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00:00:04
subscribe and click the Bell icon to00:00:07
turn on notifications00:00:09
we've made the accompanying exercise00:00:11
files for this tutorial available for00:00:14
free just click the link below in the00:00:17
video details to get these00:00:24
Microsoft Project 2021 is the latest00:00:27
Standalone version of project available00:00:29
from Microsoft00:00:31
it's one of the most popular tools on00:00:34
the market for scheduling organizing and00:00:37
managing projects of all sizes from the00:00:40
most basic task list to high level00:00:42
complex projects my name is Deborah00:00:45
Ashby I'm a Microsoft trainer who's been00:00:47
training project for over 15 years and00:00:50
I'm going to be your host for this00:00:52
course now let's make no mistake project00:00:55
2021 is a complex application00:00:59
there is so much functionality that it00:01:01
can become overwhelming so it's00:01:04
important to know about those key00:01:06
features and how to use them effectively00:01:09
having a good understanding of project00:01:10
will help you work more efficiently and00:01:13
deliver better project outcomes and it's00:01:16
also a great thing to have on your00:01:18
resume in this course we're going to be00:01:20
using a fictitious training rollout plan00:01:23
to work through the different features00:01:25
and functionality that help us manage00:01:28
the entire Project Life Cycle the files00:01:30
I use in the course are available to00:01:32
download so you can follow along with me00:01:34
or you can save them for later and00:01:37
re-watch the videos at your own pace at00:01:40
the end of each section we're going to00:01:42
work through an exercise so you can00:01:44
really put into practice the skills that00:01:46
you've learned and you can find all of00:01:48
these exercise files in the exercise00:01:50
files folder so make sure that you've00:01:52
downloaded those there'll also be00:01:54
questions as you go through the course00:01:56
so you can test your knowledge as you go00:01:59
these questions really help identify00:02:01
where you have knowledge gaps and then00:02:03
you can go back and re-watch the00:02:05
relevant videos so if you're ready to00:02:08
supercharge your project management00:02:09
knowledge then grab yourselves a drink00:02:12
and spend the next few hours with me00:02:14
whipping a project into shape00:02:22
sometimes it can be quite complex when00:02:24
you're thinking about which project00:02:26
management solution to purchase because00:02:29
there are so many different versions of00:02:31
project these days it can be a little00:02:33
bit confusing00:02:35
so in this lesson let's just take a00:02:37
quick look at the different offerings to00:02:39
give you more of an idea as to which one00:02:41
is going to suit your needs now I'm just00:02:43
on the Microsoft website and I'm on the00:02:45
compare project Management Solutions and00:02:47
costs page00:02:49
now notice currently we have two tabs at00:02:51
the top here cloud-based Solutions and00:02:53
on-premises solutions00:02:55
and I'm currently clicked in the00:02:57
cloud-based Solutions tab00:02:59
so now I can see the three different00:03:01
project plans that are available for the00:03:03
cloud-based project management tools so00:03:06
those would be project for the web which00:03:08
is the latest offering and project00:03:09
online project is a subscription00:03:12
application so if you're thinking that00:03:14
it's included within your Microsoft 36500:03:16
subscription then unfortunately it's not00:03:19
you do have to purchase a separate00:03:21
license and you can see here those three00:03:23
different licenses project plan 100:03:25
Project plan 3 and project plan 5. now00:03:28
these have been recently renamed to00:03:30
bring them in line with Microsoft's00:03:32
Enterprise Solutions E1 E3 and E5 so00:03:36
project plan one is the most basic and00:03:39
the cheapest of the projects and you can00:03:40
see here how much it is per month mine's00:03:43
showing in pounds but this will update00:03:45
depending on your location and project00:03:47
plan 1 includes project for the web00:03:50
which is a completely cloud-based00:03:52
project management tool which isn't as00:03:54
complex as something like project00:03:56
professional but still gives you all of00:03:58
the core functional quality that you00:04:00
need it's also a lot easier for you to00:04:02
collaborate on projects using project00:04:04
for the web and it has the advantage of00:04:07
being on the Power Platform so we can00:04:09
really harness the power of power apps00:04:11
power automate and power bi and we can00:04:14
manage all of our projects through a web00:04:16
browser so that's project plan one00:04:20
project plan 3 includes project for the00:04:22
web so pretty much everything that we00:04:24
have in Project plan one but it also00:04:26
includes Project online to manage more00:04:29
complex projects now project plan 5 is00:04:32
really the Big Daddy of them all this00:04:34
includes everything in the first two00:04:36
project plans but it also allows us to00:04:38
do a lot of high-level project portfolio00:04:41
management and if you want to take a00:04:43
deeper look at the different features so00:04:44
that you can compare and contrast if you00:04:47
come onto this page and scroll down you00:04:49
can see exactly what each of these plans00:04:52
contains so it's definitely worth having00:04:54
a little look through these if you want00:04:56
to go for a cloud-based solution now the00:04:58
other options that we have when it comes00:04:59
to project is to choose an on-premises00:05:02
solution so let's jump across to that00:05:04
tab00:05:05
now the first thing you'll notice00:05:06
immediately is that the prices are a lot00:05:09
higher and that's because this is a00:05:11
one-time purchase option it's not a00:05:13
subscription so we're not paying a00:05:15
monthly fee to access the software we're00:05:18
actually purchasing it and downloading00:05:20
it onto our PC so we pay a one-time00:05:23
price and it's ours forever00:05:26
now of course the disadvantage of things00:05:27
like this is that if there are any00:05:29
updates to the software we might have to00:05:32
wait for a security patch to be released00:05:33
or if we want to get new features we00:05:36
might have to wait for the new version00:05:38
to be released before we can access them00:05:40
whereas if we're using a cloud-based00:05:42
Solution on a subscription package that00:05:44
updates automatically now when it comes00:05:47
to the project on-premise Solutions we00:05:49
have project standard 2021 and project00:05:52
professional 2021 so project standard00:05:55
has all of the core functionality but it00:05:58
doesn't really contain too many00:05:59
collaboration tools and some of the more00:06:01
advanced features project professional00:06:03
contains absolutely everything so if00:06:05
you're a pmo looking to do some high00:06:07
level project management then this is00:06:09
going to be the application for you and00:06:11
of course it includes absolutely00:06:13
everything that we have in Project00:06:14
standard and project professional 202100:06:17
is what we're going to be using in this00:06:20
course so we basically have access to00:06:22
all of the features so those are all the00:06:25
options you have when it comes to00:06:26
acquiring project00:06:33
so what's new in Project 2021 when00:06:37
compared with project 2019 well first00:06:40
off remember that I'm using project00:06:42
professional 2021. if you're using the00:06:45
project Standard Version then some of00:06:48
these new features might not be00:06:50
available so just make sure that you00:06:52
check the version that you're using00:06:53
prior to commencing this lesson and if00:06:55
you want to check which version of00:06:57
project you're using just click on the00:06:58
file Tab and jump into account so let's00:07:02
start out with just a generalization00:07:04
something that's different a lot of the00:07:06
icons in Project 2021 have a much more00:07:09
modern updated look and feel so you00:07:12
might notice that when you first open up00:07:14
the application now if we go through00:07:15
each ribbon so let's now go through each00:07:17
ribbon and I'll highlight the minor00:07:19
differences and it is worth mentioning00:07:21
there aren't a huge amount of changes or00:07:24
differences between 2019 and 202100:07:28
the main overall difference is really00:07:31
something that's inconsequential to00:07:33
day-to-day project management the00:07:35
biggest difference in Project 2021 is00:07:37
that Microsoft seemed to be moving00:07:39
towards a more cloud-based offering but00:07:42
with regards to the design and the00:07:44
functionality there are just a few00:07:46
little differences so let's start out by00:07:48
jumping into file00:07:50
and if we go into new this is where we00:07:53
can come to create a new project so we00:07:55
have a blank project and then we have00:07:57
our templates listed underneath that we00:07:59
can use now one of the differences here00:08:01
is that we have a new template and it's00:08:03
the one that you can see at the top here00:08:04
the Sprints project so if we open up00:08:07
this template it gives us this Sprint00:08:09
planning board which looks completely00:08:11
different to what we're used to working00:08:12
in in project this is very similar to00:08:15
using something like board view if00:08:17
you're working in Microsoft planner or00:08:19
project for the web so we have a brand00:08:22
new template in Project 2021 now if we00:08:26
go to the task ribbon and take a look at00:08:28
what's different here the only thing is00:08:30
if we go all the way over to the right00:08:32
hand side of the ribbon we have a little00:08:34
link to group here now this button00:08:36
allows us to link tasks in our project00:08:39
to a plan that we have in Microsoft00:08:42
planner so if I click on this it's going00:08:44
to open up a little pane on the right00:08:46
hand side and it's going to allow me to00:08:48
link to a specific task in plan another00:08:51
change we can find on the report ribbon00:08:53
aside from all of these reports that we00:08:56
can run we have a new report called task00:08:59
boards so if I was to select one of00:09:01
these standard reports this is basically00:09:04
related to the board that the tasks are00:09:07
assigned to and boards are very similar00:09:09
to buckets again in an application like00:09:11
Microsoft planner or project for the web00:09:13
so just be aware that we have access to00:09:15
that new report00:09:17
if we jump across to the project tab00:09:19
again in the Properties Group the only00:09:21
change we have here is the ability to00:09:23
manage as Sprints so we can do things00:09:26
like change the name of our Sprints add00:09:29
more Sprints to find the start and00:09:31
finish and the length and if we go00:09:33
across to the view tab again we have00:09:36
this new view task board view which00:09:38
allows us to view our tasks based on00:09:40
different buckets that they're stored in00:09:42
now if we go to the help tab not too00:09:44
much has changed on here but one change00:09:47
we do have is notice at the top here it00:09:49
says Gantt chart format so this is where00:09:52
I can come to start making changes to00:09:53
the bars that you see in the project00:09:55
plan now previously in Project 2019 this00:09:58
tab was actually just called format so00:10:01
there's been a little bit of a name00:10:02
change just there and that is pretty00:10:05
much it when it comes to the actual00:10:07
differences that are going to affect00:10:08
what we're doing when we're working in00:10:10
Project as I said a lot of the bigger00:10:13
changes have come in the background and00:10:15
the fact that Microsoft is moving to a00:10:17
more cloud-based environment00:10:25
in this first exercise we're going to00:10:27
start nice and gently00:10:29
so I'd like you to make sure that you00:10:31
have downloaded and installed project00:10:33
hopefully you're already at that stage I00:10:36
don't want you to make sure that you've00:10:38
downloaded and saved the course and00:10:41
exercise files you'll find those in the00:10:44
relevant folders within the course just00:10:47
make sure you have those saved off00:10:48
somewhere safe because we're going to be00:10:50
referring to those throughout this00:10:52
course and then finally make sure that00:10:54
you have reviewed your settings in00:10:56
Project options so that if you're00:10:58
working along with me everything matches00:11:01
and we don't get confused00:11:03
so that is all I need you to do for this00:11:05
first exercise see how you go with that00:11:07
and I will see you in the next one00:11:11
for the next section you'll want to00:11:13
download the course exercise files click00:11:15
the link below in the video description00:11:17
to get these you can also scroll through00:11:19
the details to find time stamps for each00:11:22
section in this course00:11:24
if you're enjoying this training please00:11:26
leave us a comment00:11:34
before we get into the nuts and bolts of00:11:37
how project works we need to get00:11:39
ourselves familiar with the project00:11:41
interface and when I say interface I00:11:44
just basically mean what we're looking00:11:46
at on this screen00:11:47
so I've opened up a project and we'll00:11:50
just walk through the different parts of00:11:51
the screen so that you're familiar with00:11:53
where everything lives so if we start00:11:55
right at the top you can see we have our00:11:57
title bar this is where you're going to00:11:59
see whatever you've saved your project00:12:01
as00:12:02
and then underneath that we have various00:12:05
different ribbon tabs and if you're used00:12:07
to using other Microsoft applications00:12:09
like maybe word or Excel or PowerPoint00:12:11
this takes on exactly the same structure00:12:14
we have our different ribbons and each00:12:17
ribbon contains different commands which00:12:20
help us execute actions in Project00:12:23
and all of the commands are grouped00:12:25
logically onto different ribbons and00:12:27
also into different groups you can see00:12:30
right at the bottom we have the group00:12:32
name so undo view clipboard font00:12:34
schedule so on and so forth now those00:12:37
groups are really just there to make it00:12:39
a lot easier for us to find exactly the00:12:42
command that we're looking for at any00:12:44
given time we also have a file tab at00:12:47
the top which takes us into what we call00:12:49
the backstage area and we'll talk about00:12:51
this in more detail in the next lesson00:12:53
for the time being let's just click the00:12:55
back arrow to take us back to our main00:12:56
window00:12:57
now aside from backstage and the regular00:13:00
ribbons that we have when we open up00:13:02
project we also have what we call00:13:05
contextual ribbons and I can see one of00:13:08
them on the screen right now and it's00:13:10
this one just here Gantt chart format00:13:13
now what contextual ribbons are are00:13:15
ribbons that only appear as and when00:13:17
they're needed now because I'm currently00:13:19
in gancha view that's why I can see the00:13:22
Gantt chart format ribbon and this00:13:24
ribbon contains all of the commands that00:13:26
I need to manage and format my Gantt00:13:29
chart now if I was to click somewhere00:13:31
else so let's click up here in the00:13:33
timeline notice that I get a different00:13:35
contextual ribbon this time I get the00:13:37
timeline format ribbon00:13:39
so ribbons will appear and disappear00:13:42
depending on what we're clicked on00:13:44
that's why we call them contextual so00:13:47
just be aware of that point now next to00:13:49
our ribbon tabs we have this little tell00:13:51
me what you want to do box so what I can00:13:54
do from up here is that I can use this00:13:56
little bar to search for different00:13:58
commands on the ribbons if I was00:14:00
struggling to find something or this is00:14:02
where I can come to get help on00:14:04
something specific00:14:05
so maybe I want to know a little bit00:14:08
more about timelines00:14:12
I can type it in and when I hover my00:14:14
mouse over the arrow I have a short list00:14:16
of items that I can get help on so if I00:14:19
select the first one it's going to open00:14:20
up the help Pane and then I get access00:14:23
to the help files which talks me through00:14:25
the process of creating a timeline in00:14:27
Project it's also worth noting that if00:14:29
you quickly want to jump up to that tell00:14:32
me box there is a keyboard shortcut of00:14:34
alt Q that's going to position your00:14:36
cursor in the correct place and you can00:14:37
then type in whatever it is you need00:14:39
help on now just under the ribbons we00:14:42
have timeline view now this is something00:14:45
that you don't have to have toggled on00:14:47
you can simply turn this off by going to00:14:49
the view Tab and deselecting timeline00:14:52
and notice if I do that it gets rid of00:14:54
it if I click again it brings it back00:14:59
all right00:15:01
but the timeline is a really nice way of00:15:04
just kind of getting an overview of00:15:05
everything that's going on on your00:15:07
project and if you have that turned on00:15:09
you're going to see it running across00:15:10
the top of the primary project area and00:15:13
just under timeline view this is the00:15:15
main area that we're going to be working00:15:17
with this is the Gantt chart that we're00:15:19
looking at and the Gantt chart consists00:15:21
of two parts really we have all of our00:15:23
tasks listed in a grid form00:15:26
and then on the right hand side we have00:15:29
that represented with these visual bars00:15:32
which make it really nice and easy for00:15:33
us to see the duration of each task and00:15:36
how all of our tasks link together and00:15:39
in general this is going to be the view00:15:40
that you work in for the majority of the00:15:43
time if you want to modify the size of00:15:45
these then you can definitely do that so00:15:47
if we hover our Mouse over the00:15:49
borderline but between the table and the00:15:51
actual Gantt chart we can drag out and00:15:54
we can drag back in again so we can00:15:56
really customize the size so that it00:15:58
suits us and there's quite a lot of00:16:00
information lurking underneath here so00:16:03
you might want to widen this out quite a00:16:05
bit depending on what it is that you're00:16:07
doing I think I'm going to leave mine00:16:09
there for the time being you can also do00:16:11
the same using the horizontal splitter00:16:14
so once again if I hover my mouse over00:16:16
the boundary I can make more room for00:16:18
the timeline or I can drag the Gantt00:16:21
chart back up again we have our scroll00:16:23
bars at the side so I can scroll up and00:16:25
down and see all of the tasks that I00:16:27
currently have in my project plan and00:16:29
then finally at the bottom we have the00:16:31
status bar if you take a look over on00:16:34
the left hand side you can see it's00:16:35
telling me that all new tasks are Auto00:16:38
scheduled and if I click on this I can00:16:40
switch between Auto scheduled and00:16:42
manually scheduled tasks now we'll get00:16:45
on to that a little bit more later on00:16:46
but just be aware that this acts as a00:16:48
toggle down in the status bar and then00:16:50
all the way over on the right hand side00:16:52
this is where we can come to switch00:16:54
between different views So currently00:16:57
we're working in Gantt chart view but we00:16:59
have a task usage view a resource View00:17:03
and also a resource sheet view as well00:17:06
and of course all of these we're going00:17:07
to discuss in more detail later in the00:17:10
course the final thing we have is a00:17:12
little Zoom slider so if we want to zoom00:17:14
out or zoom in then we can definitely do00:17:17
that as well and this is fairly standard00:17:19
across all the Microsoft applications so00:17:21
if you've used this previously then00:17:23
that's probably not too much different00:17:24
for you now the final thing to highlight00:17:27
here is the quick access toolbar now the00:17:30
quick access toolbar you'll find00:17:31
underneath the ribbons just above the00:17:34
timeline and currently I just have a few00:17:37
icons on my quick access toolbar now00:17:39
this is a customizable toolbar which00:17:41
allows us to add commands that we use00:17:43
frequently to it so that they're quick00:17:46
and easy to access and we don't have to00:17:48
hunt through the ribbons and we have a00:17:49
whole lesson dedicated to how we can00:17:51
customize this and set it up so it works00:17:54
for us but that is pretty much the00:17:56
project interface have a little look at00:17:58
it make yourself familiar with where all00:18:00
the commands are and which ribbons00:18:01
they're located on and I will see you in00:18:04
the next lesson00:18:10
the ribbon tabs help us organize our00:18:13
commands logically into groups and we00:18:16
briefly touched on this in the last00:18:17
lesson but I want to explore these in a00:18:20
bit more detail so that you start to get00:18:22
familiar with where different things are00:18:23
located because in Project we have so00:18:26
many commands it can sometimes be a00:18:28
little bit overwhelming so if we start00:18:31
with the first tab just here the task00:18:33
tab this is where you're going to find a00:18:36
lot of the commonly used tasks so this00:18:38
is where you'll go to find things like00:18:40
cut copy paste and all of your font00:18:42
formatting options is also where we can00:18:45
go to manage everything related to our00:18:48
tasks we can update the progress in the00:18:51
schedule group we can link and unlink00:18:53
tasks in there as well we can switch00:18:56
between Auto schedule and manually00:18:58
scheduled tasks and we can add things00:19:00
like summary tasks and Milestones this00:19:03
is also where we can come in the00:19:04
Properties Group to see an overview of00:19:07
our project information the resource tab00:19:09
is where we would go for everything00:19:11
related to resources that we've added00:19:13
into our project is where we can go to00:19:16
