Cynthia Snyder Dionisio - Microsoft Project 2019 For Dummies

Project 2019 For Dummies

Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774, www.wiley.com

Copyright 2019 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2018967613

ISBN 978-1-119-56512-3 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-119-56509-3 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-119-56514-7 (ebk)

1. Chapter 1
2. Chapter 5
3. Chapter 13
4. Chapter 15
5. Chapter 17

1. Chapter 1
2. Chapter 2
3. Chapter 3
4. Chapter 4
5. Chapter 5
6. Chapter 6
7. Chapter 7
8. Chapter 8
9. Chapter 9
10. Chapter 10
11. Chapter 11
12. Chapter 12
13. Chapter 13
14. Chapter 14
15. Chapter 15
16. Chapter 16
17. Chapter 17
18. Chapter 18
19. Chapter 19
20. Chapter 21

Over the years, project management has evolved from a discipline that began with index cards and yarn to one that now uses sophisticated analyses, techniques, projections, reporting, and time and money tracking. Project management software brings functionality to project management that makes planning and tracking the complex projects we undertake a little more manageable.

Microsoft Office Project 2019, the most recent incarnation of the worlds most popular project management software, offers a tremendous wealth of functionality to users. In the beginning, however, as with most software, mastering it can seem like a daunting process. It helps to understand how Projects features relate to what you do every day as a project manager.

In Project 2019 For Dummies, my goal is to help you explore Project 2019, providing information on relevant project management concepts while also offering specific procedures to build and track a Project schedule.

Here are some broad topics that I help you explore in this book. You can:

• Start out in Project 2019 by entering tasks and dependencies, estimating durations, and working with views
• Work with resources, calendars, and costs
• Negotiate constraints, fine-tune the schedule, and set a baseline
• Gather data, analyze progress, take corrective actions, and report project status

Throughout this book, I offer advice on how to make all these features and procedures mesh with what you already know as a project manager to ease the transition to using Project 2019.Within this book, you may note that some web addresses break across two lines of text. If youre reading this book in print and want to visit one of these web pages, simply key in the web address exactly as its noted in the text, pretending as though the line break doesnt exist. If youre reading this as an e-book, youve got it easy just click the web address to be taken directly to the web page.

Finally, Microsoft Office only runs on Windows 10 (as of this printing), and not Windows 7 or 8.1, so youll need to have Windows 10 in order to run Project 2019. This book is written as if youre using the stand-alone or one-time-purchase version of Microsoft Project. If you have an Office 365 subscription, you may already be familiar with Project 2019 features, because theyre added to previous versions of Project biannually. Because this book assumes stand-alone software, I dont spend time on project management service features; the Roadmap service; or anything associated with enterprise versions, server features, or cloud functionality. But the good news is, regardless of whether youre running the stand-alone or subscription version of the software, this book is packed full of useful information for getting to know Project 2019.

Ive made some assumptions about you, gentle reader. I figure that youre computer-literate and that you know how to use the mouse, the keyboard, and the Ribbon. I assume that you know how to use most common Windows functions (such as the Clipboard), as well as many basic software functions, such as selecting text and dragging and dropping items with the mouse.

I also assume that you have experience in managing projects. Whether you manage very large projects that are several years long or you have been a team lead on a project, the information in this book is more accessible if you have a background in project management.