Locked lesson.
About this lesson
With Microsoft Project, you can build and track project schedules.
Lesson versions
Multiple versions of this lesson are available, choose the appropriate version for you:
2013, 2019/365.
Quick reference
About Microsoft Project
Microsoft Project is a family of products, which include:
- Microsoft Project Professional
- Microsoft Project Standard
- Microsoft Project Pro
- Microsoft Project Server
You can use this course for Project Professional, Project Standard, and Project Pro. Project Server is a product that allows you to store your entire portfolio of projects in a database.
If you are a project manager using Project Server, then you will have to use Project Professional or Project Pro to create project plans, so this course can still be valuable to you.
Further Discussion
Microsoft Project is a desktop tool you install on your computer. With Microsoft Project, you can build and track project schedules. As you can imagine, there are basic features for the beginner and more advanced features for large and complex projects. Microsoft Project offers four core features as shown in the figure.
- Create tasks that represent the steps to complete the project.
- Assign resources such as the people, materials, or equipment needed to deliver the project.
- Track project performance by comparing the project’s current state of completion to the original baseline plan.
- Create reports to visualize the project’s progress and share them with your project team, stakeholders, and sponsors.
Steps
If you want to learn Microsoft Project, I recommend you take the following steps:
- Take this course to learn the fundamentals of using Microsoft Project.
- Select a project you are -- or will be -- working on and build a project from scratch with what you learn from this course.
- Avoid using advanced features so the tool does not overwhelm you.
- 00:04 In this lesson, I will give you a brief overview of Microsoft Project.
- 00:08 The learning objectives for this course will help you learn a little bit more
- 00:12 about what Microsoft Project can do for you.
- 00:15 And also what other technologies Microsoft offers under
- 00:19 this product umbrella called Microsoft Project.
- 00:25 Microsoft Project is a desktop tool you install in your computer.
- 00:29 With Microsoft Project, you can build and track project schedules.
- 00:34 As you can imagine, there are basic features for
- 00:37 the beginner and more advanced features for large and complex projects.
- 00:42 Microsoft Project offers four core features, as you can see on the figure.
- 00:48 Starting at the top left,
- 00:50 you can create tasks that represent the steps to complete the project.
- 00:55 You can assign resources such as the people, materials,
- 00:59 or equipment needed to deliver the project.
- 01:04 You can track project progress by comparing the project's
- 01:09 current state of completion to the original baseline plan.
- 01:14 You can create reports to visualize the project's progress and
- 01:18 share that information with your project team, stakeholders, and sponsors.
- 01:23 Microsoft offers a product called Microsoft Project Server.
- 01:28 You'll also hear it referred to as Project Online if you use it with Office 365.
- 01:34 As you can see in the figure, Project Server enables executives, managers,
- 01:39 project managers, and teams to standardize their processes.
- 01:45 Executives can use portfolio management capabilities to select
- 01:49 which projects they will sponsor and then track the progress of those projects.
- 01:55 Instead of saving your Microsoft Project file to a folder on your computer, you can
- 02:00 use Microsoft Project Server to save all of your projects into a central location.
- 02:06 And the central location happens to be what we call a database.
- 02:10 Project Server provides a web based user interface that makes it easy for
- 02:15 project teams, project managers, executives, and
- 02:19 resource managers to track project progress.
- 02:23 Project Server is based on a technology called Microsoft SharePoint.
- 02:28 SharePoint allows teams to collaborate on project documents, track issues,
- 02:33 risks, and much more.
- 02:35 When you use Microsoft Project Server, you are using what the project management
- 02:40 industry terms a Portfolio and Project Management System, or PPM.
- 02:48 You may also hear people refer to Microsoft Project Server as
- 02:51 an Enterprise Project Management System, or EPM,
- 02:57 but Portfolio Project Management System, or PPM, is the most common term.
- 03:05 I mention all this so
- 03:06 you are aware of the various products available to you as a project manager.
- 03:11 PPM and Microsoft Project Server and
- 03:14 SharePoint are outside the scope of this course.
- 03:20 In conclusion,
- 03:21 remember that Microsoft Project is a tool that helps you track the project.
- 03:26 Don't use so many features that the tool starts managing you.
- 03:31 Now, if you want a tool that will take your Microsoft Project schedules and
- 03:36 share it with a wider audience, you can do that using SharePoint,
- 03:41 Microsoft Project Server, or you can even rent Microsoft Project Server
- 03:47 using Microsoft Project Online for Office 365.
- 03:50 This course is not designed to cover the features of
- 03:55 Microsoft Project Server, Project Online, or SharePoint.
- 04:01 So the focus here for the remainder of this course will be to help you
- 04:06 learn how to use Microsoft Project on the desktop.
Lesson notes are only available for subscribers.
PMI, PMP, CAPM and PMBOK are registered marks of the Project Management Institute, Inc.