Читать книгу Microsoft Project For Dummies - Cynthia Dionisio Snyder, Cynthia Snyder Dionisio - Страница 18

The file you create in Project is a schedule model. It’s a model because it models what you think will happen given what you know at the time. However, for ease of reference, I just refer to it as a schedule. The schedule has a plethora of data about various aspects of your project as well as graphical representations of that information.

Some people refer to the project schedule as the project plan. In reality, the project plan contains the project schedule — plus information such as the budget, work breakdown structure, project life cycle, risk management plan, and many other ingredients necessary to effectively manage a project.

When you first open Project, you see several options for starting a new project, as shown in Figure 1-2.

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FIGURE 1-2: What you see when you open Project.

You can open a blank project, create a new project from an existing project, or create a new project by importing information from Microsoft Excel or SharePoint. You can also take advantage of premade templates for common project types, such as these examples:

 Residential construction

 Software development

 New product launch

 Merger or acquisition evaluation

If you don’t see the template you need, you can click More Templates and, as you can see in Figure 1-3, a whole host of options appears. You can also search for online templates by entering keywords in the Search box.

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FIGURE 1-3: Project templates.

For purposes of this discussion, I assume that you’re starting with a new, blank project.

When you open a new project, you see the Quick Access toolbar, a few Ribbon tabs, the Ribbon, the Timeline, a pane with a sheet and a chart, and the status bar, as shown in Figure 1-4.

In Figure 1-4, you see Gantt Chart view. (I discuss views in Chapter 6.) For now, here’s an overview of the major elements in Project (refer to Figure 1-4):

 Quick Access toolbar: The Quick Access toolbar, above and to the left of the Ribbon, is onscreen at all times and in all views.

 Ribbon tabs: The Ribbon tabs organize commands based on a particular type of activity. For example, if you’re working with resources, you’ll likely find the command or setting you want on the Resource tab.© John Wiley & Sons, Inc.FIGURE 1-4: A blank project.

 Ribbon: The Ribbon provides easy access to the most commonly used tools and commands. When you change tabs, the available tools on the Ribbon change.

 Group: A group is a set of related commands or choices on the Ribbon. For example, to update the percent complete for a task, first find the formatting information you need in the Schedule group on the Task tab of the Ribbon.

 Timeline: The Timeline provides an overview of the entire project — a graphical view of the project from start to finish. You have the option of showing the Timeline or hiding it.

 Sheet: Similar to a spreadsheet, the sheet displays the data in the project. The default fields change depending on the Ribbon tab you’re working in. You can customize the columns and fields in the sheet to meet your needs.

 Chart: The chart is a graphical depiction of the information on the sheet. Depending on the view or Ribbon tab that’s displayed, you might also see a bar chart depicting the duration of a task or a resource histogram showing resource usage.

 Status bar: The status bar, at the bottom of the Project window, has information on views and zoom level on the right, and information on how newly entered tasks are scheduled on the left.