Microsoft Project 2003 For Dummies: Edition 4

Nancy Stevenson

Feb 2011 · John Wiley & Sons

About this ebook

Whether your job is to manage the construction of a building, oversee the launch of a new product, host an international event, or plan a company party, Microsoft Project 2003 can help. Microsoft Project 2003 For Dummies shows you how to use the program to plan, schedule, and budget all phases of a project, assign the resources, create essential reports, and monitor your progress. If you’re new to Project, you’ll find what you need to get up to speed, including info 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 delve into Project 2003 and all of the new features it puts at your fingertips. Complete with case histories, screen shots, and step-by-step instructions, this guide walks you through:

• Making calendar settings, building a task-outline, and entering timing and timing relationships for tasks
• Assigning resources and material costs to tasks
• Using scheduling and tracking tools: The Gantt Chart which is the main view of Project; The Network Diagram (version of a PERT (program Evaluation and Review Technique) chart; Risk management; and Resource management
• Recalculating based on what-if scenarios to solve resource conflicts, get your costs within budget, or meet your deadlines
• Understanding the task/subtask structure, creating an outline, and working with WBS (Work Breakdown Structure) codes
• Working with a combination of cost types (fixed, work, and material) and customizing costs fields with Value Lists
• Saving your plan with a baseline
• Using the tracking toolbar and to record actual activity, update fixed costs, and more
• Generating and formatting standard reports (complete with graphics), creating custom reports, and using the XML Reporting Wizard

If you have Project Server (that complements Project 2003 but is not included), this book shows you how to use Project in an enterprise environment to centralize information online and get real online collaboration. You can publish projects to the Web, allow team members to update their progress, analyze your project status, and generally communicate in one central, online location.

Microsoft Project 2003 For Dummies is complete with a bonus CD-ROM that includes:

• Add-on tools and templates
• Case history examples
• Test preparation questions for the Project Management Institute (PMI) certification exam
• Milestones Project Companion and Project KickStart trial versions
• Cobra, WBS Chart Pro, PERT Chart Expert, and TimeSheet Professional demo versions

Use this friendly guide to get comfortable with Project. You’ll wonder how you managed without it.

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About the author

Nancy Stevenson has written more than 40 books on topics from motivation to wireless technology. Nancy co-authored the Microsoft Project 98 Bible and a project-management textbook for college students. She’s a project management expert who has presented seminars for Fortune 500 companies.