Introduction

Introduction

How You'll Learn

Find the Best Place to Start

How This Book Works

Step-by-Step Instructions

Easy-to-Understand Examples

What You'll Do

Welcome to Show Me Microsoft Office Project 2003 , a visual quick reference book that shows you how to work efficiently with Project 2003. This book provides complete coverage of basic and intermediate Project 2003 skills.

This book covers the basic, common operations of the desktop application Microsoft Project. Microsoft Project can be installed as part of a deployment of Project Server 2003, but this book does not cover the use of Project as part of a Project Server deployment. Using Project Professional with Project Server adds several features and tools you can use to manage your schedules and resource usage. These topics are beyond the scope of this book.

Find the Best Place to Start

You don't have to read this book in any particular order. We've designed the book so that you can jump in, get the information you need, and jump out. However, the book does follow a logical progression from simple tasks to more complex ones. Each task is no more than two pages long. To find the information you need, just look up the task in the table of contents, index, or troubleshooting guide, and turn to the page listed. Read the task introduction, follow the step-by-step instructions along with the illustration, and you're done.

How This Book Works

Each task is presented on no more than two facing pages, with step-by-step instructions in the left column and screen illustrations in the right column. This arrangement lets you focus on a single task without having to turn the page.

Step-by-Step Instructions

This book provides concise step-by-step instructions that show you how to accomplish a task. Each set of instructions includes illustrations that directly correspond to the easy-to-read steps. Also included in the text are timesavers, tables, and sidebars to help you work more efficiently or to teach you more in-depth information. A "Did You Know?" provides tips and techniques to help you work smarter , while a "See Also" leads you to other parts of the book containing related information about the task.

Easy-to-Understand Examples

This book shows you exactly what you'll see on the screen to help convey "why" you would want to perform a task.

Chapter 1. Introduction to the Project Interface

What You'll Do

Work with Toolbars and Menus

Use the Gantt Chart View

Use the Network Diagram View

Use Usage Views

Use the Resource Sheet

Use the Resource Graph View

Introduction

Like any other application, Microsoft Office Project is made up of many parts . Toolbars , menus , views, and so on all work together to make up the application you use everyday. This chapter shows you the various parts of the application, the various kinds of views available, and how these views are generally used in the course of managing a project.

It's important that you become familiar with the interface of Project. This is true of any software you use, but even more so with Project. This is true because most applications like Microsoft Word or Excel operate in a context you have been familiar with for years, namely writing and math. However, Project works in a place that has likely only become familiar to you within the last few years ”project management. So, the terms used and the concepts covered inside Project may not be second nature like they are for Word. So take some time and play around with the interface. Open a blank project and insert a few tasks . Then explore what the different menus, toolbars, and views do and show you. This is the best way to become an expert with Project: experiment and explore.