Chapter 1: Getting Started with Project

Chapter at a Glance

Work with views, page 18. Work with reports, page 24. Set the project start date, page 29. Modify the project calendar, page 30.

In This Chapter, You will Learn How to:

• Understand the family of Microsoft Office Project 2007 products.

• Understand what a good project management tool can help you accomplish.

• Start Project Standard or Project Professional, and identify the major parts of the Project window.

• Use views to work with project plan details in different ways.

• Use reports to print project plan details.

• Create a project plan and enter a project start date.

• Set the working and nonworking time for a project.

• Enter a project plan’s properties.

Tip 

Do you need only a quick refresher on the topics in this chapter? See the Quick Reference entries on pages xxv–xlviii.

Project management is a broadly practiced art and science. If you’re reading this book, there’s a good chance that either you’re seriously involved in project management or you want to be.

At its heart, project management is a toolbox of skills and tools that help you predict and control the outcomes of endeavors undertaken by your organization. Your organization might be involved in other work apart from projects. Projects (such as a film project) are distinct from ongoing operations (such as payroll services) in that projects are temporary endeavors undertaken to create some unique deliverable or end result. With a good project management system in place, you should be able to answer such questions as

• What tasks must be performed, and in what order, to produce the deliverable of the project?

• When should each task be performed?

• Who will complete these tasks?

• How much will it cost?

• What if some tasks are not completed as scheduled?

• What’s the best way to communicate project details to those who have an interest in the project?

Good project management does not guarantee the success of every project, but poor project management usually contributes to failure.

Microsoft Office Project 2007 should be one of the most frequently used tools in your project management toolbox. This book explains how to use Project to build project plans complete with tasks and resources, use the extensive formatting features in Project to organize and format the project plan details, track actual work against the plan, and take corrective action when things get off track.

If you are new to project management, stop right here and read Appendix A, “A Short Course in Project Management,” before proceeding with this chapter. It won’t take long, and it will help you to properly assess and organize your specific project-scheduling needs and build solid plans in Project.

Most of the exercises in this book revolve around a fictitious film production company, Southridge Video and Film Productions. Chances are you don’t work for a film production company, but you probably have seen a TV commercial or film recently. Each commercial or film constitutes its own project; in fact, some are fairly complex projects involving hundreds of resources and aggressive deadlines. We think you’ll be able to recognize many of the scheduling problems that Southridge Video encounters and apply the solutions to your own scheduling needs.

This chapter walks you through the Project interface and presents the steps necessary to create a new plan in Project.

There are no practice files in this chapter.