EXPERIMENT #1 – INTRODUCTION TO MICROSOFT PROJECT

LEARNING OUTCOMES:
After completing this experiment the students will be able to:
1. Use the Backstage view to share and manage Project files.
2. Work with commands on different tabs of the ribbon interface.
3. Apply different views to see information presented in different ways.
4. Use reports to quickly communicate the status of your plan.

Experiment 1.A. THE PROJECT INTERFACE

PROCEDURE:
You can start Project from the Start menu (in Windows 7) or Start screen (in Windows 8), or by
opening a Microsoft Project file. In this experiment, you’ll start Project without opening a file and
then examine the major parts of the interface.
1. Do one of the following:
a. If you are running Windows 7: On the Start menu, point to All Programs, click
Microsoft Office, and then click Project 2013.
b. If you are running Windows 8: On the Start screen, tap or click Project 2013.
Project’s start screen appears. Here you can quickly open a plan that was recently opened,
open some other plan, or create a new plan based on a template.

NOTE: If the start screen did not appear when you started Project, do the
following. On the File tab, click Options. In the Project Options dialog box, click
General, and under Start-Up Options, click Show the Start Screen When This
Application Starts.

2. Click Blank Project. Your screen should look similar to the following illustration:

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 The Project window you see on your screen might differ from what’s shown in this
experiment. This might depend on your screen resolution and any previous
customizations made to Project on your computer. Let’s walk through the major parts of
the Project interface:
 The Quick Access Toolbar is a customizable area of the interface where you can
add your favorite or frequently used commands.
 Tabs on the ribbon replace the pull-down menus and toolbars that you might be
familiar with. Tabs group high-level focus areas of Project together. The ribbon
contains the commands you use to perform actions in Project.
 Groups are collections of related commands. Each tab is divided into multiple
groups.
 Commands are the specific features you use to perform actions in Project. Each
tab contains several commands. Some commands, like Cut on the Task tab,
perform an immediate action. Other commands, like Change Working Time on
the Project tab, display a dialog box or prompt you to take further action in some
other way. You can see a description of most commands by pointing the mouse
pointer at the command.

 The active view appears in the main window of Project. Project can display a
single view or multiple views in separate panes.

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  The View label appears along the left edge of the active view. Project includes
dozens of views, so this is a handy reminder of what your active view is.
 View shortcuts let you quickly switch between some of the more frequently used
views in Project. The Zoom Slider zooms the active view in or out.
 The Status bar displays some important details like the scheduling mode of new
tasks (manual or automatic) and whether a filter has been applied to the active
view.
 Shortcut menus and Mini Toolbars are accessible via right-clicking most items
you see in a view.
NOTE: When you’re not sure what actions you can perform with something you see
in Project, right-click on the item and see what commands are available for that item.

OBSERVATION:

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Experiment 1.B. THE BACKSTAGE VIEW

PROCEDURE:
The Backstage view is a part of the Project interface, and you will see a similar Backstage view
in most other Office 2013 applications. The Backstage view contains customization and sharing
options, as well as the essential commands for file management like Open, New and save.
In this experiment, you navigate to the Backstage view and see its major parts.

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 1. Click the File tab. Project displays the Backstage view.
2. If the Open screen is not already visible, on the left side of the Backstage view click the
Open tab. Project displays options for opening files, as well as a list of recently opened
files.

Here is a brief list of the tabs in the Backstage view. In most cases, you can click the tab name
to see more options:
 Info gives you access to the Organizer, a feature used to share customized
elements like views between plans; Info also shows you information about the
active plan like its start and finish date, statistics, and advanced properties.
 New displays options for creating a new plan, either from scratch or based on a
template.
 Open, Save, Save As, and Close are standard file-management commands.
 Print includes options for printing a plan, as well as the print preview.
 Share includes options for SharePoint synchronization and attaching a plan to an
e-mail message.
 Export includes options for generating a Portable Document Format (PDF) or
XML Paper Specification (XPS) format file of the plan, and other options for
exporting content.
 Account displays connected services as well as information about Project such
as version information. With a Microsoft account, you can use services such as
streaming Office applications, SkyDrive file storage, and roaming personal
settings. When you are signed in, your user information appears in the upper-
right corner of the Project window.
 Options displays the Project Options dialog box. This dialog box itself contains
several tabs through which you can adjust a wide range of behaviors in Project,
such as whether you want to see the start screen when Project starts.
OBSERVATION:
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Experiment 1.C. RIBBON AND TABS IN MICROSOFT PROJECT
PROCEDURE:
Similar to other Office 2013 applications, Project 2013 uses the fluent interface, commonly
called the ribbon. The most prominent parts of this interface are the tabs and ribbon that span
the top of the Project window. In this experiment, you’ll work with the tabs to see how they are
organized.
These tabs logically group the commands that apply to major parts of Project together:
 The Task and Resource tabs relate to the data you frequently work with in
Project.
 The Report tab contains commands you can use to view reports and compare
two plans.
 The Project tab contains commands that usually apply to the entire plan, such as
setting the plan’s working time.
 The View tab helps you control what you see in the Project window and how that
information appears.
 Contextual tabs, such as the Format tab (other contextual tabs you might see
include Design and Layout) will vary, depending on what kind of information is
displayed in the active view, or what kind of item is selected at the time. For
example, when a task view like the Gantt Chart view is displayed, the commands
on the Format contextual tab apply to tasks and Gantt Chart items like Gantt
bars. The current context of the Format tab appears above the tab label—Gantt
Chart Tools, for example.