assign resources and create resource00:19:18
pools and it's also where we're going to00:19:20
find things like our leveling options00:19:23
the report tab is where we come to00:19:26
create reports in Project00:19:28
once you have your project up and00:19:30
running you're probably going to want to00:19:32
start running some reports to analyze00:19:34
that data you might want to run a cost00:19:37
report or a report related to the00:19:39
progress we can even do things like00:19:41
create visual reports and dashboards00:19:43
from here as well on the project tab00:19:46
this is where we're going to find lots00:19:48
of options for managing our overall00:19:50
project is where we can change the00:19:52
working time view our project00:19:54
information and also do things like set00:19:57
baselines and move our project as well00:20:00
the view tab is where we come to switch00:20:02
views as I mentioned at the start we're00:20:05
currently looking at the default view00:20:06
which is the Gantt and timeline view but00:20:09
we can modify how we're viewing and what00:20:12
we're viewing from here this is also00:20:14
where we can come to do things like sort00:20:17
and filter our data the help tab is00:20:20
pretty self-explanatory it's where we00:20:21
can come if we want to get help notice00:20:24
the first button here is the help button00:20:27
we have a keyboard shortcut of F1 to00:20:30
open those help files and what you'll00:20:32
see when you click on F1 is pretty much00:20:34
the same as when you're using that tell00:20:35
me box at the top it's going to open up00:20:38
a pane on the right hand side where you00:20:40
can go in and search for whatever it is00:20:42
you're looking for help on so really00:20:45
nice and useful and then of course the00:20:47
final ribbon that I have here is the00:20:49
contextual ribbon Gantt chart format00:20:52
and as I mentioned this is contextual so00:20:55
it's only appearing because I'm in Gantt00:20:57
chart view if I click on timeline view00:20:59
it switches to the timeline format00:21:02
ribbon00:21:03
and these contextual ribbons contain in00:21:06
this example everything I need to change00:21:09
and format that timeline area running00:21:12
across the top so those are going to00:21:14
change depending on where you're clicked00:21:16
now the final tab that we haven't spoken00:21:18
about much yet is the file tab now00:21:20
notice I refer to this sort of00:21:22
separately to the others and that's00:21:24
because it does look different when you00:21:26
click on file it takes you into what we00:21:28
call the backstage area and this is00:21:31
where you're going to find sort of your00:21:32
more adminy style tasks this is where00:21:35
you would come if you want to create a00:21:37
new project either a blank project or00:21:39
maybe from a template this is where we00:21:42
come if you want to open an existing00:21:44
project that maybe we have saved off to00:21:46
a specific folder or maybe even in the00:21:48
cloud if we click on info this is where00:21:51
we can come to see some information00:21:53
about this particular project that we00:21:56
have open we have save and save as I'm00:21:59
going to get into those a little bit00:22:00
more later on in this section we can00:22:03
print from here we can share our file we00:22:06
can export it and we can also close and00:22:09
then towards the bottom we have account00:22:11
so this is where you can come to find00:22:13
out information related to your account00:22:15
for example we can see here exactly00:22:18
which version of project we're using so00:22:20
sometimes maybe if your it team is00:22:22
saying to you what version of project00:22:23
are you using this is where you can come00:22:26
to find out that information notice here00:22:28
it says Microsoft Project online desktop00:22:30
client this is where we also come to00:22:33
install any updates and we can also do00:22:35
things like change our theme00:22:38
for example if I wanted to work with a00:22:41
black theme I could do that if I00:22:43
preferred that I could go with this nice00:22:45
dark gray or I can stick to white or00:22:49
colorful which in general is what I like00:22:50
to set00:22:51
we can also change our office background00:22:53
so if you cast your eyes up to the top00:22:55
right hand corner you can see I just00:22:56
have this sort of doodle pattern in the00:22:59
background this is where we can change00:23:01
that so so that might be something that00:23:03
you want to do and finally at the bottom00:23:05
here this is really important this is00:23:06
our project options area and we have00:23:09
lots of different pages of information00:23:11
Now options is where we come to adjust00:23:14
our settings and really personalize how00:23:17
our copy of project works for us and00:23:20
we're going to be dipping in and out of00:23:21
here throughout the balance of this00:23:23
course and in fact in a lesson that we00:23:26
have coming up we're going to jump into00:23:28
here and I'm going to show you some of00:23:30
the settings that I recommend that you00:23:32
change before you get started now just00:23:34
before we leave here I just want to go00:23:36
back to the open screen now as I00:23:39
mentioned this is where you can come to00:23:40
open any existing project files that you00:23:42
have stored off and you can see I've got00:23:45
some locations here where I could select00:23:47
my project files from00:23:48
so I use OneDrive cloud storage so I00:23:52
could open up a project file that I have00:23:54
saved into OneDrive very easily from00:23:55
here alternatively if I just have it00:23:58
saved off to my PC I could choose the00:24:00
this PC option underneath other00:24:02
locations and if I click on browse00:24:05
that's going to open up file explorer00:24:07
and allow me to navigate that way if00:24:09
that's what you prefer if you cast your00:24:11
eyes over to the right hand side notice00:24:13
we have two folders at the top here00:24:15
projects and folders now I'm currently00:24:17
clicked on projects and it's showing me00:24:19
the last projects or the most recent00:24:21
projects that I opened now this is a00:24:24
very new install of project 2021 so I00:24:28
don't have a great deal in here but if00:24:30
you've been using project for a while00:24:31
then this list is going to be full of00:24:33
your most recent files the same thing00:24:35
with the folders area this is going to00:24:37
show you the last folders that you saved00:24:39
files into and the idea here is it just00:24:42
makes it really quick for you to find00:24:43
things that you've worked on recently00:24:45
and open them and we can simply open by00:24:48
double click clicking on the file in the00:24:50
list00:24:51
and if you have any files that maybe you00:24:53
access every single day you can pin00:24:55
those to the top of the list so that00:24:57
they don't move around when we start00:24:59
opening other files for example if I00:25:02
want to pin marketing campaign planning00:25:04
project I can click on the pin icon and00:25:07
that's going to move it up to this00:25:09
pinned area just here and that's going00:25:11
to stay there until I choose to unpin00:25:14
this item and I can simply do that by00:25:16
clicking on the drawing pin once again00:25:18
and it's going to remove it from that00:25:20
little area now the final thing to00:25:22
mention about these ribbons running00:25:23
across the top is that you can minimize00:25:26
or collapse up the ribbon and give00:25:28
yourself a little bit more room on the00:25:30
screen now the way that you do that is00:25:32
if you just right click your Mouse00:25:34
anywhere on the ribbon you can see in00:25:37
the contextual menu we have an option to00:25:39
collapse up the ribbon if I click on00:25:41
this it's going to collapse that up I00:25:43
can just see those tab headings but I00:25:45
can't actually see the commands and it00:25:47
just gives me a little bit more room to00:25:49
work with now what happens when I want00:25:52
to actually access a command when I00:25:54
simply click on the tab and it's going00:25:56
to pull down temporarily that ribbon00:25:59
when I click away again it's going to00:26:01
disappear00:26:02
if I want to bring it back permanently I00:26:04
just need to click on a tab right click00:26:07
and then uncheck collapse the ribbon so00:26:10
that's more of a detailed run through of00:26:12
the different ribbons that we have that00:26:14
backstage area and what you can find in00:26:16
there and also how we can collapse up00:26:18
the ribbons00:26:25
something that I highly recommend that00:26:27
you do is customize the quick access00:26:29
toolbar and I mentioned the quick access00:26:32
toolbar in the last lesson it's this00:26:35
little toolbar that we can see running00:26:37
just above the timeline and underneath00:26:39
the ribbons now currently the toolbar00:26:42
isn't showing too much we have a few00:26:44
little icons on there and it's worth00:26:47
noting that when you're looking at your00:26:49
copy of project your quick access00:26:51
toolbar might not look exactly the same00:26:53
as mine or you might not be able to see00:26:55
it at all so let me show you first of00:26:58
all how you can turn the quick access00:27:00
toolbar off or on now mine's currently00:27:04
on so I'm going to turn it off but the00:27:06
process is the same if you want to do00:27:07
the reverse so once again we just need00:27:10
to right click our Mouse anywhere on the00:27:13
ribbon and in the contextual menu you00:27:15
can see I have hide quick access toolbar00:27:18
now if you don't have yours displayed00:27:20
that's going to say show quick access00:27:22
toolbar so if I click this notice that00:27:25
that toolbar now disappears if I right00:27:28
click again and click show00:27:31
it brings it back again00:27:32
so make sure that you're showing that00:27:35
quick access toolbar now what exactly is00:27:38
this quick access toolbar or qat as we00:27:41
refer to it well this is a customizable00:27:43
area where we can add commands that we00:27:46
use frequently to make them easy to find00:27:48
an action and you can see on here I have00:27:51
a few commands added already so I can00:27:53
create a new project from here I can00:27:56
save I can undo and I can redo so how do00:28:00
we customize this quick access toolbar00:28:02
and fill it full of commands that we use00:28:04
all the time well there are a couple of00:28:06
different ways that we can do this00:28:08
notice that right next to the quick00:28:10
access toolbar I have a little drop down00:28:12
arrow when I hover over it says00:28:14
customize quick access toolbar and00:28:16
that's going to open up a menu which is00:28:18
going to allow me to add very quickly00:28:21
one of these 15 or so commands and you00:28:24
can see the ones that are currently on00:28:26
my quick access toolbar already have a00:28:28
tick next to them so new save undo and00:28:31
redo00:28:32
so if I decide that I'm always print00:28:35
previewing my projects I could choose00:28:37
print preview and it's going to add that00:28:39
command to that quick access toolbar00:28:41
maybe I want to add email I could do00:28:44
that as well now notice in here we only00:28:47
have a few of the vast amount of00:28:49
commands that are available in project00:28:51
so what if we want to add a command to00:28:54
the qat that isn't in this list well00:28:57
again there are a couple of different00:28:59
ways that we can do this now the easiest00:29:01
way to add a command that you can see on00:29:04
one of the ribbons is simply to right00:29:06
click on it so maybe I'm always looking00:29:10
at the project information window so if00:29:13
I go across to the project tab where we00:29:15
have project information I'm going to00:29:17
right click and I'm going to say add to00:29:19
quick access toolbar00:29:21
that is the quickest way to add any00:29:23
command that you can see on your ribbons00:29:25
I'm going to right click on spelling and00:29:27
I'm going to add that to the quick00:29:29
access toolbar as well so really nice00:29:31
and straightforward00:29:33
and as you would imagine if I then00:29:34
decide that I want to remove something00:29:36
from this quick access toolbar I can00:29:38
right click on it and I have a remove00:29:40
from quick access toolbar option just00:29:43
here now it's worth noting that not00:29:45
every command in Project is available on00:29:48
a ribbon and some commands are available00:29:50
on contextual ribbons which means we00:29:53
don't actually see them until they're00:29:55
needed00:29:56
so what if I want to add one of those00:29:58
commands that I can't currently see on00:30:01
the ribbons to my quick access toolbar00:30:03
well this is where we need to click the00:30:05
drop down again to go into customize and00:30:07
go to more commands00:30:10
now this is basically going to jump us00:30:12
across to our project options and you00:30:15
can see it's jumped straight into the00:30:17
quick access toolbar area now what you00:30:19
can see in here if we start on the right00:30:22
hand side is I can see a preview of my00:30:25
quick access toolbar and I can see all00:30:27
of the commands that I currently have on00:30:29
there so project information and00:30:31
spelling were the last two that we added00:30:34
on the left hand side this is where I00:30:37
can see all of the commands that I can00:30:39
move to the quick access toolbar now00:30:42
they are grouped together so currently00:30:44
I'm only looking at popular commands if00:30:47
I want to see a list of all commands00:30:50
available in project I need to choose00:30:52
all commands from that drop down and now00:30:54
I have all of the commands in here00:30:57
Unfortunately they are organized into00:30:59
alphabetical order to make them a little00:31:02
bit easier to find00:31:03
so we can then scroll through find00:31:06
exactly what we want so let's go for00:31:08
something like I'm just going to go for00:31:10
a range we can select it and then click00:31:13
the add button to move it across to the00:31:16
quick access toolbar so very very simple00:31:19
just to add things00:31:21
similarly if you want to remove00:31:23
something from the quick access toolbar00:31:25
you can select it and then click the00:31:28
remove button in the middle we can also00:31:30
organize our commands using the up and00:31:32
down arrows on the right hand side so00:31:35
maybe I decide that I want undo to be00:31:37
first in the list and redo next and the00:31:41
final thing I always like to do here is00:31:43
I like to add some separators now00:31:46
separators are a very simple way just to00:31:48
add a little bit of structure into that00:31:50
quick access toolbar they allow us to00:31:52
visually separate commands of similar00:31:55
type00:31:56
at the top of every list in here you're00:31:58
going to find separator so I'm in all00:32:01
commands but if I was in popular00:32:02
commands right at the top of that list00:32:05
we have a separator as well00:32:07
so I'm going to add a couple of00:32:08
separators into here I'm just going to00:32:11
rearrange them so let's move this one00:32:13
down to I think just about there so now00:32:17
when I click on OK take a look at how00:32:19
that quick access toolbar has updated so00:32:22
it's added the new commands and you can00:32:23
see that we have these faint lines those00:32:26
are the separators which just adds a00:32:29
little bit of structure in the final00:32:31
thing to point out here is that if you00:32:33
don't like or you find it difficult to00:32:35
identify these commands on the quick00:32:37
access toolbar simply by looking at the00:32:39
icon we can choose to have a label next00:32:42
to the icon and this is a reasonably new00:32:45
feature in Project let's click the drop00:32:47
down right at the bottom here we have00:32:50
show command labels so if I click on00:32:53
this you can see it adds a piece of text00:32:55
next to each one making it a little bit00:32:57
easier to know what that icon represents00:33:00
of course the downside is it does take00:33:03
up more room so you can't have quite as00:33:05
many items on your QA T I'm going to00:33:08
switch mine back to the icons but that00:33:11
is pretty much all there is to know00:33:13
about the very useful feature the quick00:33:15
access toolbar00:33:22
if you want to work efficiently in00:33:25
Microsoft Project then you're going to00:33:27
want to know a selection of keyboard00:33:29
shortcuts to help you move around your00:33:31
project plan quickly and the good news00:33:34
is if you are already a Microsoft user00:33:37
as in you are used to using applications00:33:39
like Excel PowerPoint or maybe even word00:33:41
many of the keyboard shortcuts that you00:33:44
already know and love in those00:33:46
applications are exactly the same in00:33:48
Project00:33:49
so things like Ctrl C to copy Ctrl V to00:33:53
paste Ctrl X to cut Ctrl s to save all00:33:58
of these are exactly the same now of00:34:00
course there are some differences and00:34:03
some that are very specific to project00:34:04
only and in general what you'll find is00:34:07
that you'll probably have 10 to 1500:34:08
keyboard shortcuts memorized and you00:34:11
will use them all the time I'm a huge00:34:13
fan of keyboard shortcuts because I find00:34:15
they really do speed up the way that I00:34:18
work so where can you go to see a full00:34:20
list of all the keyboard shortcuts00:34:21
available in Project00:34:23
well the easiest way is to go into the00:34:26
help files so we're going to go in there00:34:28
from The Tell Me box and I mentioned00:34:30
this keyboard shortcut earlier we're00:34:32
going to press alt Q which is going to00:34:34
jump our cursor up to the top there so00:34:36
if we type in keyboard shortcuts and00:34:40
hover over the arrow I want the second00:34:42
one keyboard shortcuts for project00:34:45
so this is going to open that help file00:34:47
and then as we scroll down the shortcuts00:34:50
are divided into different groups so if00:34:52
we jump into frequently used shortcuts00:34:54
we can see a big long list of all the00:34:57
different shortcuts to execute specific00:34:59
tasks in project and as I said you'll00:35:02
notice that some of these are exactly00:35:03
the same so saving a project file Ctrl s00:35:06
creating a new project file Ctrl n00:35:09
that's the same as if you wanted to00:35:11
create a new word document in Word so00:35:14
have a little look through these maybe00:35:17
jot down a few that are going to be most00:35:19
useful to you and then after a while00:35:21
you'll find that you get these memorized00:35:23
now another way to find out if a command00:35:26
on the ribbon has a keyboard shortcut00:35:28
assigned to it because not all commands00:35:30
do is to Simply hover your mouse over00:35:33
the command now notice here I'm hovered00:35:36
over bold on that ribbon and I can see00:35:39
the keyboard shortcut in Brackets in00:35:41
that screen tip that comes up control B00:35:45
if I hover over underline control U is00:35:49
the keyboard shortcut if I hover over00:35:51
copy Ctrl C is the keyboard shortcut and00:35:54
before I hover over for example inspect00:35:57
it's not showing me the keyboard00:35:59
shortcut so does that mean that it00:36:01
doesn't have one well not necessarily00:36:03
because something else we also have00:36:06
which I know a lot of people love to00:36:07
work with are what we call Key tips now00:36:10
we can access our key tips by pressing00:36:12
the ALT key on our keyboard now as soon00:36:15
as I do that check out what's happened00:36:17
to my ribbon this is a great way to be00:36:20
able to navigate and select commands00:36:23
entirely using your keyboard so maybe I00:36:26
want to switch the view I can go across00:36:28
to the view ribbon by pressing w00:36:31
I then jump across to that ribbon and00:36:33
get a whole new set of keyboard00:36:35
shortcuts so let's say I want to look at00:36:37
task usage I'm going to press K that's00:36:41
going to drop down the menu I want the00:36:43
first one so I need to select K again00:36:45
and now it's switching me across to that00:36:48
particular view take a look at the00:36:50
bottom I can see my task usage Pane and00:36:53
I did that using entirely keyboard00:36:55
shortcuts so that ALT key is really00:36:58
useful so if you recall I mentioned that00:37:00
some of these commands when you hover00:37:02
over them don't have a keyboard shortcut00:37:03
showing but if we press the ALT key and00:37:06
make sure that we're on the task tab00:37:08
press h notice that inspect actually00:37:11
does I could use NS and that is00:37:14
effectively a shortcut for this inspect00:37:16
command and if you want to turn these00:37:18
key tips off simply press the ALT key00:37:21
again to get rid of them00:37:29
when we're working in Project we have00:37:31
lots of different built-in views that we00:37:33
can display in different paints and the00:37:36
initial view or the default view that00:37:38
will load up when you first start using00:37:40
project is called Gantt with timeline00:37:43
and you can see that reflected in the00:37:45
current project at the top we have this00:37:48
timeline view giving us an overview and00:37:50
then underneath we have the Gantt chart00:37:51
which shows us all of our individual00:37:53
tasks our task information and then a00:37:56
visual representation of those tasks now00:37:59
if we jump up to the view tab up here we00:38:02
have a split view group00:38:05
so this is where I can control whether00:38:08
or not I see that timeline view at the00:38:10
top so if I decide that I'm not00:38:12
interested in this at this stage I can00:38:14
simply deselect timeline and that's00:38:16
going to disappear put the check back00:38:18
and it brings it back again something00:38:20
else I can do from here is I can turn on00:38:23
the details view00:38:24
and what this is going to do is it's00:38:26
going to split the screen and it's going00:38:29
to add task form View at the bottom and00:38:32
this task form basically gives me more00:38:34
information about whatever task I'm00:38:36
currently clicked on in my project plan00:38:38
so if I was to select this second task00:38:41
just here I can see a little bit more00:38:44
information about this specific task So00:38:47
