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Introduction to Microsoft Project 2010

Microsoft Project is a powerful project management tool that is being used by various industries worldwide to manage their project by monitoring the status of the task list, assigned resources, schedule and cost associated with the project. The software gives managers the ability to manage the resources effectively, thus improving business productivity and performance. With the use of Microsoft Project, a manager can tell, at any given point in time, whether the project is on schedule and within budget.

To use Microsoft Project 2010, you need to have Microsoft Project Professional 2010 installed on your computer. Microsoft provide free trial version of the software for 60 days at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/ee404758.aspx.

Starting Microsoft Project 2010

To open Microsoft project, go to Start button on the Windows task bar at the bottom left-hand corner of your screen, select Programs or All Programs from the menu, then click on the Microsoft Office, and select Microsoft Office Project 2010 from the Microsoft Office Product List.

The Microsoft Office Project 2010 when opened should look like the following screen with default project as Project1:

An Microsoft Project Page consists of the following features:

• A Title Bar
• A Ribbon
• A Work Area
• A Status Bar
• A Scroll Bar

Microsoft Project 2010: Title Bar

The Title Bar is located at the very top of the screen. It consists of the following features:

• The Quick Access Toolbar
• Name of the working document (default Project1)
• Name of the software (Microsoft Project)
• The Minimize, Maximize and Close buttons

The Quick Access Toolbar

The Quick Access Toolbar  is a toolbar located on the far right side on the title bar. Quick Access Toolbar can be easily customized to contain frequently-used Microsoft Office commands.

• To add a frequently-used commands to the Quick Access Toolbar, right-click on any item in the Ribbon (discussed below), and select Add to Quick Access Toolbar. A shortcut icon will be added to the Quick Access Toolbar.
  
• To remove a command from the Quick Access Toolbar, simply, right click on the icon in the quick access toolbar and select the option Remove from Quick Access Toolbar from the drop down menu.

At the center of the Title Bar, Microsoft Project displays the name of the open project . When a user first starts Microsoft Project, it automatically assigns a Project name that begins with “Project” followed by a number. The name assigned by Microsoft Project remains the name of the project until the user assigns a name to the file using either the Save or Save As option. Once the file is saved, Microsoft Project will display the assigned project name (filename) in the center of the Title Bar in the place of the default file name that started with “Project”.

The Minimize, Maximize, and Close buttons are found in the top right corner of the Microsoft Project application.

• When a user clicks on the Minimize button, the window is minimized to a button and placed on the toolbar at the bottom of the desktop. By clicking on the ‘minimized’ button on the toolbar, the user can restore the Project file back on to the screen and resume working on it.
• When a user clicks on the Maximize button, the Microsoft Project window opens up to take up all the space that is available on the screen.
• When a user clicks on the Close button , the window closes the Microsoft Excel application. Before closing the Project File, Microsoft Project will check to see if any changes have been made since the last time the Project File was saved. If any changes have been made to the Project File since the file was most recently saved, then the application will prompt the user with a message, asking if he/she would like to save the updated content before closing the document. If the user clicks on the “Yes” button, then the information will be saved in the spreadsheet. If the user clicks on the “No” button, then the changes will be ignored and the spreadsheet will be closed.  Clicking the “Cancel” button, will cancel the closing of the program and return the user to the working document. It will be then up to the user to decide if he/she would like to save the file or keep it in its original form.

Microsoft Project 2010: Ribbon

The panel below the title bar is called the Ribbon.

The ribbon consists of 6 Tabs: File, Task, Resource, Project, View and Format.
A Tab is divided into groups. For example a Task Tab consists of 6 groups: View, Clipboard, font, Schedule, Task and Properties.
A Group within a tab consists of one or more icons. The icons when clicked perform an operation such as copy/paste.

Microsoft Project 2010: File Tab

A File Tab, also known as BackStage View, is found on the top left corner of the Title Bar. The File Tab consists of many of the functions that are related to file use, such as creating a new file, opening an existing file, saving to the existing file (Save) or a new file (Save As), printing a file, sending a file through email or fax, publishing a file to a web site, closing a file or exiting the MS Project 2010.

File Tab consist of following 13 options:

Microsoft Project 2010: Task Tab

The Task Tab consists of icons for adding, formatting and deleting task.

Microsoft Project 2010: Resource Tab

The Resource Tab consists of groups of features for adding and assigning resources to the task.

Microsoft Project 2010: Project Tab

The Project Tab consists of group of features for merging project, entering task associated with work breakdown structure, scheduling and updating project information.

Microsoft Project 2010: View Tab

The View Tab consists of group of features that allow a user to review data in different views.

Microsoft Project 2010: Format Tab

A Format Tab consists of group of features that are related to Formatting the Project Plan.

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