Like all tabs, the Task tab contains a large number of commands, and these commands are
organized into groups. The Task tab includes the View, Clipboard, Font, and other groups. If
you enabled touch input (on the Quick Access Toolbar in the upper-left corner of the Project
window, click the Touch/Mouse Mode button), the commands on the ribbon appear larger and
some lack text labels.

Some commands perform an immediate action, while other commands lead you to more
options. Next, you’ll look at different tabs and types of command buttons.
1. Open the Children's Gourmet Cookbook.mpp file. Click the Resource tab label. The
Resource tab replaces the Task tab.

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 2. In the Assignments group, click Assign Resources. This command has an immediate
effect; it displays the Assign Resources dialog box.

3. In the Assign Resources dialog box, click Close.

4. Click the View tab label. This tab contains a mixture of command types. As you can see,
some commands, like New Window, just have a command label and icon.

In most cases, such commands perform an immediate action. Other commands, like
Sort, include a label and an arrow.

5. On the View tab, in the Data group, click Sort. This command displays a list of sorting
options.

Another type of command, called a split button, can either perform an immediate action
or show you more options. You’ll look at one example now: the Gantt Chart button.

 Clicking the image part of this command immediately switches to the previously
viewed Gantt chart view.

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  Clicking the text label part of this command (or just the arrow for commands that
have an arrow but no text label) shows you the available settings for that
command.
6. On the Task tab, in the View group, click the Gantt Chart text label below the button
image.

7. In the list of views that appears, click Calendar. Project switches to the Calendar view.

The Calendar view resembles a traditional “month-at-a-glance” calendar and displays

tasks as bars spanning the days on which they are scheduled to occur. Next, you’ll
switch back to the Gantt Chart view
8. On the Task tab, in the View group, click the image part of the Gantt Chart button.
9. On the Format tab, in the Gantt Chart Style group, click the More button to display the
predefined color styles.

A gallery of preformatted Gantt bar options appears.

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 10. Press the Esc key or click the Format tab to close the gallery. To see more Gantt bar
formatting options, you’ll next use a different type of button.
11. On the Format tab, in the Gantt Chart Style group, click the Format Bar Styles button in
the lower-right corner of the group.

The Bar Styles dialog box appears.

The Format Bar Styles button is an example of a dialog box launcher. Unlike the Assign
Resources dialog box you saw earlier, you must close the Bar Styles dialog box before
you can perform other actions outside of this dialog box.
12. Click Cancel to close the Bar Styles dialog box.

OBSERVATION:

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Experiment 1.D. VIEWS IN MICROSOFT PROJECT
PROCEDURE:
The working space in Project is called a view. Project includes many types of views. Some
examples of views include tables with graphics, tables with timescales, just tables, charts and
diagrams, and forms. With some views, you can filter, sort, or group data, as well as customize
what types of data is displayed. You can use and customize the views that come with Project as
well as create your own.
Project contains dozens of views, but you normally work with just one view (or sometimes two)
at a time. You use views to enter, edit, analyze, and display your project information. The
default view—the one you see when you create a new plan—is the Gantt with Timeline view.
In general, views focus on task, resource, or assignment details. The Gantt Chart view, for
example, lists task details in a table on the left side of the view and graphically represents each
task as a bar in the chart on the right side of the view. The Gantt Chart view is a common way to
represent a schedule. This type of view is also useful for entering and fine-tuning task details
and for analyzing your project.
1. Using the Children's Gourmet Cookbook.mpp file, On the View tab, in the Zoom group,
click the down arrow next to the Timescale box and click Days. Project adjusts the
timescale to show individual days. Nonworking days, such as weekends, are formatted
in light gray.

