Microsoft Project Support Course
Information in this document and included materials is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of Microsoft Corporation. This document is provided for informational purposes only and Microsoft Corporation makes no warranties, either express or implied, in this document. The entire risk of the use or the results of the use of this document remains with the user. Companies, names, and data used in examples herein are fictitious unless otherwise noted. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, for any purpose, without the express written permission of Microsoft Corporation.
Microsoft, MS, Intellimouse, IntelliSense, Internet Explorer, Outlook, PowerPoint, SQL Server, SQL Server, Windows, Windows NT, Visual Basic, Visual Basic Editor , and Visual C++ are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.
Macintosh is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc.
Other product and company names herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
PUBLISHED BY
Microsoft Corporation
One Microsoft Way
Redmond, WA 98052-6399
© 1998 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Microsoft Project 98 Support Course
Part Number: 098-80553
June, 1998
Written By:
Andy Rabun and Jim Sommers
Table of Contents
Module 1 - Introduction...... 1
Lesson 1.1: Introduction to Project Management...... 3
Overview...... 4
Lesson 1.2: Introduction to Microsoft Project...... 11
How Microsoft Project Helps...... 12
New/ Improved Features...... 13
Usage Features...... 13
Scheduling and Costing Features:...... 13
Data Import/Export Features...... 15
Visual Basic Applications Features...... 15
Workgroup Features...... 15
Module 2 - Setup...... 1
Lesson 2.1: Setup...... 3
Microsoft Project 98 Setup...... 4
System Requirements...... 4
Setting Up Microsoft Project on a Network...... 6
Installing the Workgroup Message Handler...... 10
New Microsoft Project 98 Limits...... 12
Tools Options Registry Settings...... 14
Lesson 2.2: Upgrade Issues...... 21
Overview of Microsoft Project 98 file system...... 22
File Formats Supported in Microsoft Project 98...... 22
Automatic Updating...... 28
Global Upgrade Mode in the Organizer...... 31
Cross-Language Upgrading...... 32
Module 3 - Import and Export...... 1
Lesson 3.1: Overview of the File System...... 3
Overview of Microsoft Project 98 file system...... 4
File Formats Supported in Microsoft Project 98...... 4
Code Page Support...... 9
Lesson 3.2: Import-Export Interface...... 19
The Microsoft Project 98 Import-Export Interface...... 20
ODBC Interface...... 20
Reading and Writing Data in Microsoft Project 98...... 20
Changes to the File Open and File Save Dialogs...... 21
The Read and Write Process...... 23
Saving a Complete Project to an Arbitrary Database via ODBC...... 26
Concurrent Usage and Project Locking...... 30
Database Permissions...... 32
Database Modification or Corruption...... 32
Lesson 3.3: Database Structure for Full Saves...... 66
Saving Entire Projects to a Database...... 67
Supported ODBC Databases...... 67
Database Overview...... 67
Database Table and Field Names...... 74
Enumerated Types versus Text Strings...... 74
Enumerated to Text Conversion Tables...... 75
Note Fields...... 94
Custom Fields...... 95
Project_Information table...... 102
Reserved_CommandBars table...... 109
Reserved_ExternalDataLinks table...... 109
Reserved_ImportExportMaps table...... 111
Reserved_Filters table...... 111
Reserved_Modules table...... 112
Reserved_Reports table...... 112
Reserved_Tables table...... 113
Reserved_CustomForms table...... 113
Reserved_V_iews table...... 114
Calendars table...... 115
Calendar_Working_Times table...... 116
Calendar_Exceptions table...... 117
Task_Dependencies table...... 118
Reserved_AssignmentPoolInfo table...... 119
Task_Information table...... 123
Resource_Information table...... 129
Assignment_Information table...... 133
Resource_Rates table...... 137
Assignment_Remaining_Work table...... 138
Assignment_Actual_Work table...... 139
Assignment_Overtime_Work table...... 140
Assignment_Actual_Exceptions table...... 141
Assignment_Baseline_Work table...... 141
Assignment_Baseline_Cost table...... 142
Assignment_Actual_Cost table...... 142
Resource_Baseline_Work table...... 143
Resource_Baseline_Cost table...... 144
