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, 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 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 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

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