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Project Manager Series –
Essential Training for Project Managers and Team Leads:

PM Series: For organizations using Microsoft Project with Project Server

PM #1: Use Microsoft Project Professional to Create and Take Control of "My Projects"

PM #2: Manage Multiple Projects and Master Enterprise Resource Management Using Microsoft Project Professional together with Microsoft Project Server

PM #3: Elective - Custom Session in Advanced Enterprise Project Management Tools and Techniques Using Microsoft Project Professional with Microsoft Project Server

MSP Series: For organizations that are using Microsoft Project, but not using Project Server

MSP #1: Use Microsoft Project Standard or Professional to Create and Take Control of "My Projects" - MSP training for organizations that do not use Microsoft Project Server

MSP #2: Manage Multiple Projects and Resources Using Microsoft Project Standard or Professional- MSP training for organizations that do not use Microsoft Project Server

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PM #1:
Use Microsoft Project Professional to
Create and Take Control of "My Projects"

Duration: Two Days (14 hours)

Synopsis:

This course teaches you to build fantastic schedules with Microsoft Project Professional. Participants will be introduced to our proven technique of schedule development, our approach to project planning and an extremely valuable set of best practice “building blocks” that you will use to build great schedules and manage projects effectively.

We weave the technical Microsoft Project with the best practice methods of project management so participants understand both the how and also the why. Our hands-on interactive approach ensures they can apply what they learn to their own job setting.

Participants learn hands-on skills to take control of their projects - one project at a time. The focus of the course is on creating and managing project plans and schedules appropriate for you and your organization.

This is the course that provides the building blocks for your project management organization enabling them to take full advantage of the power of Project Server and Microsoft Project Web Access.

Organizations need to develop high quality schedules if they want to take advantage of Microsoft Project’s ability to establish reliable project duration estimates, resource requirements, and costs. Participants will learn the key features of time, resource and cost management with Microsoft Project and the link to schedule quality. The lessons-learned will enable participants to build and contribute to building better schedules.

Who Should Attend:

This course is for anyone who uses (or supports persons who use) Microsoft Project in an organization that has deployed (or plans to use) Project Server.

You’ll benefit from this course if you create, modify or contribute to the development of project plans and schedules.

This is an essential course for full time project managers, and also person who are part-time project managers and those who support the project management process. It is a “must” course for persons responsible for multiple project reporting or multiple project management.

This course is a prerequisite for PM #2: Manage Multiple Projects and Master Enterprise Resource Management Using Microsoft Project Professional together with Microsoft Project Server

Before Your Take This Class:

No prerequisites or previous experience required. Many participants do benefit from completing our “Introduction Series” prior to the “Project Manager Series”.

Version:

We have versions of this course for all versions of Microsoft Project Server and Microsoft Project Professional.

• Microsoft Project Server 2007
• Microsoft Project Professional 2007

• Microsoft Project Server 2003
• Microsoft Project Professional 2003


• Microsoft Project Server 2002
• Microsoft Project Professional 2002

Series:

This is the first of three courses in the “Project Manager Series”. This course provides instruction on building great schedules; the second course in the series guides participants on how to manage multiple projects and resources; the third course is an elective - custom designed to master advanced project management topics through the superior use of Microsoft Project together with Project Server.

Next Steps:

PM #2: Manage Multiple Projects and Master Enterprise Resource Management Using Microsoft Project Professional together with Microsoft Project Server

Course Content:

(This course was developed and updated by Schedule Management Corporation)

Your instructor will adjust the pace and content of this course to maximize participant “take-away” value. Expect active Q/A sessions. Content includes:

