Define your project objectives   Clear project objectives are crucial because your project's

success will be determined by how closely you meet them.

A clear project objective is both specific and measurable. Avoid vague objectives such as "Create
state-of-the-art deliverables." A project's objectives may include:
A list of project deliverables (deliverable: A tangible and measurable result, outcome, or item that
must be produced to complete a project or part of a project. Typically, the project team and
project stakeholders agree on project deliverables before the project begins.).
Specific due dates, both for the ultimate completion of the project and for intermediate
milestones (milestone: A reference point marking a major event in a project and used to monitor
the project's progress. Any task with zero duration is automatically displayed as a milestone; you
can also mark any other task of any duration as a milestone.).
Specific quality criteria that the deliverables must meet.
Cost limits that the project must not exceed.
For objectives to be effective, all project stakeholders (stakeholders: Individuals and
organizations that are actively involved in the project or whose interests may be affected by the
project.) must officially agree to them. Often the project manager creates an objectives document
that becomes a permanent part of the project. If the document was created in a program other
than Project, you can attach the document to your project file for easy access.
If you are using Microsoft Office Project Web Access 2003 (Project Web Access: The Web-based
user interface that is used to access information in Project Server.), you can easily upload
supporting documents at the start of a project. This is useful if your team doesn't have a shared
folder or Web site that contains information that is relevant to projects or other corporate
endeavors.
Note You can also place project-level information in the Comments box of the Properties dialog
box for a project. This helps you locate documents and projects after a project begins.

 Identify your project assumptions   During the planning stage of a project; you'll probably have
many important, unanswered questions. For example, when will key resources be available to
start work? In addition, how much times will a new process take?

To begin planning, you make educated guesses and then use those estimates to create your
schedule.
It's important to keep track of the assumptions you make, so that:
Project stakeholders can analyze the assumptions and then formally agree to a set of project
assumptions.
You can update the schedule when you have additional information about these factors.
Consider these project areas when you identify your underlying assumptions:
Handoffs from other projects or departments: If your project depends on the work of others, do
they understand your dependency and agree to the handoff dates?
Resource availability and usage (including people, materials, and equipment): If you do not
manage some of the people who are working on your project, who does? And has that person
approved your use of these resources?
Task durations (duration: The total span of active working time that is required to complete a task.
This is generally the amount of working time from the start to finish of a task, as defined by the
project and resource calendar.): Are your task estimates based on solid information or guesses?
Project costs (cost: The total scheduled cost for a task, resource, or assignment, or for an entire
project. This is sometimes referred to as the current cost. In Project, baseline costs are usually
referred to as "budget."): How important is cost to your project? Who has to approve your
budget (budget: The estimated cost of a project that you establish in Project with your baseline
plan.) or increase it if necessary?
Available time: If you're working toward a known deadline (deadline: A target date indicating
when you want a task to be completed. If the deadline date passes and the task is not completed,
Project displays an indicator.), can you realistically complete all tasks with an acceptable level of
quality?
Deliverables: Does your list of project deliverables match what the customer and other
stakeholders (stakeholders: Individuals and organizations that are actively involved in the project
or whose interests may be affected by the project.) expect? If you must compromise on a
deliverable, have your stakeholders agreed on what aspects of the deliverable would be
compromised first?
These are just a few issues to consider before beginning any complex project. Ultimate project
success depends on identifying assumptions and making backup plans as much as it does on
carrying out what you have planned.

 Identify your project constraints   Constraints on a project are factors that are likely to limit the
project manager's options.

Typically, the three major constraints are:

Schedule (schedule: The timing and sequence of tasks within a project. A schedule consists
mainly of tasks, task dependencies, durations, constraints, and time-oriented project
information.), such as a fixed end date or a deadline date for a major milestone (milestone: A
reference point marking a major event in a project and used to monitor the project's progress. Any
task with zero duration is automatically displayed as a milestone; you can also mark any other
task of any duration as a milestone.).

Resources (resources: The people, equipment, and material that are used to complete tasks in a
project.), such as a predefined budget (budget: The estimated cost of a project that you establish
in Project with your baseline plan.).

Scope (scope: The combination of all project goals and tasks, and the work required to
accomplish them.), such as a requirement that three models of the product be developed.
A change in one of these constraints usually affects the other two and can affect overall quality.
For example, decreasing project duration (schedule) may increase the number of workers you'll
need (resources) and reduce the number of features that can be included in the product (scope).
The project manager then determines whether this trade-off is acceptable. This concept is called
"the triple constraints of project management" or "the project triangle."
During the planning process, list your project's constraints to ensure that all project
stakeholders (stakeholders: Individuals and organizations that are actively involved in the project
or whose interests may be affected by the project.) are aware of them and have the opportunity to
comment on the list.
It is also worthwhile for stakeholders to agree on how they would respond to unexpected
constraints that arise during the project. For example, if labor costs turn out to be higher than
anticipated, stakeholders may be willing to reduce the scope of the project in specific, predefined
ways.

