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.
- 00:09 The learning objective for this course is to help you learn a little bit more about
- 00:13 what Microsoft Project can do for you.
- 00:15 And also what other technologies Microsoft
- 00:18 offers under this product umbrella called Microsoft Project.
- 00:23 Microsoft Project is a desktop tool you install on your computer.
- 00:29 As I finalize this video, Microsoft announced the project service,
- 00:34 which includes a desktop like feature that works in the standard web browser.
- 00:39 However, this course only covers the desktop version.
- 00:44 With Microsoft Project, you can build and track project schedules.
- 00:49 As you can imagine, there are basic features for the beginner and
- 00:53 more advanced features for large and complex projects.
- 00:57 Microsoft Project offers four core features as you can see in the figure.
- 01:02 Starting at the top left,
- 01:04 you can create tasks that represent the steps to complete a project.
- 01:08 You can assign resources such as the people, materials, or
- 01:13 equipment needed to perform the tasks.
- 01:16 You can track progress by comparing the project's current state of
- 01:20 completion to the original baseline plan.
- 01:23 You can create reports to visualize progress and
- 01:27 share that information with your project team, stakeholders, and sponsors.
- 01:32 Microsoft offers a product called Microsoft Project Server that you install
- 01:37 in your company's IT infrastructure.
- 01:39 Microsoft is moving that product line to the Cloud moving forward.
- 01:43 So you will also hear it referred to as Project Online,
- 01:47 the Project Service, or simply Project Management Solutions.
- 01:52 Moving forward, I will use the term Project Service.
- 01:57 As you can see in the figure, the Project Service enables executives,
- 02:01 managers, project managers, and teams to standardize their processes.
- 02:06 Executives can use Portfolio Management capabilities to select which
- 02:11 projects they will sponsor, and then track the progress of those projects.
- 02:16 Instead of saving your project file to a folder on your computer,
- 02:20 you can use the Project Service to save all your projects into a central
- 02:25 location in a database.
- 02:27 The Project Service provides a web-based user interface that makes it easy for
- 02:33 project teams, project managers, executives, and
- 02:37 resource managers to track progress.
- 02:40 The Project Service is based on a technology called Microsoft SharePoint.
- 02:45 SharePoint allows teams to collaborate on project documents,
- 02:49 track issues, risks, and much more.
- 02:52 When you use the Project Service, you're using the project management
- 02:59 industry terms of portfolio and project management or PPM.
- 03:04 You may also hear people refer to it as Enterprise Project Management or EPM.
- 03:10 But portfolio project management is the most common term.
- 03:15 I mentioned all of this so
- 03:17 you are aware of the various products available to you as a project manager.
- 03:22 The Project Service and SharePoint are outside the scope of this course.
- 03:28 In conclusion, as you start following the lessons,
- 03:32 remember to carefully consider what features you will use.
- 03:36 So you are in control of the project,
- 03:39 and Microsoft Project does not start managing you.
Lesson notes are only available for subscribers.
PMI, PMP, CAPM and PMBOK are registered marks of the Project Management Institute, Inc.