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Microsoft® Office Project 2007 FOR DUMmIES‰
by Nancy Muir 01_036516 ffirs.qxp 11/20/06 1:37 PM Page ii
Microsoft® Project 2007 For Dummies® Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc. 111 River Street Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774 www.wiley.com Copyright © 2007 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published simultaneously in Canada No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permit- ted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Legal Department, Wiley Publishing, Inc., 10475 Crosspoint Blvd., Indianapolis, IN 46256, (317) 572-3447, fax (317) 572-4355, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions. Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley Publishing logo, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, A Reference for the Rest of Us!, The Dummies Way, Dummies Daily, The Fun and Easy Way, Dummies.com, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. Microsoft is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.
LIMIT OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: THE PUBLISHER AND THE AUTHOR MAKE NO REP- RESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THE CONTENTS OF THIS WORK AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION WARRANTIES OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. NO WARRANTY MAY BE CRE- ATED OR EXTENDED BY SALES OR PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS. THE ADVICE AND STRATEGIES CON- TAINED HEREIN MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR EVERY SITUATION. THIS WORK IS SOLD WITH THE UNDERSTANDING THAT THE PUBLISHER IS NOT ENGAGED IN RENDERING LEGAL, ACCOUNTING, OR OTHER PROFESSIONAL SERVICES. IF PROFESSIONAL ASSISTANCE IS REQUIRED, THE SERVICES OF A COMPETENT PROFESSIONAL PERSON SHOULD BE SOUGHT. NEITHER THE PUBLISHER NOR THE AUTHOR SHALL BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES ARISING HEREFROM. THE FACT THAT AN ORGANIZATION OR WEBSITE IS REFERRED TO IN THIS WORK AS A CITATION AND/OR A POTENTIAL SOURCE OF FUR- THER INFORMATION DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE AUTHOR OR THE PUBLISHER ENDORSES THE INFORMATION THE ORGANIZATION OR WEBSITE MAY PROVIDE OR RECOMMENDATIONS IT MAY MAKE. FURTHER, READERS SHOULD BE AWARE THAT INTERNET WEBSITES LISTED IN THIS WORK MAY HAVE CHANGED OR DISAPPEARED BETWEEN WHEN THIS WORK WAS WRITTEN AND WHEN IT IS READ.
For general information on our other products and services, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 800-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002. For technical support, please visit www.wiley.com/techsupport. Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books. Library of Congress Control Number: 2006934842 ISBN-10: 0-470-03651-6 ISBN-13: 978-0-470-03651-8 Manufactured in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 1B/RS/RS/QW/IN 01_036516 ffirs.qxp 11/20/06 1:37 PM Page iii
About the Author Nancy Muir has written dozens of books on topics ranging from desktop applications, project management, and distance learning, to an award- winning book on character education for middle-schoolers. Prior to her freelance writing career, Nancy taught workshops in project management to Fortune 500 companies and was a manager in both the computer and publishing industries. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband Earl, with whom she has collaborated on three books, including Electronics Projects For Dummies. 01_036516 ffirs.qxp 11/20/06 1:37 PM Page iv 01_036516 ffirs.qxp 11/20/06 1:37 PM Page v
Dedication To Earl for putting up with my hectic book schedule in our first year of mar- riage. You’re the best! That long-promised cutting back on work time is almost here, my love.
Author’s Acknowledgments First, many thanks to my friend Elaine Marmel, author of the Microsoft Project Bible from Wiley. Her advice and insight into the workings of Project always help me see the forest for the trees. Did the chocolate arrive okay, Elaine?
