project 2010 for dummies

Nancy C. Muir Author of Project 2007 For Dummies Learn to: • Manage project schedules with Project 2010 • Work with new scheduling tools and the Ribbon interface • Assign and share resources and understand calendars • Create impressive reports Project 2010 Microsoft ® Making Everything Easier! ™ Visit the companion Web site at www.dummies.com/go/ project2010fd to find additional project management tools, including add-on software, bonus Project templates, sample cases, and more! Open the book and find: • How to maximize control with the new manual scheduling feature • Your way around the Project interface • The new Timeline and Team Planner views • Tips on assigning resources • Advice on communicating with your team • All about reports and how to use them • Scheduling help from the new Task Inspector Nancy C. Muir has written more than 50 books on technology and business topics including Windows, Office applications, PCs, laptops, and Internet safety. She has presented workshops to Fortune 500 companies on project management and related software. Her credits include more than a dozen For Dummies books. $24.99 US / $29.99 CN / £17.99 UK ISBN 978-0-470-50132-0 Computer Applications/ Project Management Go to Dummies.com ® for videos, step-by-step examples, how-to articles, or to shop! In charge of a project? Manage it better with Project 2010 and this book! If you’ve never used project management software before — or you’ve used previous versions of Project and want to master the all-new Project 2010 interface and features — this is the book for you! You’ll find the project management concepts you need to know, how Project 2010 works and how to get up to speed, what’s new, and most importantly, how to apply it to a real project. • What do I do with this thing? — set up Project, learn what types of input you need to provide, and begin building project plans • Be resourceful — create and assign work resources, material resources, and fixed costs, and manage resources effectively • A perfect fit — ensure your project has a high chance of success by fine-tuning your plan • Running on rails — learn to use baselines, track progress and materials, and create reports that help keep projects on track • Enterprise options — get an overview of online collaborative features using Project Server, Web Application, and SharePoint Project 2010 Muir spine=.864” Microsoft ® www.it-ebooks.info Mobile Apps There’s a Dummies App for This and That With more than 200 million books in print and over 1,600 unique titles, Dummies is a global leader in how-to information. Now you can get the same great Dummies information in an App. With topics such as Wine, Spanish, Digital Photography, Certification, and more, you’ll have instant access to the topics you need to know in a format you can trust. To get information on all our Dummies apps, visit the following: www.Dummies.com/go/mobile from your computer. www.Dummies.com/go/iphone/apps from your phone. spine=.864” Start with FREE Cheat Sheets Cheat Sheets include • Checklists • Charts • Common Instructions • And Other Good Stuff! Get Smart at Dummies.com Dummies.com makes your life easier with 1,000s of answers on everything from removing wallpaper to using the latest version of Windows. Check out our • Videos • Illustrated Articles • Step-by-Step Instructions Plus, each month you can win valuable prizes by entering our Dummies.com sweepstakes. * Want a weekly dose of Dummies? 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Get More and Do More at Dummies.com ® To access the Cheat Sheet created specifically for this book, go to www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/project2010 www.it-ebooks.info by Nancy Muir Project 2010 FOR DUMmIES ‰ 01_501320-ffirs.indd i01_501320-ffirs.indd i 3/31/10 10:16 AM3/31/10 10:16 AM www.it-ebooks.info Project 2010 For Dummies ® Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc. 111 River Street Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774 www.wiley.com Copyright © 2010 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 Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, 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, Making Everything Easier, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/ or its af liates 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. 