Thank you for attending our presentation this evening, and thank you to our Sponsors (Microsoft, Executive Training Solutions, Zero Hour PM, ASG software solutions and TBConsulting.) A special thanks goes to Statêra, our meeting sponsor, who has supported me in developing this presentation. As many of you know, I am stepping down as President. It has been an honor to serve all of you for the last 4 years on the Phoenix Chapter Board. The experience has impacted my career in many ways, and I am truly grateful to those that have participated as volunteers in this fine organization. The growth of my personal network, in which I include each one of you, has been an important personal goal of mine. I am satisfied in achieving this goal, and I wish for each of you to achieve your goals through professional organizations like this one.

What We Will Cover Importance of Project Management Planning Getting Started – Get Productive Quickly Plan – Effectively Manage & Understand Schedules Communicate – Build Professional Charts & Diagrams Track & Analyze – Effectively Track & Analyze Projects to Meet Goals The Office Server Features Evaluating the End Results Here’s our agenda for this evening

Typical Planning Complaints “ I do not have time to plan” “ Management wants results, not plans” “ I do not know where to begin” “ I know the story, but I never get a chance to exercise it” “ I know Microsoft Office Project can help, but I have never been given the proper training to use it effectively” Are these really valid excuses?

Failing to Plan is Planning to Fail The bottom line on failed projects: 51% of all projects come it over budget or run past the original deadline 15% of projects fail altogether 93% of IT Project go through a “restart”* $55 BILLION wasted on failed project in the US* Who wants to explain wasted money on their project to the Management of your Organization? *Source: the Standish Group, CHAOS Chronicles, March 2003 Who wants to explain wasted money on their project to the Management of your Organization?

Why is Project Management Important? Align activities to achieve your organizational goals Clearly define project activities versus daily ongoing tasks More adaptable to changes and customer demands More effective focus on deliverables Doing more with less – more efficient resource utilization Produces faster response and turnaround times Provides a better approach to dealing with unique, temporary, and complex endeavors Better able to deal with scope, time and resource constraints Don’t read any of these!

Manage Your Constraints Manage Scope through Performance Metrics Manage Cost through Resource Metrics Manage Time through Schedule Metrics I encourage each of you to use MS Office Project 2007 as THE TOOL to do this!

Get Productive Quickly How does the project start date affect the schedule? How do I adjust project options? How do I use work time? How can I save time and ensure consistency across multiple projects? Lets review some of the unique features of MS Office Project 2007 in the context of the project lifecycle and managing project constraints. How does the project start date affect the schedule? Project | Project Information – the start date for all tasks, even after the project started it is an option to modify this Increase Font for projection viewing How do I adjust project options? Project Options – these can impact view, calculation and other items (task type as example); View – Bars in 3D, international calendar types General – Undo Levels Security & Collaboration ALL NEW How do I use work time? Change Working Time – list at the bottom will update the calendar display How can I save time and ensure consistency across multiple projects? File New – tons new templates (consistency and improve time to complete on schedules)

Effectively Manage & Understand Schedules How do I create a work breakdown structure? Can I use the show outline button to expand/collapse the plan? How do I use existing task lists from Microsoft Office Excel and Microsoft Office Outlook? How can I determine the factors that are affecting task dates and easily tract the source of these issues? How do I calculate the critical path? How do I create a work breakdown structure? Go to “List Tasks” in Project Guide Format | Text Styles |Increase Font size for viewers 3d visibility Can I use the show outline button to expand/collapse the plan? Tools options, turn on row 0 Indent and out dent to format the schedule How do I use existing task lists from Microsoft Office Excel and Microsoft Office Outlook? Leverage data that exists in excel – Task Guide tool bar, Import – through a wizard will create a map of the excel data for import as a new task list or schedule Format timescale Date in from outlook Tools _| Import from Outlook This is an import, not a link How can I determine the factors that are affecting task dates and easily tract the source of these issues? On import they all were created as fixed duration & must start on constraint (select all, project | task information) What's up with the blue highlights When you change a project, all affected tasks can be automatically highlighted (for example, dependencies and summary task). The highlights reflect only the most recent change. How can I determine the factors that are driving my schedule dates? Project | Task Drivers All of the variables that are impact this task are lists Add a relation ship and this will be modified Add duration (see blue) This pane appears to the left of the table portion of the view. It shows prerequisite tasks and resource constraints that drive the start data of the selected task. You can click these drivers to link to relevant information. How do I calculate the critical path? How do I calculate Critical Plath? Group | Group by CRITICAL Filter |Critical Format | Text Styles| Critical (You now have BACKGROUND Color capability)

