Teresa S. Stover - Microsoft Project Fundamentals

What's New If you're using the Microsoft Project Online Desktop Client, your subscription brings you periodic updates to the software. To see what has changed and how you might use those changes, on the Help tab, click What's New. Information about the latest feature update will appear in the Help pane.If you're using the nonsubscription version of Project, the What's New command will list the features new and changed since the previous version.

Account Information You can review your Project product information, manage your account, change your license, and review your account profile. Click the File tab, and then click Account.

Feedback On the Help tab, click Feedback to communicate with the folks at Microsoft. Click I Like Something or I Don't Like Something to enter a comment. You can optionally add a screenshot or your email address if you want as well. When you click Submit, your comment goes to the Microsoft Project team for consideration in a future enhancement.To make a suggestion, on the Help tab, click Feedback, and then click I Have a Suggestion. Type your idea in the box, and add a screenshot or email address if you want (see Figure 2.13).

FIGURE 2.13 Feedback to Microsoft pane

Here are some good sources of Project information beyond the boundaries of the application.

Project Help & Learning This Microsoft support site includes articles, visuals, videos, and training for the various Microsoft Project editions. Categories include Get Started, Collaborate, Projects & Tasks, Resources, Reporting, Troubleshoot, and more. Check out https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/project.

Microsoft Project Blog The Project Blog posts best practices, news, and trends from the Microsoft Project team. Check out https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/project-blog/bg-p/ProjectBlog.

Microsoft Project Support Community The Project Support blog includes articles, tips, and tricks about working with Project from the Microsoft Project user community. Review existing questions and answers, or post a new question to the group. Many questions are answered by Most Valuable Professionals (MVPs) who are Project experts who do not work for Microsoft. Check out https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/project-support-blog/bg-p/ProjectSupport.

Microsoft Project User Group (MPUG) This is a non-Microsoft community of project managers and Microsoft Project users. The organization provides member benefits including webinars, newsletters, events, and opportunities to earn professional development units (PDUs) toward your certifications. Check out www.mpug.com.

Video Learning Programs Find Microsoft Project video training programs on platforms like LinkedIn Learning ( https://www.linkedin.com/learning) and Udemy ( www.udemy.com). You pay a subscription to the learning platform and/or a charge per course.

With learning and assistance resources inside and outside the Project app, you'll continue to learn how to use Project to effectively manage your projects.

editions

perpetual (nonsubscription) edition

project management knowledge areas

project management office (PMO)

project portfolio management (PPM)

subscription edition

1 How does Microsoft Project help with project scheduling?By helping you clearly define project scope and requirements, Project ensures that the project will finish on time.You can use Project to create the plan with tasks, durations, and linked dependencies.When a task starts or finishes late, or its duration changes, you can adjust that task and the schedule of the other linked tasks adjusts automatically.B and CA and C

2 Besides scheduling, what are two other ways in which Microsoft Project can help you manage projects?Balancing resources and mitigating riskTracking costs and communicating progressManaging project procurements and responding to changesSetting quality specifications and tracking issues

3 Your team is geographically diverse, energetic, and highly collaborative, working on several small but fast-paced projects and other tasks at a time. You need a web-based solution that's quick and easy to learn and use to assign, manage, and track tasks. Which is the best Microsoft Project edition for your needs?Project StandardProject Online with portfolio management featuresProject for the webProject Server

4 You'll be managing a three-year project that will have hundreds of tasks, dozens of resources from different sources, and substantial cost-reporting requirements. You want a professional project management app that's always up to date. Which is the best Project edition for you?Project for the webProject StandardProject ProfessionalProject Online Desktop Client

5 The main screen of the Project window is the:Current ribbon with features and functions that operate on the selected tasks or resources.Current view showing some aspect of project information, like tasks or resources.Current report showing the project overview dashboard.Kanban board showing task cards categorized by current status.

6 What appears when you type a phrase in the Tell Me What You Want To Do box located next to the ribbon tabs?The action you want to do in Project or a Help topic about how to do itA short tip about the screen element that's currently selectedA comment box for submitting your issue to the Microsoft Project teamA discussion post from the Project Support community where you can find answers to your question

List the components of the initiating process of a project.

Identify at least three types of project stakeholders.

Name at least three elements of the project charter.

Name at least three methods for learning potential project requirements.

Identify at least three elements of the project scope statement.

Explain the differences between the project charter and the scope statement.

Decide on the best way to organize project plan documents and make them accessible to the stakeholders.

When you're assigned a new project, you might feel the enthusiasm or the pressure from others to immediately jump straight in and lay out tasks and responsibilities.

It can certainly be more fun—at least at first—to “plan first and ask questions later.” It's all fun and games until you find out you're heading in the wrong direction or that the higher-ups weren't seriously committing to this project after all.

To prevent wasting precious time and money caused by having to double back and rework, when you take on a new project (or even inherit an existing one) one of your first jobs as a project manager is to get the powers that be to take a deep breath and think carefully about what this project is all about.

What's the source of this idea? What problem is it expected to solve? What will the project do and not do? How will you know if the project is successful? Who's paying for it?

In this lesson, you'll learn the important steps of initiating the project through preplanning. This entails identifying the stakeholders, including the project sponsor; writing the project charter and having it approved; collecting the project requirements; and defining the project scope.

You'll also determine the best approach for organizing your important project-planning documents, which can live within or beyond the boundaries of Microsoft Project. The key is to keep your project documents accessible for ready reference as you move through the processes and phases of your project.