microsoft project 2003

Table of Contents Managing Multiple Projects Managing Master Projects and Resource Pools Exchanging Information Between Project Plans Integrating Microsoft Project with Other Programs E

Microsoft Press

A Division of Microsoft Corporation

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Redmond, Washington 98052-6399

Copyright © 2004 by Teresa Stover

All rights reserved No part of the contents of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form

or by any means without the written permission of the publisher

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The example companies, organizations, products, domain names, e-mail addresses, logos, people, places,and events depicted herein are fictitious No association with any real company, organization, product,domain name, e-mail address, logo, person, place, or event is intended or should be inferred

Acquisitions Editor: Alex Blanton

Project Editor: Dick Brown

Technical Editor: Brian Kennemer

Integrating Microsoft Project with Other Programs

Part 7

Managing Projects

Across Your Enterprise

Chapter 20

Understanding the Project Workgroup

and Enterprise Model 567

Chapter 21

Administering Project Server and

Project Web Access for Your

Making Executive Decisions Using

Project Web Access 737

Managing Project Files 863

Part 9 Programming Custom Solutions

Chapter 30 Understanding the Visual Basic Language 881 Chapter 31

Writing Microsoft Project Code with Visual Basic for Applications 905 Chapter 32

Part 10 Appendixes Appendix A Installing Microsoft Office Project

2003 955 Appendix B

Field Reference 967 Appendix C

Online Resources for Microsoft Project 1003 Appendix D

Keyboard Shortcuts 1007

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments xxi

We’d Like to Hear from You xxiii

About the CD xxv

What’s on the CD xxv

Using the CD xxv

System Requirements xxvi

Support Information xxvi

Conventions and Features Used in This Book xxvii

Text Conventions xxvii

Design Conventions xxvii Project Fundamentals

Introducing Microsoft Project 2003

Understanding Projects and Project Management

Developing the Project Plan

Starting a New Project

Viewing Project Information

Table of Contents

Scheduling Tasks

Setting Up Resources in the Project

vii

Assigning Resources to Tasks

Planning Resource and Task Costs

viii

Responding to Changes in Your Project

Reporting and Analysis

Reporting Project Information

Analyzing Project Information

Table of Contents Managing Multiple Projects

Managing Master Projects and Resource Pools

Exchanging Information Between Project Plans

Integrating Microsoft Project with Other Programs

Exchanging Information with Other Applications

Integrating Microsoft Project with Microsoft Excel

551

xii

Managing Enterprise Projects and Resources

Participating On a Team Using Project Web Access

xiv

Table of Contents

Web Access

xv

Customizing and Managing Project Files

Customizing Your View of Project Information

Customizing the Microsoft Project Interface

Table of Contents

Automating Your Work with Macros

Standardizing Projects Using Templates

Managing Project Files

xvii

Programming Custom Solutions

Understanding the Visual Basic Language

for Applications

Acknowledgments

It takes a great team to put out a great book, and I’ve been fortunate to work with the very

best I’m genuinely grateful to the good people at Microsoft Press: Dick Brown, Alex Blanton, Barbara Moreland, and Sandra Haynes

For her first-rate editing talents, I’m indebted to Nancy Sixsmith of ConText Editorial Ser­

vices I’m sincerely grateful for the brainpower and user advocacy of technical editor Brian

Kennemer (MVP) of QuantumPM, who checked, clarified, and confirmed everything, espe­cially the finer points

For their exceptional ability to communicate their expertise, I thank contributors James Scott and Steve Adams (Please read more about them in “About the Authors” following the

Index.) Many thanks also to Bonnie Biafore and Ken Speer for their fine contributions to the previous edition of the book

Thanks as well to my persistent supporters at Moore Literary Agency: Claudette Moore and Debbie McKenna

A thousand thanks to my blessed life preservers—my unique community of friends and fam­ily who keep me balanced and smiling Thanks most of all to Craig Stover for his steady sup-port and brilliant flashes of insight, and for helping me find Internet cafes to continue work

on the book during our grand tour of England

We’d Like to Hear from You

Our goal at Microsoft Press is to create books that help you find the information you need to get the most out of your software