currently I don't have any resources00:38:48
assigned to this task so that is why00:38:50
this area is blank when I can see the00:38:52
duration is two days it's effort driven00:38:54
I can see the start and finish dates I00:38:57
can see that it's fixed units and I can00:38:59
also see a list of any predecessors down00:39:01
here as well00:39:02
so that details pane can be pretty00:39:05
useful for viewing more detailed00:39:08
information00:39:09
now I'm going to turn this off and I'm00:39:11
going to switch my timeline back on00:39:14
again now let's jump back to the task00:39:16
tab because you can see that we have a00:39:18
View group just here now if I click the00:39:21
drop down this is where we can choose00:39:23
what we're displaying in our primary00:39:25
window00:39:26
So currently you can see that I'm00:39:28
displaying the Gantt chart but I've also00:39:30
got a big long list of some of the most00:39:32
popular views that I might want to00:39:34
switch to for example I could switch00:39:36
across to the task usage View and I'm00:39:40
now seeing that in the primary window as00:39:42
opposed to the Gantt chart now notice00:39:44
that the side here we have task usage00:39:46
and timeline now the one that's00:39:48
highlighted in green is basically where00:39:50
you're currently clicked so for me that00:39:52
is Task usage if I was to click up in00:39:54
the timeline that title is going to turn00:39:56
to Green so just be aware that you can00:39:58
very simply switch between your views00:40:00
from this Gantt chart drop down the00:40:02
difference between this and jumping00:40:04
across to the view tab is on The View00:40:06
tab we just have a bit more detail about00:40:09
the different views that we can select00:40:10
and it's split down into views related00:40:12
to tasks and Views related to resources00:40:15
now the final way that we can switch00:40:17
views in Project is by using the status00:40:20
bar and again this is very similar to00:40:23
other Microsoft applications00:40:25
if you cast your eyes down to the bottom00:40:27
right hand corner you can see that we00:40:29
have our different views down here so I00:40:32
can switch into Gantt chart view which00:40:34
is basically what I'm currently on I can00:40:36
switch across to task usage view which00:40:38
is what we were just looking at00:40:40
I can go to Team planner which is a00:40:43
slightly different way of viewing my00:40:45
project and then I also have a resource00:40:48
sheet so if I have any resources I'm00:40:49
going to be able to see them in there00:40:51
and then finally I have a blank report00:40:53
view as well so as always with Microsoft00:40:56
there are numerous different ways of00:40:58
switching views we're going to be00:41:00
working predominantly in the default00:41:02
view which is Gantt chart and timeline00:41:04
so as you leave this lesson ensure that00:41:07
your project is set up in this way00:41:15
another piece of terminology that you00:41:17
need to get used to when you're working00:41:18
in Project is the concept of tables and00:41:22
a table is a little bit like a00:41:25
spreadsheet in Excel for example00:41:27
currently I have the entry table loaded00:41:30
up on the screen and this is just what00:41:32
you can see over here a table in general00:41:35
is made up of columns and also rows00:41:38
so in this particular entry table you00:41:40
can see the columns that we have a task00:41:42
mode task name duration and then if I00:41:44
was to drag this out we have a lot more00:41:46
lurking underneath there and then we00:41:49
have rows that contain add task00:41:52
information and this has the look and00:41:54
feel as I said of an Excel spreadsheet00:41:57
now the entry table is the main table00:41:59
that you're going to use to enter00:42:01
information about each task but there00:42:04
are other tables that we can load up in00:42:06
order to see other pieces of information00:42:08
and also edit them directly from the00:42:10
table as well so if we jump up to the00:42:12
view tab at the top in the data group we00:42:15
have a tables drop down just here and00:42:18
you can see that currently the entry00:42:20
table is selected that's the one we're00:42:22
currently looking at but I have other00:42:24
tables that I can select depending on00:42:26
what I'm interested in seeing at any00:42:28
given time so maybe I want to load up00:42:30
the summary table I can simply select it00:42:33
and it gives me an overview of the main00:42:36
touch points of this particular project00:42:38
or maybe I'm interested in the costs00:42:41
that are assigned to this project I00:42:43
could load up the costs table00:42:45
now we don't have any costs in this00:42:47
project as yet but we can see our fixed00:42:49
costs are total costs our Baseline the00:42:51
variance all things like that let's go00:42:53
back up to tables because we also have a00:42:57
more tables option right at the bottom00:42:59
and this is going to open up this little00:43:01
window which is going to show us all of00:43:03
the tables that we can load up into our00:43:05
primary window so if you can't find what00:43:07
you're looking for in that tables drop00:43:09
down jump into more tables and you00:43:11
should be able to find it in here so00:43:13
maybe I'm interested in looking at the00:43:16
work table let's apply and this is going00:43:18
to show me information about the work00:43:20
hours the Baseline work hours if I've00:43:22
set that the variance the actual so on00:43:24
and so forth now another way that you00:43:26
can quickly switch between tables is to00:43:28
hover your mouse over this little square00:43:30
in the corner so just above where we00:43:33
have row 0 and to the left of where it00:43:36
says task name if we right click in this00:43:38
little area this is a quick way of00:43:40
switching between the most popular types00:43:43
of tables so I'm going to switch back00:43:45
back to entry but that's pretty much all00:43:48
you need to know about tables at this00:43:49
stage just know that there are lots of00:43:51
different tables that you can load up in00:43:53
order to view different types of00:43:55
information00:44:01
in exercise 2 we're going to practice00:44:03
some of the skills that we've learned so00:44:06
far in this section00:44:08
so the first thing I'd like you to do is00:44:09
just open up project and then open a new00:44:12
blank project00:44:14
I'd like you to review the ribbons and00:44:17
familiarize yourself with where the00:44:19
commands are located on each ribbon I'd00:44:22
then like you to practice moving between00:44:24
ribbons and selecting commands using00:44:27
keyboard shortcuts once you feel00:44:29
comfortable with all that let's add some00:44:32
commands to our quick access toolbar so00:44:34
I don't mind which ones you add I've00:44:36
just given you some examples here of00:44:38
adding the format painter the 10000:44:41
complete button and copy and finally I'd00:44:45
just like you to have a little play00:44:47
around and switch between views and00:44:49
tables so that when we do that00:44:51
throughout the course you know exactly00:44:53
where you need to go so a few things to00:44:55
do there if you'd like to see my answer00:44:57
then please keep watching so the first00:44:59
thing I asked you to do in this exercise00:45:00
is open a new blank project so I'm back00:45:04
at the start screen I'm in the news00:45:05
section we have blank project at the top00:45:08
double click to select the next thing I00:45:11
asked you to do was just familiarize00:45:13
yourself with the different ribbons so00:45:16
take a good look through some of these00:45:18
ribbons and review some of the commands00:45:20
that we have on these ribbons remember00:45:22
if we hover our Mouse over any of these00:45:25
we get that little screen tip pop up00:45:26
which gives us more of an idea as to00:45:28
what this does00:45:30
so I just wanted you to sort of have a00:45:32
little look through start to get00:45:34
familiar with the layout of project the00:45:37
next thing I asked you to do was to00:45:39
practice navigating quickly and opening00:45:41
up commands using keyboard shortcuts so00:45:44
remember we can press our ALT key00:45:47
which pulls up those little letters so00:45:50
for example I could go to the view tab00:45:51
by pressing w00:45:53
I could go to the Gantt chart by00:45:55
pressing G and then I could switch to00:45:57
the tracking Again by pressing n00:46:00
so make sure you're familiar with those00:46:02
ALT key shortcuts the next thing I asked00:46:04
you to do was to practice adding some00:46:06
commands to the quick access toolbar now00:46:09
I already have quite a few on here and I00:46:11
didn't really mind which commands you00:46:13
added but I did give you some examples00:46:15
and one of those was the format painter00:46:17
so we can simply find it here in the00:46:19
clipboard group right click add to quick00:46:21
access toolbar00:46:23
another one was the 100 complete button00:46:25
which is just here in the schedule group00:46:27
right click add to quick access toolbar00:46:30
and the final thing I asked you to00:46:32
practice was simply switching between00:46:33
different views and tables so on the00:46:36
task ribbon we can click the drop down00:46:37
underneath Gantt chart and we can switch00:46:39
to different views from here so I can00:46:41
switch to the resource sheet I can00:46:44
switch to Resource usage so on and so00:46:47
forth and if I want to switch between00:46:49
tables I can click on The View tab click00:46:52
the tables drop down the default is the00:46:54
entry table but I can switch to any of00:46:57
these so I can go to the work table the00:46:59
summary table so on and so forth so just00:47:02
make sure you're familiar with all of00:47:04
these different controls00:47:11
there's lots of options and settings00:47:13
that we can change in Microsoft Project00:47:15
to get a copy of project working in a00:47:18
way that best suits us00:47:21
and really the options that you set are00:47:23
very much personal preference but there00:47:25
are a few that I would recommend that00:47:28
you either toggle on or toggle off00:47:30
before you get going00:47:32
so let's run through those and I'll show00:47:34
you my recommendations now to get to00:47:36
your project options we need to jump up00:47:38
to the file tab which is going to take00:47:40
us into that backstage area and we're00:47:42
going straight down to the bottom let's00:47:45
open up options now project options is a00:47:48
huge area we have so many different00:47:50
things that we can change in here you00:47:52
can see we have these different00:47:53
categories running down the left hand00:47:54
side so let's be logical and start at00:47:57
the top with the general tap I'm just00:47:59
going to draw your attention to some00:48:01
that I'd like you to check and possibly00:48:03
think about changing now notice here in00:48:05
the second section we have project View00:48:07
and it's telling me that the default00:48:09
view here is Gantt with timeline and00:48:12
that's exactly what you can see behind00:48:13
here we have the timeline at the top and00:48:15
the Gantt chart underneath and in00:48:16
general this is the view that I would00:48:18
recommend you start working with there00:48:20
are other options in here but if you00:48:22
have it set to something else make sure00:48:24
that at least for the duration of this00:48:25
course you have it set to Gantt with00:48:27
timeline we can also choose add date00:48:30
format from here as well00:48:31
now this will differ depending on where00:48:33
you are in the world as you can probably00:48:35
tell I'm in the UK and the UK has a00:48:38
different date format too somewhere like00:48:40
the US now I have my copy of project set00:48:44
to US state format and you can see all00:48:46
of those listed down here and in general00:48:48
I like my dates to show in project in a00:48:52
very concise way so instead of this date00:48:55
format I'm actually going to change mine00:48:57
to something a little bit more concise00:48:59
I'm going to put it to that let's now00:49:01
jump across to the schedule page and00:49:04
take a look at what we have in here now00:49:06
at the top here where we have calendar00:49:08
options for this project this is00:49:10
basically the time scale that our00:49:12
project is going to take on so the week00:49:15
starts on Monday the fiscal year starts00:49:17
in January and a working day is00:49:19
essentially 8 till 5 PM 8 hours per day00:49:22
40 hours per week and 20 days per month00:49:25
now we're going to talk a lot more about00:49:27
calendars a bit later on but this is00:49:30
your standard calendar that project is00:49:32
by default of course we can set up our00:49:35
own calendars and modify this default00:49:37
calendar so that it more accurately00:49:39
reflects the working hours of our00:49:41
company because not everybody works00:49:43
Monday to Friday 8 till 5 PM for the00:49:46
time being we're going to leave these00:49:48
default calendar settings alone if we00:49:50
scroll down to scheduling options for00:49:52
this project you can see where it says00:49:54
new tasks created are Auto scheduled and00:49:58
there are two options in here you can00:50:00
have manually scheduled tasks and auto00:50:02
schedule tasks so I'd like you to make00:50:04
sure that you have this set to Auto00:50:07
schedule what that means is that project00:50:09
will use its own scheduling engine to00:50:12
calculate when the task should occur and00:50:14
in general it's a lot less work for you00:50:16
than manually scheduling your tasks now00:50:19
a little bit further down we have this00:50:22
little checkbox new tasks are effort00:50:24
driven now I'm going to put a check in00:50:27
this box because what this means is that00:50:29
the total work or effort Remains the00:50:32
Same when you modify resource00:50:34
assignments for example if we assign two00:50:37
people to a task that task duration00:50:40
decreases because the work is split00:50:42
between two people and usually that's00:50:45
what you want it to do so make sure you00:50:48
have a little tick in that box and I00:50:50
also want you to make sure that where it00:50:52
says Auto Link inserted or move tasks00:50:55
make sure that you don't have a tick in00:50:57
this box because in my experience having00:50:59
this ticked can end up pretty messy so00:51:02
make sure you untick that now let's jump00:51:04
across to the save page and check out00:51:07
our save options now right at the top00:51:09
here this is where we can specify where00:51:11
our project files are saved so I'm going00:51:14
to change the location let's go to00:51:15
browse and I want mine saved in my00:51:19
course files folder let's click on OK00:51:21
and the good thing about this is that00:51:24
every time I now go to save a project00:51:26
file it's automatically going to jump me00:51:29
straight to this folder because it's the00:51:31
default file like station another thing00:51:33
you might want to check here is auto00:51:34
save so how often would you like your00:51:37
project file to auto save now currently00:51:40
I have mine set to five minutes and00:51:42
that's a little bit too short so I think00:51:44
I'm going to change this to 20 minutes00:51:46
and I want it to save the active project00:51:49
only now another setting that I like to00:51:52
have turned on is prompt before saving00:51:54
and what that means is that every 2000:51:57
minutes I'm going to get a prompt pop up00:51:59
on my screen asking me if I'd like to00:52:01
save my project file now the reason why00:52:04
I like to have a prompt is that00:52:06
sometimes if I'm just messing around00:52:08
with a project file if I'm not prompted00:52:10
to save it means it's just going to save00:52:11
it automatically and it might be that00:52:14
I'm doing something that I don't00:52:15
particularly want to save to the file so00:52:17
I like to have a little prompt and I can00:52:19
choose myself if I want to save or if I00:52:22
don't again this is very much personal00:52:24
preference but now I've set it to 2000:52:26
minutes you might see it pop up00:52:28
occasionally as we're working through00:52:29
this course let's jump across to the00:52:32
advanced page and in this General00:52:34
section I'm also going to turn on this00:52:36
option prompt for project info for new00:52:39
projects so when we create a new project00:52:42
it's automatically going to open up the00:52:44
project information window so that I can00:52:46
enter in some useful information about00:52:48
my project00:52:50
and this is something in general that I00:52:51
would do at the start anyway when I00:52:53
create a new project so I might as well00:52:55
have it automatically prompt me to do00:52:58
that so let's put a tick in there and00:53:01
finally let's jump across to the trust00:53:03
Center and we're going to go into our00:53:06
trust Center settings now I'm going to00:53:09
choose Legacy formats just here because00:53:11
this allows me to Define how project00:53:14
deals with files that have been created00:53:16
in older versions of project because00:53:19
what you might find is that if you are00:53:21
trying to open a file that was created00:53:23
in a much older version of project00:53:25
project professionals simply will not00:53:27
open it and sometimes you're not really00:53:29
sure why00:53:30
so I'm going to say prompt when loading00:53:32
files with Legacy or non-default file00:53:35
formats when I get a message letting me00:53:37
know that this file was created in an00:53:39
older version let's click on OK and OK00:53:43
again to save those settings so those00:53:46
are some of the settings that I00:53:48
recommend you change before you start00:53:50
working with project00:53:57
in this lesson we're going to explore00:53:58
the basics of creating saving and00:54:01
closing a project file and up until this00:54:04
point we've been working with just a00:54:05
very basic file that I've created from a00:54:08
template in Project now the first thing00:54:09
I'm going to do here is I'm going to00:54:11
close this file down so a couple of00:54:13
points about closing project files there00:54:16
are a few different ways that you can do00:54:17
this we can jump across to the file Tab00:54:20
and we have a close option in here we00:54:23
could also use the keyboard shortcut00:54:24
Ctrl W notice that it's prompting me to00:54:29
save my changes so I'm going to say yes00:54:31
I do want to save those changes and it's00:54:33
now closed down that file a mistake that00:54:35
a lot of people often make is they00:54:37
immediately go up to the top right hand00:54:40
corner of the screen and click on the00:54:41
cross in the corner now the difference00:54:44
here is that if you click on that cross00:54:46
it's going to close down all of project00:54:48
so you're going to need to restart the00:54:50
application again in order to open00:54:51
another file so if you just want to00:54:53
close down the file but leave project00:54:55
open go to file and close or use the00:54:58
keyboard shortcut Ctrl W so now we've00:55:00
closed that file it's jumped us directly00:55:02
to the backstage area and to the new00:55:04
section so this is where we can come to00:55:07
create a new project file and you can00:55:09
see we have lots and lots of different00:55:11
templates sometimes it's quite good to00:55:13
start from a template because it means00:55:15
you're not having to start completely00:55:16
from scratch and you can see that we00:55:18
have lots of templates in here organized00:55:20
by category that we can have a little00:55:22
search through so maybe I just want a00:55:25
simple project plan I could select this00:55:27
template from here click on Create and00:55:30
it's going to load that up into the main00:55:32
window and these are great because we00:55:34
can just go in and edit the tasks but we00:55:36
already have the bare bones of a project00:55:38
plan in place so they're a great00:55:40
starting block if you're new to project00:55:42
and even if you're not new to project00:55:44
they can be invaluable now we're not00:55:46
going to work from a template in this00:55:47
case so control W to close down and this00:55:50
time I'm not going to save the changes00:55:53
because what we want to do is we want to00:55:55
create a blank project00:55:57
so you can see the first option we have00:55:59
here the first thumbnail is blank00:56:00
project or we can use the keyboard00:56:02
shortcut Ctrl n which is also going to00:56:06
create a new blank project now notice00:56:08
what's happening here if you remember00:56:10
one of the options that we set in the00:56:13
last lesson was that as soon as we00:56:15
create a new project it's going to pop00:56:17
open the project information window and00:56:19
that's exactly what it's doing just here00:56:21
so now I can Define the start date of my00:56:24
project the calendar I want to use where00:56:27
I want to start scheduling from all of00:56:29
that helpful stuff so I'm going to set00:56:31
my project start date to quite a way in00:56:34
the future so let's do it for the first00:56:37
of March next year now when you schedule00:56:40
a project start day that's basically00:56:42
where any tasks you add are going to00:56:44
start from but also if you add tasks and00:56:46
you don't assign a date to them which is00:56:48
something which happens frequently in00:56:50
projects sometimes you're not really00:56:51
sure when exactly a task is going to00:56:53
start right at the beginning of the00:56:54
project if you add a task with no start00:56:57
date 8 it's going to give it the default00:56:59
of whatever we have for the start date00:57:01
of the project so in this case March the00:57:03
1st 2023 now notice that the Finish day00:57:06
is grayed out and that's because project00:57:09
calculates the Finish date for us00:57:11
automatically based on the tasks in our00:57:14
schedule so the Finish day is constantly00:57:16
moving depending on the duration of each00:57:19
task that's why we can't edit it from00:57:21
here another thing to know is that the00:57:23
calendar that this project is going to00:57:25
use is the standard calendar and I00:57:27
briefly mentioned this again in the last00:57:29
lesson the standard calendar or the00:57:31
