Project Management Archives

How to Create a Resource Calendar in MS Project

The resource calendar in Project lets us take the resources’ non-work time into account. There are religious, working-two-jobs, and a few other reasons why this might come into play. So once the project calendar is established, we can create a variation of it as a …

How to Create a Calendar in Project (and Why)

When setting up a plan in Project, it’s very important to get the calendar organized first, before adding tasks, resources, assignments, or almost anything else. Why? Because a project timeline dictates many of the scheduling details, and the calendar controls the schedule. Getting to the …

How to Create Custom Fields in Microsoft Project

MS Project has a LARGE number of fields set up by default, for almost anything the program can track. But even with all the feedback the design team gets, they can’t anticipate everything a user might need to monitor during a project. So the team …

Microsoft Project Keyboard Shortcuts

SkillForge SkillSheet Microsoft Project 2010/13/16 Keyboard Shortcuts Click here to download the PDF version. Navigate Views and Windows In order to… Press Activate the Control menu ALT+SPACEBAR Activate the entry bar to edit text in a field F2 Activate the menu bar F10 or ALT …

Changing Microsoft Projects Default Task Duration

In a recent Microsoft Project class a question arose concerning the default task duration, which is set in days. This student had recently been working on a deployment project and the default duration was too broad. It needed to focus on a smaller time-frame and …

How to Round Task Durations in Microsoft Project

How To Round Task Durations in Microsoft ProjectWatch this video on YouTube In this tutorial, you’ll see how to round the duration of a task in Microsoft Project by using a custom field. You’ll also see how to use this custom field in all of …

Dependency Types in Microsoft Project

When creating schedules in Microsoft Project the first thing that a Project Manager would typically do is to input the tasks involved in a project. These tasks then need to be linked to show the relationship between them. These links create task dependencies.

There are 4 different types of task dependency:

Finish-to-Start (FS): The finish date of one task drives the start date of another.
Start-to-Start (SS): The start date of one task drives the start date of another.
Finish-to-Finish (FF): The finish date of one task drives the finish date of another.
Start-to-Finish (SF): The start date of one task drives the finish date of another.

Missing Resources when Using Microsoft Project Resource Pools

If you work with Microsoft Project and have ever leveraged the power of Resource Pools across multiple projects, you may have encountered a strange behavior when assigning those resources.

When you share resources between a Resource Pool file (a dummy project file that typically has no tasks but is merely a container for holding resources) and another project file, sometimes the resources don’t show up when it comes time to make the resource assignments.

Microsoft Project 2010 Download

Microsoft provides a free trial download of Project 2010. You can use it to evaluate the software before you buy. To see why Project 2010 is the most advanced version yet, visit this article from Microsoft: Top Ten Benefits of Microsoft Project 2010. And visit …

Tech Certifications in Highest Demand for 2011

Tech Certification Whether you are an established technology professional or just breaking into the field, knowing which technical certifications are in highest demand can help you grow your career – and your income!. The following list of technical certifications highlight those that are expected to be in high demand in 2011. These results are based on analysis done by the technical recruiting and placement firm, Robert Half Technology and include factors such as hiring trends and feedback from CIOs and other senior executives at firms across the U.S. This list includes a brief overview of each technical certification and links to resources for learning more about them.