The Inside Out series was created with you in mind As part of our ongoing effort to ensure

that we’re creating the books that meet your learning needs, we’d like to hear from you Let us know what you think Tell us what you like about this book and what we can do to make it

better When you write, please include the title and author of this book in your e-mail mes­sage, as well as your name and contact information We look forward to hearing from you! How to Reach Us

E-Mail: nsideout@microsoft.com

Mail: Inside Out Series Editor

Microsoft Press One Microsoft Way Redmond, WA 98052

Note: Unfortunately, we can’t provide support for any software problems you might experience Please go to http://support.microsoft.com for help with any software issues

About the CD

The Companion CD that ships with this book contains many tools and resources to help you

get the most out of your Inside Out book

What’s on the CD

Your Inside Out CD includes the following:

● Complete eBook In this section, you’ll find an electronic version of Microsoft Office

Project 2003 Inside Out The eBook is in PDF format

● Project Standard Trial In this section, you’ll find a trial version of Microsoft Office

Project 2003 Standard Edition

sion of the Microsoft Computer Dictionary, Fifth Edition Suitable for home and office,

the dictionary contains more than 10,000 entries

● Insider Extras This section includes files the author selected for you to install and use as additional reference material

● Microsoft Resources In this section, you’ll find information about additional

resources from Microsoft that will help you get the most out of Microsoft Office Project and other business software from Microsoft

● Extending Project In this section, you’ll find great information about third-party

utilities and tools you use to further enhance your experience with Office Project 2003 The Companion CD provides detailed information about the files on this CD and links to

Microsoft and third-party sites on the Internet All the files on this CD are designed to be

accessed through Microsoft Internet Explorer (version 5.01 or later)

Note The links to third-party sites are not under the control of Microsoft Corporation, and

Microsoft is therefore not responsible for their content, nor should their inclusion on this

CD be construed as an endorsement of the product or the site Software provided on this

CD is in English language only and may be incompatible with non-English language operat­

ing systems and software

Using the CD

To use this Companion CD, insert it into your CD-ROM drive If AutoRun is not enabled on your computer, click Index.htm in the WebSite folder in the root of the CD

Caution This book also contains a trial version of the Microsoft Office Project 2003 Stan­dard Edition software This software is fully functional, but it expires 60 days after you install it You should not install the trial version if you have already installed the full version

of either Microsoft Office Project 2003 Standard Edition or Microsoft Office Project 2003 Professional Edition

System Requirements

Following are the minimum system requirements necessary to run the CD:

● Microsoft Windows XP or later or Windows 2000 Professional with Service Pack 3 or later

● 266-MHz or higher Pentium-compatible CPU

● 64 megabytes (MB) RAM

● 8X CD-ROM drive or faster

● Microsoft Windows–compatible sound card and speakers

● Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.01 or later

● Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device Note System requirements might be higher for the add-ins available via links on the

CD Individual add-in system requirements are specified at the sites specified An net connection is necessary to access the some of the hyperlinks Connect time

Inter-charges might apply

Support Information

Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the book and the contents of this Com­panion CD For feedback on the book content or this Companion CD, please contact us by using any of the addresses listed in the “We’d Like to Hear from You” section

Microsoft Press provides corrections for books through the World Wide Web at http:

//www.microsoft.com/mspress/support/ To connect directly to the Microsoft Press Knowledge

Base and enter a query regarding a question or issue that you might have, go to http:

//www.microsoft.com/mspress/support/search.asp

For support information regarding Windows XP, you can connect to Microsoft Technical

Support on the Web at http://support.microsoft.com/

Conventions and Features

Used in This Book

This book uses special text and design conventions to make it easier for you to find the infor­mation you need

Convention Meaning

Abbreviated menu commands For your convenience, this book uses abbreviated menu

commands For example, “Click Tools, Track Changes, Highlight Changes” means that you should click the Tools menu, point to Track Changes, and click the High-light Changes command