default calendar in Project is Monday to00:57:34
Friday 8 to 5 PM with an hour for lunch00:57:38
now there are a couple of other00:57:39
calendars in here there's a 24-hour00:57:42
calendar and there's also a night shift00:57:44
calendar but for now we're going to keep00:57:47
this on the standard calendar so that's00:57:49
all the information I want to add about00:57:51
this project at this stage let's click00:57:53
on OK and the first thing I'm going to00:57:56
do is I'm going to save this project if00:57:59
you take a look up in the title bar00:58:00
you'll see that before you save it for00:58:02
the first time it's going to be given00:58:04
the very generic name of project 100:58:06
Project 2 project 3 so on and so forth00:58:09
so let's save again we can go into file00:58:12
or we can press Ctrl s00:58:15
and it's going to jump us across to the00:58:17
save as section now if this is the first00:58:20
time that you're saving a file it00:58:21
doesn't matter if you choose save or00:58:23
save as it's going to take you to save00:58:25
as because we need to give it a name now00:58:28
I'm going to go straight down to browse00:58:30
and notice what happens again this is00:58:33
another setting that we changed it takes00:58:36
me directly to my default project file00:58:38
location which for me was the course00:58:41
files folder so I'm just going to give00:58:42
this a name my first project and click00:58:46
on Save notice that the name has now00:58:48
changed up in the title bar so now that00:58:51
we've saved this for the first time as00:58:52
we work through we can now just save00:58:55
normally so when we press Ctrl s it's00:58:58
just going to save all the changes that00:58:59
we've made now I'm quickly going to00:59:01
close this file again I'm going to use00:59:02
the keyboard shortcut Ctrl W and let's00:59:05
just briefly take a look at how we can00:59:07
reopen files let's go to the open page00:59:10
and if you casterize over to the right00:59:12
hand side of the screen notice that the00:59:15
file that we last accessed is at the top00:59:17
of the list and I'm going to click on00:59:19
the drawing pin to pin that to the top00:59:21
so all I really need to do here is00:59:24
double click to reopen and if we control00:59:27
W to close down again the other way that00:59:29
I could open the file is to go to browse00:59:32
and it's going to jump me back to that00:59:34
folder where I have all of my files00:59:36
saved I can simply select it click on00:59:39
open and it's going to open the file so00:59:41
really simple and straightforward to00:59:43
create new project files save them and00:59:46
close and open a project00:59:53
I've mentioned calendars a few times00:59:56
already in this course so let's delve00:59:58
into this subject in a little bit more01:00:00
detail and I'll show you how you can set01:00:02
up your project calendar now as I've01:00:05
mentioned calendars in Project Define01:00:07
the working and non-working time for01:00:09
your project and the default calendar in01:00:12
Project is Monday to Friday 8 to 5 PM01:00:15
with one hour for lunch now not01:00:17
everybody works in this way01:00:19
for example some people might work01:00:22
part-time others might work at night01:00:24
some might have certain days of the week01:00:27
off so we have the ability to create01:00:29
additional calendars in project so let's01:00:32
go up to the project Tab and in the01:00:34
Properties Group we want to go to change01:00:36
working time this is where we can come01:00:40
to take a look at our different01:00:41
calendars and Define the working hours01:00:43
for that calendar it's also where we can01:00:46
create new calendars from as well now01:00:48
notice at the top we have loaded up as01:00:51
standard project calendar this is the01:00:53
default01:00:54
we have a little Legend which tells us01:00:57
what this shading means in this calendar01:01:00
so you can see here anything that's01:01:02
white is working time so that's Monday01:01:04
to Friday anything that's shaded in Gray01:01:07
is non-working time so in this calendar01:01:09
that is Saturday and Sunday and that's01:01:11
all we have in this particular standard01:01:14
calendar notice that if I click on a day01:01:16
in the calendar it shows me over on the01:01:18
right hand side that this particular day01:01:20
that I'm clicked on is a working day and01:01:23
these are the hours so 8 AM to 12 p.m we01:01:26
then have a one hour break for lunch and01:01:28
then the afternoon is 1pm to 5 p.m and01:01:31
then underneath we have a little01:01:32
exceptions table and a work weeks table01:01:35
now if we go back up to the top and01:01:37
click the drop down notice we have two01:01:39
other calendars in here so let's take a01:01:41
look at the night shift calendar so this01:01:43
is defined by different working times so01:01:46
you can see here every day is a working01:01:48
day apart from Sunday and if I click on01:01:51
one of the working days we can see the01:01:53
working times for this particular night01:01:55
shift calendar so 12 a.m to 3 A.M then 401:01:58
AM to 8 am 11 pm to 12 am now if we take01:02:03
a look at the work weeks tab underneath01:02:05
this tab basically represents the days01:02:08
and times when people work now because01:02:11
this says default in here the default01:02:13
calendar applies to all dates so let's01:02:17
switch back to our standard project01:02:19
calendar because what we're going to do01:02:21
here is we're going to make some01:02:22
modifications01:02:23
so I'm going to make sure I'm clicked on01:02:25
work weeks where we have default and01:02:27
let's click on details now I've got01:02:29
Sundays selected currently and Sunday is01:02:32
a non-working day in this standard01:02:34
calendar but let's go to Monday you can01:02:38
see in here it's showing us the times01:02:40
that apply for this working day now01:02:43
maybe I decide that Monday to Friday the01:02:46
Working Day at my organization doesn't01:02:48
start until 9 00 am so the morning is01:02:51
basically 9 A.M to 12 we then have an01:02:54
hour for lunch and then the afternoon is01:02:57
1 pm to 6 p.m instead so I'm going to01:03:01
change these working times01:03:03
now a simple way to do this is I can01:03:05
select all of the days that I want to01:03:07
change the times for simply by holding01:03:09
down my mouse button and dragging down01:03:12
so I've got Monday to Friday selected01:03:14
I'm going to say set days to these01:03:17
specific working times which allows me01:03:19
to edit these fields so I can simply01:03:22
come in here and I'm going to make the01:03:23
change so let's say we want this to be 901:03:26
am to 6 pm and click on OK and you can01:03:31
now see that that's been reflected up01:03:33
here where it says working times for01:03:35
October the 5th 9 A.M to 12 1 pm to 6 pm01:03:39
and you'll find that is the same for all01:03:42
of the working days01:03:44
so very simple and straightforward to01:03:46
modify the standard calendar now it01:03:48
might be that some weeks we have01:03:50
different working hours so for example01:03:53
that kind of middle week between01:03:55
Christmas and New Year where a lot of01:03:56
people still work the company might01:03:58
decide that we have reduced hours01:04:00
because it's Christmas01:04:02
so if we want to add in a schedule that01:04:04
accommodates that we can simply add in01:04:06
another work week in this little area at01:04:09
the bottom so I could give it a name01:04:10
that say01:04:12
I'm just going to call it Christmas week01:04:14
I can choose when that's going to start01:04:16
so let's move across to December and01:04:19
it's going to be let's say this week01:04:22
just here it starts on the 26th01:04:26
and ends on the 30th01:04:29
I can then go into details and I can set01:04:32
up the hours for that particular week so01:04:34
again it's Monday to Friday I'm going to01:04:36
set the working hours and maybe01:04:38
everyone's doing a half day so let's say01:04:40
12 to 6 p.m01:04:43
and I can just delete out what we have01:04:45
here click on OK and check out the01:04:47
calendar above it's now updated to01:04:50
reflect that change I noticed in the01:04:52
calendar these are now highlighted in01:04:54
yellow and if we look at the legend it's01:04:55
telling me that this is a non-default01:04:57
work week because it's a little bit of01:04:59
an anomaly and of course from here we01:05:01
can also create additional calendars so01:05:05
maybe I want to create a calendar for01:05:07
all the members of Staff who work01:05:09
part-time we have a create new calendar01:05:11
button in the top right hand corner01:05:13
let's click it and I'm going to call01:05:15
this part-time calendar and in general I01:05:18
like to base the part-time calendar off01:05:20
of the standard calendar and simply01:05:22
modify it so I'm going to say make a01:05:24
copy of standard let's click on OK I01:05:27
want to save the changes I've made to01:05:29
the standard calendar01:05:31
and now I'm in the part-time calendar so01:05:34
I can now go through and Define the01:05:37
working times01:05:38
so let's go into details again I'm going01:05:42
to say that part-time workers they work01:05:44
Monday Wednesday and Friday and they do01:05:47
9 A.M to 12 p.m and let's get rid of01:05:51
that underneath click on OK and now I01:05:53
have my part-time calendar which I can01:05:55
select from the four calendar drop down01:05:57
at the top01:06:03
using project calendars we can Define01:06:06
exceptions for regular work weeks such01:06:09
as public holidays so in this lesson I'm01:06:11
going to show you how you can set those01:06:13
up so the first thing we're going to do01:06:14
is we're going to jump across to the01:06:16
project Tab and we're going to go back01:06:17
into change working time and we're going01:06:21
to add our exceptions to the standard01:06:23
project calendar so let's make sure that01:06:26
we've got that selected at the top there01:06:27
which we have and at the bottom we want01:06:30
to make sure we're clicked on the01:06:31
exceptions tab now exceptions are01:06:34
primarily for non-working time for01:06:37
example I might want to set up an01:06:40
exception for the first bank holiday in01:06:44
May next year now for those of you01:06:46
outside of the UK a bank holiday is01:06:48
basically just a public holiday and for01:06:51
us we have a bank holiday on the 1st of01:06:54
May it's our Spring Bank holiday so I'm01:06:57
going to set up an exception in this01:06:58
calendar because it's non-working time01:07:00
so let's first type in the name I'm01:07:02
going to double click so I can edit this01:07:04
cell and I'm going to say Spring Bank01:07:07
holiday now when I press the Tab Key it01:07:09
puts in some default start and finish01:07:10
dates but we're going to jump straight01:07:12
in here and we're going to change this01:07:14
so the Spring Bank holiday occurs on the01:07:17
1st of May every year so let's select01:07:21
that and it's just one day so you can01:07:23
see the finish time has automatically01:07:25
updated to reflect a one day holiday01:07:27
maybe I want to add in another exception01:07:31
so this time we're going to say that the01:07:34
office is being renovated so none of us01:07:36
are working now that probably wouldn't01:07:38
happen in a real world scenario we'd01:07:40
probably be asked to work from home but01:07:42
just for this example let's add in five01:07:45
days of non-working time for office01:07:47
Renovations and this is going to occur01:07:50
in the summer so let's go and say that01:07:53
this is going to start on the 12th of01:07:55
June and it's going to end on the 16th01:07:58
of June so we have a five-day duration01:08:00
now because this is non-working time I01:08:02
don't really need to jump into details01:08:04
and specify anything else other than the01:08:06
name and the start and finish dates and01:08:09
you can see that when I click on01:08:10
exception number two office Renovations01:08:12
at the top here it says June the 12th01:08:15
2023 is non-working and if we now take a01:08:18
look in the little calendar preview for01:08:20
June just above you can see that those01:08:22
have been shaded out accordingly in the01:08:24
calendar and if we look at the legend01:08:26
it's telling me that this relates to01:08:28
exception days for this calendar so so01:08:31
far everything is working correctly now01:08:33
another thing you can add in are01:08:35
recurring exceptions for example maybe01:08:38
our team has a monthly all-day meeting01:08:41
now technically these might be01:08:43
considered as working days but we're01:08:45
going to block them out in our calendar01:08:46
as non-working days and this is a01:08:49
meeting that occurs every month so we01:08:50
want to make sure that we set this01:08:52
exception to recur monthly so let's type01:08:55
in the name you're going to say monthly01:08:57
meeting now for this I don't necessarily01:09:00
need to specify the start and finish01:09:02
dates just here if we jump into details01:09:05
to open up this pane this is where we01:09:07
can set our recurrence pattern and one01:09:09
thing to note here is that when you're01:09:11
adding in this type of recurring01:09:13
exception all of the recurrences need to01:09:16
be the same so we're going to set this01:09:18
to non-working time and then we're going01:09:20
to choose our recurrence pattern so this01:09:22
is a monthly meeting and I'm going to01:09:25
say that this meeting occurs on the01:09:28
first Monday of every month and then we01:09:31
need to choose the range of recurrence01:09:33
so when is the first meeting going to be01:09:35
when's it going to start so I'm going to01:09:37
say that this first meeting is going to01:09:39
be towards the start of the project so01:09:41
our project begins on the 1st of March01:09:43
so let's say that the first meeting is01:09:45
going to be the Monday after the 6th of01:09:48
March and then we can choose a specific01:09:50
date that we want this to end by or we01:09:53
can choose to end after a specific01:09:55
number of occurrences01:09:56
so I'm going to schedule this for an01:09:58
entire year so I'm going to say end01:10:00
after 12 occurrences because it's a01:10:03
monthly meeting let's click on OK and01:10:07
now we should see this also shaded out01:10:09
in our calendar as an exception day so01:10:12
we're on June 2023 but remember I01:10:14
schedule it for all of next year and the01:10:16
first Monday of the month the 5th of01:10:18
June is in fact shaded out if we go to01:10:21
May you can see yes it's there as well01:10:23
so on and so forth and now you can also01:10:25
see an exceptions table at the bottom01:10:27
the start and finish dates have now01:10:29
updated to reflect the information that01:10:31
we've added into details let's click on01:10:33
OK and we now have those exceptions01:10:35
added to our standard calendar01:10:43
in order for everything to work01:10:45
correctly in Project there's some01:10:47
information that project needs to know01:10:49
for example project needs to know how01:10:52
many work hours there are in a day and a01:10:54
week along with how many days there are01:10:56
in a month so that it can convert01:10:59
durations between time units it also01:11:02
needs to know the default start and01:11:03
finish times for tasks when they don't01:11:06
have dependencies to calculate them so01:11:08
let's just confirm what our calendar01:11:10
hours actually are first of all01:11:13
so we're going to go up to the project01:11:15
Tab and we're going to go into change01:11:17
working time now we're in the standard01:11:19
project calendar and you can see in the01:11:22
preview window underneath it's currently01:11:24
got today's date highlighted October 4th01:11:27
2022 and then we have our working times01:11:29
defined 9 A.M to 12 p.m we have a01:11:32
one-hour break for lunch and then we01:11:34
work 1 pm to 6 p.m so this works out to01:11:37
an eight hour day which is 40 hours a01:11:41
week so these are the working times that01:11:43
we've defined for our standard project01:11:45
calendar and if you recall we did make a01:11:47
slight amendment to these earlier on in01:11:49
this course so now that we have just01:11:52
reviewed our actual working times let's01:11:55
click on OK and we're going to jump into01:11:57
project options so let's go up to the01:11:59
file tab all the way down into options01:12:03
and we're going to go to the schedule01:12:05
tab now we did briefly look in here a01:12:08
bit earlier on because at the top here01:12:10
this is where we can Define our calendar01:12:12
options for this project object so what01:12:15
we're basically trying to do here is we01:12:17
want to make sure that our calendar01:12:18
options in here match our actual project01:12:22
calendar now notice here default start01:12:25
time is 8 am now note the top here01:12:28
default start time and default end time01:12:30
I currently set to 8 till 5. so we need01:12:34
to change this because our project01:12:36
calendar is nine to six01:12:39
so we're going to reselect 9 am and01:12:42
we're gonna finish at01:12:45
where are we all the way down here 6 p.m01:12:47
and this still works out at a standard01:12:49
eight hours per day 40 hours per week01:12:52
and 20 days per month if you're01:12:54
wondering how it calculates this 20 days01:12:56
per month project basically says there's01:12:59
roughly four weeks in a month and there01:13:02
are five working days per week so four01:13:05
times five is effectively 20 days per01:13:08
month now the final thing you want to01:13:09
check in here is right at the top where01:13:11
it says calendar options for this01:13:13
project01:13:14
and we have the project that we've got01:13:17
open right now listed now if we click01:13:20
the drop down we want to make sure we01:13:22
change this to all new projects because01:13:25
if we leave it on just the project that01:13:27
we have open these timings are only01:13:30
going to be used for that particular01:13:31
project and I want to use these timings01:13:34
for all new projects that I create so01:13:36
let's make sure we select all new01:13:38
projects and click on OK so now our01:13:42
project options are synchronized with01:13:45
what we have defined in our project01:13:47
calendar01:13:50
foreign01:14:00
skills that we've learned in this01:14:02
section of the course so I'd like you01:14:04
first to open the file new product01:14:07
launch.mpp from the exercise files01:14:10
folder once you've got that file open01:14:12
I'd like you to go in and change the01:14:14
working time of the standard calendar to01:14:18
9am to 1 pm and 2 P.M to 6 PM I'd then01:14:23
like you to add another calendar a01:14:25
part-time calendar for staff that work01:14:28
Monday to Friday 9 A.M to 1pm I'd like01:14:32
you to sync the project calendar options01:14:34
with the project calendar and once01:14:37
you've done all of that I'd like you to01:14:39
close the project file so a few01:14:41
different things to do there if you'd01:14:42
like to see my answer then please keep01:14:44
watching so the first part of this task01:14:46
was to open the file new product01:14:49
launch.mpp from the exercise files01:14:51
folder so this is that file you can see01:14:54
it's already populated with tasks01:14:56
durations start and finish dates now the01:14:59
next part of the task was to change the01:15:01
working time so for this we need to go01:15:03
to the project Tab and in the Properties01:15:05
Group Change working time01:15:08
now I asked you to change the working01:15:10
time for the calendar standard project01:15:12
calendar which is the one that we01:15:14
currently have selected and if I click01:15:16
on one of the working days so Monday to01:15:18
Friday you can see that the current01:15:19
working times are 8 AM to 12 p.m and 101:15:22
pm to 5 PM so let's go across to work01:15:25
weeks and click on the details button01:15:27
and from here we can Define our working01:15:30
times01:15:31
so I'm going to select Monday to Friday01:15:33
and we do that by holding down the shift01:15:35
key and I'm going to say set days to01:15:37
these specific times01:15:38
and then we're going to modify this 9 am01:15:41
to 1 pm01:15:43
and 2 P.M to 6 pm and click on OK so now01:15:48
all of our working days should be set to01:15:50
those times01:15:51
I then asked you to create a new01:15:53
calendar for part-time workers so let's01:15:56
click on create new calendar I'm going01:15:58
to call this half time and I'm going to01:16:01
make a copy of the standard calendar to01:16:03
do this I'm going to say yes I want to01:16:05
save changes to the standard calendar01:16:07
and now I can Define my working hours01:16:11
so once again I'm going to select a01:16:13
working day let's click on the details01:16:15
button but this time we're going to01:16:17
select Monday to Friday we're going to01:16:19
set to these specific working times but01:16:23
the part-time people only work nine to01:16:25
one so let's add that in and we can01:16:29
delete out01:16:31
the other times01:16:32
click on OK and now we can switch01:16:35
between these two calendars we have our01:16:37
standard project calendar with our new01:16:39
times and then we have our half time01:16:42
calendar where we have 9am to 1 p.m the01:16:45
next thing I asked you to do was to01:16:47
synchronize your times with the actual01:16:49
project options calendar so for this we01:16:52
can jump straight into options by01:16:53
clicking the options button at the01:16:55
bottom01:16:56
we're going to say that our week starts01:16:58
on a Monday and I want to Define my01:17:00
default start and end times so we want01:17:02
these to match the times we've just set01:17:04
so 9 A.M and the default end time is 601:17:08
p.m and click on OK let's click OK again01:17:12
I'm going to give my file a quick save01:17:14
and then we're going to close01:17:23
it's time now to talk about something01:17:25
that is really important in project and01:17:28
that is the difference between automatic01:17:30
and manually scheduled tasks now before01:17:33
we get into the details we need to make01:17:36
a quick change in Project options and as01:17:39
I've just been talking you can see that01:17:41
project has popped up a prompt for me to01:17:44
