MICROSOFT OFFICE PROJECT 2007 ALL-IN-ONE DESK REFERENCE

By STEVEN WILLIAMS

ABOUT THIS BOOK HOW THIS BOOK IS ORGANIZED BOOK I: PROJECT MANAGEMENT BOOK II: PROJECT BASICS BOOK III: GETTING YOUR PLAN IN ORDER BOOK IV: ESTABLISHING TASK TIMING BOOK V: WORKING WITH RESOURCES AND COSTS BOOK VI: COMMUNICATING PROJECT INFORMATION BOOK VII: RESOLVING PROBLEMS IN YOUR PLAN BOOK VIII: TRACKING BOOK IX: ADVANCED PROJECT TOPICS BOOK X: THE BASICS OF PROJECT SERVER GLOSSARY CONVENTIONS USED IN THIS BOOK FOOLISH ASSUMPTIONS ICONS USED IN THIS BOOK WHERE TO GO FROM HERE THE LIFE OF A PROJECT SO, JUST WHAT IS A PROJECT? TAKING A CLOSER LOOK AT THE PROJECT LIFE CYCLE EVERYBODY PLAYS A ROLE STAKEHOLDERS OF ALL TYPES GETTING A FEW PROJECT MANAGEMENT CONCEPTS UNDER YOUR BELT THE DREADED TRIPLE CONSTRAINT KEEPING ON TRACK: CRITICAL PATH AND SLACK USING TRIED-AND-TRUE METHODOLOGIES RESOURCE MANAGEMENT BASICS HOW PROJECT SEES RESOURCES WHAT IT TAKES TO MANAGE PEOPLE THE BASICS OF COMPUTERIZED PROJECT MANAGEMENT MAKING THE LEAP TO PROJECT CONNECTING WITH YOUR TEAM ONLINE WHAT YOU HAVE TO PUT INTO PROJECT TASKS AND THEIR TIMING LINING UP RESOURCES KEEPING A PROJECT ON TRACK KEEPING OTHERS IN THE LOOP FIRST THINGS FIRST: DEFINE THE BUSINESS NEED TARGET PRACTICE: PROJECT GOAL SETTING GETTING YOUR GOAL STRAIGHT WRITING A GOAL STATEMENT TAKING A LOOK AT YOUR PROJECT’S SCOPE A SCOPE IS NOT A GOAL WRITING A SCOPE STATEMENT BREAKING YOUR PROJECT INTO PHASES THINKING THINGS THROUGH IT’S JUST A PHASE CHOOSING HOW GRANULAR TO MAKE YOUR TASKS EXPLORING MENUS AND TOOLBARS IN PROJECT MENU BASICS DISPLAYING AND USING TOOLBARS NAVIGATING PROJECT GETTING TO A VIEW SCROLLING TO GET A BETTER VIEW JUMPING TO A PARTICULAR POINT IN TIME FINDING ANOTHER VIEW A POPULAR VIEW: GANTT CHART FOLLOWING THE (WORK)FLOW: NETWORK DIAGRAM VIEW CONTROLLING TIME WITH CALENDAR VIEW CHANGING VIEWS MODIFYING VIEW PANES CHANGING TABLES DISPLAYING TASK PANES DISPLAYING AND HIDING PROJECT GUIDE EXPLORING THE MANY VERSIONS OF PROJECT GETTING OUT OF HOT WATER WITH MULTIPLE UNDO SPOTTING CHANGES WITH CHANGE HIGHLIGHTING KNOWING WHAT’S DRIVING YOUR TASKS MAKING REPORTS MORE VISUAL A NEW RESOURCE: COST WORKING WITH BUDGETS CREATING THAT FIRST PROJECT STARTING FROM SCRATCH GETTING A HEAD START WITH TEMPLATES MAKING GLOBAL PROJECT SETTINGS ENTERING SETTINGS USING START AND FINISH DATES SAVE THAT PROJECT! SAVING A PROJECT SAVING IN OTHER FORMATS TACKLING TASK BASICS IDENTIFYING WHAT MAKES UP A TASK WHAT TASK SETTINGS CONTROL THE MANY DIFFERENT WAYS TO CREATE A TASK CREATING A TASK IN GANTT CHART VIEW GOING THE TASK INFORMATION DIALOG BOX ROUTE IMPORTING TASKS FROM OUTLOOK GETTING YOUR TASKS FROM EXCEL CREATING A TASK THAT REPRESENTS ANOTHER PROJECT A VIEW FOR EVERY NEED FINDING JUST THE RIGHT VIEW FOR YOU DISCOVERING VARIOUS TASK VIEWS WHAT RESOURCE VIEWS TELL YOU THE BEST VIEWS FOR TRACKING PROGRESS ON YOUR PROJECT DISPLAYING