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