  • Participants will learn project schedule development (modeling) skills used to determine the best practices for project execution; know how to adjust a project to model to reflect real-world changes
  • Gain a basic understanding and working knowledge of key Project Management principles
  • Identify project deliverables and project success factors
  • Be able to create valid and reliable models of various types of projects
  • Learn tips, tricks and best practices of scheduling
  • Effective use of project templates
  • Create a project template which reflects the organization’s best practices
  • Create project plans from “scratch”
  • When to develop “quick & dirty” schedules and when to invest in dynamic relationship-driven schedules
  • Learn when and how to create schedules that last
  • Use Microsoft Project to model your current and best practice work processes
  • Learn to manage and enhance the quality of a project throughout its life cycle
  • Borrow from process management and modeling theory to understand and model cause and effect relationships
  • Develop schedules for estimating and forecasting
  • Create projects that can be maintained and continuously updated throughout out the project live cycle isolating the appropriate predecessor and successor relationship for key tasks
  • Finding the right combination of detail and descriptive information appropriate for every type of project
  • Understanding the pitfalls and advantages of default task types: fixed duration, fixed units and fixed work
  • Thoroughly understand tasks, estimates, dependencies, deadlines, constraints, resources and assignments
  • Thoroughly understand Views, tables, filters, groups, and calendars
  • Optimizing the project plan to meet constraints of time, resources, and dollars
  • Participants are introduced to contingency and risk management

Confidently and reliably predict project duration; know what can cause an increase/decrease in duration for each project

  • Identify the shortest possible project duration
  • Understand and use Critical Path Method (CPM) analysis
  • Situations that split the Critical Path
  • Shortening or crashing the Critical Path
  • Contingency and risk related to project duration


Confidently and reliably predict the amount of resources needed to perform each project; know what can cause and increase/decrease in resource needs for each project.

• Resource definition strategies – human, generic, group, material, facility, and equipment resources
• Calendars: the project calendar, base calendars, resource and task calendars
• Establish best practices for determining when to make full-time or part-time task assignments
• Identify and assess the impact of key resources on the critical path, isolate bottle necks and driving assignments
• Learn best practice techniques to control and harness Microsoft Project’s ability to automatically recalculate the schedule and/or resource allocation
• Learn basic resource conflict identification and resolution tools and techniques


Confidently calculate project cost; know what can cause an increase/decrease in costs for each project.

• Types of cost: fixed costs and variable costs (period cost, per unit cost, per use cost)
• How to model project costs
• Using cost rate tables for rate escalation and multiple rates per resource
• Establish and manage cost buffers


Reporting for multiple stakeholders

• Developing custom views
• Using the Custom Fields, Tables, Filters and Grouping features
• How to enter and report progress
• Be able to create custom reports and views that meet the needs of stakeholders in your project

Customization: All of our courses can be customized to your group’s needs; contact us for a customization assessment.

Top of Page

PM #2:
Manage Multiple Projects and Master Enterprise Resource Management Using Microsoft Project Professional together with Microsoft Project Server

Duration: Two Days (14 hours)

Synopsis:

This course unveils the new and enhanced multiple project management and resource management features of the Microsoft Project Suite. If you think you know Microsoft Project get ready for a very pleasant and unexpected surprise; a lot has changed from earlier versions. The biggest change, of course, is using Microsoft Project Professional when it is properly integrated with Project Server.

This is the course that guides your project management organization on how to take full advantage of the power of Project Server and Microsoft Project Web Access. Participants will learn the best practice combination of desk top and web-based tools for project portfolio and multiple project resource management.

This course teaches you to plan, manage, track and report multiple projects. Emphasis is placed on the building, analysis and optimization of project deliverables, project duration and resources for multiple projects. This course shows you how to take control of and manage resources in single and multiple projects.

Who should attend:

This course is for anyone who uses (or supports persons who use) Microsoft Project in an organization that has deployed (or plans to use) Project Server.

You’ll benefit from this course if you create, modify or contribute to the development of project plans and schedules.

This is an essential course for full time project managers, and also person who are part-time project managers and those who support the project management process. It is a “must” course for persons responsible for multiple project reporting or multiple project management.

Prerequisite for This Class:

Prerequisite: PM #1: Use Microsoft Project Professional to Create and Take Control of "My Projects"

PM #1 gets new and experienced users of Microsoft Project all on the same page; PM #2 builds on the Microsoft Project skills, background and best practices learned in the prerequisite course.

Version:

We have versions of this course for all versions of Microsoft Project Server and Microsoft Project Professional.

• Microsoft Project Server 2007
• Microsoft Project Professional 2007

• Microsoft Project Server 2003
• Microsoft Project Professional 2003


• Microsoft Project Server 2002
• Microsoft Project Professional 2002

Series:

This is the second of three courses in the “Project Manager Series”. The first course provided instruction on building great schedules; this second course in the series guides participants on how to manage multiple projects and resources; the third course is an elective - custom designed to master advanced project management topics through the superior use of Microsoft Project together with Project Server.