Task_Baseline_Work table...... 145
Task_Baseline_Cost table...... 146
Task_Percent_Complete table...... 146
Task_Baseline_Interim_Splits table...... 147
Lesson 3.4: HTML File Type...... 152
Selective Export to HTML...... 153
Exporting With and Without a Template...... 157
The Charset Tag...... 160
The HTML Output...... 161
Exporting Special Characters...... 163
Module 4 - Viewing and Editing...... 1
Lesson 4.1: User Interface Overview...... 3
User Interface Overview...... 4
Menus...... 10
Microsoft Project 98 default menus...... 10
Toolbars...... 19
Outline symbols in Usage views...... 42
Double-clicking task, resource, and assignment records...... 43
Expanding Inserted Projects...... 43
Lesson 4.2: Customizing the User Interface...... 51
Custom Fields...... 52
How to Create/Modify the Menu Bar and Toolbars...... 59
Lesson 4.3: Formatting Improvements...... 62
Rich Edit Features...... 63
Lesson 4.4: Filter Improvements and AutoFilter...... 78
New Microsoft Project 98 Filter Features...... 79
Filters in Usage Views...... 85
Lesson 4.5: Printing and Reports...... 96
Printing Improvements in Microsoft Project 98...... 97
Maximum number of rows in the header, footer, and legend...... 103
Crosstab Report Definition Improvements...... 104
Duration and Work Labels...... 106
Changes to the Task and Resource Reports...... 107
Report Gallery Improvements...... 109
New Shipping Reports...... 109
Printing Resource Cost Rate Tables...... 109
Usage views as an alternative to crosstab reports...... 110
Lesson 4.6: View Changes and Improvements...... 113
View Changes and Improvements...... 114
View Overview...... 114
New and Improved View Types in Microsoft Project 98...... 116
Changes in the Microsoft Project 98 More Views list...... 116
Lesson 4.7: Usage Views...... 126
Introduction to Usage Views...... 127
Column Widths...... 129
Timescale Zooming and Nonworking Time...... 130
Outlining and Grouping...... 131
The Unassigned Resource...... 132
Displaying and Formatting Different Sets of Timephased Data...... 132
Default Format of the Task Usage View...... 136
Sorting...... 136
Filtering...... 139
Usage Views as Master and Slave Panes...... 141
Moving (changing the cell with focus) in a Timescaled Grid...... 144
Selection Behavior in a Timescaled Grid...... 145
Fill Up/Down/Left/Right in a Timescaled Grid...... 146
Inserting and Deleting in a Timescaled Grid...... 147
Deleting Rows in Usage Views...... 147
Inserting Rows in Usage Views...... 148
Editing Names in Usage Views...... 148
Adding Duplicate Assignments...... 148
Drag and Drop in Usage Views...... 149
Cutting, Copying and Pasting Records...... 152
Task Fields Shared with Assignments...... 155
Resource Fields Shared with Assignments...... 156
Timephased Usage Fields...... 157
Lesson 4.8: OLE and Copy Picture...... 162
OLE Support...... 163
Inserting a Project object...... 164
Project as an In-Place Container...... 173
Lesson 4.9: Office Assistant...... 201
Office Assistant...... 202
Introduction to Office Assistant...... 202
General Behavior...... 203
Office Assistant Alerts Format...... 208
PlanningWizard Interface...... 210
Module 5 - Scheduling...... 1
Lesson 5.1: Schedule from Project Start/Finish Date...... 3
Scheduling a Project from Finish...... 4
ASAP and ALAP task behavior...... 5
Task Leveling Delay...... 5
Resource Assignment Delay...... 8
No Later Than Constraints...... 8
Flexible vs. Fixed Durations...... 9
Lesson 5.2: Calendars and Availability...... 11
Calendars Overview...... 12
Selecting Weekday letters versus date cells...... 13
Working Time Formatting...... 14
The New command (in the Change Working Time dialog)...... 16
The Options command (in the Change Working Time dialog)...... 16
Week Starts On...... 18
Fiscal Calendar...... 20
Lesson 5.3: Constraints...... 27
New setting: Tasks will always honor their constraint dates...... 28
Lesson 5.4: Task Types and Effort Driven Options...... 31
Task Type and Effort Driven settings...... 32
Fixed Work and Effort Driven Settings...... 34
Interface changes related to the Type and Effort Driven fields...... 34
Increasing the value in the task Duration field...... 35
Decreasing the value in the task Duration field...... 37
Extending a task or task part in the Gantt Chart...... 39
Reducing a task or task part in the Gantt Chart...... 40