Second I thank the folks at Wiley, including Kyle Looper, my able acquisitions editor, and Blair Pottenger, the book’s project editor who was incredibly supportive and patient and helped me hold all the pieces together. Thanks also to development editor Linda Morris, copy editors Teresa Artman and Becky Whitney, and technical editor Jennifer Pendleton for keeping the prose accurate and intelligible. 01_036516 ffirs.qxp 11/20/06 1:37 PM Page vi
Publisher’s Acknowledgments We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our online registration form located at www.dummies.com/register/. Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:
Acquisitions, Editorial, and Composition Services Media Development Project Coordinator: Ryan Steffen Project Editor: Blair J. Pottenger Layout and Graphics: Carl Byers, Denny Hager, Development Editor: Linda Morris Stephanie D. Jumper, Barry Offringa, Acquisitions Editor: Kyle Looper Lynsey Osborn, Alicia South Senior Copy Editor: Teresa Artman Proofreaders: Jessica Kramer, Techbooks Copy Editor: Becky Whitney Indexer: Techbooks Technical Editor: Jennifer Pendleton Anniversary Logo Design: Richard Pacifico Editorial Manager: Kevin Kirschner Special Help Media Development Specialist: Steven Kudirka Jodi Jensen Media Project Supervisor: Laura Moss Media Development Manager: Laura VanWinkle Editorial Assistant: Amanda Foxworth Senior Editorial Assistant: Cherie Case Cartoons: Rich Tennant (www.the5thwave.com)
Publishing and Editorial for Technology Dummies Richard Swadley, Vice President and Executive Group Publisher Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher Mary Bednarek, Executive Acquisitions Director Mary C. Corder, Editorial Director Publishing for Consumer Dummies Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher Joyce Pepple, Acquisitions Director Composition Services Gerry Fahey, Vice President of Production Services Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services 02_036516 fftoc.qxp 11/20/06 1:37 PM Page vii
Contents at a Glance
Introduction ...... 1 Part I: Setting the Stage for Project ...... 7 Chapter 1: Project Management: What Is It, and Why Should You Care?...... 9 Chapter 2: The Best-Laid Plans...... 35 Chapter 3: Mark It on Your Calendar ...... 51 Chapter 4: A Tisket, a Task Kit...... 69 Chapter 5: Getting Your Outline in Line...... 93 Chapter 6: Timing Is Everything...... 113 Part II: People Who Need People ...... 127 Chapter 7: Using Your Natural Resources...... 129 Chapter 8: What’s All This Gonna Cost?...... 147 Chapter 9: Assigning Resources to Get Things Done ...... 161 Part III: Well, It Looks Good on Paper...... 177 Chapter 10: Fine-Tuning Your Plan...... 179 Chapter 11: Making Your Project Look Good...... 203 Part IV: Avoiding Disaster: Staying On Track...... 215 Chapter 12: It All Begins with a Baseline...... 217 Chapter 13: On the Right Track ...... 227 Chapter 14: A Project with a View: Observing Progress ...... 249 Chapter 15: You’re Behind: Now What?...... 263 Chapter 16: Spreading the News: Reporting ...... 279 Chapter 17: Getting Better All the Time ...... 303 Part V: Working with Enterprise Projects...... 317 Chapter 18: Project Web Access for the Project Manager ...... 319 Chapter 19: Project Web Access for the End User ...... 335 Part VI: The Part of Tens ...... 345 Chapter 20: Ten Golden Rules of Project Management ...... 347 Chapter 21: Ten Project Management Software Products to Explore...... 357 02_036516 fftoc.qxp 11/20/06 1:37 PM Page viii
Part VII: Appendixes...... 363 Appendix A: On the CD...... 365 Appendix B: Glossary ...... 371 Index ...... 379 02_036516 fftoc.qxp 11/20/06 1:37 PM Page ix
Table of Contents
Introduction...... 1 About This Book...... 1 Foolish Assumptions ...... 1 Conventions Used in This Book ...... 2 How This Book Is Organized...... 2 Part I: Setting the Stage for Project ...... 2 Part II: People Who Need People...... 3 Part III: Well, It Looks Good on Paper ...... 3 Part IV: Avoiding Disaster: Staying on Track ...... 3 Part V: Working with Enterprise Projects...... 3 Part VI: The Part of Tens ...... 4 Part VII: Appendixes...... 4 What You’re Not to Read...... 4 Icons Used in This Book...... 4 Where to Go from Here...... 5
Part I: Setting the Stage for Project...... 7