COMBINATION VIEWS THE BIG 4: BASE, PROJECT, RESOURCE, AND TASK CALENDARS HOW CALENDARS WORK HOW DOES ONE CALENDAR RELATE TO ANOTHER? UNDERSTANDING CALENDAR OPTIONS AND WORKING TIMES SETTING CALENDAR OPTIONS MAKING EXCEPTIONS GETTING THE PROJECT CALENDAR SET UP LETTING PROJECT GUIDE MAKE CALENDAR SETTINGS FOR YOU MAKING CHANGES TO TASK CALENDARS SETTING UP RESOURCE CALENDARS CALENDARS FOR DIFFERENT TYPES OF RESOURCES MAKING CHANGES TO RESOURCE CALENDARS CREATING YOUR OWN CUSTOM CALENDAR TEMPLATE SHARING CALENDARS WITH OTHER PROJECTS ENTERING THE UNIVERSE OF PROJECT HELP EXPLORING MICROSOFT OFFICE PROJECT HELP BROWSING TOPICS USING THE TABLE OF CONTENTS SEARCHING FOR HELP GOING ONLINE TO FIND THE ANSWER RUNNING DIAGNOSTICS PUTTING PROJECT GUIDE TO WORK WHERE PROJECT GUIDE CAN LEAD YOU GETTING TO WORK WITH PROJECT GUIDE A TO-DO LIST OR A PROJECT SCHEDULE? BUILDING AN OUTLINE “I’VE GOT A LITTLE LIST ” A TYPICAL PROJECT OUTLINE SUMMARY TASKS ARE SPECIAL THE MOST SPECIAL TASK OF THEM ALL — THE PROJECT SUMMARY TASK CREATING STRUCTURE IN THE SCHEDULE SELECTING TASKS PROMOTING AND DEMOTING TASKS EXPANDING AND COLLAPSING THE OUTLINE SO, WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU REORGANIZE THE OUTLINE? ADDING TASKS DELETING TASKS “DOING IT OVER AND OVER AGAIN ” MOVING TASKS COPYING TASKS UNDERSTANDING OUTLINE NUMBERS LETTING PROJECT ASSIGN OUTLINE NUMBERS UNDERSTANDING OUTLINE CODES DESIGNING YOUR OWN OUTLINE NUMBERS SELECTING AN OUTLINE CODE TO DEFINE DEFINING THE CODE MASK DEFINING VALUES FOR THE LOOKUP TABLE ENTERING OUTLINE CODES OUTLINE NUMBERS AND CODES AND RENUMBERING WHAT’S A WBS CODE? CREATING WBS CODES CREATING A WBS CHART CUSTOMIZING WBS CODES WBS CODES AND RENUMBERING CONNECTING PROJECTS WITH HYPERLINKS CREATING A HYPERLINK WHAT HAPPENED? MY HYPERLINKS DON’T WORK EDITING HYPERLINKS MOVING OR COPYING HYPERLINKS CONSOLIDATING PROJECTS WHAT IS CONSOLIDATION? DO I NEED TO USE CONSOLIDATION? CREATING SUBPROJECTS CREATING A CONSOLIDATED PROJECT INSERTED PROJECTS AND THE OUTLINE MOVING SUBPROJECTS WITHIN A CONSOLIDATED PROJECT DEPENDENCIES IN CONSOLIDATED PROJECTS CREATING DEPENDENCIES ACROSS PROJECTS CHANGING CROSS-PROJECT DEPENDENCIES SAVING A CONSOLIDATED PROJECT THE CRITICAL PATH IN A CONSOLIDATED PROJECT SHARING RESOURCES USING A RESOURCE POOL CREATING A RESOURCE POOL SHARING RESOURCES OPENING A PROJECT UPDATING THE RESOURCE POOL VIEWING RESOURCE ASSIGNMENTS WHEN YOU SHARE RESOURCES STOP SHARING RESOURCES UNDERSTANDING WHAT DRIVES TIMING TIMING FACTORS YOUR FIRST LOOK AT YOUR PROJECT’S TIMING SCHEDULING BACKWARDS OR FORWARDS HOW SCHEDULING WORKS A WORD OF WARNING ABOUT BACKWARD SCHEDULING SURVIVING SCHEDULE SHOCK FINDING JUST THE RIGHT TASK TYPE THE BIG THREE: TASK TYPES SPECIFYING TASK TYPE TASK TYPES IN PRACTICE SETTING TASK DURATION DETERMINING THE RIGHT DURATION ENTERING DURATION WORKING WITH TASKS WITH NO DURATION: MILESTONES THEY KEEP