save this project if you recall in a01:17:46
previous lesson I also set this in01:17:49
options as well so I'm going to say yes01:17:51
I do want to save and let's jump into01:17:54
add project options01:17:56
now if we go to the schedule page I want01:17:59
to draw your attention to this little01:18:01
section down here scheduling options for01:18:03
this project now notice it says any new01:18:06
tasks that are created are going to be01:18:08
manually scheduled and this applies to01:18:11
this project only so just this file that01:18:15
I have open01:18:16
and if you take a look just behind this01:18:19
window in the status bar you can see01:18:20
right at the bottom it says new tasks01:18:22
manually scheduled now I want to change01:18:25
this so that every task guide schedule01:18:27
is auto scheduled across all of the01:18:31
projects that I create so I'm going to01:18:33
go in and I'm going to change this01:18:34
because what I want to happen here is01:18:37
that for all new projects I want them to01:18:40
be Auto scheduled by default so I'm01:18:43
going to change it in my options click01:18:45
on OK and it's not going to switch this01:18:47
project to automatically schedule new01:18:49
tasks by default I need to manually01:18:51
change that at the bottom so where we01:18:53
have new tasks manually scheduled I'm01:18:55
going to click just here and make sure01:18:57
that I have Auto scheduled selected01:19:00
going forward if I create new projects01:19:02
it's going to default to Auto scheduled01:19:05
now what is the difference between01:19:06
manually scheduled tasks and auto01:19:08
scheduled tasks well let's start out01:19:10
with auto scheduled tasks first of all01:19:12
auto schedule tasks mean that project is01:19:16
automatic going to calculate task dates01:19:19
and durations which is extremely helpful01:19:21
particularly for large complex projects01:19:24
with manually scheduled tasks we're in01:19:27
control of the task dates and durations01:19:29
so let's take a deeper dive into this01:19:32
because it's a really important concept01:19:33
to get your head around so let's start01:19:35
with auto scheduled if we take a look at01:19:38
the project plan that I have open notice01:19:40
that the second column here is called01:19:42
task mode01:19:43
so this is where we have our indicator01:19:47
as to whether a particular task is01:19:49
manually or automatically scheduled and01:19:51
you can see here that for all of these01:19:53
tasks in this project plan I have this01:19:55
icon and this icon tells me that this01:19:58
particular task is automatically01:20:00
scheduled that is the task mode so let's01:20:03
pick a task in this list I'm going to go01:20:05
for task number 12 just here you can see01:20:08
that the duration of this task is three01:20:10
days the start date is October the 7th01:20:13
and the Finish day is October the 11th01:20:15
so when I added this task in and I set01:20:18
the duration to three days and I also01:20:20
set the start date project automatically01:20:23
calculated what that finish date is01:20:25
going to be based on the duration and01:20:28
the start date and of course it's going01:20:29
to take into account things like01:20:31
weekends and non-working days so project01:20:33
effectively defines for me when this01:20:36
task is going to finish now the benefits01:20:39
of automatically scheduled tasks really01:20:42
present themselves when we're looking at01:20:44
linked tasks so for example we're still01:20:47
looking at task 12 and if we take a look01:20:49
at the bars on the right hand side we01:20:53
can see this blue bar here represents01:20:55
the length of this particular task but01:20:58
notice at the end we have an arrow01:21:00
because it's linked to task number 13.01:21:03
so task number 12 needs to finish before01:21:06
task number 13 can begin so what happens01:21:09
if I was to change the duration of one01:21:12
of these tasks01:21:13
so I'm going to go to task number 12 and01:21:16
instead of three days let's change this01:21:19
to seven days01:21:20
now notice what happens the start and01:21:23
finish times update and again if we take01:21:25
a look at the bar that's also updated01:21:28
it's now longer than it was and task01:21:30
number 13 which relies on task number 1201:21:33
completing has also had its start and01:21:36
finish dates adjusted because of the01:21:38
change that we've made so this is why01:21:41
automatically scheduling tasks is my01:21:44
preferred option because it means that I01:21:46
don't then have to go in and start01:21:48
moving around task number 13 to reflect01:21:51
the new start and finish times now01:21:53
manually scheduled tasks are basically01:21:55
do-it-yourself scheduling we set the01:21:58
dates and the durations so just to show01:22:00
you how this works let's add a brand new01:22:03
task into our schedule so I'm going to01:22:06
click task number 15 and I'm going to01:22:08
insert a new task above this task now01:22:11
there are a few different ways you can01:22:12
insert tasks I'm going to right click01:22:15
and then from the contextual menu I'm01:22:17
going to choose insert task so now we01:22:19
have this new task up up here notice01:22:22
that it's by default on the same01:22:24
indentation level as the ones above and01:22:27
we're going to talk more about that in a01:22:28
later lesson and it's automatically01:22:30
inserted it as an automatically01:22:32
scheduled task take a look at the icon01:22:34
in the task mode column now I'm going to01:22:37
change this to a manually scheduled task01:22:40
so to change individual tasks we don't01:22:42
want to change them all we can click in01:22:44
the task mode click the drop down and01:22:46
switch it from Auto to manually01:22:48
scheduled01:22:50
now notice the different icon that we01:22:52
get just there we get this little01:22:54
drawing pin or push pin icon so that is01:22:57
how you can tell which tasks are01:22:58
manually scheduled and which ones are01:23:00
automatically scheduled also notice in01:23:02
the duration we have one day question01:23:05
mark and that's because we haven't01:23:06
defined start and finish dates for this01:23:08
task as yet so project doesn't really01:23:11
know so it's put in the default of one01:23:13
day and it's presenting a question mark01:23:15
because there's unknown information so01:23:18
let's rename this task I'm going to call01:23:20
this I'm going to say finalize01:23:23
market research results press the Tab01:23:25
Key and I'm going to set a duration so01:23:28
I'm going to set this to two days now01:23:30
notice the start datejust here it's01:23:33
showing as September the 30th 2022 and01:23:36
that is in fact the start date of this01:23:40
project so when we don't Define a start01:23:43
date for a task the default is to start01:23:46
based on that project start date now01:23:48
also notice what's going on with the bar01:23:50
over here notice that the bar is showing01:23:53
in this teal color now maybe at this01:23:56
stage I'm not sure about the start date01:23:58
for this particular task so what I could01:24:01
do in here is add in some placeholder01:24:03
text as opposed to having start and01:24:05
finish dates so in the finished field01:24:07
I'm going to click and I'm going to say01:24:09
confirm with team01:24:12
now notice that it's been shaded out the01:24:15
bar is now also a lot shorter because we01:24:18
don't have a finished date we only have01:24:19
a start date and check out what's01:24:21
happened to the icon in the task mode01:24:23
column we now have a question mark in01:24:25
there because the Finish date is01:24:27
effectively unknown at this stage and01:24:30
this is a really good reminder for me01:24:32
when I'm looking through my project plan01:24:33
I can see these highlighted areas these01:24:35
placeholders so that I know that I have01:24:37
some action to take I need to confirm01:24:39
the market research results with the01:24:41
manager and together we can work out how01:24:44
long this task might possibly take once01:24:46
we have that information we can just go01:24:48
back into the schedule and add it in so01:24:51
I'm going to say that it's been01:24:52
confirmed with the manager that this01:24:54
task needs to start on October01:24:57
the 20th01:24:59
2022 the duration is two days so the01:25:03
Finish date is going to be December the01:25:05
21st notice the bar now has these dark01:25:08
green caps on either end so that just01:25:11
means that we have a defined start and01:25:14
finish date for this manually scheduled01:25:15
task also notice that the question mark01:25:18
has disappeared from the push pin icon01:25:20
because we've entered in the duration01:25:21
the start and the Finish date01:25:29
so now that we've established the01:25:31
difference between Auto scheduled and01:25:34
manually scheduled tasks let's create an01:25:37
auto schedule task so you can see how01:25:39
this works so to add a task into the01:25:41
entry table it's a simple case of01:25:43
clicking in the first row in the task01:25:45
name column and typing the task name so01:25:48
my first task is conduct course research01:25:51
if I press the tab key it's going to01:25:53
take me across to the duration field and01:25:56
notice the game by default it's put in01:25:58
start and finish dates based off of the01:26:01
start date of this project also notice01:26:03
in the task mode column this is an01:26:05
automatically scheduled task so all we01:26:08
need to do here is basically fill in the01:26:10
duration and project is going to take01:26:12
care of everything else01:26:14
so let's say that course research is01:26:16
going to take me 10 days01:26:19
now I can use these little up and down01:26:21
arrows to scroll through the number of01:26:23
days alternatively I can click in the01:26:26
cell and I can simply type in 10. Now01:26:28
the default is day so I don't need to01:26:30
specify anything other than 10. on a01:26:33
side note if you wanted to maybe use01:26:36
weeks instead what you could do here is01:26:39
Type in let's say one W and that's going01:26:43
to give you one week now I'm going to01:26:46
switch this back to 10 days now if I01:26:49
just put in 10 because I just changed it01:26:51
to weeks it's going to give me 10 weeks01:26:53
instead so now I do need to add01:26:56
something in other than 10 I need to add01:26:58
D after it so project knows it's days01:27:01
and not weeks and now based off of this01:27:04
duration and my start date project has01:27:07
automatically calculated what that01:27:09
finish date is going to be for this01:27:11
specific task and we can see the bar01:27:13
updated in add timeline on the right01:27:16
hand side so really nice and01:27:18
straightforward01:27:19
let's add in another task and we're01:27:23
going to say that this task is going to01:27:25
take three days now once again check out01:27:28
the bar because I haven't specified a01:27:32
start date it's starting at the same01:27:34
time as conduct course research which is01:27:37
based off the start date of the entire01:27:39
project now maybe I can't draft the01:27:41
course outline until I've conducted the01:27:43
course research so I really want this01:27:45
task to begin when the one before it01:27:48
finishes so I'm going to change the01:27:50
start date just here to the let's say01:27:52
the 16th of March01:27:56
now check this out I'm getting the01:27:59
planning wizard pop-up now the planning01:28:01
wizard is an option you can turn off or01:28:04
on but by default this is turned on01:28:07
so it's telling me you entered a start01:28:09
date for draft course outline that is01:28:11
close to the Finish date of conduct01:28:13
course research so it's asking me if I'd01:28:15
like to link these so the draft course01:28:18
outline will always follow conduct01:28:20
course research or do I just want to01:28:23
move the start date of this task without01:28:25
adding a link to the previous task now01:28:28
in this case I do want to link these01:28:30
together because conduct course research01:28:32
is effectively a predecessor of draft01:28:35
course outline now we are kind of01:28:37
getting a bit ahead of ourselves here01:28:39
because we haven't really discussed01:28:40
predecessors but for the time being just01:28:43
to really illustrate the benefits of01:28:45
Auto scheduling tasks I'm going to say01:28:48
that I want to link them now as soon as01:28:50
I click on OK check out what happens to01:28:53
task number two it's now moved to its01:28:56
new start date and it's linked to the01:28:58
previous task so what we're basically01:29:00
saying here is that task number one01:29:02
conduct course research needs to end01:29:05
before I can draft the course outline01:29:08
also notice in the entry table just here01:29:11
we have a predecessors column and we01:29:14
have a number one next to task number01:29:16
two so this is telling me that task01:29:17
number one is a predecessor of task01:29:20
number two so basically when you01:29:22
automatically schedule tasks and01:29:24
particularly when you're linking them01:29:25
together the Finish day of this first01:29:28
task really controls the other task01:29:36
so now we understand how an01:29:37
automatically scheduled task Works let's01:29:40
turn our attention to manually scheduled01:29:42
tasks and to really illustrate the01:29:44
difference I'm going to add one more01:29:46
automatically scheduled task into the01:29:48
schedule so let's click in task name and01:29:52
add a third task so send outline to01:29:55
training manager for review is Task01:29:57
number three once again notice the01:29:59
duration is set to one day with a01:30:01
question mark so that means currently01:30:03
this is estimated the start and finish01:30:05
dates are set to the start date of the01:30:08
project simply because we haven't linked01:30:10
this task to any predecessors so for01:30:13
example I kind of want all of these01:30:15
tasks to start after each other so I01:30:18
can't send the outline to the training01:30:20
manager for review until I've drafted01:30:22
the course outline so effectively task01:30:24
number two is a predecessor of task01:30:27
number three01:30:28
so what I could do here to get all of my01:30:30
dates to update and reflect accurately01:30:33
let's go to the predecessors column01:30:35
click the drop down and select task01:30:37
number two as the predecessor notice on01:30:40
the timeline it automatically links01:30:42
those tasks together and it moves task01:30:45
number three into the correct position01:30:47
because it starts directly after the01:30:49
task before it I still need to add the01:30:51
duration so I need to come in here and01:30:54
I'm going to say that this is going to01:30:55
take one day so my automatic tasks start01:31:00
and finish date has basically been01:31:02
determined by its predecessor and01:31:04
whatever duration I've entered now what01:31:06
about if this task doesn't have a01:31:08
predecessor01:31:09
so if I remove the predecessor from this01:31:11
box by selecting it and pressing the01:31:13
delete key notice what happens to this01:31:15
task it moves back to the start date of01:31:18
the project and if I try and change the01:31:22
start date to let's say the 21st of01:31:25
March01:31:28
I'm going to get this little error01:31:30
message just here and this is where we01:31:32
start to get into things like01:31:33
constraints now I'm not going to get01:31:35
into that at this moment in time I just01:31:38
really want to illustrate the difference01:31:39
between manual and automatic tasks so01:31:42
when we have a task set to automatic and01:31:45
the start date isn't defined by a01:31:46
predecessor01:31:48
if we try and go in and manually change01:31:50
that start date we're going to get all01:31:51
kinds of error messages and constraints01:31:53
pop up so this is where we would want to01:31:56
use and manually scheduled task instead01:31:59
this is going to allow us to go in we01:32:01
don't necessarily have to have a01:32:03
predecessor we can just select the exact01:32:05
dates that we want from the calendar01:32:07
drop down so I want this to start on the01:32:10
21st which it does the duration is one01:32:12
day so it's going to end on the 21st as01:32:15
well and if we take a look in the01:32:18
schedule you can see that manually01:32:19
scheduled tasks show in a teal color we01:32:22
have darker caps on the end and the01:32:24
beginning to show we have start and01:32:27
finish times in there that are fixed and01:32:29
also notice we have this little push pin01:32:31
icon in the task mode drop down so01:32:34
automatic tasks are great for tasks that01:32:36
are linked together because it will01:32:38
automatically work out the start and01:32:40
finish times but in some cases that can01:32:42
be a little bit restrictive and you01:32:44
might find switching it to a manually01:32:46
scheduled task a little bit easier to01:32:48
work with01:32:55
another type of task we can add into our01:32:57
project plan are Milestone tasks and01:33:01
Milestones really show key points in a01:33:03
project they might be there to show01:33:05
progress completed deliverables or01:33:09
decisions or triggers a milestone tasks01:33:11
don't have any duration so we can add as01:33:15
many as we need into our project so01:33:18
let's add a couple in because these are01:33:20
very simple and straightforward now01:33:22
notice that I've made a couple of01:33:23
changes to this project since the last01:33:25
lesson I've added in a few more tasks01:33:28
and the majority of these have01:33:30
predecessors and are automatically01:33:32
scheduled tasks the final one at the01:33:34
bottom where we finalize the course01:33:36
outline you can see I have a little note01:33:38
in there it's a manually scheduled task01:33:40
and I don't really know the duration or01:33:42
the Finish dates yet because I'm waiting01:33:44
on approval from the training manager so01:33:47
I'm going to add in a milestone task for01:33:50
when this course outline is approved by01:33:52
the training manager so I'm going to01:33:55
select task number six and another01:33:58
little side note here when you're01:34:00
selecting tasks click on the task number01:34:03
all the way over on the left hand side01:34:05
that's going to select the whole task as01:34:07
opposed to the individual Fields if you01:34:09
were to click in any of these so we're01:34:12
going to click on task number six let's01:34:14
go up to the task Tab and all the way01:34:17
over in the insert group we have a01:34:19
milestone option so let's click to add a01:34:23
milestone task now notice that's01:34:26
inserted above where I was clicked and01:34:28
we just have the default text of new01:34:30
Milestone now notice that the duration01:34:33
is zero days as I said Milestone tasks01:34:36
don't have any duration so it's always01:34:38
going to default to zero days and now we01:34:41
can rename this milestone01:34:43
so I'm going to click in the field and01:34:46
this is going to be outline01:34:51
approved01:34:53
now this Milestone task relies on task01:34:55
number five the task before being01:34:57
completed so let's add in a predecessor01:35:00
once again we can click the drop down01:35:02
and I'm going to choose task number five01:35:05
click on OK and now check out the01:35:08
timeline Milestones are represented with01:35:10
this little Diamond icon so let's zoom01:35:13
in so you can see that a little bit01:35:14
clearer if we scroll across we have a01:35:17
little Diamond icon there and it's01:35:18
showing me the date of this key01:35:20
Milestone and this Milestone task01:35:23
doesn't change at all unless you01:35:25
manually move it and Milestone tiles01:35:28
don't increase the project duration in01:35:31
any way or reflect on the work or01:35:33
resource time so now that I have that01:35:36
Milestone I can update the information01:35:38
for task number seven01:35:40
so the duration is going to be one day01:35:43
but I now know the date that this task01:35:45
can start so we're going to change this01:35:47
to the day after the outline has been01:35:50
approved so that is going to be March01:35:55
the 25th but check it out the 25th is a01:35:59
Saturday so we want to set this to the01:36:01
next working day which is going to be01:36:03
the 27th and if we take a look at the01:36:05
Timeline we can see that change has now01:36:08
been reflected and it's also worth01:36:10
noting that you can create predecessors01:36:12
for Milestone tasks as well so I'm going01:36:15
to make the Milestone task a predecessor01:36:19
of finalize course outline so if we01:36:21
click the drop down there it is Task01:36:23
number six outline approved let's click01:36:26
and that's now updated in the schedule01:36:35
summary tasks help us organize our01:36:38
project and they also give our project01:36:40
structure summary tasks can represent01:36:42
different phases of a project or even01:36:45
different groups of tasks and by Design01:36:48
when we create a summary task we can01:36:52
have subtasks of that overall summary01:36:54
task so let's start out in this example01:36:57
by inserting some new summary tasks for01:37:01
existing tasks in our project so I've01:37:04
added a few more tasks in here I've set01:37:07
the duration start finish times and if01:37:09
they have predecessors you'll also see01:37:11
that we have a bit of a mixture of01:37:13
automatically scheduled and manually01:37:15
scheduled tasks so if I take a look at01:37:17
the different tasks that I have in this01:37:19
project I might want to divide these up01:37:21
into more manageable sections as I said01:37:24
creating summary tasks allows us to01:37:27
focus on just what we're interested in01:37:28
at any given time and it also makes our01:37:32
project easier to read easier to01:37:34
understand and it gives set structure so01:37:36
we're going to split this project up01:37:38
into a few different sections so what01:37:40
I'm going to do first here is I'm going01:37:42
to select all of the tasks that belong01:37:44
to the first section and our first01:37:46
section is going to be called01:37:47
preparation phase so let's hover our01:37:51
Mouse over where we have task one until01:37:53
we can see that little black Arrow01:37:55
I'm going to click and then I'm going to01:37:57
drag down to select all of the tasks01:38:00
