The following tutorial demonstrates the use of

MSPROJECT for Project Management which

organizes and tracks the required activities. It is
intended to be used in getting started with the tool
To use MSPROJECT for Project Management we:

Define the required TASKS
Establish the sequence and various DEPENDENCIES
Make any required modifications to the CALENDAR
Assign RESOURCES to complete the TASKS
Once a satisfactory schedule has been developed, it is BASELINED so
the MSPROJECT has a history it can employ in displays
Finally, as TASKS are worked on, % COMPLETION is entered for each
TASK
Other functions are available which enable the user to adjust the
schedule to optimize the chance for success. These include critical path
analysis, resource leveling and many powerful Project Management
tools.

Open application MSPROJECT and then list all known tasks and force all
MILESTONES to be ZERO Days by clicking on the Duration cell and
decrementing it to zero. Note that we have planned ahead by starting to
create two summary task rows. Next we will indent subtasks.
Select Tasks1P-Milestone 5P and then click on INDENT to create subtasks.
Repeat for Tasks1D Milestone 5D. The INDENT is the GREEN right facing
arrow in upper left of screen. Note display change with INDENTATION.
INDENT

Create some initial dependencies by first selecting Task 1P,
then while holding down the CNTRL key, select Task 2P
and Milestone 1_2P and then click on Link Task, the chain
link icon in the tool bar above. Note new arrows in
display.
Link Tasks

Repeat for Task 3P, Task 5P and Milestone 5 and click on Link Tasks.
Repeat for Task 4P and Task 5P and click on Link Tasks.

Create more dependencies by first selecting Milestone 1_2P, then
while holding down the CNTRL key, select Summary Task for Design
and click on Link Tasks. Repeat for Milestone 5P and Summary Task
for Design and click on Link Task. Now the Summary Task for Design
is dependant upon completion of the two major Milestones under
Summary Task for Planning !
Complete all dependencies under Summary Task for Design. Select Task
1D, then Task 2D, then Task 4D ,then Task 5D and finally Milestone 5D and
then click on Link Tasks. Repeat for Task 3D and Task4D.

Select Tools/Change Work Time then HIGHLIGHT the Column for
Saturday and then select Nondefault working time (box) followed by
OK. This makes MON-SAT work days for the schedule. We decided
Sunday is a day of rest!!

We now enter the duration estimates for each subtask in
total hours of work required by clicking on the appropriate
duration cell and entering the data. Task 1P is set to 10
hours by typing 10h. Note that the schedule now has
automatically moved out in time. Next we will add resources
(people). Initially we add our staff names Tom, Dick, Harry
& Janet by clicking on the resources icon in the toolbar
above. As we add resources to each task, its duration will
change.
Resources


We have now added our resources a first cut. After
that we can now fine tune the schedule longer or
shorter as required by modifying the resource levels. Or
we can actually adjust the duration directly via the
duration cell. Once we are happy with the results we
should BASELINE the schedule which means that
MSPROJECT will remember what the schedule looks
like at this point. We BASELINE by selecting
Tools/Tracking/Save Baseline and select Entire
Project followed by OK.
We now change our View to Tracking Gantt from
our original setting of Gant Chart by selecting
View/Tracking Gantt. To show the benefit of this
chart which employs the established BASELINE, we
will change Task 5D from 4 to 24 hours.
Note how the chart displays the change
And finally we opened Task 4D and marked it as 60% complete to demonstrate
MSPROJECTs tracking capability. Note display change.