Service Overview

Microsoft Project Training

Project Management Training

Course Content & Design

Course Structure & Delivery

Microsoft Project Training

“Microsoft Project Real World Best Practices”

Overview

This course covers precisely what project managers need to know to be successful using Microsoft Project. As the title indicates, it consists of best practices using Microsoft Project that truly work in the real world of project management. It is unique in that it is centered not on learning the application’s functionality, but rather, on learning how to easily and effectively use that functionality to actually manage projects. As a result, Project Managers learn how to better manage their projects to conclude on time, on budget, as specified.

This course is based on a highly successful series of training events and seminars provided by AIS on Microsoft Project best practices for organizations such as Boston University, HP and Microsoft. Also note that all associated underlying project management processes and practices are based on the Project Management Institute’s Third Edition PMBOK®.

Course Description

This course directly follows and supports the project management life cycle starting with initiating activities required prior to even entering data into Microsoft Project, and concluding with project closure. It is a highly interactive, hands-on, example based course, and has been structured so that students work on individual PC’s while following the instructor’s presentation. The result of this approach is that students are able to directly apply what they have learned back at their place of work, and therefore better manage their projects to more successful conclusions with far less demand on time.

In addition, because Project Managers will now be trained to utilize the same best practices based approach to project plan development and management, status reporting, stakeholder communication, plan comparisons, roll-ups and overall portfolio governance will improve as well.

This course is applicable for all versions of Microsoft Project including Project 2000, 2002, 2003 and 2007 standard and professional.

Course Tools

All students will automatically receive the following three tools to assist them in better managing their projects with less demand on time: The Project Manager’s Toolbox®, The Project Management Companion®, and The SSW® (Student Support Webinar), each of which  is highlighted below.

1. The Project Manager’s Toolbox®

All students will receive a copy of AIS’ highly acclaimed Project Manager’s Toolbox®. The Project Manager’s Toolbox® is a seamless Microsoft Project plug-in that directly supports best practices for managing estimates, risk, contingency planning and project Hot-Spots. As each student will learn, Hot-Spots are those elements within a project plan that matter most to a project’s eventual success or failure, and therefore, must be understood and managed appropriately. The Project Manager's Toolbox® provides a simple, automated means to do just that.

The Project Manager’s Toolbox®
“Easily manage what matters most.”

Note: This example displays all estimated tasks, contingency items, and Hot-Spots, along with early and late deadlines. Numerous other automated display & utilization options are provided as well.

The Project Manager’s Toolbox® will install seamlessly into Microsoft Project® 2000, 2002, 2003 or 2007 with a single click, and without the need to have administrative rights. It can be used with either new or existing project plans. Best of all, it enables students to immediately begin using techniques learned to better manage projects with less demand on time.

2. The Project Management Companion®

All students will receive a copy of the Project Manager’s Companion® which is a series of “how-to” checklists to be used back at the place of work as a reminder of exactly what to do to, step by step, to accomplish a give task in Microsoft Project. The Companion also ties directly back to the student workbook so that students can immediately revisit specific supporting course material as needed to both provide context as well as further reinforce learnings on the job.

3. The SSW® (Student Support Webinar)

All students will receive an invitation to attend an exclusive Student Support Webinar. This is a live, one hour follow up session held approximately 30 days after training concludes. It is specifically designed to address any and all outstanding questions students might have concerning any aspect of the application of these best practices to real world project management situations.