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THE FACT THAT AN ORGANIZA- TION OR WEBSITE IS REFERRED TO IN THIS WORK AS A CITATION AND/OR A POTENTIAL SOURCE OF FURTHER 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 877-762-2974, 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: 2010925237 ISBN: 978-0-470-50132-0 Manufactured in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 01_501320-ffirs.indd ii01_501320-ffirs.indd ii 3/31/10 10:16 AM3/31/10 10:16 AM www.it-ebooks.info About the Author Nancy Muir has written dozens of books on business and technology topics ranging from desktop applications, project management, and distance learn- ing, to an award-winning book on character education for middle-schoolers and a textbook on computer science for community colleges. 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 publish- ing industries. She lives in the Paci c Northwest with her husband Earl, with whom she has collaborated on three books, including Nanotechnology For Dummies. She writes a column on computers and the Internet for retirenet. com, and has authored three books about computing for seniors: Computers For Seniors For Dummies, Laptops For Seniors For Dummies, and Using the Internet Safely For Seniors For Dummies (with co-author Linda Criddle). 01_501320-ffirs.indd iii01_501320-ffirs.indd iii 3/31/10 10:16 AM3/31/10 10:16 AM www.it-ebooks.info 01_501320-ffirs.indd iv01_501320-ffirs.indd iv 3/31/10 10:16 AM3/31/10 10:16 AM www.it-ebooks.info Dedication To my husband Earl who puts up with my work schedule and makes every minute away from work fabulous. 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. Second I thank the folks at Wiley, including Kyle Looper, my able acquisitions editor, and Blair Pottenger, the book’s project editor who is always incred- ibly supportive and patient and helps me hold all the pieces together. Thanks also to copy editor John Edwards and technical editor Thuy Le for keeping my humble prose accurate and intelligible. 01_501320-ffirs.indd v01_501320-ffirs.indd v 3/31/10 10:16 AM3/31/10 10:16 AM www.it-ebooks.info Publisher’s Acknowledgments We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments at http://dummies.custhelp.com. For other comments, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002. Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following: Acquisitions, Editorial, and Media Development Project Editor: Blair J. Pottenger Acquisitions Editor: Kyle Looper Copy Editor: John Edwards Technical Editor: Thuy Le Editorial Manager: Kevin Kirschner Media Development Project Manager: Laura Moss-Hollister Media Development Assistant Project Manager: Jenny Swisher Media Development Associate Producers: Josh Frank, Marilyn Hummel, Douglas Kuhn, and Shawn Patrick Editorial Assistant: Amanda Graham Sr. Editorial Assistant: Cherie Case Cartoons: Rich Tennant (www.the5thwave.com) Composition Services Project Coordinator: Sheree Montgomery Layout and Graphics: Ashley Chamberlain, Joyce Haughey, Christine Williams Proofreaders: Melissa Cossell, Rebecca Denoncour, Toni Settle Indexer: Becky Hornyak 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 Composition Services Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services 01_501320-ffirs.indd vi01_501320-ffirs.indd vi 3/31/10 10:16 AM3/31/10 10:16 AM www.it-ebooks.info 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 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 It Is, and Why You Should 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 24 Starting from scratch 24 Starting with templates 28 Saving a Project for Posterity 30 Getting Help from Project 31 02_501320-ftoc.indd vii02_501320-ftoc.indd vii 3/31/10 10:16 AM3/31/10 10:16 AM www.it-ebooks.info Project 2010 For Dummies viii Chapter 2: The Best-Laid Plans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33 Project 2010’s New Interface 33 Using the Ribbon 34 The Backstage view 35 Finding commonly used commands 36 Navigating Project 36 Changing views 36 Scrolling around 38 Getting to a speci c spot in your plan 40 A Project with a View 41 Home base: Gantt Chart view 42 The resourceful views: Resource Sheet and Team Planner 43 Getting your timing down with the Timeline 44 Going with the  ow: Network Diagram view 44 Calling up Calendar view 46 Customizing Views 47 Working with view panes 48 Modifying the contents of the Network Diagram boxes 52 Resetting the view 54 Chapter 3: Mark It on Your Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55 Mastering Base, Project, Resource, and Task Calendars 55 How calendars work 56 How one calendar relates to another 58 Calendar Options and Working Times 58 Setting calendar options 59 Setting exceptions to working times 60 Setting the Project Calendar and Other Essential Project Information 62 Modifying Task Calendars 64 Making Resource Calendar Settings 65 Which resources get calendars? 