Communicate with Professional Charts & Diagrams How do I quickly access the information I need? How do I create and modify tables & views? How do I highlight cells to convey a different meaning? How do I analyze and report project data in reports & charts? Planning is just the beginning – maybe only just a THIRD of its capability How do I quickly access the information I need? Change column order and insert columns of data that may be needed to status or communicate To find more data about costs, lets look at another table : Cost table, including a new type of resource - cost View | Resource Sheet Work Resources and Material Resources shown A new type of resource Add this resource and assign it to a summary tasks Not driven by duration or effort, but you now have a way to accrue costs to a project without impacting task schedule How do I create and modify tables & views? New Table (stoplight) add ID, task name, cost Fast way to see the data I’m trying to communicate Updated calendar view More views Add an ew view (stoplight) group by criticalk, and filter For communicates and speed to communicate How do I highlight cells to convey a different meaning? How do I analyze and report project data in reports & charts? Give me WOW Users can create customer reports or archive Office Project Standard 2007 or Office Project Professional 2007 values with data exported from Office Project 2007 into a Microsoft Office Access 2007 database and OLAP cubes. Five cubes are generated: Task Time Phased, Task Non-Time Phased, Resource Time Phased, Resource Non-Time Phased, and Assignment Time Phased. Visual reports Report Menu - Many report templates that take current schedule and exports the date to either Excel, Visio or PowerPoint Critical Task Summary (Visio is already running) Click view, takes a snapshot (already have the Visio created so we don’t wait or it bombs)

Effectively Track & Analyze Projects to Meet Goals How do I update tasks? How do I create or use baseline data? How do I track projects according to specific needs? How do I update tasks? Add resources to projects; And an new type of Resource, the COST resource Cost Resources is the resource type for fixed costs assignable to a task. It more accurately monitors project financials by assigning multiple costs to a task, tying costs to account codes, and rolling up costs against budgets. Additionally, the costs are not tied to the work contours, so changing the percent complete or end date of the task will not affect Cost Resources Multi-level Undo You can reverse your most recent series of changes (that is, undo and redo changes) to views, data, and options. This functionality also enables undo actions or sets of actions from macros or compliant third-party extensions. How do I create or use baseline data? Project Guide – Save a baseline to perform variance analysis How do I track projects according to specific needs? Manage Scope through Performance Metrics – Use Task Creation and Baseline techniques to understand the movement of your scope over time (which is the best time to rebaseline? Approved change order or Major schedule overun approved by the customer?) Manage Cost through Resource Metrics – Use Resource allocation and utilization reports (allocation is 100% but utilization is 75%, what’s wrong?) Manage Time through Schedule Metrics – Varience analysis on elements of start, finish and duration

Microsoft Office Project Server 2007 The new Office Project Server 2007 features include: Active Cache Assignment Owner Deliverables Programs and Proposals Timesheets Cube Building Service Event Model Multi-currency support Project Server Interface Queuing Service Reporting Data Service Server-side scheduling

What are the End Results? Set up plans quickly and easily Communicate more effectively to keep project stakeholders informed and aligned Track and analyze to stay on course and resolve problems Achieve Your Goals and Meet Challenges Quickly develop effective timelines and determine if they are realistic Use Templates, or create phases and tasks, to adhere to standards Easily plan projects and identify constraints to obtain buy-in Access and share the right information quickly to information and align stakeholders Easily identify and communicate resource types and workload needs Clearly understands the impact of change in scope, time, and cost Easy to use tools to track progress and identify and resolve problems early on Effectively manage project objectives and changing requirements to meet or exceed customer expectations

Microsoft Office Project Portfolio Server 2007