Chapter 1: Project Management: What Is It, and Why Should You Care? ...... 9 The ABCs of Project Management ...... 10 The three Ts: Tasks, timing, and dependencies (well, two Ts and a D)...... 10 Lining up your resources...... 14 Spreading the news ...... 16 Planning to keep things on track...... 17 The Role of the Project Manager...... 18 What exactly does a project manager do? ...... 18 Understanding the dreaded triple constraint...... 19 Applying tried-and-true methodologies ...... 19 From To-Do List to Hard Drive...... 22 Getting up to speed with Project...... 22 Collaborating with your project team online...... 23 Getting Started ...... 23 Getting going with help from Project Guide...... 24 Starting from scratch ...... 25 Starting with templates ...... 30 Saving a Project for Posterity ...... 32 Getting Help from Project ...... 32 02_036516 fftoc.qxp 11/20/06 1:37 PM Page x
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Chapter 2: The Best-Laid Plans ...... 35 Navigating Project...... 35 Changing views...... 35 Scrolling around ...... 37 Getting to a specific spot in your plan...... 39 A Project with a View...... 39 Home base: Gantt Chart view ...... 40 Going with the flow: Network Diagram view...... 41 Calling up Calendar view...... 42 Customizing Views...... 43 Working with view panes...... 44 Modifying the contents of the Network Diagram boxes...... 48 Chapter 3: Mark It on Your Calendar ...... 51 Mastering Base, Project, Resource, and Task Calendars ...... 52 How calendars work ...... 52 How one calendar relates to another ...... 54 Calendar Options and Working Times...... 54 Setting calendar options...... 55 Setting exceptions to working times...... 57 Setting the Project calendar ...... 58 Using Project Guide to Make Calendar Settings...... 60 Modifying Task Calendars...... 62 Making Resource Calendar Settings ...... 63 Which resources get calendars?...... 63 Making the change to a resource’s calendar ...... 63 Do It Yourself: Creating a Custom Calendar Template ...... 65 Sharing Copies of Calendars...... 67 Chapter 4: A Tisket, a Task Kit ...... 69 Tackling Your First Task ...... 69 Identifying what makes up a task ...... 70 Creating a task ...... 71 You’re in It for the Duration...... 78 Tasks come in all flavors: Identifying task type...... 78 Setting task duration...... 80 Setting tasks with no duration: Milestones...... 81 Showing up again and again: Recurring tasks ...... 81 Starting and Pausing Tasks ...... 83 Entering the task start date ...... 84 Taking a break: Splitting tasks ...... 84 It’s Such an Effort: Effort-Driven Tasks...... 85 Constraints You Can Live With...... 86 Understanding how constraints work ...... 86 Establishing constraints...... 87 Setting a deadline ...... 88 02_036516 fftoc.qxp 11/20/06 1:37 PM Page xi
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Making a Task Note...... 88 Saving Your Project — and Your Tasks ...... 89 Task Information in Action: Planning Your Next Space Launch...... 91 Chapter 5: Getting Your Outline in Line ...... 93 Summary Tasks and Subtasks ...... 93 Project phases ...... 94 How many levels can you go?...... 95 The One-and-Only Project Summary Task ...... 95 Structuring the Project’s Outline ...... 97 Everything but the kitchen sink: What to include ...... 98 Building the outline...... 100 Moving Tasks All around Your Outline...... 101 The outdent-and-indent shuffle ...... 101 Moving tasks up and down ...... 102 Now You See It, Now You Don’t: Collapsing and Expanding Tasks...... 104 Cracking the WBS Code...... 107 Displaying a WBS code ...... 108 Customizing the code ...... 109 Chapter 6: Timing Is Everything ...... 113 How Tasks Become Codependent...... 114 Dependent tasks: Which comes first?...... 114 Dependency types...... 115 Allowing for Murphy’s Law: Lag and lead time...... 118 Making the Dependency Connection...... 118 Adding the missing (dependency) link...... 119 Extending your reach with external dependencies ...... 121 Understanding that things change: Deleting dependencies ...... 122 Just Look at All These Task Dependencies!...... 124
Part II: People Who Need People ...... 127