Next Steps:

After taking both PM Core courses, when some time has passed and you have had an opportunity to apply what you’ve learned, you will benefit from taking your multiple project management skills to the next level with our PM #3: Elective - Custom Session in Advanced Enterprise Project Management Tools and Techniques Using Microsoft Project Professional with Microsoft Project Server

If your role is to shape and optimize your organization's project management tools then you will also want to take our: EPM Admin #3: Project Server Configuration & Administration Essentials - (Seven Essential Roles of the Configuration Administrator)

Course Content:

(This course was developed and updated by Schedule Management Corporation)

Your instructor will adjust the pace and content of this course to maximize participant “take-away” value. Expect active Q/A sessions. This course will expose participants to the following:

Multiple Project / Portfolio Management

• Planning
• Development
• Presentation
• Analysis
• Reporting

Confidently and reliably show the interaction between multiple projects ; know what can cause an increase/decrease in duration for a portfolio of projects

• Identify the shortest possible combined project duration
• Understand and use multiple project Critical Path Method (CPM) analysis
• Shortening or crashing a shifting Critical Path
• Portfolio contingency and risk related to project duration
• Manage and report on a portfolio of multiple concurrent and overlapping projects

EPM analysis - choosing the best approach for your situation:

• Critical Path
• Resource Critical Path
• Earned Value
• Critical Chain

Become familiar with Project Server Web Access

• The different users and benefits
• Enterprise templates
• Enterprise calendars
• Enterprise fields
• Enterprise views
• Publishing projects to the Project Server database
• Working with an enterprise project database:
• Checking out projects
• Working offline

Use the EPM features for resource assignment and availability analysis

• Generic and actual resources
• Concept of skills-based scheduling
• Team Builder
• Resource Substitution Wizard
• Booking resources: proposed versus committed resources
• Assigning resources:
• Request versus demand
• Checking availability before assigning
• Publishing the assignments and handling rejections
• Tracking the commitments from team members

Enable resources to automatically compile and report progress on multiple assignments from multiple project managers and multiple projects - How to manage resource workloads

• Best practice approach to identifying resource over-allocations using Project Server
• Proven techniques of resolving resource overall-allocations
• Monitor and manage staff workloads across multiple projects

Use Microsoft Project together with Project Server Web Access 2003 together for tracking and control:

• Configurable options for Project Web Access project tracking/status updates
• Best practice techniques for interacting the project resources through Project

Server Web Access

• Audit, approve or reject resource updates electronically
• Techniques for keeping projects up to date – providing accurate forecasts
• Techniques for automatic e-mail notification and alerts

Managing Risks, Issues, Documents and Status Reports

• Collecting and managing risks and issues
• Collecting and using project documents
• Customizing status reports, and automating status reporting
• Identify and link documents, risks and issues to multiple tasks in multiple projects

Reporting on Project Portfolios

• Multiple project reporting through the Web Access Project Center
• Analysis views
• Master and sub projects best practices
• Best practice identification and management of cross-project dependencies
• Selectively track and report on the progress of multiple projects
• Learn to contribute to the customization of Project Server to better meet individual and group needs

 

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PM #3:
Elective - Custom Session in Advanced Enterprise Project Management Tools and Techniques Using Microsoft Project Professional with Microsoft Project Server

Typical Course Duration: Two Days

Average Course Development/Customization: Two Days

Synopsis:

Your team has taken the first two courses in the PM Series. They've applied what they've learned from the course content and interactive discussions with our expert instructors. A couple weeks have passed; project management has improved and now you want to take your team's project management abilities and multiple project management skills to the next level.

It's time to have us create and lead your team in a custom course.

It all begins with expert analysis of your project management organization's needs and capabilities. We'll assess the gaps and unique opportunities that exist in your organization. In a typical setting course development takes a couple days. The course duration is dependent upon your objectives and needs.

The course we develop will guide participants in advanced tools and best practice techniques to enhance their multiple project planning, management and communications environment. This course helps the participants identify and brings out the hidden jewels that are created when an organization effectively deploys Microsoft Project and Microsoft Project Server.

The course is taught in a workshop format – participants influence the course content by identifying and prioritizing the specific learning objectives that will achieve the greatest impact on their project management organization.