65 Making the change to a resource’s calendar 65 Do It Yourself: Creating a Custom Calendar Template 68 Sharing Copies of Calendars 69 Chapter 4: A Tisket, a Task Kit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71 User-Controlled Scheduling: Manual versus Automatic 72 Tackling Your First Task 74 Identifying what makes up a task 74 Creating a task 75 You’re in It for the Duration 82 Tasks come in all  avors: Identifying task types 83 Setting task duration 84 02_501320-ftoc.indd viii02_501320-ftoc.indd viii 3/31/10 10:16 AM3/31/10 10:16 AM www.it-ebooks.info [...]... 3/31/10 10:17 AM 2 Project 2010 For Dummies Windows functions (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,... help you begin to use Microsoft Office Project 2010 to plan, build, and track progress on projects, keeping in mind tried-and-true project management practices and principles I divided the book into logical parts that follow the process of building and tracking a typical project plan Part I: Setting the Stage for Project Part I explains what Project 2010 can do for you as well as what types of input... you glean from your projects to make better planning choices going forward Part V: Working with Enterprise Projects With all that Project Professional has to offer the enterprise via its Project Server and Project Web App (also called Project Web Application; formerly called Project Web Access) functionalities and SharePoint online services, you can share documents online with your project team, have... accompanied by a companion Web site filled with project management goodies, including links to project management add-on software and some example Microsoft Project files that you can experiment with To access this book’s Web site, point your Web browser to www .dummies. com/ go /project2 010 www.it-ebooks.info 03_501320-intro.indd 5 3/31/10 10:17 AM 6 Project 2010 For Dummies www.it-ebooks.info 03_501320-intro.indd... a Project 338 Building on Your Success 340 Create a template 340 Master the Organizer 342 Handy little timesavers: Macros 344 Part V: Working with Enterprise Projects 351 Chapter 18: Project Web App for the Project Manager .353 Figuring Out Whether Project Server Is for You 354 Getting a Handle on What You Can Do with Project Server and Project. .. use them In Microsoft Office Project 2010 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 manager to make the... report their work time, and even integrate Project information with Outlook This part shows you the basics of what Project Server can do, and how to use Project Web App from both the managers’ and users’ perspective www.it-ebooks.info 03_501320-intro.indd 3 3/31/10 10:17 AM 4 Project 2010 For Dummies Part VI: The Part of Tens Ten seems to be a handy number of items for humans to put into lists, so this... Rescheduling the Project 226 Mixing Solutions Up 226 Chapter 11: Making Your Project Look Good 227 Putting Your Best Foot Forward 228 Getting to the Critical Stuff 228 Formatting Task Bars 229 www.it-ebooks.info 02_501320-ftoc.indd xi 3/31/10 10:16 AM xii Project 2010 For Dummies Restyling Your Gantt Chart 232 Formatting Task... Project Management: What It Is, and Why You Should Care In This Chapter ▶ Discovering how traditional project management makes the move to software ▶ Understanding what elements of a project are managed in Project ▶ Understanding the project manager’s role ▶ Exploring the role of the Internet in project management ▶ Using a template to start a new project ▶ Saving a project file ▶ Finding help in Project. .. 10 Part I: Setting the Stage for Project The ABCs of Project Management You probably handle projects day in and day out Some are obvious, because your boss named them so that any fool would know that they’re projects: the Acme Drilling Project or the Network Expansion IT Project, for example Others are less obvious, such as that speech thing you have to do on Saturday for your professional association . Nanotechnology For Dummies. She writes a column on computers and the Internet for retirenet. com, and has authored three books about computing for seniors: Computers For Seniors For Dummies, Laptops For. 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, Making Everything Easier, . Sheet created specifically for this book, go to www .dummies. com/cheatsheet /project2 010 www.it-ebooks.info by Nancy Muir Project 2010 FOR DUMmIES ‰ 01_501320-ffirs.indd i01_501320-ffirs.indd