Introduction to Microsoft Office Project and Uses
Microsoft Office Project (or MSP) is a project management software program developed by Microsoft. However, project managers rely on Microsoft Office Project as a standard to plan and manage their projects.
MSP is used by project managers for
- Create schedules
- Estimate costs
- Tracking progress
- Manage Budgets
Fig.1 – Graphical User Interface
First, Let’s look at the opening screen to become familiar with its layout and terminology. Although there will be some differences depending on your version of the Project (this picture is from Project 2010), and a project Guide which appears down the left side of the Table in Project 2010.
Working Area of the Screen
The main working area of the screen is in two parts: the Entry table on the left and Gantt chart on the right. A divider bar separates these parts.
The entry table will list every task included in the project and will show calculated details for each job.
Gantt chart will show bars drawn to represent the time span of each task against a calendar timescale.
The vertical parallel lines forming the divider bar can be moved to the right to show more columns in the table or to the left to show more of the Gantt chart. However, the mouse over the bar will invoke a left-right arrow: click and drag to move the bar, and double-click to dock the divider bar neatly to the nearest column edge.
USES
- To track and evaluate plans
- Assign resources to tasks
- Analyzing workloads
- Customize project plans
Definitions
Task – An activity that has a beginning and an end.
Subtask – A task that is part of a summary task. The subtask information is integrated into the summary task. Anyone can design subtasks by using the Project outlining feature.
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