Note In Project, the word "constraint" means a restriction or limitation that you set on a task (task:
An activity that has a beginning and an end. Project plans are made up of tasks.). For example,
you can specify that a task must start on a particular date or finish no later than a particular date.
 Prepare a scope management plan   After you identify your project's objectives,
assumptions, and constraints, you are ready to draft a scope management plan.

The project's scope is the combination of all project objectives and tasks and the work required to
accomplish them.
The scope management plan is a document that describes how the project scope will be
managed and how scope changes will be integrated into the project. This plan is helpful because
project teams often must adjust their objectives during a project.
A scope management plan may include:
An assessment of how likely the scope is to change, how often, and by how much.
A description of how scope changes will be identified and classified. For example, in a
construction project, you may decide that the work crew leader can approve the work if the client
requests a design change that will cost under $1,000, but if the change will cost more than that,
the project manager and client must reevaluate the scope of the project in terms of cost,
resources, and other factors.
A plan for what to do when a scope change is identified (for example, notify the sponsor and
issue a contract change order).
A well-prepared scope management plan can serve as the basis for your project's contingency
plan (contingency plan: A plan that identifies corrective steps to take if a risk event occurs.).

Build a plan

Define a project

Before you can build a project, you have to decide what exactly the project is, what its
scope (scope: The combination of all project goals and tasks, and the work required to
accomplish them.) is, and what you hope to achieve by your project.

What do you want to explore?

Goal Description
During the project-planning phase of projects that will span a significant
Initiate a project length of time or involve many people, it's important to define the
objectives, assumptions, and constraints of the project.
After initial planning, you can create your project file, enter your
Start a project plan
preliminary project data, and attach your planning documents to the file.
Define project After you establish the objectives of your project, you define the actual
deliverables product or service that meets those objectives.

Plan project activities

After you have defined what your project is, and to ensure that your project is successful, you
should explore the major activities involved in it. Many projects have failed because a project
manager didn't consider, early enough, the full scope of the work involved in creating the project.
What do you want to explore?
Goal Description

Define phases and tasks

After you have determined the work involved in your project, you can organize it into milestones,
phases, and tasks and enter it into a Project plan.

Show the project's organization

After you have outlined tasks, you can also show the structure of your project by using built-in or
customized work breakdown structure (WBS) codes or outline codes.

Estimate task durations

Project can calculate a realistic schedule for you, often based solely on task durations and task
dependencies that you enter.

Schedule project tasks

After you have entered task durations, it's time to address how those tasks are related to each
other and tied to specific dates.

Create relationships between projects

By creating task dependencies between tasks in different projects, you can evaluate the effects of
changes and activities in one project on other projects.

Plan for and procure resources

At this point in the project planning process, you have identified the project scope, set up the task
list, and estimated task durations.
What do you want to explore?
Goal Description
By now, you have identified the project scope, including setting up
the task list and estimating the task durations. You can use this
Estimate resource needs information to make preliminary estimates, identify requirements,
and start your staffing and procurement processes to acquire the
resources that you need.
All your resources have been identified, approved, and procured.
Build the project team Now you can build your team by entering the resource information
into the project plan.
Project makes it easier for you to share resources across multiple
Share resources among
projects in which the same people, materials, or equipment will be
projects
used.
Now that resource information has been entered into the project,
Assign resources to tasks you can assign resources to the specific tasks you've set up as
the work of the project.

Plan project costs

Without a solid understanding of where your costs are in a project, the project can quickly fail and
become unprofitable. Costs are comprised of all the resources required to carry out a project,
including the people and equipment who do the work and the materials consumed as the work is
completed.
What do you want to explore?
Goal Description
Cost estimating is the process of developing the approximate
Estimate costs
resource and/or task costs needed to complete the project activities.
After you enter cost rates, you can save them as your budget before
Define and share cost you start tracking and managing the plan. Also, you may want to
information attach important notes about budget decisions, share the budget
information with others, or transfer information to other file formats.
After establishing costs, you can make the necessary preparations
for tracking and managing them to ensure that the project stays
Prepare to manage costs within budget. You can specify a start date for the fiscal year, control
the calculation options, and determine when the costs should be
payable.

Plan for quality and risks

Quality is a key concern that directly affects your customers or users. Without a risk management
plan, your project can suffer in unexpected ways.
What do you want to explore?  
Goal Description
Before a project begins, you should identify the quality standards that are
Plan for quality
necessary to achieve project objectives.
Identify and plan for Planning for, identifying, and reducing risk at various times during a
risks project can help you to keep the project on schedule and within budget.

Plan communication and security

 Communication and the security surrounding it are critical aspects of creating a team that
collaborates well.
What do you want to explore?
Goal Description
Set up methods for
Set up a method for communicating with the project team and keeping
communicating
the project up to date.
project information
Help protect project Project and Project Server offer basic security features that help protect
information your project information from unauthorized access.

