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How to Choose a Microsoft Project Training Course

March 11, 2009 | Author: PM Hut | Filed under: Computer Based Information Systems

How to Choose a Microsoft Project Training Course
By Rex Gibson

Microsoft Project is the world’s most popular project management software – but even regular users would often benefit from a better understanding of its full capabilities. Moreover new reporting and communications features in the 2007 release are well worth understanding.

Non users know it might be handy for drawing project schedules – but make do with an Excel imitation and fail to appreciate the powerful planning and tracking functionality.

As project management becomes a core methodology underpinning most modern organisations it is time for companies and individuals to learn just how much more effective they could be by using Microsoft Project, alongside other everyday tools such as Word and PowerPoint.

This Guide explains the range of training options that are available.

1. Microsoft Project Training – Where do I Start?

There is no simple answer! It depends very much on your current familiarity with projects and project management software tools. You also need to take into account the skill sets that you are looking to achieve.

Basic Awareness - You want to be able to set up project timelines using Microsoft Project and understand the basic tracking and reporting functionality - If you are starting from scratch we would recommend a 2 day Introductory (Level 1) course. - If you already have some familiarity with the software (perhaps from an earlier release) then a 1 day course would be appropriate - If you are totally new to a project environment then introductory project management training may be a useful start point. This will help you to understand project organisation and timelines.

Advanced User - You already know how to set up a project but you want to be confident in using Microsoft Project to update plans, produce custom reports and interface effectively with other programmes - You have probably already been on a Level 1 course and should now choose an Advanced (Level 2) course - Depending on your level of existing knowledge choose a 1 or 2 day course.

Certified Professional - If you need certification or you require the expertise to deploy Microsoft Project in an enterprise environment then follow the official Microsoft courses - These will prepare you to take the relevant Microsoft exam.

The content of these courses is explained in the following sections.

2. Introductory Courses – Level 1

If you need to understand how to build and manage project plans, an Introduction, or “Level 1″, course in Microsoft Project will get you started. Courses cover the essential skills necessary to create and modify a project plan including tasks and resources. The emphasis will be on creating the initial plan. There are versions of these training courses tailored to align with both 2003 and 2007 releases of Microsoft Project. • Build and edit a project plan • Create and assign resources • Manage project costs • Track progress • Filter and print project plans • Communicate your plans • Produce reports

There are options of one or two day courses depending upon your previous knowledge and experience. The one day course assumes basic awareness of projects and project planning - perhaps from an earlier version of Microsoft Project.

If you are completely new to project management you will find it beneficial to attend a general project management introduction course first. Please check the different training course outlines which may have a slightly different content.

3. Advanced Courses – Level 2

Advanced or “Level 2″ Microsoft Project training courses are designed for existing MS Project users who want to add to their basic skills. They will also benefit Project Managers wishing to learn how to customise Microsoft Project to their own specific requirements. You will learn to use advanced features to plan, track and analyse variances from plan. The emphasis is on how you work with a plan in the implementation phase.

• Resolve resource over-allocations • Manage multiple projects • Integrate MS Project with other Office applications • Customise the MS Project interface (fields, tables, views, filters and reports) • Record and run simple macros • Exchange project plan data with other applications including Excel & Word • Create and print custom reports • Import data • Track project progress

There are versions of these training courses tailored to align with both 2003 and 2007 releases of Microsoft Project. There are also options of one or two day courses depending upon your previous knowledge and experience.

Please check the different training course outlines which may have slightly different course content.

4. Microsoft Certified Training & Qualifications

Microsoft operates a comprehensive structure of internationally recognised certifications. Project 2007 skills have recently been incorporated into the MCTS (Certified Technology Specialist) and MCITP (Certified IT Professional) framework.

The MS5927 “Managing Projects” course is a 3 day course which provides the entry point for the other Project 2007 training. A basic knowledge of project management and experience of using MS Project to create project schedules are pre-requisites.

5. Specialist Courses

For those looking to apply Microsoft Project to specific environments there are other specialist courses available. Amongst them is one which relates specially to use of Microsoft Project to manage PRINCE2 projects. This covers similar topics to the Level 1 course but includes guidance on how to model PRINCE2 processes within MS Project.

Focus on Training specialises in provision of Best Practice training within the Project Management and IT Service Management sectors. A comprehensive range of ITIL, ISO/IEC20000 and related courses from leading accredited training organisations can be booked at www.focusprojects.co.uk/itsm.

Additional information on what causes ITIL projects to succeed or fail can be found at www.focus-on-training.co.uk/wp_itil_implementation/.

Rex Gibson leads the IT Service Management team at Focus. He has successfully executed major business change and IT projects, and has managed international engineering companies with significant IT dependency. Rex can be contacted at rex@focus-on-training.co.uk

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 11th, 2009 and is filed under Computer Based Information Systems. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

2 people have left comments

There is absolutely no question re: the first and maybe the only strategy for most people in Learning MS Project. Follow these steps:
1. Acquire a copy of Microsoft Project Step by Step or Microsoft Office Project Step by Step (training disk included) for about $20.
2. Work with this flexible self-study text and its disk at your own pace, learning exactly those features which interest you.

I teach basic PM and I am a former instructional designer. And this I know: Trying to learn how to use software in a class, going at everyone else’s pace, is almost impossible. This great book (series of books, based on the version you are using) provides the following benefits:
* Excellent instructional design and pacing
* A disk full of pre-keystroked case study tasks and activities, so you can focus on analysis and operation of Project, instead of avoiding typos and endless keystroking
* Small, bite-sized chunks of learning that you can:
- repeat as many times as you like
- complete at your own pace… AT YOUR OWN PACE… until you comprehend it fully
- jump in at any level, skipping some sections you aren’t going to be using
- low cost (around $20)

The best thing I can say about this book series is this: I was doing research to develop my own classroom course on Project when I found these books. I realized that nothing I could ever afford to create for the classroom would be as powerful, as flexible, or as well-designed. So I gave up on my idea.
After all, why force my students to spend hundreds of dollars to be dragged along at someone else’s pace through content someone else selects, when they can go at their own pace and skip or focus on whatever they choose? And it only costs around $20!!

It’s a no brainer! To learn Project, get the version of this book that matches your version of Project, then have fun learning at your own pace.

Mike Greer wrote on March 12, 2009 - 11:11 pm | Visit Link

Having taught MS Project for the past 8 years, I fully agree with Mike’s comments.

I developed my own MS Project courseware in 2000, and have updated it whenever a new version was released.

I generally presented this course, mostly level 1, to a number of government and academic institutions, mostly administrative and acadmic staff that had completed a few days of Project Management theory training. Class sizes ranged from 5 to 20 delegates.

My finding support Mike’s comments: In a class of 20 delegates, seldomly more than 3 could actually apply what they had learned.

I have recently been asked to upgrade my course to MSP 2007, but have decided to discontinue with the course.

If someone wants private face-to-face guidance, I will provide this, but only after careful analysis of the client’s understanding of Project Management theory, and MS Office.

Others, I will tell to buy one of the many good reference books available

Rolf Kühnast wrote on March 14, 2009 - 8:53 am | Visit Link

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