Project 2013 improved reports and interface

Project 2013 is now available. In many ways much the same as Project 2010 but some great new features like reports such as "Burn down"

MS Project training Toronto, Mississauga, Ontario

Bert Twomey
MS Project 2013 trainer
Mississauga, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

In Project 2010 it is possible to change the duration of a summary task (this was not possible in earlier versions). So if a summary task is 6 days as task 1, 2 & 3 are 2 days and in a sequence then you can change the 6 days to 1 days BUT ask yourself does it make sense. Project 2010 changes the summary task to a Manually scheduled task - you can also switch it back to Auto to get the true duration
MS Project 2010, Summary Tasks & Duration

Bert Twomey
MS Office & MS Project trainer
Mississauga, Toronto, Ontario

MS Project 2010/2007/2003 Reports Resource Calendars, Training Toronto,Mississauga, Ontario, Even though the regular paper reports have been in MS Project they are still very useful. If an existing report does not suit your needs then you can copy and edit it. For instance to see the Resource calendars (each resource gets a copy of the Standard calendar) copy the "Resource Work" calender BUT on the Details tab click the check box for Calendar MS Project 2010/2007/2003 Reports Resource Calendars, Training Toronto,Mississauga, Ontario, Bert Twomey MS Office & MS Project Trainer

MS Project (2010, 2007, 2003 etc) all have one Standard Calendar (which is a global calendar for everyone) It is NOT a good idea to copy this and call it "My Company" calendar as then you have 2 global calendars ( I once trained a company that had 4 global calendars - yes they were confused. The resources are set up to make a copy of the Standard Calendar and you do not have to do anything. If you copy and create your own Standard Calendar "My Company" then you will have to change all the defaults - lots of work for you and zero advantage MS Project 2010/2007 training Toronto, Mississauga, Hamilton Ontario Bert Twomey MS Project Trainer

MS Project 2010, Project 2007 elapsed time in Projects

When you have a waiting time such as concrete setting it is best to use elapsed time versus working days (the concrete does not take days off). There is no button/icon to do this instead type an e before the duration e.g. 2 edays or 48 ehrs. This way a 2 day waiting time from a Friday does not delay the schedule till Wednesday (2 working days)
MS Project 2010, Project 2007 Training Toronto, Mississauga, Ontario

Bert Twomey
MS Project 2010 Trainer Toronto, Mississauga

MS Project 2007, 2010 Training Toronto Cost Resources

In MS Project 2007 & 2010 it is possible to have Cost resources (such as Hotel & Travel). Just List the Cost Resource in the Cost Sheet and click the Type from Work to Cost. MS Project 2007 & 2010 Cost resources

Bert Twomey
MS Project trainer

MS Project 2007, 2010 Training Toronto Deadlines & Warning

Deadlines do show in Project as a downward point arrow BUT constraints do not. However it possible to insert a shape (oval for example) on the Gantt Chart tied to the specific date. In Project 2003/2007 use the Drawing toolbar to insert a shape or Project 2010 Format tab - Drawing group. Right click on the shape and select Properties and link the shape to a date - the shape shows the constraint on the Gantt chart
MS Project 2003/2007/2010 Training Toronto Mississauga Ontario

Bert Twomey
MS Project Training
Toronto, Mississauga Ontario Canada

MS Project 2007, 2010 Training Toronto Cost Resources

In MS Project 2007/2010 it is possible to have Cost resources (for example travel cost or car rental etc). When you add the resource just switch the Type to Cost. The advantages are: easy to see and analyze costs and when assigned to a task do not change the duration. Click on MS Project 2007, 2010 Training Toronto Cost Resources

Bert Twomey
MS Office & Project Trainer
Toronto, Mississauga

MS Project Training Critical Path Toronto, Mississauga,

Critical Path in MS Project is often misunderstood and it is easy to see why. The word critical normally means more important to most people BUT not so in MS Project where it means the track that takes more time. These tasks will show in red but could be not important at all - just take longer.
MS Project Training Critical Path Toronto, Mississauga

Bert Twomey
MS Project Trainer
Toronto, Mississauga

Microsoft Project 2010 exam, Toronto, Mississauga

I have just passed the Microsoft Project 2010 exam and am really happy about that. Of course not everyone needs to or has to take the Project exam but if you are using Project a lot it gives you a good idea of what you should know. Look at:
Microsoft Project 2010 exam, Toronto, Mississauga

Bert Twomey
MS Project Trainer
Toronto

MS Project 2010 Training Toronto, Mississauga, Update a Project

Hard to see and hidden in the Project tab is the option to "Update Project". This allows you to take all or some of the incomplete work and push it forward to a future date. Very useful in case you have to stop work on a project or a strike etc. Take a look at MS Project 2010 Training Toronto, Mississauga, Update a Project
for more options re training

Bert Twomey
MS Project Trainer

MS Project Training Toronto, Mississauga, track costs

You can track costs in MS Project Training Toronto using track costs. Give a resource an hourly rate and Project works out the rest