SHOWING UP: RECURRING TASKS STARTING AND PAUSING TASKS ENTERING THE TASK START DATE TAKING A BREAK: SPLITTING TASKS UNDERSTANDING EFFORT-DRIVEN TASKS HOW EFFORT-DRIVEN TASKS WORK WHEN EFFORT RULES TIMING WHY DEPENDENCIES ARE NEEDED UNDERSTANDING DEPENDENCIES IDENTIFYING THE PLAYERS IN A DEPENDENCY RELATIONSHIP WHEN TO SET A DEPENDENCY AND WHEN TO LEAVE WELL ENOUGH ALONE ALL TYPES OF DEPENDENCIES MORE COMPLEX DEPENDENCIES: LAG AND LEAD TIME SETTING DEPENDENCIES SETTING UP DEPENDENCY LINKS CONNECTING TO OTHER PROJECTS WITH EXTERNAL DEPENDENCIES THINGS CHANGE: DELETING DEPENDENCIES VISUALIZING TASK DEPENDENCIES BEGINNING WITH THE START AND FINISH DATES UNDERSTANDING HOW CONSTRAINTS WORK DEFAULT CONSTRAINTS CONSTRAINT TYPES FLEXIBLE VERSUS INFLEXIBLE CONSTRAINTS CONSTRAINTS AND DEPENDENCIES ESTABLISHING CONSTRAINTS SETTING A DEADLINE WHAT EXACTLY IS A RESOURCE? ALL KINDS OF RESOURCES UNDERSTANDING RESOURCES RESOURCE TYPES: WORK, MATERIAL, AND COST ESTIMATING YOUR RESOURCE REQUIREMENTS COMMITTED VERSUS PROPOSED RESOURCES CREATING RESOURCES CREATING ONE RESOURCE AT A TIME IDENTIFYING RESOURCES YOU DON’T KNOW RESOURCES THAT WORK IN GROUPS ACCRUING COSTS ALL OVER THE PLACE TALLYING COSTS THE SOUND OF COSTS HITTING THE BOTTOM LINE ASSIGNING COSTS TO RESOURCES FIXED COSTS YOU CAN COUNT ON PAYING PER HOUR SETTING ALTERNATIVE RATES THE COST-PER-USE SCENARIO OOPS YOU’RE INTO OVERTIME! LOCATING THE RIGHT RESOURCE FOR THE JOB FINDING RESOURCES CREATING CUSTOM FIELDS ACQUIRING THE RIGHT RESOURCES KEEPING RESOURCE WORKLOAD BALANCED YOUR ASSIGNMENT IS HOW RESOURCES AFFECT TASK TIMING DETERMINING WORK, MATERIAL, AND COST RESOURCE ASSIGNMENT UNITS MAKING ASSIGNMENTS CONTOURS SET THE LEVEL OF WORK MAKING SURE OF AVAILABILITY SETTING AVAILABILITY WHEN RESOURCES APPEAR AND DISAPPEAR SHARING RESOURCES WHEN DO MY RESOURCES WORK? E-MAILING AN ASSIGNMENT TO YOUR TEAM HOW YOUR SETTINGS AFFECT YOUR BUDGET HOW PROJECT CALCULATES COSTS LETTING PROJECT CALCULATE OR DOING IT YOURSELF? EARNED-VALUE OPTIONS EXAMINING COST DATA VIEWING COST INFORMATION CUSTOMIZING COST FIELDS THE VALUE OF A PROJECT SUMMARY TASK WHAT’S A VIEW? SELECTING THE STARTUP VIEW MAKING A VIEW HANDY TO DISPLAY SORTING TASKS IN A VIEW FILTERING A VIEW APPLYING A FILTER TO A VIEW CREATING CUSTOM FILTERS USING AUTOFILTERS GROUPING INFORMATION USING A PREDEFINED GROUP GROUPING AND USAGE VIEWS DO-IT-YOURSELF GROUPS USING COMBINATION VIEWS CUSTOMIZING A VIEW CREATING A NEW COMBINATION VIEW PRINTING YOUR PROJECT UNDERSTANDING TABLES UNDERSTANDING INDICATORS MAKING CHANGES TO A TABLE INSERTING AND HIDING TABLE FIELDS CHANGING COLUMN WIDTH CHANGING ROW HEIGHT CUSTOMIZING TABLES WORKING WITH THE DETAILS OF USAGE VIEWS ADDING NEW FIELDS TO THE DETAILS SECTION HIDING FIELDS IN THE DETAILS SECTION PREPARING AND PRINTING REPORTS PREPARING BIG PICTURE REPORTS REPORTING ON TASK STATUS REPORTING ON COSTS REPORTING ON ASSIGNMENTS PREPARING