Boldface type Boldface type is used to indicate text that you enter or

type

Initial Capital Letters The first letters of the names of menus, dialog boxes,

dialog box elements, and commands are capitalized

Example: the Save As dialog box

Italicized type Italicized type is used to indicate new terms

Plus sign (+) in text Keyboard shortcuts are indicated by a plus sign (+) sep­

arating two key names For example, Ctrl+Alt+Delete means that you press the Ctrl, Alt, and Delete keys at the same time

Design Conventions

This icon identifies a new or significantly updated feature in this version of the software

Inside Out

This statement illustrates an example of an “Inside Out” problem statement

These are the book’s signature tips In these tips, you’ll get the straight scoop on what’s

going on with the software—inside information about why a feature works the way it does

You’ll also find handy workarounds to deal with software problems

Tip Tips provide helpful hints, timesaving tricks, or alternative procedures related to the task being discussed

Troubleshooting

This statement illustrates an example of a “Troubleshooting” problem statement Look for these sidebars to find solutions to common problems you might encounter Trou­bleshooting sidebars appear next to related information in the chapters You can also use the Troubleshooting Topics index at the back of the book to look up problems by topic

Cross-references point you to other locations in the book that offer additional information about the topic being discussed

This icon indicates information or text found on the companion CD

Caution Cautions identify potential problems that you should look out for when you’re completing a task or problems that you must address before you can complete a task

Note Notes offer additional information related to the task being discussed

Sidebars

The sidebars sprinkled throughout these chapters provide ancillary information on the topic being discussed Go to sidebars to learn more about the technology or a feature

Part 1

Project Fundamentals

1 Introducing Microsoft Project 2003 3

2 Understanding Projects and

Chapter 1

Introducing Microsoft Project

2003

Using this Book 4 What’s New in Microsoft Project 2003 10

Using Microsoft Project—An Overview 6 Learning As You Go 22

What kind of project manager are you, anyway?

Let’s say you’re an accomplished project management professional who manages projects for

several departments in your organization at any given time You’re responsible for managing

thousands of tasks, hitting hundreds of deadlines, and assigning scores of resources You

need to plan and monitor each project, work with different managers, and make the best use

of team members—some of whom might work on only one project and others who might be

shared among several of your projects

On the other hand, suppose you’re a multitasking product specialist for a small startup com­

pany You handle research, development, material procurement, marketing, and staff devel­

opment On top of all this, you have just been assigned the responsibility of managing the

project for the launch of your company’s newest product

As these two scenarios illustrate, project management is a process and a discipline that can be

the full focus of your career or one of many aspects of your job description

Numerous industries rely on sound project management for their success:

Effective project management is vital at the start of a project when you’re determining what

needs to be done, when, by whom, and for how much money Effective project management

is also essential after you kick off the project, when you are continually controlling and

man-aging the project details You frequently analyze the project—tracking the schedule, the

bud-get, resource requirements, and the scope of tasks In addition, you’re managing the level of

quality in the project, planning for risks and contingencies, and communicating with the

members of the project team as well as upper management or customers

Using this Book

This book is designed for intermediate to advanced computer users who manage projects Even if you have never used Microsoft Project or managed a project before, this book assumes you have experience with Microsoft Windows and at least a couple of programs in Microsoft Office; for example, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, or Microsoft Outlook

● If you are completely new to project management and Microsoft Project, this book will give you a solid grounding in the use of Microsoft Project as well as basic project man­agement practices and methodologies It will help you understand the phases of project management, including the controlling factors in the project life cycle

● If you’re an experienced project manager, this book integrates common project manage­ment practices with the use of the software tool This helps you see how you can use Microsoft Project to carry out the project management functions you’re accustomed to

● If you’re already an experienced Microsoft Project user, this book will help you better understand the inner workings of Microsoft Project, so you can use it more effectively

to do what you need it to do This book also introduces the new features of Project