Optimize a project plan

After your project begins, you may need to review how things are going and fine-tune the tasks,
resources, or costs.
What do you want to explore?
Goal Description
Optimize the project
After building your project plan, you can review and fine-tune it to ensure
plan to meet the finish
that you meet the scheduled finish date.
date
Optimize the project After building your project plan, review the allocation of your resources to
plan for resources optimize their workloads.
Optimize the project
Review the planned costs in your completed project plan to ensure that
plan to meet the
they stay within your budget.
budget

Distribute a project plan

Keep stakeholders and team members current on project progress by providing them with access
to online or printed views and reports.
What do you want to explore?
Goal Description
Distribute project
After your project is scheduled, you may want to distribute printed copies
information in printed
of the most current project information to stakeholders or team members.
format
Distribute project You can also distribute the most current project information online to
information online stakeholders or team members.

Track and manage a project

Track progress
Select the items you want to track and choose your tracking method, and then begin monitoring
your project's progress.
What do you want to explore?
Goal Description
Set up a project for Though Project makes tracking easy, there are several steps to take
tracking before you can begin tracking project progress.
Record progress and After you've chosen the items you want to track and the tracking method,
respond to updates you can begin tracking those items.
Manage a schedule
Manage your project by identifying problems, fine-tuning the schedule, and reporting its progress
to stakeholders and team members.
What do you want to explore?
Goal Description
Identify schedule As you track the actual progress of tasks, you can review your schedule
problems to identify problems or potential problems with task schedules.
Put tasks, phases, or
If you identify problems in your schedule, you can use a variety of
the project back on
strategies to manage your project schedule.
schedule
Distribute project If you have changed tasks, resources, or assignments, you can distribute
information in printed printed copies of the most current project information to stakeholders or
format team members.
If you have changed tasks, resources, or assignments, you can also
Distribute project
distribute online versions of the most current project information to
information online
stakeholders or team members.

Manage resources
Manage your resources by tracking their progress, identify and resolve allocation problems,
manage shared resources, and report project progress to stakeholders and team members.

What do you want to explore?

Goal Description
Track resource The most effective way to gauge the progress of resources' work on a
progress project is to balance their workloads and track progress on tasks.
By reviewing resource information, such as assignments, over allocations
Identify resource or under allocations, resource costs, and variances between planned and
allocation problems actual work, you can verify that resources are optimally assigned to tasks
to get the results you want.
Resolve resource To get the best performance and results from resources, you need to
allocation problems manage their workloads to fix overallocations and underallocations.
After you've added enterprise resources, review or change shared
Manage shared
resource information to make sure your project is as flexible and cost
resources
effective as possible.
Distribute project As resources complete work on the project, you can distribute printed
information in printed copies of the most current project information to stakeholders or team
format members.
You can also distribute online versions of the most current project
Distribute project
information to stakeholders or team members as resources' work
information online
progresses.
Manage costs
You manage costs by keeping costs within your budget. Costs are all the resources required to
carry out a project, including the people and equipment who do the work and the materials
consumed as the work is completed.
What do you want to explore?
Goal Description
By reviewing the basic cost information for your project on a repeated
Monitor costs basis, as well as performing a more detailed analysis of cost information,
you can help to ensure your project's financial success.
Adjust costs to keep Once you identify a budget problem, you can take corrective action by
the project on budget using Project to fix the problem and to re-optimize the schedule for cost.

Manage scope
The scope of a project consists of the products or services to be provided and the work required.
As your project progresses, you may find that some parts of the product or service need to be
adjusted or eliminated.
What do you want to explore?
Goal Description
Respond to changes After your project begins, you may need to increase or cut the scope to
in scope meet your budget, cost or quality goals.
Distribute project If the project scope changes and you have changed tasks, resources, or
information in printed assignments, you may want to distribute printed copies of the most
format current project information.
Distribute project You can also distribute online versions of the most current project
information online information.
Manage risks
Identify potential trouble spots by anticipating risks and responding to risk events, and report
project progress to stakeholders and team members.
What do you want to explore?
Goal Description
Identifying, mitigating, and controlling risk will help you meet your project
Identify new risks
objectives.
After a risk event occurs, you may need to respond to the risk in order to
Control project risks
control the impact it may have on the project.
Distribute project If you have changed tasks, resources, or assignments in response to a
information in printed risk event, you may want to distribute printed copies of the most current
format project information to stakeholders or team members.
Distribute project Instead of distributing printed copies, you can make the most current
information online project information available online to stakeholders or team members.

Report project status

Keep stakeholders and team members current on project progress by making information
available with online or printed views and reports.

What do you want to explore?

Goal Description
Distribute project
You can distribute printed copies of project status information to
information in printed
stakeholders or team members.
format
Distribute project You can also make information available online to stakeholders or team
information online members, regularly or on an as-needed basis.
Close a project
Review final project information
The end of a project is a good time for stakeholders and team members to come together to
analyze what went right or wrong, and to produce final online or printed views and reports.
What do you want to explore?
Goal Description
Review final project Closing a project involves summarizing and communicating project
information information, analyzing project effectiveness, and archiving project data.