On Time! On Track! On Target! Managing Your Projects Successfully with Microsoft® Project

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By Bonnie Biafore

Publisher: Microsoft Press

Released: February 2006

Pages: 400

So you’ve been asked to lead a project—congratulations! Whether you’re new to project management, or just need to brush up, this easy-to-read guide teaches you the essential skills you need to succeed at this critically important task. Expert project manager Bonnie Biafore shares her real-world experience, lessons learned, and best practices to help you manage any project. You’ll learn project management methodology and the secrets for using Microsoft Project and other Microsoft Office programs to keep your projects on time, on track, and on target!

Successfully manage your projects as you discover how to:

Work effectively with project stakeholders, management, and team members
Define scope, objectives, and deliverables
Estimate work, choose resources, build project schedules, and track progress
Accurately estimate project costs and work with a budget
Identify and manage project changes and risks
Balance project variables without sacrificing quality
Document project history and lessons-learned to help improve future projects—and even more great results

CD Features:

Sample project templates and documents
Fully searchable eBook

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Getting a Project Started
1. Chapter One Meet Project Management
  1. What Is a Project?
  2. What Is Project Management?
  3. The Benefits of Project Management
  4. In Summary
2. Chapter Two Selecting and Prioritizing Projects
  1. Project Selection and the Project Manager
  2. Criteria for Selecting Projects
  3. Prioritizing Projects
  4. How a Project Review Board Works
  5. In Summary
3. Chapter Three Obtaining Commitment for a Project
  1. The Project Charter: Publicizing a Project
  2. Working with Project Stakeholders
  3. Obtaining and Maintaining Commitment
  4. In Summary
Planning a Project
1. Chapter Four Planning to Achieve Success
  1. What Is Project Planning?
  2. Plans Change
  3. An Overview of Project Planning
  4. In Summary
2. Chapter Five What’s the Problem?
  1. The Problem Statement
  2. The Project Mission Statement
  3. Project Strategy
  4. In Summary
3. Chapter Six Visualizing Success: Scope, Objectives, and Deliverables
  1. The Scope Statement
  2. Project Objectives
  3. Project Deliverables
  4. In Summary
4. Chapter Seven Building a Work Breakdown Structure
  1. What’s a Work Breakdown Structure?
  2. The Benefits of a WBS
  3. Building a WBS from the Top Down
  4. Recording a WBS
  5. Detailing Work Packages
  6. In Summary
5. Chapter Eight Project Resources
  1. The Responsibility Matrix
  2. The Project Organization Chart
  3. Putting a Project Team Together
  4. Creating Resources in Project
  5. In Summary
6. Chapter Nine Building a Project Schedule
  1. Estimating Effort
  2. Defining the Sequence of Work
  3. Adding Schedule Milestones
  4. Refining Task Names
  5. Assigning Resources to Tasks
  6. Building Reality into a Schedule
  7. Shortening a Project Schedule
  8. In Summary
7. Chapter Ten Working with a Budget
  1. Understanding Capital Budgets
  2. Calculating Costs in a Project Schedule
  3. Exporting Costs from a Project Schedule
  4. In Summary
Carrying Out a Project
1. Chapter Eleven Executing the Project Plan
  1. A Quick Checklist
  2. A Day in the Life of a Project Manager
  3. In Summary
2. Chapter Twelve Evaluating Project Performance
  1. Gathering Data
  2. Tracking Schedule Progress
  3. Reviewing Cost and Cost Variance
  4. Earned Value Analysis: Schedule and Cost Performance
  5. In Summary
3. Chapter Thirteen Managing Project Resources
  1. Motivating Project Resources
  2. Developing a Team
  3. Evaluating People’s Performance
  4. In Summary
4. Chapter Fourteen Communicating Information
  1. Knowledge Is Power
  2. The Communication Plan
  3. Guidelines for Good Communication
  4. Meetings That Work
  5. Project Status Reports
  6. Taming E-Mail
  7. In Summary
Controlling Projects
1. Chapter Fifteen Managing Project Changes
  1. An Overview of the Change Management Process
  2. Tracking Changes
  3. In Summary
2. Chapter Sixteen Modifying the Project Schedule
  1. Simplifying Solution Hunting
  2. Fast-Tracking a Project
  3. Splitting Long Tasks into Short Ones
  4. Scheduling Around Other Tasks
  5. Shortening Lag Time
  6. Adjusting Resource Allocation
  7. Assigning Overtime
  8. Substituting Resources
  9. Adding Resources to Tasks to Shorten Duration
  10. Modifying Baselines
  11. In Summary
3. Chapter Seventeen Balancing the Budget and Other Project Variables
  1. Cost, Scope, Quality, and Schedule
  2. Balancing Acts
  3. In Summary
4. Chapter Eighteen Managing Risk
  1. The Benefits of Managing Risk
  2. The Risk-Management Plan
  3. Tracking Risks
  4. In Summary
Closing Projects
1. Chapter Nineteen Learning Lessons
  1. The Importance of Lessons Learned
  2. Collecting Lessons Learned
  3. Documenting Lessons Learned
  4. In Summary
2. Chapter Twenty Managing Project Completion
  1. Project Closeout Reports
  2. Obtaining Customer Acceptance
  3. Project Transitions
  4. Closing Out Contracts
  5. In Summary
3. Chapter Twenty-One Archiving Historical Information
  1. Why Chronicle Project History?
  2. Information to Store about Projects
  3. Ways to Build a Project Archive
  4. Microsoft Enterprise Project Management Software
  5. In Summary

Glossary
Appendix About the Author

Title:

On Time! On Track! On Target! Managing Your Projects Successfully with Microsoft® Project

By:

Bonnie Biafore

Publisher:

Microsoft Press

Formats:

Print
Ebook
Safari Books Online

Print:

February 2006

Ebook:

November 2009

Pages:

400

Print ISBN:

978-0-7356-2256-2

| ISBN 10:

0-7356-2256-6

Ebook ISBN:

978-0-7356-9088-2

| ISBN 10:

0-7356-9088-X

Description

Table of Contents

Product Details

About the Author

Recommended for You

Getting a Project Started

Chapter One Meet Project Management

Chapter Two Selecting and Prioritizing Projects

Chapter Three Obtaining Commitment for a Project

Planning a Project

Chapter Four Planning to Achieve Success

Chapter Five What’s the Problem?

Chapter Six Visualizing Success: Scope, Objectives, and Deliverables

Chapter Seven Building a Work Breakdown Structure

Chapter Eight Project Resources

Chapter Nine Building a Project Schedule

Chapter Ten Working with a Budget

Carrying Out a Project

Chapter Eleven Executing the Project Plan

Chapter Twelve Evaluating Project Performance

Chapter Thirteen Managing Project Resources

Chapter Fourteen Communicating Information

Controlling Projects

Chapter Fifteen Managing Project Changes

Chapter Sixteen Modifying the Project Schedule

Chapter Seventeen Balancing the Budget and Other Project Variables

Chapter Eighteen Managing Risk

Closing Projects

Chapter Nineteen Learning Lessons

Chapter Twenty Managing Project Completion

Chapter Twenty-One Archiving Historical Information

Glossary

Appendix About the Author

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