2003, giving you ideas and tips as to whether and how you can use those features Regardless of your previous experience, this book will help you work with Microsoft Project

as a facilitator for your project’s processes and phases Read the chapters and parts you feel are appropriate for your needs right now Familiarize yourself with the topics available in the other chapters Then, as you continue to manage your projects with Microsoft Project, keep the book within arm’s reach so you can quickly find the answers to questions and problems as they come up As you master your current level of knowledge, use this book to help you get

to the next level, whether it’s working with multiple projects at one time, customizing Microsoft Project, or programming Microsoft Project functions to automate repetitive activ­ities This book is your comprehensive Microsoft Project reference, in which you can quickly find answers and then get back to work on your project plan The book is organized into the following parts:

Part 1: Project Fundamentals If you want a primer on project management in general or Microsoft Project in particular, read the chapters in this part Here, you find an over-view of Microsoft Project, including what’s new in Microsoft Project 2003 There’s an overview of project management processes and how Microsoft Project facilitates those

Introducing Microsoft Project 2003 processes You also find a discussion of the various kinds of people involved in your

project, as well as some keys to successful project management

Part 2: Developing the Project Plan Everything you need to know about starting a new

project and creating a new project plan is found here You get details about working

with the Microsoft Project workspace, scheduling tasks, setting up resources, assigning

resources to tasks, establishing costs, and adjusting the project plan to be an accurate

model of your project’s reality

Part 3: Tracking Progress After you create the perfect project plan, you’re ready to execute

it To keep the project plan working for you, it needs to be up to date This part pro­

vides details about setting and working with baselines so you can track and compare

your progress toward deadlines It covers important aspects of updating and tracking

costs as well as adjusting the schedule, resource workload, and costs to reflect ongoing

changes in your project

Part 4: Reporting and Analyzing Project Information Microsoft Project provides a wide

range of options for setting up and printing views and reports This part outlines these

methods—from simply printing your current view to designing a custom report and

publishing it to the Web This part also describes how you can export data to Excel for

calculation and other analysis, as well as how you can use earned value data to analyze

progress and costs

Part 5: Managing Multiple Projects As a project manager, it’s likely that you’re managing

more than one project at a time This part explains the concepts and practices of master

projects, subprojects, and resource pools It also explains how you can exchange informa­

tion between different project plans; copy or link information; and leverage customized

views, reports, groups, and other Microsoft Project elements you might have created

Part 6: Integrating Microsoft Project with Other Programs Microsoft Project is designed to

work seamlessly with other programs You can copy, embed, link, hyperlink, import,

and export information This part describes these methods in detail and also devotes

chapters to the specific integration techniques for working with Excel and Outlook

Part 7: Managing Projects Across Your Enterprise Microsoft Project helps to facilitate col­

laboration in project teams across your enterprise If you’re using Microsoft Office

Project Professional 2003, Microsoft Office Project Server 2003, and Microsoft Office

Project Web Access 2003, you and your organization have access to the robust project

team collaboration and enterprise project management features In this part, you see

how you can exchange project-related messages with members of your resource team

You can assign tasks, obtain task progress updates, and receive status reports This part

also describes how you can set up and use the enterprise features to standardize and

customize Microsoft Project and project management throughout your organization

It also covers enterprise resource management and executive summaries

Part 8: Customizing and Managing Project Files With Microsoft Project, you can create

and customize your own views, tables, groups, reports, formulas, toolbars, dialog

boxes, macros, and more This part covers the details of these custom elements This

part also discusses methods for closing a project at the end of its life cycle and continu­

ing to use what you learn by creating templates that can become the basis for the next

Part 9: Programming Custom Solutions You have access to a number of programming tools that can help you fully customize and automate Microsoft Project to meet your specific requirements This part provides the information you need about the programming tools, including a primer on Visual Basic, using the Visual Basic Editor, creating Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) macros, and working with the Microsoft Project Database

Part 10: Appendixes This part includes ancillary information you’ll find useful in your work with Microsoft Project For example, there are installation guidelines, a reference

of Microsoft Project fields, and a list of online resources to expand your knowledge of Microsoft Project and project management Also included is a handy keyboard short-cut reference