that belong to this first phase so that01:38:03
is basically going to be tasks one to01:38:05
seven let's go up to the task Tab and01:38:09
then in the insert group we have a01:38:11
summary option and this is going to01:38:13
allow us to insert a summary task now01:38:16
check out what's happened to our table01:38:18
just here we now have new summary task01:38:20
at the top and the other tasks are now01:38:23
effectively subtasks of this summary01:38:26
task so let's give our summary task a01:38:29
name we can click in the field and this01:38:32
is going to be called01:38:34
preparation phase you don't have to put01:38:37
it in caps that's just how I've chosen01:38:39
to lay these summary tasks out now01:38:41
notice that as soon as I do that I get01:38:43
this little black triangle next to the01:38:46
summary task so this is a collapsible01:38:48
and expandable group now I can click on01:38:52
the little arrow and it's going to01:38:53
collapse up all of the subtasks click01:38:55
again and it's going to expand them all01:38:58
out also notice with this summary task01:39:01
if we check out the timeline summary01:39:04
tasks are represented by a black bar now01:39:07
the duration of the summary task is very01:39:10
much defined by the durations of the01:39:12
subtask below it so the summary task is01:39:16
basically going to show us the duration01:39:18
when we add up all of these subtasks01:39:20
below and the start and finish dates for01:39:23
the summary task again is going to be01:39:25
determined by the subtask below so the01:39:28
start date that you see up here for this01:39:30
summary task is going to be the start01:39:32
date of the earliest task in this group01:39:34
and the Finish date is going to be the01:39:36
Finish date of the latest task in this01:39:39
group so we don't really have to go in01:39:41
and edit anything for summary tasks01:39:44
because it's all determined by the01:39:46
subtask below and the reason why these01:39:48
summary tasks are quite nice is because01:39:50
at a glance you can see exactly how long01:39:52
this preparation phase is going to take01:39:54
I can see it's going to take 18 days I01:39:57
can see we're starting on March the 1st01:39:59
and the preparation phase is going to01:40:01
come to an end on March the 27th so it01:40:04
gives you a really nice high level01:40:06
overview let's add in some more summary01:40:09
tasks so this time I'm going to select01:40:12
tasks 9.01:40:14
to task 17 let's click on summary once01:40:18
again this is going to be01:40:21
the recording phase and this time you01:40:23
can see the duration for this entire01:40:25
phase is 69 days and we can see the01:40:28
start and end dates and check out how01:40:30
that reflects in the timeline let's01:40:32
select tasks 19 to 24 click on summary01:40:38
this is the documentation phase and then01:40:41
finally01:40:44
we have the go live phase so all of the01:40:48
subtasks are indented under their01:40:50
relevance summary tasks and we can01:40:53
collapse up any that we're not01:40:54
interested in which helps us remove the01:40:56
noise and really just focus in on the01:40:58
Tasker of interest to us now notice that01:41:01
when we've added in these summary tasks01:41:03
by default they are automatically01:41:05
scheduled summary tasks but we can also01:41:08
have manually scheduled summary tasks as01:41:11
well a manually scheduled summary tasks01:41:14
are sometimes quite good for showing01:41:16
this if we have enough time to get01:41:18
subtasks done so I'm going to add in01:41:20
another summary task and this is really01:41:22
just for demonstration purposes I'm01:41:24
going to delete it straight away01:41:25
afterwards but let's say I want to01:41:27
insert another summary task just here so01:41:30
I'm going to highlight task 15 let's go01:41:32
up to summary and I'm just going to add01:41:35
in here editing phase and I'm going to01:41:39
switch this to a manually scheduled01:41:42
summary task now currently the editing01:41:45
phase summary task only has one subtask01:41:47
which is make video amendments and the01:41:50
make video amendments task ends on June01:41:53
the 29th so the summary task above01:41:56
reflects that as well now check out what01:41:58
happens if I go into this summary task01:42:01
and modify the duration I'm going to01:42:04
take this down to two dates01:42:07
now notice what happens here I've got a01:42:09
red squiggly line underneath the finish01:42:11
and if we check out the timeline notice01:42:14
that it's showing in red and that's01:42:17
basically telling me that the summary01:42:19
task is set to end before its subtask in01:42:24
this case completes and this is probably01:42:26
something that I'm going to need to look01:42:28
at now this doesn't generally tend to01:42:30
happen with automatically scheduled01:42:32
tasks but sometimes when you're working01:42:34
with manually scheduled summary tasks01:42:36
this problem might pop up so it's good01:42:38
to know what it means and how to fix it01:42:41
so now I can see that this is in red I01:42:43
can see okay I've set two days for the01:42:45
editing phase but we only have one01:42:48
subtask here and that is four days long01:42:50
so it's going to finish after the end of01:42:52
the summary task now I'm just going to01:42:54
take this back up to four which is an01:42:56
easy fix as soon as I do that you can01:42:59
see that it changes back to how it was01:43:01
previously a teal bar with the summary01:43:03
task showing just above01:43:11
so in the last lesson we saw how we can01:43:14
add a bit of structure into our project01:43:16
by adding summary and subtasks and I01:43:19
just want to focus a little bit more on01:43:21
that at the beginning of this lesson and01:43:23
then I'm going to show you how you can01:43:24
import tasks from other Microsoft01:43:27
applications now when we look at our01:43:30
tasks in our task entry view we can see01:43:33
that the summary tasks are currently01:43:34
showing in bold with these little01:43:36
triangles next to them and then all of01:43:38
the subtasks of these summary tasks are01:43:41
slightly indented from the left hand01:43:43
side now this is effectively a first01:43:46
level indent and if we click on the01:43:48
little triangle as we've seen that's01:43:50
going to collapse up that particular01:43:52
group of tasks click again to expand01:43:54
them out now it is worth noting that we01:43:57
can have subtasks of sub tasks for01:44:00
example if I wanted to make let's say01:44:03
task number three draft course outline a01:44:06
subtask of of conduct course research01:44:09
task number two I can simply select task01:44:12
number three and then up on the task01:44:14
ribbon in the schedule group I have this01:44:17
little button here that will allow me to01:44:19
indent that task notice that the one01:44:22
next to it will out Dent the task so01:44:24
it's going to do the opposite01:44:25
so if I click indent task notice what01:44:29
happens01:44:30
in the Grid it's now indented task01:44:33
number three and made it a subtask of01:44:35
task number two and in turn because task01:44:38
number two is now effectively a summary01:44:41
task even though it's not a top level01:44:43
summary task it's highlighted in bold01:44:45
and again we have the same collapsible01:44:48
and expandable menu so if I Collapse01:44:51
this up it's just going to collapse up01:44:52
that one subtask click again to expand01:44:55
it out now if I want to do the reverse01:44:58
of that this can sometimes throw people01:45:00
off a little bit because most people01:45:02
think okay well I'm going to select task01:45:05
number two and I'm going to use the out01:45:07
Dent button01:45:09
now if we do that we get something a01:45:12
little bit strange out denting makes01:45:14
task number two a top level task and it01:45:17
removes the top level tasks from01:45:18
preparation phase01:45:20
now I'm going to control Z just to undo01:45:23
that because effectively what we want to01:45:25
do here is Select task number three and01:45:28
then click on the outdent button and01:45:31
that's going to put everything back to01:45:32
how it was previously so don't forget01:45:34
about these two little buttons up here01:45:36
to indent and outdent your different01:45:38
tasks another thing that's worth noting01:45:40
is that if we jump up to the Gantt chart01:45:43
format ribbon remember this is one of01:45:45
those contextual ribbons that you only01:45:47
see when you need it and because we're01:45:49
working in Gantt chart view that's why I01:45:51
can see this ribbon now all the way over01:45:53
on the right hand side we have a little01:45:55
show hide group here which is going to01:45:57
allow us to view our sub our summary and01:46:01
subtasks in different ways So currently01:46:03
you can see that I'm showing summary01:46:05
tasks if I was to deselect this it's01:46:07
going to remove those and I just get a01:46:09
big long list of all of the tasks in my01:46:12
project click again to add those back in01:46:14
now something else I can add is a01:46:16
project summary task now when I click on01:46:19
this check out what happened01:46:21
we now get a new task at the top and01:46:23
this is always task number zero and this01:46:26
Project's summary task shows us01:46:28
information for the entire project so I01:46:31
always like to have this in my project01:46:32
so I've got a good at a glance overview01:46:35
of the exact duration and the start and01:46:37
finish dates of the entire project01:46:40
the task name is always going to be the01:46:43
name of the project plan that you're01:46:45
working on so for me this particular01:46:47
plan is called import task information01:46:50
and that's why I have that in the task01:46:52
name just there but of course we can go01:46:54
in and change that to something a little01:46:56
bit more meaningful so I'm gonna say01:46:58
let's just call this01:47:00
training rollout project so I highly01:47:04
recommend you turn on that project01:47:06
summary task and then finally at the top01:47:08
we can show or hide outline numbers so01:47:11
this shows our summary tasks and01:47:12
subtasks with a different numbering01:47:14
system so we have one 1.1 1.2 so on and01:47:18
so forth if I was to make for example01:47:21
this task if I was to indent this a01:47:24
little bit further so let's indent it it01:47:27
then goes to 1.2 and 1.2.1 before going01:47:31
back to 1.3 so that can sometimes be a01:47:34
really nice way of structuring your01:47:36
project now something else we can do01:47:38
when it comes to adding tasks into our01:47:41
project is we can import them from other01:47:43
Microsoft applications for example I've01:47:46
got some tasks that I want to add to01:47:49
this project and I've got them in a Word01:47:51
document now notice the way that I've01:47:54
structured this word document I have the01:47:57
summary task at the top this is the live01:47:59
training phase then I have my top level01:48:01
task here I've got some sub tasks so on01:48:04
and so forth throughout this document01:48:05
and notice that some of these I have01:48:08
highlighted in yellow and these are01:48:11
basically my Milestone tasks now if I01:48:14
want to quickly get all of these into my01:48:17
project plan I don't have to manually01:48:19
type them in I can simply copy and paste01:48:22
so what I'm going to do here is I'm01:48:24
going to select everything in this01:48:25
document and a quick way of doing that01:48:27
is to press the keyboard shortcut Ctrl a01:48:30
I'm going to press Ctrl C to copy let's01:48:34
go back to our project scroll all the01:48:36
way down to the bottom I'm going to01:48:38
click in the task name and then I just01:48:41
need to paste Ctrl V and take a look at01:48:44
that it pastes everything in with the01:48:47
correct summary and subheadings now I01:48:50
will say it doesn't always get this01:48:51
completely right so I would definitely01:48:53
go through and check that everything is01:48:55
as it should be but in general this is a01:48:58
much quicker way than going through and01:49:00
typing it all in yourself obviously we01:49:02
still need to go in and update our01:49:04
duration start and finish information01:49:06
and check out those Milestone tasks that01:49:09
were highlighted in yellow in the word01:49:10
document you can see that it brings01:49:12
across that formatting it doesn't make01:49:15
these Milestone tasks automatically in01:49:17
project but it is a good way to remind01:49:20
us that these ones need to be changed to01:49:22
Milestone tasks and a quick way of01:49:25
changing these to Milestone tasks is to01:49:26
Simply set the duration to zero so I'm01:49:29
going to do that for all three of these01:49:32
and they are now effectively milestones01:49:34
in this project once I've set these as01:49:37
Milestones I can select all three of01:49:39
these and in the font group I'm going to01:49:41
say no color just to remove that yellow01:49:45
background fill so I'm going to go01:49:47
through and I'm going to add some01:49:48
durations and some start and finish01:49:49
dates for these tasks that we've just01:49:51
added I'll see you in the next lesson01:49:59
so let's take a look at some of the01:50:01
things we can do to reorganize the01:50:03
structure of our projects now as we've01:50:06
already seen we can use our indent and01:50:08
outdent buttons on the task ribbon in01:50:11
order to indent or outdent various01:50:13
different tasks in our schedule for01:50:15
example if I scroll down my list of01:50:18
tasks maybe I decide that task number 3701:50:21
get budget approval is indented too much01:50:24
we can simply select it go up to the01:50:26
schedule group and I'm going to choose01:50:28
to out Dent this task which now puts it01:50:31
on the same level as book venue and01:50:34
create venue shortlist so very easy to01:50:36
rearrange the structure in that way01:50:38
effectively creating summary tasks and01:50:41
subtasks now what about when it comes to01:50:44
moving tasks around now you can move01:50:47
tasks around by dragging and dropping01:50:49
them but in my experience particularly01:50:51
if you have a long list of tasks it can01:50:54
be a little bit fiddly trying to move01:50:56
tasks around in that way because the01:50:57
page tends to scroll really really01:50:59
quickly so a much easier way to move01:51:02
your tasks around is simply to use cut01:51:05
and paste for example maybe I decide01:51:08
that this section just here the travel01:51:10
and accommodations section and when I01:51:12
say section I mean the summary task and01:51:15
all of its subtasks maybe I want to move01:51:17
that so that it all happens before we01:51:20
sort out the venues so what I can do01:51:22
here is select the summary task and all01:51:25
of its subtask which is all of these01:51:28
I can then press Ctrl X or alternatively01:51:31
if we go up to the task ribbon in the01:51:33
clipboard group we have a cut option01:51:34
just here so let's click on Cut and01:51:38
notice that that planning wizard pops up01:51:40
again01:51:41
so it's telling me that I've got01:51:42
multiple summary tasks selected and it01:51:45
says deleting them will delete all their01:51:47
sub tasks as well now this is because01:51:49
project is recognized that I've cut them01:51:51
so I'm essentially removing them from01:51:53
their current place in the schedule so01:51:56
it sort of thinks that I'm deleting them01:51:57
now I'm not deleting these tasks I'm01:52:00
simply moving them so I'm going to01:52:02
choose cancel just here and click on OK01:52:05
and then I'm simply going to move to01:52:07
where I want to paste them which is up01:52:09
here and once again I can press the Ctrl01:52:13
V key to paste or alternatively I can01:52:16
jump up to the clipboard group and click01:52:18
the top half of the paste button and01:52:20
like magic that moves them all into01:52:22
place01:52:23
so that is by far the easiest way to01:52:26
move individual or groups of tasks now01:52:29
one thing you might notice is that when01:52:31
you start to make changes in your01:52:32
schedule some of these fields or some of01:52:34
the cells are going to be shaded in blue01:52:37
now what these indicate are basically01:52:39
just changes that we've made so if you01:52:41
take a look at this you can see that all01:52:43
of the fields for the travel and01:52:45
accommodation section are currently01:52:47
shaded out in this light blue color and01:52:50
that's because we've just made a change01:52:51
to these we've just moved them01:52:54
so if you were curious as to what that01:52:56
blue shading means it's really there01:52:58
just to be helpful to show you the last01:53:00
tasks that you've made changes to01:53:13
it's time now to talk about deleting01:53:16
tasks because whilst this is a fairly01:53:19
straightforward process there are a01:53:20
couple of little quirks that you need to01:53:22
be aware of so let's start out nice and01:53:25
easy deleting a single task for example01:53:29
if I go all the way down to the bottom01:53:31
of my schedule where I have print out01:53:33
expense forms if I want to delete this01:53:35
task all I need to do is select the task01:53:38
and I can simply press the delete key on01:53:41
my keyboard or alternatively I can right01:53:44
click on the task and I have a delete01:53:46
task option in the contextual menu01:53:49
so if we delete this nice and01:53:51
straightforward it's gone from the01:53:52
schedule01:53:53
now I actually don't want to delete that01:53:56
so let's do a control Z to undo and01:54:00
restore that task now this works01:54:02
slightly different if you're deleting a01:54:05
summary task and its subtasks so let's01:54:08
select the01:54:09
summary task and all of its subtasks and01:54:14
if I press the delete key on my keyboard01:54:16
that planning wizard is going to pop up01:54:18
again01:54:19
so it's telling me that expenses is a01:54:22
summary task and deleting it will delete01:54:24
all of its subtasks as well now that01:54:27
makes sense in this instance because we01:54:29
have the summary task and all of the01:54:32
subtasks selected so you would imagine01:54:34
that if we are pressing delete we want01:54:37
to delete everything that we've selected01:54:38
so here I get a choice I can continue01:54:40
and delete expenses and it's sub tasks01:54:43
or I can cancel and not delete anything01:54:46
so I'm going to say continue click on OK01:54:49
and it's going to delete that entire01:54:51
group01:54:52
now I'm going to control Z to undo again01:54:55
because if we were just to select the01:54:58
summary task at the top and press delete01:55:00
again it's going to ask me the same01:55:02
question so I have a choice of deleting01:55:05
the summary task and all of its subtasks01:55:07
or I can cancel and not delete anything01:55:09
so the point I'm trying to make here is01:55:12
don't think that just because you01:55:13
haven't selected the subtasks if you try01:55:16
and delete the summary task that is the01:55:18
only option you're going to get now01:55:20
let's take a look at a slightly01:55:21
different scenario01:55:23
maybe we want to delete a summary task01:55:26
but not any of the subtasks so we need01:55:30
to go about this in a slightly different01:55:31
way01:55:32
now notice that I've added just some01:55:34
example tasks into the schedule so task01:55:37
number 60 is the summary task and then01:55:40
tasks 61 to 63 are the subtasks01:55:45
so if I want to delete these summary01:55:47
tasks but keep the sub tasks I first01:55:50
need to select the subtasks and put them01:55:53
on the same level as the summary task01:55:56
so for this we're going to go up to the01:55:58
schedule group on the task ribbon and01:56:00
use our outdent button01:56:02
that effectively makes the summary task01:56:04
and it subtasks the same outline level01:56:08
I can then simply go in and delete the01:56:11
summary task as normal by pressing the01:56:13
delete key I can then reselect these01:56:16
three tasks and change their indentation01:56:18
level if I need to so I'm going to out01:56:20
Den all of these and the final Point01:56:22
worth mentioning here about deleting is01:56:25
that if you want to delete an entire01:56:26
task you need to make sure that you have01:56:28
the entire task selected by clicking on01:56:30
that task ID01:56:32
if you're clicked in let's say the task01:56:34
name and you press delete it's simply01:56:37
going to delete just the information01:56:40
from that particular field but notice as01:56:43
soon as I do that I now get this little01:56:44
cross icon pop up where I get an01:56:47
opportunity to delete the entire task so01:56:49
if I click that cross it's going to say01:56:51
delete the task name or delete the task01:56:53
so I'm going to say delete the task to01:56:56
get rid of the whole thing so just be01:56:58
aware of that when you're making your01:57:00
deletions now I actually don't want01:57:02
these two tasks in here so I'm going to01:57:04
select them press the delete key and01:57:06
we're now back to how we were originally01:57:15
one thing that can be really useful in01:57:17
Project is to create WBS codes and WBS01:57:22
stands for work breakdown structure and01:57:24
what a WBS code is is a unique code that01:57:28
helps us identify each task in our01:57:31
project now why on Earth would you need01:57:33
a WBS code to identify your tasks01:57:36
well it might be that in some projects01:57:38
you have tasks with the same name for01:57:41
example if we look at this project on01:57:44
the screen you can see task number 46 is01:57:47
get budget approval and this is related01:57:49
to approving the budget for the venues01:57:52
and then a bit further down we also have01:57:55
another task task number 55 which is01:57:57
also get budget approval but this time01:58:00
it's related to travel and accommodation01:58:02
for the trainers so effectively these01:58:05
tasks have the same name so adding a01:58:07
unique identifier is going to be helpful01:58:10
to us further down the track so let's01:58:12
take a look at how we can create WBS01:58:14
codes and apply them to our schedule now01:58:17
the first thing we want to do here is we01:58:19
want to add a column into our project01:58:20
plan to show our WBS codes so don't make01:58:24