Who Should Attend:

You'll know who and what parts of your organization need additional training/guidance after they have had an opportunity to use and apply the knowledge from our PM#1 and PM#2. Additional recommendations on who should attend and why will be provided as part of our needs assessment and custom course evaluation.

This course is for individuals and groups that see the unrealized potential Microsoft Project and Microsoft Project Server can have on their organization. You’ve learned a lot already – and you want more.

Before Your Take This Class:

We can design a custom course for your organization to meet any objective and at any time. Typically though, this course follows after participants have completed the first two courses in the PM Series.

Version:

We have versions of this course for all versions of Microsoft Project Server and Microsoft Project Professional.

• Microsoft Project Server 2007
• Microsoft Project Professional 2007

• Microsoft Project Server 2003
• Microsoft Project Professional 2003


• Microsoft Project Server 2002
• Microsoft Project Professional 2002

Course Content:

Your instructor will adjust the pace and content of this course to maximize participant “take-away” value. Expect active Q/A sessions.

The following topics are examples from Advanced courses we've developed for other organizations over the years - the content of your course will be unique and determined by our Assessment and Custom Course Design.

Enhanced cross-project reporting through the use of Microsoft Project Server Web Access; understanding your organization’s enterprise task tracking and task reporting needs

• Setting up custom enterprise fields to address specific stakeholder requirements
• Single-value descriptors versus logical-hierarchy descriptors (outline codes)
• Using custom fields and formulas
• Determine the business rules for stop-light reporting

Evaluate advanced strategies for managed and non-working time

• Custom calendars
• Administrative projects
• Defining the time sheet periods, layout, and lock downs
• Managed time period options
• Tracking and time reporting advanced options

Enhanced resource cross-project reporting through the use of Microsoft Project Server Web Access; understanding your organization’s enterprise resource tracking and resource reporting needs

• Advanced topics in Enterprise Resource Management
• Configuring the Enterprise Resource Pool for multiple stakeholders and multiple projects
• Applied use of generic versus actual resources; proposed versus committed resources
• Optimizing calendars, project templates, custom enterprise fields and views
• Optimizing skills-based scheduling and cross-project resource leveling
• Advanced multiple project resource management
• Predict long-term resource needs for the enterprise
• Delegate authority to create, modify and delete resources
• Know the issues regarding synchronization with the Windows Active Directory
• Refine the organization’s Resource Breakdown Structure – RBS
• Coding the skill fields: single-value versus multi-value field
• Effective use of the Enterprise Resource Pool for planning, analysis and control
• Multiple project resource modeling and workload leveling; know how to resolve resource over-allocations across enterprise projects
• Advanced optimization techniques for resource usage within the 0 - 3 month timeframe; appropriate optimization for the 3 – 6 month timeframe; reliable resource demand projections for the 6 - 12 month timeframe

Advanced Multiple Project Management – Understanding and Optimizing Project Portfolios

• Developing custom portfolio analysis views for managers, executives, clients and other stakeholders
• Understand pivot table and Portfolio Analyzer technology
• Develop Portfolio Modeler “what-if” scenarios
• Extending the Portfolio Analyzer OLAP-cube with new measures and dimensions
• Advanced techniques for optimizing portfolio management
• Gather specifications for extending the Project Server Platform
• Executives portfolio analysis
• Executive what-if analysis
• Executive scenario-analysis
• Executive reporting using interactive pivot table technology

Creating a project office information management system

Develop specifications and requirements for the multiple stakeholders that access information through Project Server Web Access

 

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MSP Series: For organizations that are using Microsoft Project, but not using Project Server

MSP #1:
Use Microsoft Project Standard or Professional to
Create and Take Control of "My Projects" -

MSP training for organizations that do not use Microsoft Project Server

Duration: Two Days (14 hours)

Synopsis:

This course teaches you to build fantastic schedules with Microsoft Project Standard or Microsoft Project Professional. Participants will be introduced to our proven technique of schedule development, our approach to project planning and an extremely valuable set of best practice “building blocks” that you will use to build great schedules and manage projects effectively.

We weave the technical Microsoft Project with the best practice methods of project management so participants understand both the how and also the why. Our hands-on interactive approach ensures they can apply what they learn to their own job setting.