Throughout the book, you’ll find tips providing shortcuts or alternate methods for doing certain tasks The Inside Out tips give you information about known issues or idiosyncrasies with Microsoft Project and possible methods of working around them

There are also Troubleshooting tips, which alert you to common problems and how to avoid

or recover from them

This book is designed to be referenceable, so you can quickly find the answers you need at the time you have the question The comprehensive table of contents is a good starting point Another excellent place to start finding your solution is in one of the two indexes at the end

of the book Use the special Troubleshooting index to solve specific problems Use the master index to help you find the topics you’re looking for when you need them

Using Microsoft Project—An Overview

Microsoft Project is a specialized database that stores and presents thousands of pieces of data related to your project Examples of such data include tasks, durations, links, resource names, calendars, assignments, costs, deadlines, and milestones

These pieces of information interrelate and affect each other in a multitude of ways lying this project database is the scheduling engine, which crunches the raw project data you enter and presents the calculated results to you (see Figure 1-1) Examples of such calculated results include the start and finish dates of a task, the resource availability, the finish date of the entire project, and the total cost for a resource or for the project

Under-You can then manipulate and display this calculated data in various views to analyze the plan­ning and progress of your project This information helps you make decisions vital to the project’s success

Introducing Microsoft Project 2003

Kathie Flood, engineer

ASAP

$45/hour

3 drafters, full-time Procure equipment

Microsoft Project Scheduling Engine

Task Name Duration Start Finish

Andy Ruth, architect

Figure 1-1 Use Microsoft Project as your database of project management information

You can also communicate your progress and provide the feedback necessary to keep your

team and other stakeholders informed of essential project information, create and print

reports for status meetings or distribution to stakeholders, and print or publish certain views

or reports to your team’s Web site

Microsoft Project 2003 Editions

With Microsoft Project 2003, you have a choice of two editions: Microsoft Office Project

Standard 2003 and Microsoft Office Project Professional 2003

Microsoft Project Standard 2003 is the basic desktop edition of Microsoft Project It no

longer connects in any way to Microsoft Project Server 2003 and strictly stands alone

Microsoft Project Standard consists of all the essential features for individual project man­

agement, including the following:

Microsoft Office Project 2003 Inside Out With this substantial tool set, you can start planning, managing, and reporting your project information “straight out of the box”—that is, immediately upon installation (see Figure 1-2)

Resource

Resource

Resource Resource

Project Plan

Project Plan

Project Plan

With Microsoft Project Standard, you can plan and track your project and resources as your standalone desktop tool

Figure 1-2 Develop and execute single or multiple project plans with Microsoft Project Standard

Microsoft Project Professional 2003 provides everything that Microsoft Project Standard does In addition, Microsoft Project Professional provides for team collaboration with a Web interface (see Figure 1-3)

Figure 1-3 Using Microsoft Project Professional, Microsoft Project Server, and Microsoft Project Web Access, you and your team members can communicate and update project infor­mation electronically

Microsoft Project Professional also provides enterprise capabilities for project standardiza­tion, resource management, and executive analysis With Microsoft Project Professional, project management is fully scalable across multiple departments and divisions in an organi­zation (see Figure 1-4)

Introducing Microsoft Project 2003

Resource

Resource Resource

Enterprise

Project

Plan

Project Plan

Project Plan

Project Plan

Figure 1-4 Develop and execute project plans across an enterprise with Microsoft Project

Professional

Microsoft Project Professional includes the following features:

● Team collaboration through Microsoft Project Server 2003 and Microsoft Project Web

Access 2003 From Microsoft Project Professional, the project manager can send

assignments to Microsoft Project Server, and team members can view and update their

assignments using Microsoft Project Web Access, the Web-based project management

interface

● Global templates, enterprise fields, and other elements, enabling your project adminis­

trator to standardize and customize the use of Microsoft Project for the way your enter­

prise manages projects

● The ability to choose and manage resources from the pool of a specific group or the

entire company You can see resource availability across multiple projects and have

Microsoft Project automatically find resources that will appropriately fill project team

requirements

● High-level overviews of all the projects taking place throughout the organization With

the enterprise capabilities of Microsoft Project Professional , all information is gath­

ered, organized, and reported consistently throughout the organization, providing a

complete and accurate picture of all projects

For more information about the workgroup collaboration and enterprise project management features

provided through Project Professional, see Chapter 20, “Understanding the Project Workgroup and

Enterprise Model.”

