Datasheet

To track the costs of these tasks, you add certain information about resources, including the
following:
n
The list of human and material resources and their costs for both standard and overtime
hours
n
The assignment of resources to specific tasks
To track a project over its lifetime, you need to enter the following information:
n
Progress on tasks
n
Changes in task timing or dependencies
n
Changes in resources — that is, resources that are added to or removed from the project
n
Changes in resource time commitments and costs
What Microsoft Project can do to help
Even though you still must enter a great deal of information into your project schedule, Microsoft
Project has ways to make the job easier:
n
Project templates: If you often do similar types of projects, you can create project tem-
plates with typical project tasks already in place; you can then modify the templates for
individual projects. Project comes with templates to help you get started.
You can take advantage of sample project templates, which can be found on this book’s
companion CD-ROM. These templates represent a cross section of typical industries and
project types.
n
Automate repeated tasks: If you have tasks that repeat throughout the life of a project,
such as weekly meetings or regular reviews, you can create a single repeating task, and
Project duplicates it for you.
n
Import existing task lists: You can create projects from tasks that you’ve set up in
Outlook, or you can use Excel to start your project and then easily import the spread-
sheet into Project.
n
Exchange task information with Outlook: You can download project tasks into Outlook
from Project Web Access, work on them, record the work in Outlook, and then upload the
updated information to Project Web Access.
See Chapter 25 for more information about starting projects in Outlook and Excel and
then moving them into Project 2007.
n
Advanced reporting and analytical capabilities: In addition to the reports Project pro-
vides, you can easily use Project data to prepare reports in Visio and Excel, providing you
with additional analytical capabilities.
n
Consolidate projects: You can break projects into smaller pieces that team members can
use to enter and track progress. By tracking with this method, no individual person has
CROSS-REF
CROSS-REF
ON
the
CD-ROM
ON
the
CD-ROM
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The Nature of Projects
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