WORKLOAD REPORTS VIEWING CUSTOM REPORTS ADAPTING REPORTS TO SUIT YOUR NEEDS PREPARING A VISUAL REPORT WORKING WITH AN EXCEL VISUAL REPORT WORKING WITH A VISIO VISUAL REPORT VISUALLY REPORTING ON TASK USAGE VISUALLY REPORTING ON RESOURCE USAGE VISUALLY REPORTING ON ASSIGNMENT USAGE PREPARING VISUAL TASK SUMMARY REPORTS PREPARING VISUAL RESOURCE SUMMARY REPORTS PREPARING VISUAL ASSIGNMENT SUMMARY REPORTS CUSTOMIZING VISUAL REPORTS FILTERING TO SPOT RESOURCE AND SCHEDULE PROBLEMS HOW FILTERS WORK APPLYING FILTERS LETTING AUTOFILTERS DO THE WORK CREATING YOUR OWN FILTERS FILTERING IN ACTION DISCOVERING SOME VERY USEFUL FILTERS IDENTIFYING THE CRITICAL PATH WORKING WITH GROUPS APPLYING PREDEFINED GROUPS COMING UP WITH YOUR OWN GROUPS KEEPING RESOURCES IN LINE CHECKING RESOURCE AVAILABILITY PICKING A METHOD TO RESOLVE THE CONFLICT FINDING SOMEONE TO HELP USING TASK DRIVERS TO RESOLVE PROBLEMS CHANGE HIGHLIGHTING UNDOING AGAIN AND AGAIN LEVELING TO FIX RESOURCE PROBLEMS COMBINING SOLUTIONS TIMING IS EVERYTHING DOING IT ALL IN LESS TIME CHECK YOUR DEPENDENCIES RETHINKING YOUR RESOURCE NEEDS MODIFYING TASK CONSTRAINTS DELETE THE TASKS YOU DON’T NEED GETTING IT FOR LESS MAKING YOUR PROJECT TIMING REALISTIC REVIEWING THE CRITICAL PATH HOW MANY CRITICAL PATHS ARE ENOUGH? GIVING YOURSELF SOME SLACK GETTING TO A FINAL PROJECT PLAN REDEFINING THE SCOPE OF YOUR PROJECT PRODUCT SCOPE VERSUS PROJECT SCOPE SELLING CHANGES TO SHAREHOLDERS USING PROJECT’S TOOLS TO CLOSE THE “SALE” CREATING A COMPRESSION TABLE UNDERSTANDING BASELINES AND INTERIM PLANS SETTING A BASELINE SAVING AN INTERIM PLAN CHANGING A BASELINE OR INTERIM PLAN CLEARING BASELINES AND INTERIM PLANS VIEWING THE CRITICAL PATH WHAT’S INVOLVED IN TRACKING? COLLECTING TRACKING INFORMATION SETTING UP TO TRACK CHECKING CALCULATION OPTIONS SETTING THE STATUS DATE SELECTING A TRACKING VIEW WAYS TO RECORD ACTUALS ESTIMATING THE PERCENT COMPLETE USING START OR FINISH DATES RECORDING ACTUAL AND REMAINING DURATIONS RECORDING ACTUAL WORK SPEEDING UP RECORDING ACTUALS TRACKING MATERIALS USAGE VIEWING PROGRESS USING PROGRESS LINES USING TRACKING GANTT VIEW USING TABLES TO REVIEW PROGRESS THE BASICS OF EARNED VALUE FIELDS EXAMINING COST VARIANCE PHYSICAL % COMPLETE VERSUS % COMPLETE CALCULATING BCWP USING PHYSICAL % COMPLETE USING PHYSICAL % COMPLETE SELECTIVELY ENTERING PHYSICAL % COMPLETE VALUES CONTROLLING THE PROJECT GUIDE’S BEHAVIOR HOW MANY TIMES CAN YOU UNDO? SWITCHING BETWEEN OPEN PROJECTS CUSTOMIZING THE WAY YOU OPEN CUSTOMIZING THE WAY YOU SAVE CUSTOMIZING THE TOOLBARS ONE LINE OR TWO? CREATING YOUR OWN TOOLBAR MODIFYING A TOOLBAR MESSING WITH BUTTON IMAGES CUSTOMIZING THE MENUS PERSONALIZING MENU BEHAVIOR CREATING YOUR OWN MENU NAMING A NEW MENU YOU CREATED ADDING COMMANDS TO A MENU DELETING COMMANDS AND MENUS USING THE ORGANIZER TO SHARE PROJECT ELEMENTS CHANGING FONTS CHANGING FONTS FOR SELECTED TASKS CHANGING