the mistake of thinking that the task ID01:58:26
is the unique identifier this is01:58:28
effectively just the row number or the01:58:30
task number so let's insert a WBS column01:58:34
so I'm going to right click on task mode01:58:37
and we're going to go to insert column01:58:41
and this is where we can choose the type01:58:42
of column that we're inserting so I'm01:58:45
going to scroll all the way down because01:58:47
these are in alphabetical order and we01:58:49
should have one for WBS and there it is01:58:52
now notice as soon as I add this column01:58:54
it's giving me its default WBS numbering01:58:59
now we can create our own custom01:59:01
numbering to make this a little bit more01:59:03
relevant to the project that we're01:59:04
working on so let's take a look at how01:59:06
we would do that so to create our own01:59:08
WBS codes we need to jump up to the01:59:11
project ribbon and in the Properties01:59:13
Group we have a WBS option01:59:16
we click the drop down we can go to01:59:18
Define code and this is where we can01:59:21
create our own work breakdown structure01:59:23
codes now the first thing we can do here01:59:25
is we can add in a project code prefix01:59:27
so in order to uniquely identify this01:59:30
project I could give it a prefix of01:59:33
let's say trp for training rollout01:59:36
project and I'm going to put a dash01:59:38
there because I want a dash to separate01:59:40
that project code prefix and any01:59:43
numbering that I go with after this so01:59:46
now in this code mask area we can Define01:59:48
the numbering sequence that we want to01:59:50
use for our unique codes and this first01:59:53
one is the top level01:59:54
so if we click the drop down just here01:59:57
we can choose what we want it to display01:59:59
so I'm going to say numbers02:00:02
and you'll see as I select these we get02:00:05
a code preview at the top so if I was to02:00:07
click on ok just here my tasks are going02:00:10
to be numbered trp1 trp2 trp3 so on and02:00:14
so forth in the length column I can02:00:17
place a limit on the number of02:00:18
characters so if I was to select 2 just02:00:22
here it means the numbers are going to02:00:24
run from 0 to 99. and I'm going to leave02:00:27
my separator as a period now I'm going02:00:30
to add another level and this time I'm02:00:33
going to choose lowercase letters02:00:36
and once again I'm going to select two02:00:40
characters02:00:41
and again you can see in the code02:00:42
preview exactly what this is going to02:00:45
look like so this part of the code is02:00:47
going to run through from a to z z let's02:00:51
add another level so I'm going to say02:00:54
uppercase this time I'm going to make02:00:56
the length 3. our fourth level is going02:01:00
to be numbers and I'm going to set this02:01:02
to 2 and let's add a fifth level as well02:01:06
that's also going to be numbers and I'm02:01:09
going to leave that on any length so now02:01:11
we've defined what our code is going to02:01:13
look like we want to make sure that we02:01:15
keep these two check boxes underneath02:01:17
selected because it means it's going to02:01:19
generate a new unique WBS code for any02:01:22
new tasks that I add into the project02:01:24
and it's also going to keep checking02:01:26
that the WBS codes that are being added02:01:28
are unique so let's keep those checked02:01:31
click on OK and now you can see if we02:01:34
widen out this WBS column exactly what02:01:37
our numbering structure looks like so02:01:39
let's take a look at our summary tasks02:01:41
that we have here here those have trp0102:01:44
trp02 trp03 so on and so forth the next02:01:49
level down is 0 1 a a 0 1 a b 0 1 AC so02:01:55
on and so forth and that pattern02:01:57
continues throughout our project plan02:02:01
notice as we get a bit further down in02:02:03
this project plan where we have more02:02:04
outline levels we can see our WBS code02:02:07
is using more of the code that we02:02:09
specified so for example task number 3102:02:12
is02:02:13
trp05 a a and then we have Triple A the02:02:17
next one goes to double a b double AC so02:02:20
on and so forth so WBS codes are a great02:02:23
way to create a custom code that helps02:02:26
you uniquely identify tasks in your02:02:29
project plan02:02:35
in this exercise we're going to practice02:02:37
some of the skills that we've learned in02:02:39
this section of the course02:02:41
so the first thing I'd like you to do is02:02:43
to open the file new underscore business02:02:46
underscore02:02:48
plan.xlsx from the exercise files folder02:02:51
and this is an Excel file and we're02:02:54
going to use this file as the basis for02:02:56
the project that we're going to create02:02:57
throughout the balance of these02:02:59
exercises once you have that open I'd02:03:01
then like you to go back to project and02:03:03
create a new blank project and save it02:03:06
as your initials business plan dot MPP02:03:09
and I'd like you to set the start date02:03:11
of the project to the 7th of November02:03:14
2024 or if you're using your own project02:03:18
whatever the start date of your project02:03:20
is once you've done that I'd like you to02:03:22
add the first four tasks in the02:03:24
spreadsheet the ones that aren't in bold02:03:26
because those are summary tasks into the02:03:29
project as automatically scheduled tasks02:03:32
now you don't necessarily have to add02:03:33
them all there is a lot of them in the02:03:36
spreadsheet but add a good 10 15 to 20.02:03:39
I'd then like you to Mark some of the02:03:41
tasks as Milestone tasks in the schedule02:03:43
now again I have a few tasks in the02:03:46
spreadsheet marked as Milestones but if02:03:49
you haven't added that many tasks you02:03:51
can set any of the tasks to Milestones02:03:53
and then once you've done that I'd like02:03:55
you to go through and create summary and02:03:57
subtasks again using the spreadsheet as02:04:00
a guide and if you'd like to see my02:04:01
answer then please keep watching so I've02:04:03
opened up the new business plan Excel02:04:06
file and I've got it positioned on the02:04:07
right hand side of my screen and in the02:04:09
left hand side I just have project open02:04:12
so the first thing we need to do here is02:04:13
open up a new blank project and we need02:04:16
to save this so let's go up to file down02:04:19
to save as I'm going to browse and02:04:22
select a location02:04:24
and we're going to call this our02:04:25
initials new02:04:28
business02:04:30
plan and click on Save02:04:33
the next thing I asked you to do was to02:04:35
change the project start date so if we02:04:38
look at the details in the spreadsheet02:04:41
the first task basically starts on02:04:43
November the 7th 2024 so I'm going to02:04:46
use that as my project start date so I'm02:04:49
going to jump into project information02:04:52
and I'm going to set the start date from02:04:54
here now because this is quite far in the02:04:56
future and I don't want to have a scroll02:04:57
through a calendar I'm just simply going02:04:59
to type this in so November the 7th 202402:05:04
and click on OK02:05:06
and you can see it jumps to that part of02:05:09
the schedule02:05:10
so now that we have everything set up we02:05:13
can start to add in the tasks and I'm02:05:15
just going to add the first one I asked02:05:17
you to add the first four for a little02:05:19
bit of practice02:05:20
so the first one we want to add which02:05:22
isn't a summary task is self-assessment02:05:26
so let's move across to task name now02:05:29
notice here it's put it in as a manually02:05:32
scheduled task so I'm going to go down02:05:34
to the bottom and make sure that I have02:05:36
Auto scheduled selected and then we're02:05:39
going to change this to Auto scheduled02:05:41
now the start date of this task is in02:05:44
fact November the 7th which is when the02:05:46
project starts the duration according to02:05:49
the spreadsheet is three days02:05:51
and there we go we have our first task02:05:53
scheduled and we can see the blue bar02:05:55
update let's add the next one Define02:05:58
business Vision this is a one day task02:06:02
and again this starts on November the02:06:05
7th02:06:06
so we simply carry on going through02:06:08
adding in these different tasks and this02:06:11
is really all the information that I02:06:13
want you to add at this stage so I've02:06:15
added in a few more of those tasks and02:06:18
the next thing I asked you to do was to02:06:20
Mark some milestones in the schedule so02:06:22
if we take a look at the spreadsheet in02:06:24
column A we have Milestone so I can see02:06:26
the first Milestone is this one down02:06:28
here confirm decision to proceed which02:06:31
in the spreadsheet is in row 27 so if we02:06:34
scroll down to task 27 this is going to02:06:37
be a little bit out because we don't02:06:38
have the summary tasks in here but it02:06:41
should give us the rough area where this02:06:43
is so there it is just there confirmed02:06:46
decision to proceed I'm going to mark02:06:48
this as a milestone let's double click02:06:51
to open it up and I'm going to select02:06:53
Mark task as Milestone and click on OK02:06:56
and I would go through this spreadsheet02:06:58
marking the other tasks that we can see02:07:01
in here are milestones in the schedule02:07:03
the final thing I asked you to do in02:07:05
this exercise was to create this summary02:07:08
and the sub tasks so again I'm just02:07:10
going to do the first one because once02:07:12
you've done one you can pretty much do02:07:13
them all so the first one at the top02:07:16
here in row to the spreadsheet new02:07:18
business this is our top level task so02:07:20
what I'm going to do here is I'm going02:07:22
to right click and I'm going to insert a02:07:24
task at the top there02:07:27
let's double click to open it up and02:07:29
we're going to call this new02:07:31
business and click on OK02:07:34
and this is basically going to be our02:07:36
top level summary task so we need to02:07:39
select everything else in the02:07:41
spreadsheet so from task 2 Ctrl shift02:07:44
down arrow all the way down to task 10102:07:47
and I'm going to have to maximize my02:07:49
windows so I can see this properly if we02:07:51
go to task in the schedule group I'm02:07:54
going to02:07:56
indent these tasks which effectively02:07:59
makes that top task the top level02:08:01
summary task I'm then going to right02:08:03
click and insert another task and this02:08:06
one is going to be02:08:09
phase one strategic plan and click on OK02:08:13
now this is going to be a summary task02:08:15
as well because if we refer back to our02:08:17
spreadsheet you can see Define the02:08:19
opportunity is also a summary task so I02:08:22
just want to include these tasks within02:08:24
the phase one strategic plan summary02:08:27
task02:08:28
so let's select those tasks and once02:08:31
again we're going to click indent task02:08:34
and now you can see our structure02:08:36
beginning to take shape so what I would02:08:37
like you to do is just go through the02:08:39
rest of your tasks adding in this02:08:41
structure and use the spreadsheet as02:08:43
your guide02:08:50
in order for a project to work and flow02:08:53
correctly project tasks need to be02:08:55
performed in the right sequence and when02:08:58
it comes to a project plan task02:09:00
dependencies or links basically Define02:09:03
the sequence of the tasks and it's worth02:09:06
noting that most links have a link type02:09:09
of finish to start so what exactly does02:09:13
that mean this finish to start02:09:15
well let's take a look at our current02:09:18
schedule so if we scroll to let's say02:09:20
these tasks just here and I'm going to02:09:23
zoom out a little bit because that is a02:09:25
little bit too wide now if we take a02:09:27
look at these tasks so task 11 down to02:09:30
about task 15. notice that we have02:09:34
little arrows linking these tasks02:09:36
together so effectively what these links02:09:38
denote is that task number 12 isn't02:09:41
going to start until task number 11 has02:09:44
finished so that is what we call a02:09:47
finish to start link and you'll find02:09:49
that the majority of links that you come02:09:51
across in Project are going to be02:09:53
finished to start one task finishes02:09:55
before the next task can begin02:09:58
so effectively what we have here is Task02:10:00
number 11 is a predecessor of task02:10:04
number 12. so how do we create links02:10:07
between two tasks well let's scroll down02:10:10
a bit further in the schedule and I'm02:10:12
going to say here that task number 3202:10:14
assign teams to Regions can't be02:10:17
completed until we've assigned trainers02:10:20
to teams because each trainer has a02:10:23
specific preference as to which region02:10:25
they'd like to travel to so we need to02:10:27
establish that first before we assign02:10:29
the teams to the regions now I have task02:10:32
number 32 highlighted and if you take a02:10:34
look at the timeline view or where we02:10:36
normally have our bars I've got nothing02:10:38
on the screen I'm not in the correct02:10:40
position in the schedule now a quick way02:10:43
to jump to the part of the bars that02:10:46
relates to the tasks that you're02:10:48
currently clicked on is to Simply go up02:10:50
to the task Tab and all the way over in02:10:53
the editing group we have a scroll to02:10:55
task button now if I click this it's02:10:57
going to move me to the place in the02:10:59
schedule relevant to where I'm clicked02:11:01
in the task entry table02:11:03
now you'll find yourself using this02:11:05
scroll to task button all the time so02:11:08
while I'm here I'm going to right click02:11:10
and I'm going to add it to my quick02:11:11
access Toolbar to make it super easy for02:11:13
me to access so I can see here that task02:11:16
number 32 is a manually scheduled task02:11:18
and I need to link it to task number 31.02:11:22
so for this we need to select the task02:11:24
we want to link to first and then the02:11:27
other task so I'm going to hold down02:11:28
control and select both of these then up02:11:31
on the task ribbon in the schedule group02:11:34
I'm going to click this little link02:11:35
chain icon and notice here that there is02:11:38
a keyboard shortcut to quickly link02:11:40
tasks of control F202:11:42
now when I click this notice what02:11:44
happens to the bars it inserts a link so02:11:48
now we have this little arrow that links02:11:50
these two tasks but if we also check out02:11:52
what we have in the predecessors column02:11:54
in the entry table you can see that it's02:11:57
automatically added that task number 3102:11:59
is a predecessor of task number 32. now02:12:04
when we're working through our schedule02:12:05
and we're creating lots of different02:12:07
links and dependencies it can sometimes02:12:09
be quite useful to see a little bit more02:12:11
information about those links so what we02:12:14
can do is go up to the view ribbon and02:12:17
in split view I'm going to select02:12:19
details02:12:20
and this opens up another window at the02:12:22
bottom called the task form and what02:12:25
this is going to show me is additional02:12:27
information about whatever task I'm02:12:29
currently clicked on in the task entry02:12:31
View02:12:32
so if we take this linked task for02:12:34
example if I click on task number 32 I02:12:37
can see some further information I can02:12:39
see the name of the task the duration02:12:41
the fact that it's manually scheduled02:12:43
the percentage complete and if I take a02:12:45
look over on the right hand side I can02:12:48
see the task that it's linked to so it's02:12:50
linked to task id31 assign trainers to02:12:54
teams and it's telling me that the task02:12:56
type is FS which basically means finish02:12:59
to start now it's also worth noting when02:13:01
you're working with links so you don't02:13:03
necessarily just have to link each task02:13:05
to the previous task individually you02:13:07
can do them all in one go for example I02:13:10
could select02:13:12
these three tasks just here go up to the02:13:16
task ribbon and click on create link and02:13:19
it's automatically going to create02:13:21
finish to start links for all of these02:13:23
tasks so that can be really helpful if02:13:26
you have tasks in your project that can02:13:28
only start when the previous task02:13:30
finishes now aside from clicking on the02:13:33
little chain link icon in the schedule02:13:35
group to link tasks together you can02:13:38
also Link in a couple of other ways for02:13:40
example if I wanted to link tasks two02:13:42
and three together I can simply come02:13:45
over to the predecessors column and I02:13:48
can either type the task number in this02:13:51
case number two or alternatively if I02:13:54
delete that out I can click the drop02:13:56
down arrow it's going to pull up a big02:13:58
long list of all of the tasks and I can02:14:01
select the task that I want to link to02:14:04
from here so again that would be number02:14:06
two so three different methods you can02:14:08
use in order to link your tasks now I'm02:14:12
going to remove that because I don't02:14:13
want to link those two notice as I did02:14:15
that as I added that link check out the02:14:18
cells that are showing as being changed02:14:20
the dates for all of the tasks below02:14:23
changed because of that link I just02:14:25
created and that is why these are02:14:27
showing as changed cells now we do have02:14:31
other task types that we can add in as I02:14:34
said by far finish to start is the most02:14:37
common but we also have finish to finish links02:14:40
that we can add where the finish of One02:14:42
controls the finish of another and then02:14:44
we have the two rarest task types start02:14:47
to start and start to finish and those02:14:50
really aren't used very often and I will02:14:52
say that something like start to start02:14:54
can be quite problematic if the02:14:57
predecessor task starts and then is02:14:59
delayed it could finish after the02:15:02
successor and start to finish means that02:15:05
the start of one task triggers the02:15:07
finish of the other02:15:09
as I said both of those are extremely02:15:12
rare now if you want to change the type02:15:15
of link that a task has again we need to02:15:18
make sure that we have our details pane02:15:21
open and if we select let's say this02:15:24
task on the right hand side in the task02:15:26
form where we can see the predecessor we02:15:29
can also see the type so this is a02:15:31
finish to start but we can come in here02:15:34
and change this to a finish to finish we02:15:36
can change it to a start to finish or we02:15:39
can change it to a start to start and02:15:42
this subject is definitely something I02:15:44
recommend reading the help files on so02:15:46
you get a really good idea as to the02:15:48
types of scenarios the types of tasks02:15:50
where you might have to use a different02:15:52
link type and if we take a quick look in02:15:55
the help files you can see here02:15:57
underneath types of tasks we have those02:16:00
different link types and a full02:16:02
description and in this description it02:16:04
gives you different scenarios where02:16:06
these might come up so I definitely02:16:08
recommend having a read through so that02:16:10
you know if and when you need to apply02:16:12
those to your project plan I'm going to02:16:15
switch off the details Pane and we are02:16:16
about ready to move on to the next02:16:18
lesson02:16:24
sometimes when we're working with our02:16:26
project there is a delay or an overlap02:16:29
between tasks and this is where we can02:16:32
add in lag or lead time so let's take a02:16:35
look at a quick example now currently in02:16:38
this schedule if we take a look at task02:16:40
number five and I'm going to make sure02:16:42
that I'm on the correct part of the02:16:44
timeline and we can see that task number02:16:46
five is basically to update the course02:16:49
outline02:16:50
now in order to update the course02:16:52
outline I need to receive feedback from02:16:55
the training team and the task before02:16:57
that is to send the outline to the02:16:59
training team for review02:17:01
now currently I've assigned a one-day02:17:03
duration to that now it might be that02:17:05
the training team are assigned to02:17:08
another project for the next four days02:17:10
and can't actually look at this outline02:17:13
so what I could do is I could add in02:17:15
some lag time and reflect that in the02:17:18
timeline so if you take a look at the02:17:20
bars currently we can see that update02:17:22
course outline is linked to the task02:17:24
before and currently update course02:17:27
outline is set to start as soon as the02:17:29
previous task finishes so as soon as the02:17:32
training team have reviewed the outline02:17:34
I can then update the course outline02:17:37
based off their feedback02:17:39
but now they're not available for the02:17:41
next four days so nothing's going to02:17:43
happen for four days and I need to02:17:45
reflect that in my project plan so what02:17:47
I can do here is once again let's jump02:17:49
up to view and open up the details pane02:17:52
because in here this is where we can02:17:54
apply lag time if you take a look at the02:17:57
right hand side we can see the02:17:58
predecessor of this particular task is02:18:01
Task number four the type is finished to02:18:03
start and currently the lag time is zero02:18:06
dates but check out what happens if I02:18:08
change this to four so I'm going to use02:18:10
the little arrows just to move up to02:18:12
four and when I click away the schedule02:18:15
is going to update now you might need to02:18:17
scrolling a little bit just to see that02:18:19
but check out what we have now if we02:18:21
click on task number four we can see the02:18:23
duration where it's supposed to start02:18:25
but then we have four days of lag time02:18:28
before the next task starts and if you02:18:31
check out what we now have in the02:18:33
predecessors column we can see that for02:18:36
task number five update course outline I02:18:39
can see that this is linked to task02:18:41
number four with a finish to start link02:18:43
type02:18:44
and it has plus four days lag that's02:18:48
what this little code means just here so02:18:51
