Product Description

Whether your job is to manage the construction of a building, oversee the launch of a new product, host an international event, or plan a company party, Microsoft Project 2003 can help. Microsoft Project 2003 For Dummies shows you how to use the program to plan, schedule, and budget all phases of a project, assign the resources, create essential reports, and monitor your progress. If you’re new to Project, you’ll find what you need to get up to speed, including info on how Project works, finding your way around, and building your first Project plan. If you’ve used an earlier version of Project, you’ll delve into Project 2003 and all of the new features it puts at your fingertips. Complete with case histories, screen shots, and step–by–step instructions, this guide walks you through:

• Making calendar settings, building a task–outline, and entering timing and timing relationships for tasks
• Assigning resources and material costs to tasks
• Using scheduling and tracking tools: The Gantt Chart which is the main view of Project; The Network Diagram (version of a PERT (program Evaluation and Review Technique) chart; Risk management; and Resource management
• Recalculating based on what–if scenarios to solve resource conflicts, get your costs within budget, or meet your deadlines
• Understanding the task/subtask structure, creating an outline, and working with WBS (Work Breakdown Structure) codes
• Working with a combination of cost types (fixed, work, and material) and customizing costs fields with Value Lists
• Saving your plan with a baseline
• Using the tracking toolbar and to record actual activity, update fixed costs, and more
• Generating and formatting standard reports (complete with graphics), creating custom reports, and using the XML Reporting Wizard

If you have Project Server (that complements Project 2003 but is not included), this book shows you how to use Project in an enterprise environment to centralize information online and get real online collaboration. You can publish projects to the Web, allow team members to update their progress, analyze your project status, and generally communicate in one central, online location.

Microsoft Project 2003 For Dummies is complete with a bonus CD–ROM that includes:

• Add–on tools and templates
• Case history examples
• Test preparation questions for the Project Management Institute (PMI) certification exam
• Milestones Project Companion and Project KickStart trial versions
• Cobra, WBS Chart Pro, PERT Chart Expert, and TimeSheet Professional demo versions

Use this friendly guide to get comfortable with Project. You’ll wonder how you managed without it.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #81819 in Books
• Published on: 2003-10-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 408 pages

From the Back Cover
Check out case histories to see how Project works

Explore Project Server and use Sharepoint^TM to manage projects in multiple locations

Did you know you’ve been managing projects ever since you tackled your first coloring book? Now both the projects and the problems are bigger, but if you manage to grab this book, you’ll discover easy ways to collect and track data, share resources, prepare budgets, develop reports, and make your projects successful with Project.

Discover how to:

• Build Project plans
• Set up calendar settings, task outlines, and timing relationships
• Assign resources
• Incorporate smaller projects into a master project
• Modify item formatting
• Integrate Project with Outlook^®

All this on the bonus CD–ROM

• A selection of add–on tools and templates
• Case history examples
• Test preparation questions for the Project Management Institute (PMI) certification exam
• Milestones Project Companion^® and Project KickStart trial versions
• Cobra, WBS Chart Pro, PERT Chart Expert, and TimeSheet Professional^® demo versions

About the Author
Nancy Stevenson has written more than 40 books on topics from motivation to wireless technology. Nancy co–authored the Microsoft Project 98 Bible and a project–management textbook for college students. She’s a project management expert who has presented seminars for Fortune 500 companies.

Customer Reviews

Not Much Use
I have some understanding of Project but wanted to build on this as my knowledge is very limited. I bought this book expecting it to be full of interesting tips to get me on my way but found it consists much more of anecdotes and "project can do this" type statements without actually telling you the all important HOW.

Very dissapointing I dont feel as though I have learnt anything new from this book and I knew almost nothing about Project to start with .. You do the math.

Evaluation Copy Of Project Needs XP or Win2K SP3 !!
I can't rate this book very highly (because I haven't read it!). I like the style of the Dummies books in general though, but BE WARNED! I bought Microsoft's "Microsoft Office Project 2003 Inside Out", which also had an evaluation version of Project on the CD. This WILL NOT INSTALL unless you have either Windows XP (or later) or Windows 2000 SP3 (or later). My little laptop hasn't got what it takes to upgrade my operating system so it wouldn't let me install the software. Pity it doesn't tell you about that here, before you spend money on something.

It may tell you this when you get the book and, if you don't break the seal on the CD you should be able to return it but, in my case, I work somewhere where it's impractical to return stuff. I managed to get hold of Project 2000 and, with what I already knew about Project, I've found the built-in tutorial to be just dandy!

Save your money if you have an unfashionable operating system! Otherwise, it seems like a very good buy (hence my 2 stars - one because I like Dummies books and another because I think it's good value for those with the right system requirements).