FONTS FOR A TASK CATEGORY APPLYING SPECIAL FORMATTING TO GANTT CHART VIEW USING THE GANTT CHART WIZARD CHANGING INDIVIDUAL TASKBARS CHANGING TASKBAR STYLES FOR CATEGORIES OF TASKS CHANGING THE GANTT CHART LAYOUT CHANGING GANTT CHART GRIDLINES WORKING WITH THE NETWORK DIAGRAM CONTROLLING THE LAYOUT OF NETWORK DIAGRAM VIEW CONTROLLING THE APPEARANCE OF NETWORK DIAGRAM BOXES CONTROLLING THE CONTENT IN NETWORK DIAGRAM BOXES MODIFYING CALENDAR VIEW CHANGING THE TIME PERIOD DISPLAYED IN CALENDAR VIEW CHANGING CALENDAR VIEW LAYOUT FORMATTING CALENDAR VIEW ENTRIES UNDERSTANDING MACROS CREATING A MACRO KNOWING YOUR MACRO’S STEPS RECORDING THE MACRO USING A MACRO RUNNING A MACRO FROM THE MACROS DIALOG BOX USING A KEYBOARD SHORTCUT TO RUN A MACRO USING A MENU COMMAND TO RUN A MACRO USING A TOOLBAR BUTTON TO RUN A MACRO USING GRAPHIC OBJECTS IN PROJECT GETTING TASKS FROM OUTLOOK IMPORTING EXCEL AND ACCESS INFORMATION INTO PROJECT CHANGING PROJECT’S SECURITY SETTINGS USING AN IMPORT MAP CREATING A TASK LIST IN EXCEL USING A PROJECT-RELATED TEMPLATE IMPORTING THE EXCEL TASK LIST INTO PROJECT IMPORTING PROJECT EXCHANGE FILES INTO PROJECT IMPORTING TEXT OR COMMA-SEPARATED FILES INTO PROJECT COPYING PICTURES INTO OFFICE PROGRAMS SAVING VISUAL REPORTING INFORMATION EXPORTING PROJECT DATA TO EXCEL EXPORTING PROJECT DATA TO TEXT FILES WHAT IS PROJECT SERVER? DO YOU NEED PROJECT SERVER? PLANNING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF PROJECT SERVER DEFINING REQUIREMENTS DESIGNING THE SYSTEM DEVELOPING AN IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY REVIEWING SOFTWARE NEEDS REVIEWING HARDWARE NEEDS CONSIDERING SOFTWARE AND HARDWARE CONFIGURATIONS UNDERSTANDING THE STRUCTURE OF THE PROJECT SERVER DATABASE REVIEWING DEFAULTS WORKING WITH USERS WORKING WITH VIEWS WORKING WITH THE ENTERPRISE GLOBAL TEMPLATE CREATING ENTERPRISE CUSTOM FIELDS ESTABLISHING ENTERPRISE CALENDARS WORKING WITH ENTERPRISE RESOURCES LOADING PROJECTS INTO THE PROJECT SERVER DATABASE MANAGING TIMESHEET AND TASK SETTINGS CUSTOMIZING PROJECT WEB ACCESS CHECKING IN ENTERPRISE PROJECTS AND RESOURCES MANAGING INFORMATION IN THE PROJECT SERVER DATABASE BACKING UP AND RESTORING MANAGING THE QUEUE LOGGING ONTO PROJECT SERVER WORKING WITH WEB-BASED PROJECTS OPENING AND CLOSING A PROJECT MANAGING THE LOCAL CACHE ADDING ENTERPRISE RESOURCES TO A PROJECT REPLACING GENERIC RESOURCES WITH REAL RESOURCES USING THE RESOURCE SUBSTITUTION WIZARD ASSIGNING RESOURCES USING PROJECT WEB ACCESS CREATING STATUS REPORT LAYOUTS RECEIVING TASK UPDATES FROM TEAM MEMBERS UNDERSTANDING THE PROJECT WEB ACCESS HOME PAGE CUSTOMIZING THE HOME PAGE WORKING WITH YOUR TASKS RECORDING TIME ADDING A TASK WORKING WITH YOUR TIMESHEET INTEGRATING THE OUTLOOK CALENDAR WITH PROJECT WEB ACCESS ENABLING INTEGRATION SENDING PROJECT WEB ACCESS ASSIGNMENTS TO OUTLOOK SENDING OUTLOOK INFORMATION TO PROJECT WEB ACCESS REPORTING STATUS