Project managers use Microsoft Project to enter, store, and update project information They can then send project information, such as assignments or task updates, to specific team members through Microsoft Project Server

For more information about setting up Project Server and Project Web Access, see Chapter 21,

“Administering Project Server and Project Web Access for Your Enterprise.” For project manager information on enterprise and collaboration features, see Chapter 22, “Managing with Project Professional and Project Server.”

Team members and other associated stakeholders in the project can view and work with the information held in Project Server through the use of Project Web Access, the Web-based user interface for project team collaboration and messaging Team members can review their assigned tasks and other project information in Project Web Access In addition, they can add tasks, update progress information, and send status reports through Project Server, which ultimately updates the project plan being maintained by the project manager

For more information about functions for team members and resource managers, see Chapter 23,

“Participating on a Team Using Project Web Access.” Upper management and other stakeholders should see Chapter 24, “Making Executive Decisions Using Project Web Access.”

What’s New in Microsoft Project 2003

The new features in Microsoft Project 2003 revolve around the following initiatives:

● Improving collaboration among members of the project team

● Increasing support and tools for resource managers

● Expanding application customization, integration, and programmability for IT profes­sionals and solution providers

As in Microsoft Project 2002, there are two editions of Microsoft Project 2003: Project Stan­dard and Project Professional A major change is that Project Server and Project Web Access work only with Project Professional Therefore, Project Standard becomes strictly the single-project manager desktop solution, whereas Project Professional builds on that solution with workgroup and enterprise capabilities

This section summarizes the new features in Project Standard and Project Professional Cross-references indicate where these new features are covered in more detail elsewhere in the book In those locations, the discussion is marked with the 2003 New Feature icon

Introducing Microsoft Project 2003 What’s New in Project Standard 2003

The new version of Project Standard includes closer integration with Microsoft Office,

including the way online Help is delivered This version also brings enhancements to the

Project Guide and changes to e-mail workgroup collaboration

Copying a Picture of Project

You can copy a static picture from Microsoft Project and paste it into a Microsoft PowerPoint pre­

sentation or Microsoft Word document using the Copy Picture To Office Wizard (see Figure 1-5)

Figure 1-5 Use the Copy Picture To Office Wizard to take a snapshot of a Project view for

use in a Microsoft Office application

For more information about the Copy Picture To Office Wizard, see “Copying from Microsoft Project to

Another Application,” on page 471

Reviewing Specific Types of Information Using the Project Guide

The Project Guide was introduced in Microsoft Project 2002, appearing as the interactive

task pane to the left of the Microsoft Project workspace The Project Guide steps you through

specific goal-oriented processes These processes included setting up tasks, setting up and

assigning resources, tracking progress, and reporting

In Project 2003, the Report set of processes is enhanced in the Project Guide (see Figure 1-6)

Microsoft Office Project 2003 Inside Out

For more information about the Project Guide, see “Learning As You Go,” later in this chapter For more information about working with views, see Chapter 4, “Viewing Project Information.” For more information about working with reports, see Chapter 12, “Reporting Project Information.”

Working with COM Add-Ins

In Project 2002, you had to download the following Project Component Object Model (COM) add-ins from the Web:

● Visio WBS Chart Wizard

● Euro Currency Converter

● XML Reporting Wizard

● Compare Project Versions

● Database Upgrade Utility These add-ins are now automatically installed with Project, and are accessed from the Anal­ysis toolbar (see Figure 1-7)

Figure 1-7 COM add-ins are now automatically installed with Microsoft Project