Chapter 7: Using Your Natural Resources ...... 129 Resources: People, Places, and Things ...... 130 Becoming Resource-full...... 130 Understanding resources ...... 131 Resource types: Work, material, and cost...... 133 How resources affect task timing ...... 134 Estimating resource requirements...... 135 Committed versus proposed resources ...... 135 The Birth of a Resource...... 136 Creating one at a time...... 136 Identifying resources before you know their names ...... 137 Resources that hang out in groups ...... 138 02_036516 fftoc.qxp 11/20/06 1:37 PM Page xii
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Sharing Resources...... 138 In the swim: Drawing on resource pools ...... 139 Importing resources from Outlook ...... 140 Say, When Do These Guys Work?...... 142 Now That I’ve Got ’Em, How Do I Manage ’Em? ...... 144 Acquiring the right resources...... 144 Balancing workload...... 145 Managing conflict gracefully...... 146 Chapter 8: What’s All This Gonna Cost? ...... 147 Mary, Mary, How Do Your Costs Accrue? ...... 147 It all adds up...... 148 When will this hit the bottom line?...... 149 Pay Day: Assigning Resources to Your Project ...... 149 There’s no avoiding fixed costs...... 149 When resources get paid per hour...... 151 If you use ten gallons at $2 per gallon ...... 151 Making allowances for overtime ...... 152 It’s an Availability Thing...... 153 Setting availability...... 153 When a resource comes and goes...... 154 Adding It Up: How Your Settings Affect Your Budget ...... 155 Customizing Cost Fields...... 156 Working with Budgets...... 159 Chapter 9: Assigning Resources to Get Things Done ...... 161 You’d Be Surprised What Assignments Can Do to Your Timing...... 162 Pinning down your type ...... 162 When effort is in the driver’s seat...... 163 Suppose task calendars prevail? ...... 164 Finding the Right Resource...... 165 Needed: One good resource willing to work...... 165 Custom fields: It’s a skill ...... 167 A Useful Assignation...... 168 Determining work material and cost-resource assignment units...... 168 Making your assignments...... 168 Getting the contour that’s right for you ...... 171 Communicating an Assignment to Your Team ...... 173 It’s in the e-mail...... 173 Report your findings ...... 174 02_036516 fftoc.qxp 11/20/06 1:37 PM Page xiii
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Part III: Well, It Looks Good on Paper...... 177
Chapter 10: Fine-Tuning Your Plan ...... 179 Everything Filters to the Bottom Line...... 179 Predesigned filters ...... 180 Putting AutoFilters to work...... 181 Do-it-yourself filters ...... 182 Hanging Out in Groups ...... 184 Applying predefined groups...... 184 Devising your own groups...... 185 Figuring Out What’s Driving Your Project...... 187 Spotting Task Drivers...... 188 Undo, undo, undo...... 188 Highlighting changes...... 189 It’s About Time ...... 191 Giving yourself some slack...... 191 Doing it in less time...... 194 Getting It for Less...... 195 Your Resource Recourse ...... 196 Checking resource availability...... 196 Deleting or modifying a resource assignment ...... 198 Getting some help ...... 199 Getting your resources level...... 200 Mixing Solutions Up...... 202 Chapter 11: Making Your Project Look Good ...... 203 Putting Your Best Foot Forward...... 203 Formatting Taskbars...... 204 Formatting Task Boxes ...... 207 Adjusting the Layout ...... 208 Modifying Gridlines...... 212 When a Picture Can Say It All ...... 213
Part IV: Avoiding Disaster: Staying On Track ...... 215
Chapter 12: It All Begins with a Baseline ...... 217 All about Baselines...... 217 What does a baseline look like?...... 218 How do I save a baseline?...... 218 What if I want more than one baseline? ...... 220 How do I clear and reset a baseline? ...... 221 In the Interim ...... 222 Saving an interim plan ...... 223 Clearing and resetting a plan ...... 224 02_036516 fftoc.qxp 11/20/06 1:37 PM Page xiv
