Microsoft Project level 2, advanced

Context and rationale

Microsoft Project (MS Project or MSP) is Microsoft software dedicated to project management. It enables planners and project managers to organise and steer a project, and to manage resources, budget and data analysis.

This MS Project course will enable you to acquire the technical knowledge needed to produce PERT and Gantt charts, assign teams, manage workload peaks and automatically generate documentation in Word, PDF and HTML formats.

Training objectives

Identifying what Project can do in the field of resource management
Defining what Project brings and its limits in multi-project resource management
Building and monitoring your dedicated team's workload plan
Reviewing all the fundamentals of project planning
Discovering advanced features and understanding how to use them

Training content

Review of the fundamentals

Definitions of project, Microsoft Project, programme...
Project management approach adopted by the tool
Principle of siloed projects and overall planning
Rules and limits for multi-project consolidation of project files

Preparing the resource pool (developing your project)

Introduction and presentation of the software's capabilities for sharing resources or schedules
Drawing up the list of resources
Identifying deliverables (PBS)
Organising resources (OBS)
The different types of resources
Managing the team's availability and day-to-day operation (working hours, leave)
Introduction to RACI
Organising your project before entering it in MS Project
Managing special cases (part-time work, leave, absences...)

Planning the project workload with MS Project

Review of the interface and navigation
The project calendar
The project start date
Description of the task
Focus on manual and automatic scheduling
Formatting task details
Focus on duration and work (workload)
List of activities
Estimating task duration
Predecessor concepts
The different types of links
Float (free and total)
The critical path
Linking tasks using a drop-down menu
Summary task name field
Timeline bar labels and task progress
Managing several timelines

Resource planning (optimising the workload plan)

Defining the concept of resources
Defining capacity
Balancing workload and capacity
Assigning resources
Identifying critical tasks and resources
Prioritising (prioritisation methods and practices)
Smoothing workload peaks manually or with the levelling tool
Managing resources in a multi-project or programme context

Monitoring and steering projects with MS Project

Freezing the forecast schedule
Project monitoring methods
Measuring project progress
Progress lines
The different project monitoring views
Impact of new scheduling
Links between projects

Multi-project management with MS Project

Using a professional version (possibilities and limits)
Using a server version: prerequisites and fundamentals to respect
Version management
Rights management (good practices)
Steering the project
Steering projects (multi-project, programmes and portfolios)
Focus on progress reports
Dashboards
Conclusion

Communicating with dashboards

The time-time chart
Calculating overall project progress
The S-curve
Focus on BCWS (planned budget), ACWP (actual cost of work) and BCWP (earned value)
Formatted reports
Customised reports

Agile project management (2019 version)

New Sprints tab
Adding tasks to the sprint
Task board sheet
Sprint planning
Updating a sprint
Adding resources
Agile reports

Case studies

The training takes the form of a documented presentation, delivered by the trainer for each module;
Case studies;
Discussions (interactive work between participants);
Reactions, observations, suggestions;
Illustration of strengths and weaknesses;
Theoretical and practical input;
Practical exercises
MS Project course materials
Assessment of learning at the end of the training

Let's discuss your training needs

Free, no-obligation offer. An adviser will call you back within 48 hours.