MS Project Training Toronto Mississauga

Bert Twomey
MS Project Trainer

MS Project 2007/2010 Training Toronto Manual Task settings

In MS Project it is possible to have Manual task settings so the task will not move - much like a cell in Excel. Click on MS Project 2007/2010 Training Toronto Manual Task
BUT becareful if you need an accurate update

Bert Twomey
MS Project Trainer

MS Project 2010 Team Planner View Toronto Training

In MS Project 2010 there is a new Team Planner View Toronto Training which enables you to see and assign resources in a more graphical way. You simple drag and drop the resources to assign them to tasks and it is easier to see who is working on what in MS Project 2010 resource planning. Take a look at the link below for more Project training
MS Project Team Planner View Toronto Training


Bert Twomey
MS Project trainer
Toronto Mississauga Ontario

MS Project 2007 2010 Driver tool

The "Driver" tool has been added to MS Project 2007 & 2010, this tool shows you what "drives" a task, such as another task, a constraint etc
http://www.actionebiz.com/projecttraining.htm for more training

Bert Twomey
MS Office & Project Trainer

MS Project 2007, Project 2010 Training Toronto, Mississauga, Hamilton Ontario

One feature that is not clearly visible in MS Project 2007 or Project 2010 is automatic text formatting. Go to the Formatting tab of MS Project 2007 Project 2010 and on the left you will see Text styles. Click this Project button and you will be able to apply a text colour or background based on a criteria such as MS Project Summary tasks. This will help people understand the data more clearly.
Click on MS Project 2007, Project 2010 Training, Toronto, Mississauga, Hamilton -, Ontario
to see more MS Project training topics

Bert Twomey
MS Project 2007/2010 trainer

Leveling in MS Project 2010

The leveling options in MS Project 2010 are more visible as they are on the ribbon but they work the same. Is it a good thing these options are right in front of the users?
Yes & no I would say:
Yes - good that they can see these tools are available
But - no you cannot just push a button and Project 2010 (or Project 2007) solve all your problems (and if it can let me know who you work as I want a job there)
Always use the Leveling Gantt to see what Project does (Project 2010 or Project 2007)
If a resource is working full time on a few tasks then the leveling tool will help BUT if the resource is working 6 hrs a day on task a and at the same time 6 hrs a days on task b if will delay task b till after task a - so the person will only work 6 hrs a day (versus 6 hrs/day on Project task a and 2 hrs/day on task b.
please visit my training site
http://www.actionebiz.com/projecttraining.htm

New highlight marker in Project 2010

While in fact there was the option to highlight certain tasks in previous versions of Microsoft Project it was buried in More Filter dialogue box. Now the button to highlight certain tasks milestones etc. is right on the View tab in the Data group - in fact it is above the filter option. I think is a good idea as many people have hundreds of tasks and they may just need to highlight some and highlighting is pretty much standard in documents so viewer (even ones who know little about project management & Gantt charts etc can see the relevant details
Bert Twomey
MS Project trainer
http://www.actionebiz.com/projecttraining.htm

New Manual Scheduled Tasks in MS Project 2010

One of the really major changes in MS Project 2010 (versus Project 2007 or Project 2003) is the manual setting for tasks. This means that a task can be inputted much the same as a task in Excel, just give it a name, no need for a duration and it is just listed. BUT what is really important to know is a successor manual task will not move when linked to a predecessor (as would happen in Project 2007 or Project 2003).
From my experience training people on Project I can see the possibility of the entire schedule being “fixed” in place by this manual scheduling. Will this be a problem for users not familiar with the new manual scheduling task option?

Resource over allocation warning in MS Project 2010

Resource management and over allocation of resources was not easy to see in MS Project 2003 and Project 2007, but now in MS Project 2010 a red icon appears when a resource is over allocated. Of course a resource can still be over allocated (I think of all those people working 20 hours a day or more). I think is a great new feature.

Bert Twomey
MS Project Trainer
Action eBiz Inc

Gantt Chart and timeline in Project 2010

While Project has always shown the Gantt chart (which is really a visually representation of the Tasks to be completed) a new view in Project 2010 is Gantt with Timeline which shows the regular Gantt chart and also a timeline on top. The timeline shows the tasks either in a line or as callouts. This timeline can also be easily saved as a graphic and used in other documents such as PDFs, PowerPoint, Word etc.

Bert Twomey
MS Project Trainer

MS Project 2010 versus MS Project 2007, Project 2003 etc

Having trained and consulted on MS Project for many years I always looked forward to the release of each new version 2003, 2000, 97 etc. as features were improved but the interface (generally) stayed much the same. With MS Project 2010 there are radical new ways of using the software, for instance you can manually schedule tasks. With manual scheduling the task is locked in a time slot versus moving with the links to other tasks (dynamic scheduling). Of course dynamic scheduling is still there but not always applied - dynamic scheduling is covered in http://www.actionebiz.com/projecttraining.htm. Also until MS Project 2010 all versions of Project used the default blue colours for Gantt bar, in Project 2010 many different colour schemes are possible