375

Using the Status Date for Automatic Updates 378

Entering Actuals 380

Summary 389

Hands-On Exercises 390

Chapter 17 Variance Analysis and Taking Corrective Action 391

Understanding Variance 392

Types of Variance 392

Viewing Variance 393

Analyzing Variance and Taking Corrective Action 398

Understanding Slippage 398

Earned-Value Analysis 402

Understanding Earned-Value Techniques and Values 402

Using Earned-Value Analysis in Project 407

Summary 409

Hands-On Exercises 410

Appendix A Microsoft’s Certification Program 411

How Do You Become Certified on Project 2010? 412

Tips for Taking a Microsoft Exam 413

Certification Objectives Map 413

Appendix B About the Companion CD 419

What You’ll Find on the CD 420

Video Walkthroughs 420

PDF of the Book 420

Adobe Reader 420

System Requirements 420

Using the CD 421

Troubleshooting 421

Customer Care 421

Index 423