MS Project Lesson 1

Duration

Amount of working time required to complete a task

Resource calendar

defines working and nonworking times for an individual work resource

Project calendar

in the base calendar that is used for an entire project. it defines the normal working and non working times

Template

is a predefined file that can be used as a starting point to create a project schedule

Excemption

is added to the project calendar to denote something different from the standard working times.

task calendar

is the base calendar you can use for individal tasks to manage the cheduling of these tasks. a task calendar defines working and nonworking times for a task regardless of the setting in the project calendar.

Base Calendar

specifies working and nonworking times for a set of resources. it can serve as a project calendar or task calendar. MS Project provides 3 base calendars: 24-hours, Standard, and night shift

Link

Logical connection between tasks that controls sequence and dependency

Project Plan

Model of a real project—what you want to happen or what you think will happen. The plan contains tasks, resources, time frames, and costs that might be associated with such a project.

Hyperlink

Portion of text that contains a link to another file, a portion of a file, a page on the Internet, or a page on an intranet

Milestone

Represents a significant event reached within the project or imposed upon the project; often represented as a task with zero duration

Task

Represents the actual individual work activity that must be done to accomplish the final goal of a project. The tasks contain the details about each activity or event that must occur in order for your project to be completed. These details include the order and duration of tasks, critical tasks, and resource requirements.

calendar

Scheduling tool that determines the standard working time and nonworking time (such as evenings or holidays) for the project, resources, and tasks. Calendars are used to determine how tasks and resources assigned to these tasks are scheduled.

Note

Supplemental text that you can attach to a task, resource, or assignment

Summary Task

Task that is made up of and summarizes all of the detail tasks that fall below it. You cannot directly edit a summary task's duration, start date, or other calculated values.

Predecessor

Task whose start or end date determines the start or finish of another task or tasks; any task can be a predecessor for one or more tasks

Succesor

Task whose start or finish is driven by another task or tasks

Elapse duration

Total length of working and nonworking time you expect it will take to complete a task

Taskk ID

Unique number assigned to each task in the project; appears on the left side of the task's row

Gantt Chart View

View in Microsoft Project that consists of a table (the Entry table by default) on the left side and a graphical bar chart on the right side

Project Guide

Wizard-like interface divided into four subject areas: Tasks, Resources, Track, and Report. Each area guides you through the steps to create or update your project plan.

Top-Down planning

Develops a project plan by identifying the highest-level phases or summary tasks before breaking them into lower-level components or subtasks; this approach works from general to specific

bottom-up planning

Develops a project plan by starting with the lowest-level tasks before organizing them into higher-level phases or summary tasks; this approach works from specific to general

deliverable

Final goal of a project

Phase

Group of closely related tasks that encompass a major section of your project

Risk

In a project, risk decreases the likelihood of completing the project on time, within budget, and to specification

Entry table

Default table in the Gantt Chart view used for entering basic data in a project

Subtask

Detail tasks that fall below a summary task

Sequence

Chronological order in which tasks must occur

Dependency

Controls the start or finish of one task relative to the start or finish of another task. There are four types of dependencies in Microsoft Project: finish-to-start, start-to-start, finish-to-finish, and start-to-finish.