Participants learn hands-on skills to take control of their projects - one project at a time. The focus of the course is on creating and managing project plans and schedules appropriate for you and your organization.

This is the course that provides the building blocks for your project management organization enabling them to take full advantage of the power of Microsoft Project to manage multiple projects, and resources.

Organizations need to develop high quality schedules if they want to take advantage of Microsoft Project’s ability to establish reliable project duration estimates, resource requirements, and costs. Participants will learn the key features of time, resource and cost management with Microsoft Project and the link to schedule quality. The lessons-learned will enable participants to build and contribute to building better schedules.

Who Should Attend:

This course is for anyone who uses (or supports persons who use) Microsoft Project in an organization that has not deployed Project Server.

You’ll benefit from this course if you create, modify or contribute to the development of project plans and schedules.

This is an essential course for full time project managers, and also person who are part-time project managers and those who support the project management process. It is a “must” course for persons responsible for multiple project reporting or multiple project management.

This course is a prerequisite for MSP #2: Manage Multiple Projects and Resources Using Microsoft Project Standard or Professional

Before Your Take This Class:

No prerequisites or previous experience required. Many participants do benefit from completing our “Introduction Series” prior to the “Project Manager Series”.

Version:

We have versions of this course for all versions of Microsoft Project Server and Microsoft Project Professional.

• Microsoft Project Server 2007
• Microsoft Project Professional 2007

• Microsoft Project Server 2003
• Microsoft Project Professional 2003


• Microsoft Project Server 2002
• Microsoft Project Professional 2002

Series:

This is the first of two courses in the MSP Series. This course provides instruction on building great schedules; the second course in the series guides participants on how to manage multiple projects and resources.

Next Steps:

MSP #2: Manage Multiple Projects and Resources Using Microsoft Project Standard or Professional

Course Content:

(This course was developed and updated by Schedule Management Corporation)

Your instructor will adjust the pace and content of this course to maximize participant “take-away” value. Expect active Q/A sessions. Content includes:

  • Participants will learn project schedule development (modeling) skills used to determine the best practices for project execution; know how to adjust a project to model to reflect real-world changes
  • Gain a basic understanding and working knowledge of key Project Management principles
  • Identify project deliverables and project success factors
  • Be able to create valid and reliable models of various types of projects
  • Learn tips, tricks and best practices of scheduling
  • Effective use of project templates
  • Create a project template which reflects the organization’s best practices
  • Create project plans from “scratch”
  • When to develop “quick & dirty” schedules and when to invest in dynamic relationship-driven schedules
  • Learn when and how to create schedules that last
  • Use Microsoft Project to model your current and best practice work processes
  • Learn to manage and enhance the quality of a project throughout its life cycle
  • Borrow from process management and modeling theory to understand and model cause and effect relationships
  • Develop schedules for estimating and forecasting
  • Create projects that can be maintained and continuously updated throughout out the project live cycle isolating the appropriate predecessor and successor relationship for key tasks
  • Finding the right combination of detail and descriptive information appropriate for every type of project
  • Understanding the pitfalls and advantages of default task types: fixed duration, fixed units and fixed work
  • Thoroughly understand tasks, estimates, dependencies, deadlines, constraints, resources and assignments
  • Thoroughly understand Views, tables, filters, groups, and calendars
  • Optimizing the project plan to meet constraints of time, resources, and dollars
  • Participants are introduced to contingency and risk management

Confidently and reliably predict project duration; know what can cause an increase/decrease in duration for each project

  • Identify the shortest possible project duration
  • Understand and use Critical Path Method (CPM) analysis
  • Situations that split the Critical Path
  • Shortening or crashing the Critical Path
  • Contingency and risk related to project duration


Confidently and reliably predict the amount of resources needed to perform each project; know what can cause and increase/decrease in resource needs for each project.

• Resource definition strategies – human, generic, group, material, facility, and equipment resources
• Calendars: the project calendar, base calendars, resource and task calendars
• Establish best practices for determining when to make full-time or part-time task assignments
• Identify and assess the impact of key resources on the critical path, isolate bottle necks and driving assignments
• Learn best practice techniques to control and harness Microsoft Project’s ability to automatically recalculate the schedule and/or resource allocation
• Learn basic resource conflict identification and resolution tools and techniques


Confidently calculate project cost; know what can cause an increase/decrease in costs for each project.