this is particularly useful because it02:18:52
enables you to see at a glance so much02:18:54
information so wherever you have a delay02:18:57
in your schedule you can reflect that02:19:00
accurately by simply adding in lag time02:19:03
to your tasks now what about if we want02:19:05
to do the complete opposite of that02:19:08
maybe we want to add overlap time to our02:19:11
schedule now what do I mean by overlap02:19:14
time well it might be that we have two02:19:16
tasks that can overlap each other for02:19:19
example if we take a look at the02:19:21
recording phase in my project plan maybe02:19:24
I don't need to finish writing all of my02:19:27
training notes before I start recording02:19:30
the training videos so what I could do02:19:32
here is I could add in overlap time now02:19:35
the way that we do this is pretty much02:19:37
exactly the same as when we add in lag02:19:39
time but we just use minus values02:19:41
instead so I'm going to select record02:19:43
training videos class number 11 we can02:19:46
see that in our timeline if I scroll02:19:48
over a little bit and if we take a look02:19:50
in the task form we can see that this is02:19:52
linked to task number 10 write training02:19:54
notes it has a finish to start link type02:19:58
and currently there is no lag or overlap02:20:01
now we're going to change that we're02:20:03
going to click in this cell and instead02:20:05
of using the up Arrow to make it a02:20:06
positive value we're going to say that02:20:09
there is a five day overlap just here02:20:12
so it goes to -5 when I click check out02:20:15
how that updates in the schedule if we02:20:18
take a look at our bars we can see that02:20:20
task number 11 record training videos02:20:22
can start whilst right training notes is02:20:25
still going on02:20:27
and we have the arrow here linking these02:20:29
tasks but we clearly have an overlap02:20:32
once again if we take a look in the02:20:34
predecessors column we can see exactly02:20:36
what's Happening Here02:20:37
we can see that task number 11 is linked02:20:40
to task number 10 with a finish to start02:20:42
link type and we have an overlap of02:20:45
minus five days so that is the02:20:47
difference between lag and lead time use02:20:50
them accordingly wherever you feel02:20:52
they're necessary in your schedule02:21:00
sometimes tasks in our project need to02:21:03
occur on specific dates or have02:21:05
restrictions02:21:07
and constraints are one way to specify02:21:10
when a task starts and finishes02:21:13
and it's worth noting that every task02:21:16
has a date constraint02:21:18
so what do I mean by that well let's02:21:21
switch into a different view so you02:21:24
understand what I'm talking about now02:21:25
currently I have task form open at the02:21:27
bottom but we're going to jump up to the02:21:30
view Tab and over in split view we're02:21:32
going to click the drop down and go02:21:34
straight into more views because what I02:21:37
want to bring up here is the task02:21:39
details form let's click on apply and I02:21:43
can now see that showing in the pane at02:21:45
the bottom now this is going to show me02:21:47
what constraints are applied to any02:21:50
particular task I have selected in the02:21:53
task entry table02:21:54
so let's just pick a random task here02:21:56
task number six we can see a lot of02:21:59
information about this task but we can02:22:01
see that there is a constraint on this02:22:03
task now I haven't set any constraints02:22:06
manually myself on any tasks that we've02:22:09
added into this schedule I just typed02:22:11
them in we've done a couple of other02:22:13
things but we haven't specified02:22:14
specifically constraints for any of the02:22:17
tasks but there is a default constraint02:22:20
that's applied to all tasks and you can02:22:22
see here that that constraint is that02:22:24
the task starts as soon as possible and02:22:27
that's kind of really what you want when02:22:29
project is trying to work out your02:22:31
durations and your timings it works off02:22:33
the principle that you really want this02:22:35
project to be finished as soon as it's02:22:38
possible and that is why we have that02:22:40
constraint type applied to every single02:22:42
task now of course if we click the drop02:22:44
down here we have other constraint types02:22:47
that we can use so things like as late02:22:50
as possible finish no earlier than02:22:52
finish no later than must finish on must02:22:55
start on so on and so forth and there02:22:58
might be scenarios where you need to add02:22:59
one of these constraints depending on02:23:01
what's going on in your project02:23:04
so let's take a look at a quick example02:23:06
if we take a look at this task task02:23:08
number 58 I can see that this is due to02:23:10
start on September the 12th 2023.02:23:13
and maybe I know that at the end of02:23:16
September every single year there is a02:23:18
sale on flights02:23:20
so I don't want anybody to start booking02:23:23
flights for the trainers until those02:23:25
flights go on sale because we're going02:23:26
to save the company quite a bit of money02:23:29
so what I can do here is I can change02:23:31
the constraint from start as soon as02:23:34
possible to02:23:36
start no earlier than and then I can02:23:39
select a date so I'm going to go across02:23:41
to September 2023 and I don't want02:23:45
anyone to start booking flights until02:23:47
the last week of September so let's02:23:49
change that to the 25th and you can see02:23:52
automatically these schedule updates and02:23:55
everything below that relies on this02:23:57
particular task has also updated hence02:24:00
why we have those blue cells now I'm02:24:03
going to scroll to task by using the02:24:05
icon on the quick access toolbar so I02:24:07
can see what we have going on here now02:24:08
notice something else about this task02:24:11
now that we've added that constraint you02:24:14
can see that in the information column02:24:16
on the left hand side we now have this02:24:18
little calendar icon02:24:20
and if I hover my mouse over it I get a02:24:22
little screen tip pop-up that says this02:24:25
task has a start note earlier than02:24:27
constraint on September the 25th 2023 so02:24:32
whenever you see that calendar in that02:24:34
column it means that There's a02:24:35
constraint applied to that particular02:24:37
task now I'm going to leave it to you to02:24:39
explore some of these other constraint02:24:42
types I think most of them are pretty02:24:44
self-explanatory now a lot of these are02:24:47
what we would consider to be flexible02:24:49
constraint types but some of them are a02:24:51
little bit more fixed so for example02:24:53
must start on for example if I select02:24:56
task number 47 book venue maybe that's a02:25:00
very fixed item and it must start on a02:25:04
specific date in order for anything that02:25:05
comes after it to flow correctly through02:25:08
the project so maybe we have to book a02:25:10
venue on August the 25th so I could02:25:14
select a constraint in here to make that02:25:16
more fixed in the schedule02:25:19
so I'm going to select it it is a02:25:21
milestone task we can still apply02:25:23
constraints to Milestones but I'm going02:25:25
to change the constraint to must start02:25:28
on and then I can choose the date so02:25:30
it's going to be August the 25th so02:25:32
let's jump across to August02:25:36
and select the 25th click on OK and once02:25:40
again we get that little calendar icon02:25:42
which says that this task has a must02:25:44
start on constraint and then we have the02:25:46
date so some of these are a little bit02:25:48
more flexible some of them are very02:25:51
fixed but something that's worth bearing02:25:53
in mind is that you want to really limit02:25:56
the number of date constraints that you02:25:58
have in your project and the reason why02:26:00
you want to limit it is because it02:26:02
reduces Project's ability to schedule02:26:04
things in the best way if we're02:26:07
constantly adding constraints into the02:26:09
project must start on this date can't02:26:11
start before that date project is going02:26:13
to find it harder to create a project02:26:14
plan that flows nicely through now02:26:17
obviously in some circumstances you're02:26:19
going to need to add constraints but all02:26:21
I'm saying is be mindful of how many you02:26:23
have in your project and try and limit02:26:25
them the best that you can02:26:27
another thing that's worth noting about02:26:28
task constraints is that you don't02:26:30
necessarily have to apply these from the02:26:32
task details form so if you don't have02:26:35
this details pane open and your project02:26:37
looks something like this what you can02:26:40
do is select your task and then on the02:26:43
task ribbon all the way over in the02:26:45
Properties Group we have an information02:26:46
button and that's going to pull up loads02:26:49
of information about the tasks that02:26:51
you've selected so in this case I've02:26:52
selected a summary task02:26:55
if we jump across to the advanced tab we02:26:57
can also set our constraint type in here02:26:59
so this one currently is as soon as02:27:02
possible but if we click the drop down02:27:03
we have some other options and we can02:27:06
choose a constrained date now notice02:27:08
here that when I click the drop down I02:27:09
only have three options to choose from02:27:11
now that's because I'm clicked on a02:27:14
summary task if I just click on a02:27:16
regular work task go up to information02:27:20
and to the advanced tab when I click the02:27:23
drop down I now have all of those02:27:25
constraint types so if you see a shorter02:27:27
list in here it's going to be because02:27:29
you're clicked on a summary task as02:27:31
opposed to a work task and this02:27:33
information box is a really good place02:27:36
to come because this is where you're02:27:37
going to find lots and lots of02:27:39
information about the tasks that you02:27:41
currently have selected in the schedule02:27:43
and of course you can modify task02:27:45
information from here as well as well as02:27:47
from the task form details pane02:28:00
when we start linking tasks together in02:28:02
Project it can start to become a little02:28:05
bit cluttered02:28:06
so we need to know the best ways that we02:28:09
can view our tasks and view predecessors02:28:12
and links now one way we've already seen02:28:14
we have the predecessors column in our02:28:17
task entry table which gives us a nice02:28:19
overview we can see immediately which02:28:22
tasks are linked to other tasks and also02:28:24
the type of task link that we have in02:28:26
place and if there's any lead or lack02:28:28
time so if you don't have this02:28:30
predecessors column showing I highly02:28:32
recommend that you right click go to02:28:34
insert column and choose predecessors02:28:37
from here and remember this long list is02:28:41
in alphabetical order so it's very02:28:42
simple to find the one that you need02:28:45
now I already have my predecessors02:28:47
column so I'm just going to escape out02:28:49
of that now another way that we can view02:28:51
our tasks and any links is by looking at02:28:55
the bars on the right hand side now02:28:57
currently I'm not seeing a great deal on02:29:00
this page because I have my bar set to02:29:03
display every single day so my tasks are02:29:06
very stretched out across the entire02:29:08
timeline of the project which in some02:29:10
cases is a good thing if you want to see02:29:12
in more detail but I actually want to02:29:14
condense this up a little bit so I can02:29:16
actually see more of the task in this02:29:18
area so what we can do here is we can02:29:20
jump across to the view ribbon and then02:29:23
notice in the zoom group we have a time02:29:25
scale option and currently mine is set02:29:28
to days which is why I have such a broad02:29:30
time scale up here so what I'm going to02:29:33
do is I'm going to click the drop down02:29:34
and I'm going to change this to display02:29:36
in weeks and now I can see a lot more02:29:39
information because it's a little bit02:29:41
more condensed another thing that we can02:29:43
do is we can select task in our task02:29:46
entry table so I'm just going to go for02:29:48
task number three and we can see it's02:29:50
driving predecessors now if we jump up02:29:53
to the Gantt chart format tab in bar02:29:55
Styles and click task path let's take a02:29:58
look at the screen tip just here it says02:30:01
that this is going to highlight the02:30:03
predecessors that directly affect the02:30:05
selected task so let's click on this now02:30:09
notice when I click away These Bars02:30:11
change to this orange color and02:30:13
depending on which task I select in the02:30:16
task entry table the predecessors that02:30:19
are driving this particular task are02:30:21
going to highlight in Orange if I was to02:30:23
click somewhere down here you can see02:30:25
more and more things get highlighted in02:30:27
Orange so this is a quick way of seeing02:30:30
all of the tasks prior to the one that02:30:33
you have selected that are really02:30:35
driving the completion of the task you02:30:37
currently have highlighted and that can02:30:40
sometimes be really useful and if you02:30:41
want to turn that off just go back up to02:30:43
task path and deselect driving02:30:45
predecessors and one final thing that02:30:48
you can do from this Gantt chart format02:30:50
tab is you can control the layout of02:30:53
these tasks and how they're linked02:30:54
together so if we go to the format group02:30:56
right at the beginning here we have a02:30:58
layout option and it says format various02:31:01
aspects of the current view so if we02:31:03
click on this and take a look at the02:31:05
links section we have three choices here02:31:08
so I can choose to display my links like02:31:11
that so I have no arrows in between each02:31:15
of the bars so it gives it a less02:31:17
cluttered look and feel but for me02:31:20
personally I don't find this02:31:21
particularly helpful I like to have a02:31:23
visual representation of which tasks are02:31:26
linked together as opposed to just02:31:27
having the numbers in the predecessors02:31:29
column in the task entry table for that02:31:32
option is there if you like that look02:31:34
if I select the second one it links them02:31:37
through like that and the third one we02:31:41
get something slightly different so02:31:43
really it's just the format the layout02:31:45
of these links so choose whichever one02:31:48
you prefer and another thing that you02:31:50
could turn on to make the readability of02:31:53
your bars a little bit easier is you02:31:56
could turn on grid lines02:31:57
so again in this format tab if we click02:32:00
the drop down next to grid lines and02:32:02
select grid lines again I'm going to02:32:04
choose to add lines to my Gantt rows I02:32:08
can then choose the type of lines let's02:32:10
go for a dotted line and I can also02:32:13
choose the color so let's go for a green02:32:15
color and I can then choose the interval02:32:18
now I'm going to set that to none and02:32:20
click on OK and you can see what that02:32:23
looks like so sometimes that can really02:32:25
Aid your readability because it makes it02:32:28
a little bit easier to see which bar02:32:30
relates to which entry in the task entry02:32:33
table so if you like that then turn that02:32:36
on I'm going to turn this off and try02:32:38
and keep this as clean as possible by02:32:40
setting this back to none02:32:47
in this exercise exercise five I'd like02:32:50
you to create task dependencies as per02:32:53
the information in the spreadsheet so02:32:55
you'll see that there is a predecessor's02:32:58
column that tells you which tasks need02:33:00
to be linked together and then I'd like02:33:02
you to just have a play around adding02:33:04
lag and lead time into certain tasks and02:33:07
I don't really mind which tasks you use02:33:09
for this once you've done that I'd just02:33:11
like you to practice filtering your task02:33:13
list so a good one to show would be all02:33:15
of the tasks in your project that are02:33:18
Milestone tasks so a reasonably02:33:20
straightforward exercise if you'd like02:33:22
to see my answer then please keep02:33:24
watching so let's take a look at the02:33:26
spreadsheet and you can see that we have02:33:27
a predecessors column just here so once02:33:30
again I'm just going to do the first02:33:31
couple so you can see how this works but02:33:35
I can see that identify available skills02:33:37
information and support is dependent on02:33:40
the task before so if we go to this task02:33:42
in the schedule which is Task id5 and02:33:45
expand the column we can choose our02:33:47
predecessor02:33:49
so this is going to be task number four02:33:51
which we can simply select just here and02:33:54
click away and the next task so this one02:33:57
is going to be linked to task number02:33:59
five and that is how simple it is to add02:34:02
predecessors into our schedule notice02:34:04
the arrows connecting the bars in the02:34:07
Gantt chart remember you can add more02:34:09
than one predecessor to a task so go02:34:11
through that spreadsheet adding in your02:34:13
predecessors and creating those links02:34:15
the next thing I asked you to do was to02:34:17
add in some lag or lead time so let's02:34:21
choose this task task number six I'm02:34:25
going to double click to open it up02:34:26
we're going to jump to the predecessors02:34:28
Tab and I can see here that we have a02:34:31
finish to start link type currently with02:34:34
zero days lag so what I'm going to do is02:34:37
I'm going to add in five days lag02:34:40
remember if you want to add in lead time02:34:42
this is going to be a minus figure in02:34:45
here let's click on OK and now you can02:34:48
see how that's affected the schedule02:34:49
task number six has now been pushed by02:34:52
five days into the future because we've02:34:55
added in that lag time if we select the02:34:58
previous task and for this one let's add02:35:01
in three days of lead time and the final02:35:04
thing I asked you to do here was just to02:35:06
practice playing around with some of the02:35:08
filters so we can find those up on The02:35:10
View tab in the filters group and one02:35:13
example I gave you was to filter and02:35:15
show all of the Milestone tasks so you02:35:17
can see here I've got four of them in my02:35:20
schedule02:35:22
if you're not a subscriber click down02:35:24
below to subscribe so you get notified02:35:26
about similar videos we upload02:35:28
to get the course exercise files and02:35:31
follow along with this video click over02:35:33
there and02:35:35
click over there to watch more videos on02:35:38
YouTube from Simon says itDescription:
✅ Download the free course exercise files to follow along ➡️https://www.simonsezit.com/project-2021-instructorexercise-files/ In this Microsoft Project 2021 training course for beginners, we cover the basics of Microsoft Project. We'll go over how to acquire Project 2021, what's new in Project 2021, and explore the Project interface. We then teach you how to create your first project, set up the project calendar, discuss automatic vs. manually scheduled tasks, link tasks, add dependencies, and so much more! We've even included downloadable course files from our paid-for courses so you can follow along and complete the exercises in this course. This will help you put what you are learning into practice and master MS Project 2021. ✅https://www.simonsezit.com/project-2021-instructorexercise-files/ 📝 Use the timestamps below to navigate to different sections of the course. If you already know one of these topics, skip ahead! 00:00:00 - Simon Sez IT Intro 00:00:22 - Course Introduction 00:02:19 - Project Plans Explained 00:06:30 - What's New in Project 2021 00:10:21 - Exercise 01 00:11:33 - The Project 2021 Interface 00:18:08 - Project Ribbons and Commands 00:26:23 - Quick Access Toolbar 00:33:19 - Keyboard Shortcuts and Key Tips 00:37:26 - Switch Views 00:41:13 - Switch Tables 00:43:59 - Exercise 02 00:47:10 - Set Project Plan Options 00:53:54 - Create, Save, Open and Close a Project 00:59:51 - Setup Your Project Calendar 01:06:01 - Define Exceptions 01:10:41 - Project Calendar 01:13:56 - Exercise 03 01:17:21 - Automatic vs. Manually Scheduled Tasks 01:26:27 - Create an Auto-Scheduled Task 01:29:33 - Create a Manually Schedules Task 01:32:52 - Create a Milestone Task 01:36:32 - Create Summary and Subtasks 01:43:08 - Import Task Information from Word 01:49:57 - Reorganize the Structure 01:53:10 - Delete Tasks 01:57:13 - Work Breakdown Structure 02:02:33 - Exercise 04 02:08:47 - Link Tasks and Add Dependencies 02:16:23 - Add Lag or Lead Time 02:20:56 - Deadlines and Constraints 02:27:58 - View Tasks and Deadlines 02:32:45 - Exercise 05 🌍 Get unlimited training with Simon Sez IT’s 160+ courses ⏩ https://www.simonsezit.com/courses/ 🚀 Level up your skills with a a free 30 day trial to our complete training library of 8,500+ video ⏩ https://www.simonsezit.com/ssit-first-month-free Check out our FREE 300+ hour training course playlist here 🔥https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzj7TwUeMQ3hsADWJd2sJh4o8jATTyaRU Check out our free video playlist for project management 🔥https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzj7TwUeMQ3iqvdrIfS1DciFNWxLsBhkt 💻 Watch more free popular training tutorials from Simon Sez IT: ✅Microsoft Office 2021 and Office 365 Training Tutorials 👉https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzj7TwUeMQ3hH_MxteY6LR3OSMHpDkt_j ✅Excel 2021 Tutorials for Beginners playlist 👉https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzj7TwUeMQ3jqRlmIaj6jb_X9EGQueMDb ✅ Data Analytics training here 👉 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzj7TwUeMQ3iE3tUiAOKdVjSvcq0ynUS2 💬Stay in touch! ✅SimonSezIT.com: 👉https://www.simonsezit.com/ ✅StreamSkill.com: 👉https://streamskill.com/ ✅YouTube Channel: 👉https://www.youtube.com/user/simonsezittraining ✅LinkedIn: 👉https://www.linkedin.com/company/simon-sez-it/ 🔔Subscribe to our channel:👉https://www.youtube.com/simonsezittraining?sub_confirmation=1 If you enjoyed the video, please give a "thumbs up" and subscribe to the channel 👍🏽 ;-)
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