Microsoft Project - Level 2

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). MS Project Level 1 knowledge and experience is expected.

Level 2 shifts to the heart of project planning: resources, workload, and costs. Participants learn how resource assignments affect duration, how Microsoft Project calculates costs, how to solve overallocations, and how to track and report on actual progress. The day concludes with powerful reporting tools, including dashboards, workload charts, and cost analysis.

Prerequisites

• Microsoft Project (Online Desktop Client) Level 1 Course.
• Familiarity with Project Management is beneficial.

Learning Objectives

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

• Build projects that include Resources, Costs, and Reporting
• Create resource pools including work, material, and cost resources
• Assign resources effectively while avoiding overallocation
• Understand how resource assignments impact duration, work, and cost
• Modify task types and effort-driven scheduling for more accurate forecasting
• Build and interpret cost reports and resource workload views
• Track actual work and actual cost against the baseline
• Produce management-level reports including dashboards, visual reports, and earned value
• Customize tables, filters, and views to meet organizational reporting needs

Course Outline

Module 1 - Introduction to Resources

Resource types: Work, Material, Cost

Setting maximum units

Resource calendars

Resource notes

Module 2 - Creating the Resource Sheet

Adding resource names

Standard rate vs overtime rate

Cost/use fields

Material labels

Grouping resources

Module 3 - Assigning Resources to Tasks

How assignments affect duration and cost

Assignment units

Effort-driven tasks

When Project recalculates vs holds duration constant

Using the Task Usage and Resource Usage views

Module 4 - Resource Overallocation & Leveling

Indicators for overallocations

Leveling options

Manual vs automatic leveling

Resource-driven delays and their impact on the schedule

Leveling hierarchy and priorities

Module 5 - Understanding Cost Calculations

Cost components (work cost, material cost, fixed cost)

Viewing cost tables

Task cost totals vs resource cost totals

Cost variance and baseline comparison

Module 6 - Controlling the Project: Tracking Actual Work & Actual Cost

Actual vs Remaining Work

Updating resource assignments

Evaluating variance tables

Re-baselining strategies

Module 7 - Reports & Dashboards

Built-in reports (Cost Overview, Workload, Cash Flow)

Visual Reports (Excel pivot tables)

Customizing charts and dashboard views

Module 8 - Advanced Resource & Cost Management

Task types (Fixed Units, Fixed Duration, Fixed Work)

Effort-driven behavior

Contouring workloads

Splitting tasks

Earned Value Analysis (CPI, SPI intro)

Custom tables and filters for cost control

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.