• Types of cost: fixed costs and variable costs (period cost, per unit cost, per use cost)
• How to model project costs
• Using cost rate tables for rate escalation and multiple rates per resource
• Establish and manage cost buffers


Reporting for multiple stakeholders

• Developing custom views
• Using the Custom Fields, Tables, Filters and Grouping features
• How to enter and report progress
• Be able to create custom reports and views that meet the needs of stakeholders in your project

Customization: All of our courses can be customized to your group’s needs; contact us for a customization assessment.

 

Top of Page

MSP Series: For organizations that are using Microsoft Project, but not using Project Server

MSP #2:
Manage Multiple Projects and Resources Using Microsoft Project Standard or Professional

Duration: Two Days (14 hours)

Synopsis:

This course unveils existing, new and enhanced multiple project management and resource management features of Microsoft Project Standard and Professional. If you think you know Microsoft Project get ready for a very pleasant and unexpected surprise; a lot has changed from earlier versions. There is also a lot of power under the hood that you may not have found a way to harness yet.

This is the course that guides your project management organization on how to take full advantage of Microsoft Project. Participants will learn the best practices for project portfolio and multiple project resource management.

This course teaches you to plan, manage, track and report multiple projects. Emphasis is placed on the building, analysis and optimization of project deliverables, project duration and resources for multiple projects. This course shows you how to take control of and manage resources in single and multiple projects.

Who should attend:

This course is for anyone who uses (or supports persons who use) Microsoft Project in an organization that has not deployed Project Server.

You’ll benefit from this course if you create, modify or contribute to the development of project plans and schedules.

This is an essential course for full time project managers, and also person who are part-time project managers and those who support the project management process. It is a “must” course for persons responsible for multiple project reporting or multiple project management.

Prerequisite:

MSP #1: Use Microsoft Project Standard or Professional to Create and Take Control of "My Projects" - MSP training for organizations that do not use Microsoft Project Server

MSP #1 gets new and experienced users of Microsoft Project all on the same page; MSP #2 builds on the Microsoft Project skills, background and best practices learned in the prerequisite course.

Version:

We have versions of this course for all versions of Microsoft Project Server and Microsoft Project Professional.

• Microsoft Project Server 2007
• Microsoft Project Professional 2007

• Microsoft Project Server 2003
• Microsoft Project Professional 2003


• Microsoft Project Server 2002
• Microsoft Project Professional 2002

Series:

This is the second of two courses in the MSP Series. The first course provided instruction on building great schedules; this second course in the series guides participants on how to manage multiple projects and resources.

Next Steps:

Contact us for consulting and custom courses.

Course Content:

(This course was developed and updated by Schedule Management Corporation)

Your instructor will adjust the pace and content of this course to maximize participant “take-away” value. Expect active Q/A sessions. This course will expose participants to the following:

Multiple Project / Portfolio Management

• Planning
• Development
• Presentation
• Analysis
• Reporting

Confidently and reliably show the interaction between multiple projects; know what can cause an increase/decrease in duration for a portfolio of projects

• Identify the shortest possible combined project duration
• Understand and use multiple project Critical Path Method (CPM) analysis
• Shortening or crashing a shifting Critical Path
• Portfolio contingency and risk related to project duration
• Manage and report on a portfolio of multiple concurrent and overlapping projects

EPM analysis - choosing the best approach for your situation:

• Critical Path
• Resource Critical Path

• Earned Value
• Critical Chain

Use MSP features for resource assignment and availability analysis

Enable resources to automatically compile and report progress on multiple assignments from multiple project managers and multiple projects - How to manage resource workloads

• Best practice approach to identifying resource over-allocations
• Proven techniques of resolving resource overall-allocations
• Monitor and manage staff workloads across multiple projects

Managing Risks, Issues, Documents and Status Reports

• Collecting and managing risks and issues
• Collecting and using project documents

Reporting on Project Portfolios

• Multiple project reporting
• Analysis views
• Master and sub projects best practices
• Best practice identification and management of cross-project dependencies
• Selectively track and report on the progress of multiple projects
• Learn to contribute to the customization of Microsoft Project to better meet individual and group needs

     

 

 

   
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