Course Outline

1.  Before launching Microsoft Project

1. Confirmation: Charter, scope, schedule, budget, anticipated benefits, constraints, priority & importance to organization.
2. Big Three: Risks, Assumptions & Unknowns
3. Prioritize Triple Constraint
4. Planning, Planning, Planning
5. Kick-Off Meetings
6. Project Managers’ Responsibilities (Project Management vs. Project Deliverable)
7. Developing a WBS/PBS
8. Developing a network/precedence diagram
9. Identify team & supporting resources

2.  Initial set-up: Default Project Attributes

1. Project calendar (working times) for your project
2. Organizational calendar (holidays)
3. Project start date
4. Defaults e.g. task types
5. Other options: Automated linking, calculating etc. and recommendations
6. Folder Set-Up: Plan of Record, PM Working Copy, What-If Analysis, Back-Up, Templates & naming conventions

3.  Three Key Concepts

1. Task Types
2. Constraints
3. Dependencies

4.  Initial Plan Development: Part One

1. Templates: Creation & Use
2. Initial Resource Set-Up
3. Actual and generic resources
4. Proposed vs. committed resources
5. Resource groupings
6. Material resources
7. Resource cost values
8. Resource calendars & availability
9. “Top Gun Trap”

 5.  Initial Plan Development: Part Two

1. The WBS: work breakdown structure
2. Options for fixing the WBS in MS Project
3. The PBS: process breakdown structure
4. Special tasks: summary tasks & recurring tasks
5. Milestones & deadlines
6. Plan structure options, summary tasks & indentation
7. Task calendars: “The Weekend System Implementation”
8. Estimates & “The Six Rules of Estimating”
9. Color based estimate development & management
10. Project management related tasks & deliverables

6.  Assignments, Resource Pools & Scheduling

1. Resource assignments
2. Alternatives for assigning resources
3. Editing assignments
4. Managing more than one resource on a task, driver resources
5. Managing delays & wait tasks
6. “The Application Stress testing Lab”
7. Resource over allocations
8. Resource Pools (non-MS EPM)
9. Project Plan Consolidations & “What-if” analysis
10. First pass scheduling & problem resolution

7.  Risk, Contingency & Deadlines

1. Managing high ambiguity tasks, deliverables, unknowns & uncertainty (Iteration, Adaptive Framework, Lock-Points)
2. Custom columns & VBA
3. Managing risk events
4. Managing project Hot-Spots
5. Contingency planning & management
6. MSP: Managed Schedule Parameters
7. Deadlines & Milestones

 8.  Plan Optimization

1. Plan validation
2. Schedule review, task sequencing & relationships
3. Task splitting & concurrency
4. Calendars: Situational use of modified base calendars
5. Resource assignments & What-if
6. Resource over allocations
7. Resource leveling

9.  Baselining

1. When & how to baseline
2. Variance & baseline tables
3. Baselines & change control
4. Using multiple baselines

10. Communications & Reporting

1. Communication overview  & planning
2. Definition by audience
3. The NTCP-Diamond Model
4. Key issues: Structure, consistency, demand on time, distribution
5. Email based reporting
6. Web based reporting

 11. Project Tracking

1. Plan Updating
2. The Tracking Toolbar: Options
3. The Time Bulldozer
4. Automated updating via email & Excel
5. Schedule impact of performance delays & early conclusions
6. Understanding alternatives & automated communication

 12. Plan Management & Forecasting

1. Performance barometers: critical Path & Total Slack
2. Variances: “What is slipping?”
3. Schedule, cost, work and diagnostics
4. Forecasting: EAC & directionally correct Earned value
5. Managing historical plan performance

 13. Project Closure

1. Project deliverables
2. Metrics for project performance
3. Lessons learned

Course Logistics

Rather than have its courses delivered by instructors who are more experienced as presenters rather than as project managers, AIS offers only highly experienced, senior Project Managers as consultant course leaders. This ensures that real world examples can be effectively incorporated into the learning experience, and just as importantly, that real world questions and issues raised by attendees can be quickly and accurately responded to in the classroom to the benefit of all.

This course is offered as a three day, instructor led onsite class.

Additional Information

There are many more truly unique, high value aspects to this course. For more information about this or other AIS project management courses, please email Stephanie in our Training Department at ssnell@atlanticsys.com or call our Training Department directly at 781-829-9888 x293.