You can adjust the timescale in the Gantt Chart view in several ways. Here, you used
the Timescale box on the View tab. You can also use the Zoom Slider in the lower-right
corner of the status bar.
Next, you’ll display a view that is a handy way of seeing the “big picture” of the plan.
2. On the View tab, in the Split View group, select the Timeline check box. Project displays
the Timeline view in the pane above the Gantt Chart view. This Timeline view has been
populated for you with some details from the plan.

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 3. Click anywhere in the Timeline view. Note that the label above the Format tab changed
to Timeline Tools. The commands displayed on the Format tab now are specific to the
Timeline view. Throughout this experiment, as you see different views, note when the
label above the Format tab changes accordingly.

4. On the View tab, in the Split View group, clear the Timeline check box. Project hides the
Timeline view. (The information in the view is not lost; it’s just hidden for now.)
Next, you’ll switch to a sheet view.
5. On the View tab, in the Resource Views group, click Resource Sheet. The Resource
Sheet view replaces the Gantt Chart view.

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The Resource Sheet view displays details about resources in a row-and-column format (called a
table), with one resource per row. This view is called a sheet view. Another sheet view, called
the Task Sheet view, lists the task details. Also, notice that the label of the contextual tab has
changed to Resource Sheet Tools based on the active view.
Note that the Resource Sheet view doesn’t tell you anything about the tasks to which resources
might be assigned. To see that type of information, you’ll switch to a different view.
6. On the View tab, in the Resource Views group, click Resource Usage.
The Resource Usage view replaces the Resource Sheet view. This usage view groups
the tasks to which each resource is assigned and shows you the work assignments per
resource on a timescale, such as daily or weekly.

In the timescaled grid on the right side of the usage table, you can see some of Carole Poland’s
work assignments in the plan. Currently, this usage view’s timeline shows assigned work per
day. As with the Gantt Chart timescale, you can adjust this timescale using the Timescale

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command on the View tab or the Zoom Slider controls on the status bar in the lower-right corner
of the Project window.
Another usage view, the Task Usage view, flips the data around to display all the resources
assigned to each task.
7. On the View tab, in the Task Views group, click Gantt Chart. The Gantt Chart view
appears. To conclude this experiment, you’ll display a different split view .
8. If necessary, vertically scroll the Gantt Chart view so that task 12 is near the top of the
view.
9. In the Task name column, click the name of task 12, Set pages.
10. On the View tab, in the Split View group, click Details. The Task Form appears below the
Gantt Chart view.

In this type of split view, the Gantt Chart is the primary view and the Task Form is the details
pane. Details about the selected task in the Gantt Chart view appear in the Task Form. You can
also edit values directly in the Task Form.
11. On the View tab, in the Split View group, clear the Details check box. The Task Form is
hidden.
There are many other views in Project. You can see them by clicking the Other Views command
and then clicking More Views in the Task Views or Resource Views group on the View tab.
Keep in mind that, in all these views as well as all the other views in Project, you are looking at
different aspects of the same set of details about a plan. Even a simple plan can contain too
much data to display at one time. Use views to help you focus on the specific details you want.

OBSERVATION:

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Experiment 1.E. REPORTS IN MICROSOFT PROJECT
PROCEDURE:
Previous editions of Project supported tabular reports that were primarily designed for printing.
In Project 2013, reports have been greatly enhanced, enabling you to convey your plan’s data in
compelling new formats. Reports now include elements such as charts, tables, and images to
communicate the status of your plan, and they are highly customizable. You can print or view
reports directly in the Project window just like any view. You can also copy reports and paste
them into other applications such as Microsoft PowerPoint.
1. On the Report tab, in the View Reports group, click Resources and then click Resource
Overview. The Resource Overview report appears.

2. Vertically scroll to see all of the report’s content . As you can see, this report includes
two charts and a table.
3. Click the Resource Stats chart. You see a couple of things happen when you do this.

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First, the Field List pane appears on the right side of the window. You use this pane to
determine what data to include in the chart
The second thing that happened is that the Report Tools and Chart Tools and their related
contextual tabs appeared on the ribbon.
4. Click the Resource Status table

Again, you see the Field List pane and the contextual tabs update to reflect that you now have a
table selected in the report rather than a chart.
5. Under Report Tools, click the Design tab.

Here you can see commands that relate to the overall design of the report.

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 6. Under Table Tools, click the Design tab.

Now you see commands that apply to the selected table in this report.
7. Under Table Tools, click the Layout tab.

You can use these commands to control the overall layout of the selected table.
Next, we will split the window to display both a view and a report at the same time.
8. On the View tab in the Split View group, click Timeline.

This split view includes a top-level summary in the Timeline view and an overview of
your resources in the Resource Overview report.
OBSERVATION:

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