Summary Tasks and Subproject Tasks...... 40
Effort Driven Calculations...... 40
Adding/Removing assignments if the task has Actual Work...... 42
Restrictions When Assigning a Resource to an Effort Driven Task...... 45
Summary Tasks and Inserted Project tasks are Never Effort Driven...... 46
Lesson 5.5: Resource Contouring...... 48
Resource Contouring...... 49
Smallest Timeslice...... 50
Technical Definition of a Contour...... 50
Even Distribution of Edited Timescaled Data...... 51
Preservation of Contour Shape...... 51
Assignment Information General Tab...... 55
Assignment Information Tracking Tab...... 57
Assignment Information Notes Tab...... 58
Derivation of the Equation...... 64
Formulas for Edited Contours...... 67
Usage Records that Can be Edited...... 67
Editing Assignment Timephased Work...... 67
Editing Assignment (Total) Duration, Units, and Work...... 68
Editing Task Timephased Work...... 70
Editing Task Total Work...... 71
Edits to Task Duration...... 79
Microsoft Project 4.x default assignment work...... 82
Microsoft Project 98 default assignment work...... 85
Actual and Remaining Duration...... 89
Editing Assignment Start and Finish Dates...... 89
Editing Assignment Actual Start and Actual Finish Dates...... 90
Predefined versus Edited...... 93
Editing Assignment Timephased Actual Work...... 93
Editing Assignment Remaining Work...... 94
Editing Assignment (Total) Actual Work...... 95
Editing Assignment % Work Complete...... 95
Editing Task Timephased Actual Work...... 95
Editing Task Actual Work...... 96
Task Remaining Work...... 96
Task Actual Start Date...... 96
Task Actual Finish Date...... 97
Task % Complete...... 100
Update Task Status Updates Resource Status...... 100
Task % Work Complete...... 101
In Schedule From Start Projects:...... 102
In Schedule From Finish Projects:...... 102
How Overtime is Scheduled...... 104
How Changes Task Duration impacts OT...... 108
How Changes to Assignment Units impacts OT...... 108
How OT is Scheduled Within a Day...... 108
Actual Overtime...... 108
How OT is related to other Assignment Fields...... 109
The Microsoft Project 98 Save Baseline Command...... 113
Microsoft Project 4.x Baseline Features...... 113
Microsoft Project 98 Improved Baseline Features...... 113
Increases/decreases in Work always occur at the end of the Assignment...... 115
Lesson 5.6: Task Splitting...... 121
Task Splitting and Scheduling...... 122
Splits Caused by Leveling...... 126
Stop and Resume Fields...... 128
Split In-Progress Tasks...... 134
Baseline and Interim Plan Split Information...... 134
Task versus Assignment Splits...... 137
Splits and Predefined Work Contours...... 137
Basics of Dragging...... 138
Summary Tasks Do Not Support Splits...... 138
Splitting an existing task or split part...... 138
Dragging to reschedule the remaining part...... 140
Creating a new split part...... 144
Linking...... 151
Assigning Resources...... 151
Gantt Chart Bar Styles for Split Tasks...... 152
Calendar View...... 156
Lesson 5.7: Multiple Critical Paths...... 161
Multiple Critical Paths...... 162
Lesson 5.8: Leveling...... 165
Leveling...... 166
Task, Resource and Assignment Fields Related to Leveling...... 166
Resource Leveling Dialog...... 168
Leveling and Hard / Soft Constraints...... 177
Examples of the interaction between leveling related settings...... 176
Leveling from a Finish Date...... 181
Recurring Tasks Default to Do Not Level...... 181
Leveling Progress Indicator...... 181
Leveling Gantt View...... 180
Overtime...... 182
Leveling Alerts/Messages...... 182
Changing Project Type or Changing Task Type...... 184
Module 6 - Tracking...... 1
Lesson 6.1: Progress...... 2
Status Date Setting...... 3
Status Date and the Update Project dialog...... 4
Status Dates and Inserted Projects...... 4
The effect on timephased Actual Work...... 7
Distribution of timephased % Complete edits within a cell...... 9
Calculating Summary task total and timephased % Complete...... 16
Editing Summary task total % Complete...... 18
Changes from Microsoft Project 4.x...... 25
BCWS, BCWP, and ACWP Calculations...... 27
BCWS (Budgeted Costs of Work Scheduled)...... 29
BCWP (Budgeted Costs of Work Performed)...... 30
ACWP (Actual Costs of Work Performed)...... 31
Calculations Related to Summary Task Progress...... 37
