MS Project – Deliverables Based Planning

Microsoft Project - 20 Skills

Learn the 20 Skills to build your Project Plan in Microsoft Project quickly and accurately. This hands-on class will teach you how to be proficient in Microsoft Project’s features. The class teaches skills in five core areas:

  • Essentials – Learn how to start out each plan well.
    • Design a plan
    • Navigate the application
    • Use a startup checklist
  • Work – Learn how to enter and link planned project work.
    • Enter deliverables
    • Sequence deliverables
    • Add milestones
    • Assign accountabilities
    • Perform a hangers check
  • Resource – Learn how to add resources to your work.
    • Complete the resource sheet
    • Make resource assignments
    • Perform “what if” analysis
    • Approve and baseline the plan
  • Manage – Ensure that you can manage your project execution inside Microsoft Project (no more spreadsheets).
    • Add plan progress
    • Calculate variance
    • Estimate plan changes
    • Make approved changes
  • Report – Learn about ways to make reporting easy.
    • Leverage views and features
    • Provide team reporting
    • Provide leadership reporting
    • Understand standard reports

PMI Standards Covered: PMBOK ® Guide Process (Planning, Execution)

Get Started – Enroll Now

Duration

5-day format, 2.5-hours/day

Online Classroom-Delivered Course

Price

$599.00

Contact Us For Pricing

(Group discounts available. Contact Lee at 920.246.3434)

Instructor

Mark Swiderski, PMP

Project, Program, and Portfolio Managers, and Project Manager Leaders

The student will be provided with the following:

  • Student Guide (includes two-up slides for notes)
  • Student Files to practice exercises
  • Quick Reference Cards (QRC):
    • 20 Skills chart
    • Ribbons Guide

Prior to the course, the student should have:

  • Experience in project planning and execution
  • An understanding of the basic navigation of Microsoft Project
  • Identified existing scheduling challenges 

Students should bring to class:

  • Their laptop with Microsoft Project 2013, 2016, or 2019 installed
  • Optionally, an example of a project that they would like to fix. 

Purpose: To teach each Student the 20 Skills required to quickly build an accurate deliverables-based Project Plan in Microsoft Project.

Objective: Following this session, the Student will be able to:

  • Efficiently navigate Microsoft Project 2013-2019
  • Correctly setup a project using a defined checklist
  • Effectively use project calendars and views
  • Create a deliverables-based plan for a project using a repeatable process
  • Allocate resources to the plan
  • Create a project baseline that establishes a controlled schedule
  • Update the plan with actual results
  • Analyze a plan variance
  • Make changes in a project plan without causing strange things to happen
  • Use the core reporting features to update the project team and sponsors on the status of a project
  • Use the plan as the “one source of truth” for their project

Employing these new skills will result in:

  • Greater control over the schedule of a project
  • More efficient use of planning and project execution time
  • Using Microsoft Project as a repository for the most important project information
  • Allowing the student to perform “what if” analysis on their project
  • A single source of project information that is easier to maintain

The course outline is as follows:

Session 1:

  • Introductions
  • Essentials:
    • Design a Plan
    • Navigate the Application
    • Use a Startup Checklist

Session 2:

  • Work:
    • Enter Deliverables
    • Sequence Deliverables
    • Add Milestones
    • Assign Accountabilities
    • Perform a Hangars Check
    • Complete the Work Exercise

Session 3:

  • Resource:
    • Complete the Resource Sheet
    •  Make resource assignments
    • Perform “What if” analysis
    • Approve and baseline the Plan
    • Complete the Resource Exercise

Session 4:

  • Manage:
  • Add Plan progress
  • Calculate variance
  • Estimate Plan changes
  • Make approved changes

Session 5:

  • Report:
      • Understand views and features
      • Provide Team reporting
      • Provide Leadership reporting
      • Understand Standard Reports
  • Recap

Upcoming Classes

Course Dates

October 2023

Use the dropdown in the Enrollment box to see exact dates and times in the months listed above. 

Microsoft Project - 20 Skills

Learn the 20 Skills to build your Project Plan in Microsoft Project quickly and accurately. This hands-on class will teach you how to be proficient in Microsoft Project’s features. The class teaches skills in five core areas:

  • Essentials – Learn how to start out each plan well.
    • Design a plan
    • Navigate the application
    • Use a startup checklist
  • Work – Learn how to enter and link planned project work.
    • Enter deliverables
    • Sequence deliverables
    • Add milestones
    • Assign accountabilities
    • Perform a hangers check
  • Resource – Learn how to add resources to your work.
    • Complete the resource sheet
    • Make resource assignments
    • Perform “what if” analysis
    • Approve and baseline the plan
  • Manage – Ensure that you can manage your project execution inside Microsoft Project (no more spreadsheets).
    • Add plan progress
    • Calculate variance
    • Estimate plan changes
    • Make approved changes
  • Report – Learn about ways to make reporting easy.
    • Leverage views and features
    • Provide team reporting
    • Provide leadership reporting
    • Understand standard reports

PMI Standards Covered: PMBOK ® Guide Process (Planning, Execution)

Course Dates

October 2023