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Chapter 13: On the Right Track ...... 227 Gathering Your Data ...... 227 A method to your tracking madness ...... 228 Going door to door...... 229 Where Does All This Information Go? ...... 230 Doing things with the Tracking toolbar...... 230 For everything there is a view ...... 231 Tracking your work for the record ...... 233 Progress as of when?...... 233 Percentage complete: How to tell?...... 234 When did you start? When did you finish? ...... 236 John worked three hours, Maisie worked ten ...... 237 Uh-oh, we’re into overtime...... 239 Specifying remaining durations...... 239 Entering fixed-cost updates ...... 240 Update Project: Sweeping Changes for Dummies...... 241 Tracking Materials Usage...... 243 Tracking More Than One: Consolidated Projects...... 244 Consolidating projects...... 244 Updating consolidated projects ...... 246 Changing linking settings ...... 246 Chapter 14: A Project with a View: Observing Progress ...... 249 Look at What Tracking Did!...... 250 Getting an indication...... 250 Lines of progress ...... 251 When worlds collide: Baseline versus actual ...... 255 Learn by the Numbers...... 256 Acronym Soup: BCWP, ACWP, EAC, and CV...... 257 Calculations behind the Scenes ...... 258 Going automatic or manual...... 258 Earned-value options ...... 260 How many critical paths are enough? ...... 261 Chapter 15: You’re Behind: Now What? ...... 263 Justifying Yourself: Notes, Baselines, and Interim Plans...... 263 What If?...... 265 Sorting things out...... 265 Filtering...... 266 Examining the critical path ...... 268 Use resource leveling one more time...... 268 What’s driving the timing of this task? ...... 268 Using the Analysis Toolbar ...... 270 How Adding People or Time Affects Your Project ...... 272 Hurry up! ...... 272 Throwing people at the problem...... 272 Shifting dependencies and task timing...... 274 02_036516 fftoc.qxp 11/20/06 1:37 PM Page xv
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When All Else Fails...... 275 All the time in the world...... 275 And now for something completely different ...... 276 What Does Project Have to Say About This?...... 277 Chapter 16: Spreading the News: Reporting ...... 279 Off the Rack: Standard Reports...... 279 What’s available...... 280 Going with the standard ...... 280 A standard report, with a twist...... 281 Crosstabs: A different animal...... 285 A Custom Job...... 285 Get a New Perspective on Data with Visual Reports...... 286 Getting an overview of what’s available...... 287 Creating a Visual Report...... 287 Spiffing Things Up ...... 289 Using graphics in Project ...... 289 Formatting reports...... 292 Call the Printer!...... 294 Working with Page Setup...... 294 Get a preview ...... 299 So Let’s Print!...... 300 Chapter 17: Getting Better All the Time ...... 303 Learning from Your Mistakes...... 303 It was only an estimate ...... 304 Debrief your team...... 305 Building on Your Success...... 306 Create a template ...... 306 Master the Organizer ...... 308 Handy little timesavers: Macros...... 310 Customizing Project Guide ...... 314
Part V: Working with Enterprise Projects...... 317
Chapter 18: Project Web Access for the Project Manager ...... 319 Figuring Out Whether Project Web Access Is for You ...... 320 Getting a Handle on What You Can Do with Project Web Access ...... 322 Planning to Use Project Server and Project Web Access...... 323 Get a team together...... 323 Gather information...... 324 Standardize processes...... 324 Coordinate with IT...... 325 Planning for problems ...... 325 02_036516 fftoc.qxp 11/20/06 1:37 PM Page xvi
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Looking Over the Project Web Access Tools...... 325 Make assignments and delegate tasks...... 326 Track your progress...... 327 Figure out what’s going on with status reports...... 328 Working with the Gang Online...... 329 Check resource availability and assignments...... 329 Build a project team...... 330 Request a status report ...... 332 Share documents...... 332 Chapter 19: Project Web Access for the End User ...... 335 Seeing Project Web Access from the User’s Perspective...... 335 Reporting Work Completed ...... 336 Viewing Project Information ...... 339 Setting Up Alerts and Reminders...... 340 Viewing Information about Other Users ...... 341
Part VI: The Part of Tens...... 345