Calculating Summary Progress dates...... 38
Calculations Involving Summary Task Total and Timephased % Complete...... 43
Setting Progress Dates and Formatting Progress Lines...... 51
Dates and Intervals tab in the Progress Lines dialog,...... 51
Line Styles tab in the Progress Lines dialog...... 60
Progress Line Drawing Calculations...... 64
Filtering and Sorting...... 64
Progress Line Z-ordering...... 64
How to Calculate Progress Points...... 64
Split Tasks...... 69
Excessive Calculation Time Alert...... 69
Printing Progress Lines...... 70
Lesson 6.2: Costing...... 74
Cost Rate Tables...... 75
Rate Tables and the Resource Rate Fields...... 75
Default Resource Cost Rate Tables...... 76
Editing Rate Tables...... 76
Resource Cost Accrual Setting...... 78
Resource Pools...... 79
Printing the Variable Costs...... 80
Default Fixed Cost Accrual...... 82
Fixed Cost Accrual setting for individual tasks...... 82
Prorated Fixed Cost Contribution to Actual Cost...... 83
Importing Old Microsoft Project Files...... 83
Actual Cost Calculations...... 84
The 'Actual costs are always calculated by Microsoft Project' option...... 84
The 'Edits to total Actual Cost will be spread to the status date' option...... 85
Edits to timephased Actual Cost...... 88
Actual Cost calculations that roll up or down...... 89
Summary Actual Costs...... 89
Remaining Actual Costs...... 89
How changing Actual Start effects Actual Cost...... 89
Lesson 6.3: Recurring Tasks Improvements...... 92
Recurring Tasks Improvements...... 93
Module 7 – Database Modifications...... 1
Lesson 7.1: Working with Projects in a Database...... 2
Supported Databases...... 3
Performance Tuning...... 7
Lesson 7.2: Adding and Changing Records in the Database...... 15
Working with Microsoft Project Data in the Database...... 16
Module 8 - Multiple Projects...... 1
Lesson 8.1: Inserted Projects...... 3
Inserted Projects...... 4
Definitions...... 5
Overview of Features...... 5
User Interface...... 5
Window New Window...... 7
Inserted Project Information dialog...... 8
Inserted Project Display Behavior...... 9
Editing Rules...... 12
Navigating an Inserted Project...... 12
Saving Inserted Projects...... 13
Currency...... 13
Custom Fields...... 13
Backwards Compatibility...... 14
Effects on Existing Commands...... 14
Lesson 8.2: Cross Project Links...... 19
Cross Project Linking...... 20
Terminology...... 22
Creating and Editing Cross Project Links...... 23
Editing Ghost Tasks...... 28
Link Updates and Maintenance...... 32
Project Calculations...... 35
Circular Loop Detection...... 36
Lesson 8.3: Resource Pools...... 38
Resource Pools...... 39
Information stored in the Pool...... 39
Information stored in a Sharer...... 39
Viewing task, resources and assignments...... 40
Opening a Pool or Sharer...... 40
Updating the Pool...... 42
Refreshing the Pool...... 44
Local Options...... 44
Module 9 - Workgroup Features...... 1
Lesson 9.1: Overview of Workgroup Features...... 3
Workgroup Features Overview...... 4
Web Workgroup Features...... 4
Web vs. E-mail...... 4
Lesson 9.2: E-mail-based Workgroup Messaging...... 7
E-mail-based Workgroup Messaging...... 8
Updated Message Handler...... 8
Workgroup related fields...... 9
New TeamStatus Features...... 13
Overtime...... 18
Additional Customizable Workgroup Fields...... 18
Mapping between Microsoft Project 98 and Outlook fields...... 19
Work-related calculations between Microsoft Project and Outlook...... 19
Adding/Deleting Tasks...... 21
Unsolicited TeamStatus Reports...... 21
Setting Reminders in Outlook...... 22
Outlook Journal Integration...... 24
Custom OLE Properties...... 25
Lesson 9.3: Web-based Workgroup Messaging...... 32
Web Workgroup Messaging...... 33
Supported Web Servers...... 34
Supported Browsers...... 34
The New Tools Options Workgroup tab...... 35
Setting up the Microsoft Project Web Workgroup site...... 38
Sending Web workgroup messages from Microsoft Project...... 41
Receiving Web workgroup messages in Microsoft Project...... 42
Running MSPJHTTP.EXE...... 46
The Login page...... 48
The TeamInbox page...... 49
The Navigation Bar...... 53
Microsoft Project Web Workgroup Help...... 54
Changing the Password...... 55
The Task List page...... 56
The Task List Options page...... 58
Microsoft Project Support GroupCreated Date 6/18/98
1