Scheduling with Microsoft Project (MS Project) like a pro
- Description
- Curriculum
- FAQ
- Reviews
Updated Feb 2023: What’s new in latest MS Project 2021 updates + video on WBS
Updated Nov 2023: Made Cheat sheets and Assignments slides numbering clearer
Do you want to know how the professional project managers use MS project for scheduling?
Are you a beginner and want to learn to schedule with MS Project the way professionals do it without going through the soporific details of functions that are never used?
Hi all – In my 20 years as Project Manager I have successfully implemented projects for HP and IBM (amongst others) and if you follow this course you will know MS Project as much as I (and most Project Managers) do.
That’s all there is to it but it can be very powerful if used properly.
Overview
This course will show you how to create a schedule in Microsoft Project like pros do.
The course focuses on the most important functionality that is used in real life, on real projects. In my 20+ years as Project Manager I have only used the functions outlined in this course.
Project Managers simply do not have time to build complex projects schedules. Schedules need to be
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easy to maintain / fast to update
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easy to share / easy to understand
For this reason Project Managers only use a few (but powerful) components of the Microsoft Project / MS Project functionality.
This course focuses on what knowledge is required to build a solid and usable schedule. The type of schedule project managers needs, for him/her but also to present a clear timeline to peers and Management.
There are 3 main chapters to this course:
In the introduction, I walk you through the software.
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First very briefly then
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In more detail where I show you the main functionalities.
Part 1 will show you
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The main functionality
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How to build a schedule in 6 steps
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Practice activity for each concept.
In Part 2 we will
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Review some more advanced concepts.
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Do a practice activity for this Part.
Finally in the conclusion I will explain some other functionalities that are never used.
Have fun!
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1
Introduction: Repeat of Intro videoThis is the same content as in the course landing page video, provides the philosophy behind this course and an overview of the course.
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2
Quick intro to MS Project
Link to the Gantt Chart in Excel is Youtube
https://youtu.be/zar6ROpWDLg
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3
Quick intro to MS Project - hands on
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4
Intro: Step 0: MS project overview of front end and functionality
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5
MS project overview of front end and functionality: Part 1
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6
MS project overview of front end and functionality - part 2
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MS project overview of front end and functionality - part 3 Format
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MS project overview of front end and functionality - Summary
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6 Steps introduction and Step 1
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Step 1: Preparing your workspace
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Practice activity - Step 1 Preparing your work spaceUsing the details in the attached resource - perform Step 1 of the 6 steps process for the project described.
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12
Practice activity solution - Step 1 Preparing your work space
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13
Step 2 intro: Creating standalone tasks
This course describes how to input tasks, duration and resources in MS project. Tasks at this stage stay stand alone.
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14
Step 2 part 1: Standalone tasks without grouping
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15
Step 2 part 2: Milestones
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Step 2 part 3: Task summaries
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Practice activity - Step 2
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Practice activity solution: Step 2
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Practice activity solution: Step 2 (continued)
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Step 3 intro
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Step 3: Linking tasks
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Practice activity: step 3
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Practice activity solution: Step 3
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Step 4 intro
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Step 4: Adding Contraints
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Practice activity: Step 4
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Practice activity solution: Step 4
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Step 5 intro
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Step 5: Updating the schedule
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Practice activity step 5
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Practice activity step 5 solution
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Step 6 intro
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Step 6 part 1 Format tasks
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Step 6 part 2 Format bars
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Step 6 part 3 Export schedule
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Practice activity step 6
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Practice activity solution: step 6
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Part 2 intro
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Dependencies type
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Lags
See combined cheat sheet from intro for all part 2 lectures
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Resource allocation
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Calendar
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Timelines
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Resource levelling
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Practice activity for Part 2 - intro
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Practice activity for Part 2
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Practice activity solution for Part 2 - start
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Practice activity solution for Part 2 - continued and end
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End to End example of a MS project Schedule
Example of an end to end MS project Schedule build
https://youtu.be/VY7kcfs0YzU
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50
MS project - latest versions: Is there a difference?
In this video I go through the latest changes in MS project 2021. they are MINIMAL and do not impact the course.
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51
MS project and WBS Function
In this video I explain how to use the WBS function in MS Project
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52
What is a WBS (Extract from other course)
This video is to explain WBS and provide some background on my previous video on MS project and WBS