Chapter 20: Ten Golden Rules of Project Management ...... 347 Don’t Bite Off More Than You Can Manage ...... 347 Get Your Ducks in a Row...... 348 Plan for Murphy ...... 349 Don’t Put Off Until Tomorrow...... 350 Delegate, Delegate, Delegate!...... 350 CYA (Document!)...... 351 Keep Your Team in the Loop ...... 352 Measure Success ...... 352 Have a Flexible Strategy ...... 354 Learn from Your Mistakes...... 355 Chapter 21: Ten Project Management Software Products to Explore ...... 357 DecisionEdge Chart and Report Products Enhance Project’s Own Tools ...... 358 Cobra Squeezes the Most from Cost/Earned Value ...... 358 MindManuals Helps You Visualize Project Information ...... 359 Innate Integrates Projects Large and Small ...... 359 PlanView Models Your Workforce Capacity...... 360 Tenrox Streamlines Business Processes ...... 360 Project KickStart Gives Your Project a Head Start...... 361 Project Manager’s Assistant Organizes Drawings for Construction Projects...... 361 TeamTrack Solves Mission-Critical Issues ...... 362 EPK-Suite Eases Portfolio Mangement Chores...... 362 02_036516 fftoc.qxp 11/20/06 1:37 PM Page xvii
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Part VII: Appendixes...... 363
Appendix A: On the CD ...... 365 System Requirements...... 365 Using the CD ...... 365 What You’ll Find on the CD...... 366 Empire Suite, from WSG System Corp...... 366 EPK Suite 4.1, from EPK GROUP, LLC...... 367 Milestones Professional, from Kidasa Software ...... 367 Milestones Project Companion 2006, from Kidasa Software ...... 367 MindManager Pro 6, from Mindjet Corporation ...... 368 PERT Chart Expert, from Critical Tools, Inc...... 368 PertMaster Project Risk, from PertMaster...... 368 PlanView Project Portfolio, from PlanView...... 368 Project KickStart, from Experience in Software ...... 369 WBS Chart Pro, from Critical Tools, Inc...... 369 Troubleshooting...... 369 Customer Care ...... 370 Appendix B: Glossary ...... 371 Index ...... 379 02_036516 fftoc.qxp 11/20/06 1:37 PM Page xviii
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Introduction
roject management probably started back when a few cave dwellers got Ptogether and figured out how to work as a team to bag a wooly mam- moth for their Sunday dinner. Some fellow — I’ll call him Ogg — probably took the lead as the very first project manager. He drew things in the dirt with a stick to help his team members understand the strategy of the hunt, and communicated with them in ughs and grunts. Unlike you, he had no boss to report to, no budget, and no deadlines (lucky Ogg), but the fundamental spirit of a project was there.
Over the years, project management has evolved as a discipline that involves sophisticated analyses and techniques, projections, tracking of time and money, and reporting. Project management software — which has been around only about 25 years or so — has brought a new face and functionality to project management that would have left our friend Ogg ughless.
About This Book Microsoft Office Project 2007, the most recent incarnation of the world’s most popular project management software, offers a tremendous wealth of function- ality to users. However, it’s probably not like any other software you’ve ever used, so mastering it can seem a daunting process. One trick is to understand how its features relate to what you do every day as a project manager. Another is to get someone like me to tell you all about its features and how to use them.
In Microsoft Office Project 2007 For Dummies, my goal is to help you explore all that Project offers, providing information on relevant project management concepts while also offering specific procedures to build and track your Project plans. But more importantly, I offer advice on how to make all these features and procedures mesh with what you already know as a project man- ager to make the transition easier.
Foolish Assumptions I’ve made some assumptions about you, gentle reader. I figure that you are computer literate and know how to use a mouse, a keyboard, software menus, 03_036516 intro.qxp 11/20/06 1:37 PM Page 2
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and toolbars. I assume you know how to use most common Windows func- tions (such as the Clipboard) as well as many basic software functions (such as selecting text and dragging and dropping things with your mouse).
I do not assume that you’ve used Project or any other project management software before. If you’re new to Project, you’ll find what you need to get up to speed, including information on how Project works, finding your way around, and building your first Project plan. If you’ve used an earlier version of Project, you’ll find out about Project 2007 and all the new features it provides.
Conventions Used in This Book I should explain a few odds and ends to make using this book easier: