Managing Projects with Microsoft Project

Microsoft Project is widely used, but often as a drawing tool for Gantt charts rather than as a scheduling engine. Common problems include fixed dates instead of logic, missing dependencies, unrealistic durations, resources assigned without checking availability and progress updated inconsistently. The result is a schedule that looks professional but cannot forecast completion, show the critical path or support decisions.

This programme combines scheduling practice with hands-on use of the software. It moves through five stages: setting up a project correctly, building a logic-driven schedule, assigning and levelling resources and costs, baselining and tracking progress, and reporting and working across multiple projects.

Built on recognised practice. The programme references the PMI Practice Standard for Scheduling, the PMBOK Guide, critical path method principles and earned value management concepts. Participants learn how the software implements these methods so that they can check whether a schedule is sound.

What this changes in practice. Participants build schedules that respond correctly to change, show the true critical path and realistic finish dates, highlight resource conflicts early and produce progress reports that managers can use. Project managers can then decide on recovery actions with evidence rather than guesswork.

How it is delivered. Twenty hours across five sessions, built around one running case: a small capital or organisational project that participants plan, resource, baseline, update with progress and report on. Sessions are hands-on, and participants need access to Microsoft Project desktop on a laptop.

In-house option. For organisations, the programme can be tailored to your own project templates, calendars, WBS standards and reporting formats, and to the Microsoft Project version your organisation uses.

Who Should Attend

Project staff: project coordinators, project officers and junior project managers

Planners and schedulers new to Microsoft Project or largely self-taught

PMO staff who compile schedules and progress reports

Engineers and technical staff who plan and update their own work packages

Managers who need to read and challenge project schedules

Objectives

Explain the basic principles of project scheduling, including WBS, dependencies and the critical path

Set up a new project with calendars, start date and scheduling options

Build a work breakdown structure with summary tasks and milestones

Create a logic-driven schedule using dependencies, lags and appropriate constraints

Define resources, assign them to tasks and resolve over-allocations

Add costs to the schedule and review the project budget

Set a baseline and record actual progress

Compare actual performance against the baseline and identify variances

Produce views, filters, reports and dashboards for different audiences

Check a schedule for common quality problems and correct them

Course Outline

Scheduling Principles and Project Set-Up

Why schedules fail: common scheduling errors
Scheduling concepts: WBS, activities, durations, dependencies and critical path
The Microsoft Project interface, views and tables
Project information, start dates and scheduling options
Working calendars, holidays and working time
Templates and good file structure

Building a Logic-Driven Schedule

Entering tasks, summary tasks and milestones
Outlining and WBS codes
Dependencies: finish-to-start and other link types, leads and lags
Constraints and deadlines: when to use them and when not to
Estimating durations and task types
Identifying the critical path and total float

Resources and Costs

Work, material and cost resources
Assigning resources and understanding effort-driven scheduling
Resource views: resource sheet, usage and graphs
Detecting and resolving over-allocations; resource levelling
Resource and fixed costs; cost rate tables
Reviewing the budget and cash flow

Baselining and Tracking Progress

Setting and maintaining baselines
Updating progress: percent complete, actual dates and remaining duration
Status date and rescheduling incomplete work
Tracking Gantt and variance tables
Earned value fields in Microsoft Project
Recovery options: fast tracking, crashing and re-planning

Reporting, Multiple Projects and Schedule Quality

Custom views, filters, groups and custom fields
Built-in and custom reports and dashboards
Sharing schedules and exporting to other tools
Master projects, subprojects and shared resource pools
Overview of Microsoft cloud project and planning tools and when they are appropriate
Schedule quality checks and final case review

Competencies

Project scheduling principles

Microsoft Project set-up and calendars

Work breakdown structure development

Logic-driven scheduling and critical path analysis

Resource assignment and levelling

Project cost loading

Baselining and progress tracking

Variance analysis and schedule recovery

Project reporting and dashboards

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