Microsoft Project - Level 1

Overview

This 1-day, hands-on course provides participants with a complete foundation in building, managing, and reporting on project schedules using Microsoft Project (Online Desktop Client). The training is designed to guide learners from the fundamentals of project scheduling all the way to advanced resource and cost management techniques.

This course is designed for office professionals, project coordinators, project managers, schedulers, and anyone responsible for planning, tracking, or reporting on projects using Microsoft Project (Online Desktop Client).

Level 1 focuses entirely on scheduling logic, ensuring participants understand how tasks, dependencies, constraints, and the critical path interact to drive the project timeline. Participants learn to build a clean, dynamic schedule that follows best practices before resources are introduced.

Prerequisites

• Solid experience with Windows computing.
• Familiarity with Microsoft 365 Office
• Familiarity with Project Management is beneficial.

Learning Objectives

Through the use of hands-on exercises participants will learn to:

• Build projects understanding Scheduling Fundamentals
• Navigate the Microsoft Project Desktop interface confidently
• Create a new project and enter project-wide settings
• Build a task list with appropriate structure using summary tasks and milestones
• Apply relationships (dependencies) correctly (FS, SS, FF, SF)
• Understand how Project schedules work (manual vs automatic scheduling, task modes, constraint types)
• Work with the critical path and identify schedule flexibility (total slack & free slack)
• Format and customize views for effective project communication
• Track progress using % complete and baseline comparisons

Course Outline

Module 1 - Introduction & Course Orientation

What MS Project is and is not

Differences between MS Project Desktop vs Online

Real-world examples of scheduling best practices

Module 2 - Navigating the Project Interface

Ribbon, Quick Access Toolbar, and Backstage

Major views (Gantt Chart, Task Usage, Network Diagram, Calendar, Timeline)

How to interpret the Gantt Chart

Using tables, groups, and filters

Setting up a new project: Start date, Calendar selection, Options

Module 3 - Creating Tasks & Building the Work Breakdown Structure

Entering tasks

Difference between tasks, summary tasks, and milestones

Outlining (indent/outdent)

Task notes and hyperlinks

Task inspectors and indicators

Module 4 - Task Relationships & Dependencies

Understanding precedence

FS, SS, FF, SF

Lag and lead

Identifying dependency direction and logic errors

Module 5 - Task Modes, Constraints, and Schedule Logic

Auto vs manually scheduled tasks

“Must Start On,” “Finish No Earlier Than,” and other constraints

Why constraints should be used sparingly

Understanding Project’s scheduling engine

When Project “pushes” vs “pulls” the schedule

Module 6 - The Critical Path & Slack

What is the critical path?

Identifying the longest path

Total slack vs free slack

Highlight critical tasks

Why slack matters for project control

Module 7 - Calendars (Base, Project, Task, Resource Intro Only)

Project calendar

Standard vs 24-hr vs Night Shift

Adding holidays and non-working time

Task calendar concept

Module 8 - Baselines & Tracking Progress (Without Resources)

What a baseline is and why it matters

Saving and clearing baselines

% Complete vs % Work Complete vs Physical % Complete

Tracking table vs updating tasks

Variance analysis without resource interference

ON-TRACK Corporate Training has a diverse and flexible schedule that can be customized to your needs. We offer group courses (both public and corporate), one-on-one training, virtual (on-line) classroom (Zoom etc.) and on-site training options. We also have easily accessible on-line training videos on OnTrackTV.