Introduction to Microsoft Project

Contact information

For further information or to request a quotation, please contact the Professional Education Courses Unit on:

Enquiries Phone: 02 5114 5573

Enquiries Email: ProfEdCourses@adfa.edu.au

In-house delivery

UNSW Canberra Professional Education Courses may be available for in-house delivery at your organisation's premises. In-house courses allow maximum attendance without the additional travel costs. Courses can be developed to suit the specific staff development and training needs of your organisation. Recommended for groups of 10 or more.

This course aims to provide attendees with an understanding of the processes for managing projects using Microsoft Project (MS Project) as one of the most widely used tools for project management. The course is designed to introduce participants to MS Project using several practical exercises to reinforce their understanding of project management and the use MS Project for managing sample real-life projects. The exercises are conducted as a combination of tutorials and activities that step through the various project management activities, focussing on developing work breakdown structure, project schedule and budget, allocating and managing resources and optimising their use and managing project baselines and controlling project using MS Project.

No prior knowledge or experience is assumed.

What you will receive

Comprehensive course notes including exercise material
UNSW Canberra certificate of completion/attendance*
Morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea
Masters credit: UNSW Canberra allows students who have successfully completed a minimum of 12 days of approved professional education short courses to use those courses as credit in eligible postgraduate programs.

*pending final results

Who should attend

Anyone requiring an understanding of project management, including, but not exclusive to:

Project and program managers, Sustainment and acquisition project managers, Aspiring project managers, Cost analysts, Schedule analysts, Systems engineers, Technical staff, Logistic managers, Capability development staff, Infrastructure Planners, Capability managers, Contract/Procurement managers, Engineers, Engineering managers, Business managers and Procurement officers.

Presenter

Dr Alireza Abbasi is Director of Postgraduate Studies and Coordinator of Project Management programs in the University of New South Wales (UNSW) at Canberra. He obtained his PhD in Project Management from the University of Sydney in 2012 before joining the School of Engineering and Information Technology (SEIT) at UNSW Canberra. He also holds a graduate certificate in University Learning and Teaching from UNSW Sydney. His research and teaching interests include project management, management science, information systems management and network science. He has written a book, three book chapters and over 60 technical journal and conference papers.

Dr Abbasi has had several appointments and been involved in different projects in IT/Software, Oil, Education and R&D sectors. He is an active member of several professional bodies including Australian Institute of Project Management (AIPM), Project Management Institute (PMI), and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management (ANZAM).

Course Information

Course outline

Project Management Framework

Introduction to project management
Using MS Project for developing Work Breakdown Structure
Using MS Project for developing Project Schedule Management
Using MS Project for Resource Management
Using MS Project for developing Project Budget
Using MS Project for developing Project Baseline
Using MS Project for Project Control

Introduction to Project Management

Reviewing project management concepts and available tools and applications, and also visualisation of project data

Using MS Project for developing Work Breakdown Structure

Scope definition and planning
Develop Work Breakdown Structure
Manage Gantt Chart
Identify WBS elements (the link between Business plan and WBS)

Using MS Project for developing Project Schedule Management

Develop Project Schedule
Develop Network Diagram
Find and Manage Critical Path

Using MS Project for Resource Management

Defining Resources
Set up a Resource Calendar
Resources Allocation
Managing Resource Overload
Resource Optimisation
Resource levelling
Resource smoothing
Schedule Compression

Using MS Project for developing Project Budget

Develop Project Cost Baseline
Develop Bottom-up Project Budget
Develop Summary Project Budget

Using MS Project for developing Project Baseline

Baseline Project Plan
Firs Time Baseline
Subsequent Baselines

Using MS Project for Project Control

Calculating Schedule based on Actual Reports
Analysing Impact of Cost and Time Variance
Define Performance update process
Updating Project Schedule

Exercise 1 - WBS

An exercise to develop a work breakdown structure with MS Project and use Gantt chart

Exercise 2 – Project schedule

An exercise to develop a project schedule and identify the critical path(s) in MS Project

Exercise 3 – Resource allocation and management

An exercise to set up resources and resource calendar to support resource management and resource optimisation techniques in MS Project

Exercise 4 – Project budget

An exercise to develop project cost baseline and project budget in MS Project

Exercise 5 – Project baseline

An exercise to baseline project plan in MS Project

Exercise 6 – Project control

An exercise to incorporate actual reports in MS Project and manage cost and schedule variances

Affiliated courses

Introduction to Project Management (3 days)

Project Schedule and Budget Control (3 days)

Modelling Project Risks (3 days)

Cancellation policy

Courses will be held subject to sufficient registrations. UNSW Canberra reserves the right to cancel a course up to five working days prior to commencement of the course. If a course is cancelled, you will have the opportunity to transfer your registration or be issued a full refund. If registrant cancels within 10 days of course commencement, a 50% registration fee will apply. UNSW Canberra is a registered ACT provider under ESOS Act 2000-CRICOS provider Code 00098G.