Book Image

Learning Microsoft Project 2019

By : Srikanth Shirodkar
Book Image

Learning Microsoft Project 2019

By: Srikanth Shirodkar

Overview of this book

Microsoft Project is one of the most popular project management tools for enterprises of all sizes thanks to its wide variety of features such as project scheduling, project budgeting, built-in templates, and reporting tools. Learning Microsoft Project 2019 will get you started with the basics and gradually guide you through the complete project life cycle. Starting with an overview of Microsoft Project 2019 and a brief introduction to project management concepts, this book will take you through the different phases of project management – initiation, planning, execution, control, and closure. You will then learn how to identify and handle problems related to scheduling, costing, resourcing, and work allocation. Understand how to use dynamic reports to create powerful, automated reports and dashboards at the click of a button. This Microsoft Project book highlights the pitfalls of overallocation and demonstrates how to avoid and resolve these issues using a wide spectrum of tools, techniques, and best practices. Finally, you will focus on executing Agile projects efficiently and get to grips with using Kanban and Scrum features. By the end of this book, you will be well-versed with Microsoft Project and have the skills you need to use it effectively in every stage of project management.
Table of Contents (32 chapters)
1
Section 1: The Iron Triangle – a Quick Primer for Project Management
3
Section 2: Project Initiation with Microsoft Project
8
Section 3: Project Planning Like a Pro!
13
Section 4: Project Execution – the Real Deal
15
Chapter 11: Overallocation – the Bane of Project Managers
18
Section 5: Monitoring and Control with Microsoft Project
23
Section 6: Project Closure with Microsoft Project
Appendix A: Using This Book as a Textbook
Appendix C: Keyboard Shortcuts
Appendix D: Glossary

Modifying an existing report

We will start with a simple exercise and slowly decipher the intricacy involved. Project ships with a lot of graphical reports, but often, you will want to tweak the report to suit your own style of reporting.

First, we will load the COST OVERVIEW dashboard report from the Report tab | the Dashboards drop-down button | the Cost Overview report button.

On this dashboard, PROGRESS VERSUS COST is an important graphical report that compares project completeness against costs incurred along the project timescale:

Figure 19.1 – The PROGRESS VERSUS COST graph

The following are a few important points to note about this graph:

  • The Cumulative Percent Complete data field is plotted on the left vertical axis.
  • Cumulative Cost is plotted on the right vertical axis, with its values in dollars.
  • A weekly timescale is plotted on the horizontal axis, completing the graph. Notice that the timescale is hard to interpret...