MS PROJECT FAST TRAX
Are you required to build and manage your own schedules? Are you familiar with project management and ready for a thorough understanding of what MS Project offers? The MS Project Fast Trax series offers comprehensive instruction on building and managing a project schedule for construction. This is a two-day course which will incorporate all the information from the MS Project series. Please see the other course descriptions for more detailed information. This class is intended for users who are proficient with general computer skills and have a basic working knowledge of Excel.

**Absolute Prerequisite - Standard computer skills and Excel Basics

MS Project Series:

READING A PROJECT SCHEDULE
Learn the basics of MS Project as it applies to construction management. The first course of the Project series is designed for the superintendent (or other user) who receives a pre-built schedule and needs to know how to use MS Project to manage that schedule. The course will familiarize the user with the MS Project environment and provide introductory information on viewing and manipulating the schedule. Viewing a Three Week Look-Ahead schedule will be covered.

**Prerequisite - Excel Basics

Topics:

* Basic MS Project environment
* Setting/Changing the Start Date
* Changing the Work Calendar
* Tasks and Summary Tasks
* Outlining Features
* Basic link types
* Intro to Logic Driven schedules
* Difference between the Gantt View and the Tracking Gantt
* Critical Path
* Three Week Look-Aheads (filtering the schedule)
* Different views
* Intro to Viewing and Assigning Resources
* Creating Notes within the schedule

BUILDING A PROJECT SCHEDULE
Learn how to build a basic construction project schedule. In planning for a job to start, we need to create a project schedule. Ideally, this initial schedule becomes a benchmark for us to measure progress and costs on our jobs. This course walks through the process of building that basic schedule and preparing it to be used during the job. We will also cover some introductory issues on tracking a job in progress. This course assumes the user will be proficient with standard computer skills - we will not review how to open or save files.

**Prerequisite - Excel Basics and Reading a Project

Topics:

* Setting Project Start Date
* Creating a "reusable" Work Calendars
* Reusing Calendars - Learn not to redo work that you have already done!
* Understand Duration vs. Work
* Create different Tasks: Project Summary, Recurring, Summary and Sub-tasks
* Outlining and the Work Breakdown Structure
* Linking Tasks
* Introductory Logic issues
* Creating and Using Resources
* Critical Path & Saving the baseline
* Updating a schedule in Progress

LINKING AND LOGIC IN MS PROJECT
While tracking a construction job with MS Project, have you ever had the schedule adjust in unexpected ways? This course focuses on using logic in MS Project. If we want our schedules to be useful beyond the first day of a job, we need to understand how the schedule will adjust once we start making changes. We will also address how to include submittal items on the schedule. This course assumes the user will be familiar with the MS Project environment and standard computer skills - we will not review how to open or save files.

**Absolute Prerequisite - Excel Basics, Reading a Project, and Building a Project

Topics:

* Review of creating a "reusable" Work Calendars
* Reusing Calendars - Learn not to redo work that you have already done!
* Linking Tasks
* Link Types
* Lag and Lead
* Constraints vs. Deadlines
* Updating a schedule w/Tracking Gantt
* Examining how various logic types effect the schedule
* Using Resources to manipulate the schedule
* Resource Leveling
* Setting an Interim Plan

MASTER SCHEDULING WITH MS PROJECT
With MS Project, we can manage multiple schedules at once. The Master Scheduling course covers how to use MS Project to view and link together multiple schedules, how to share resources between schedules and other advanced topics. We will also look at time saving techniques, including customizing MS Project to view your work the way you like without having to recustomize each individual schedule. This course assumes the user will be familiar with the Project environment and standard computer skills - we will not review how to open or save files.

**Absolute Prerequisite - Excel Basics, Reading a Project, Building a Project

**Recommended Prerequisite - Linking and Logic

Topics:

* Review of Updating Schedules
* Master Schedules
* Linking different schedules
* Sharing Resources and Resource Pools
* Creating Custom Views
* Using the Organizer
* Hyperlinks
* Reports
* Creating and Using a Template Schedule
* Importing Info - from Excel, estimating software, etc.
* Exporting