Core Training for Microsoft Office Project 2003

Creating a Task List

Entering Tasks

1To begin by displaying Project Guide information about listing tasks, in the Project Guide pane, click the List the tasks in the project link.
2To see a Project Guide Hint about listing tasks, in the Project Guide pane, click the Hint link.
3To enter a first task, click in the first cell directly below the Task Name column heading.
4To continue, for the purposes of this exercise, press SPACEBAR, wait as the task is typed for you, and then press ENTER.
5To enter a second task, press SPACEBAR, wait as the task is typed for you, and then press ENTER.
6To enter the rest of the tasks for this project, press SPACEBAR, wait as the tasks are typed for you, and then press ENTER.

Estimating Durations and Entering a Milestone

1To begin entering durations for the tasks you have created, click the Duration field for task 2, Develop script.
2To continue, for the purposes of this exercise, press SPACEBAR, wait as the duration is typed for you, and then press ENTER.
3To enter a duration for the task Develop production boards, in the Duration field for task 3, click the Up arrow until 3 days displays, and then press ENTER.
4To enter durations for the rest of the tasks, press SPACEBAR, wait as the durations are typed for you, and then press ENTER.
5To insert a new task between existing tasks 5 and 6, click on the task ID number for task 6, click the Insert menu, and then click New Task.
6To enter a name for the new task, click in the Task Name field for task 6, press SPACEBAR, wait as the task is typed for you, and then press TAB.
7To make the new task a milestone task, in the Duration field for task 6, click the Down arrow until 0 days displays, and then press ENTER.
8To undo the duration applied to task 6 so that you can reapply it using a different method, on the menu bar, click Edit, and then click Undo Entry.
9To create a milestone task using the Project Guide, in the Tasks pane, click the List the tasks in the project link.
10To continue, in the List Tasks pane, select the Make selected task a milestone check box.
11To complete the creation of the milestone task, in the List Tasks pane, click below the scroll box on the scroll bar, and click the Done link.

Organizing and Linking Tasks

1To begin to create summary tasks by indentation, in the Tasks pane, click the Organize tasks into phases link.
2To indent a selected series of tasks, click the task ID number for task 2, hold down the SHIFT key, click the ID number for task 6, and in the Organize Tasks pane, click the Click here to indent selected task(s) button.
3Notice that Pre-Production is now a summary task. To indent tasks 8 through 10, click task 8, hold down the SHIFT key, click task 10, and then click the Indent button, as indicated.
4Notice that Production is now a summary task. To finish indenting the tasks, in the Organize Tasks pane, click below the scroll box on the scroll bar and then click the Done link.
5To begin creating dependency links between tasks, in the Tasks pane, click Schedule tasks.
6To create a start-to-start dependency between two tasks, click task 2, hold down the SHIFT key, click task 3, and in the Schedule Tasks pane, click the Click here to create a start-to-start link button.
7To unlink the start-to-start dependency, on the Schedule Tasks pane, click the Click to break the link for the selected tasks button.
8To create a finish-to-finish dependency between tasks 2 and 3, in the Schedule Tasks pane, click the finish-to-finish button.
9To unlink the finish-to-finish dependency by an alternate method, on the toolbar, click the Unlink Tasks button, as indicated.
10To create a finish-to-start dependency between tasks 2 and 3, in the Schedule Tasks pane, click the finish-to-start button.
11To link tasks finish-to-start by an alternate method, click task 6, hold down the SHIFT key, click task 3, click the Edit menu, and then click Link Tasks.
12To begin to create a predecessor task, click task 9, and on the toolbar, click the indicated Task Information button.
13In the Task Information dialog box, click the Predecessors tab, and then click the empty cell below the Task Name column heading.
14To create a predecessor task, click the drop-down arrow in the Task Name field, click Rehearse, and then click OK.
15To create a finish-to-start dependency between tasks 9 and 10, press and hold down CTRL, click task 10, and in the Schedule Tasks pane, click the finish-to-start button.
16To link the two summary tasks, in the Task Name column, click Pre-Production, hold down CTRL, click Production, and then in the Schedule Tasks pane, click the finish-to-start button.
17To finish linking tasks and return to the Tasks pane, click below the scroll box on the scroll bar and then click Done in the Schedule Tasks pane.

Checking a Project’s Duration

1To view the current scheduled finish date of your project, click the Project menu, and then click Project Information.
2Notice that you cannot edit the Finish date field because it is based on the start date. To see your project’s total duration, in the Project Information dialog box, click Statistics.
3To visually verify the duration by displaying the entire project in Gantt Chart view, first click the Close button in the Project Statistics dialog box.
4To close the Project Guide, on the Project Guide toolbar, click the Show/Hide Project Guide button, as indicated.
5To view the entire project in the Gantt Chart view, click the View menu, and then click Zoom.
6In the Zoom dialog box, select Entire project, and then click OK.