Category: Microsoft Project

The core content of the TPC blog, Microsoft Project related articles. I started this blog way back in 2014 with a series of articles to spot incorrect use of Microsoft Project. It took storm and I continued to write about the tool that Microsoft created for Project tracking and scheduling. The posts that you will find in this category are all linked to usage of the desktop application. Examples are the Backwards scheduling vs deadlines post and Never delete a task.

But there is much more content, please explore and I hope you find the content that you are looking for. If not, you can always reach out by adding a comment on a post.

Updating the visual reports in MS Project 2010 and 2013

Hello readers,

Recently I got to be more active on the Linkedin forums, and I came across an interesting post that could use some elaboration. It concerns the Visual Reports within Microsoft Project 2010 and 2013. As a standard, these reports are created using old Excel templates. But what if you want to use some nice new features? You would need to save that sheet and move away from the compatibility mode. In this post I will share the things you can do to create stunning reports.

Update feb 2016 —————

Hi there, I uploaded my own versions of the Excel Reports to TechNet (they are also available from the TPC OneDrive). Here is the link to the gallery:

https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/An-updated-version-for-the-da120217

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Continue reading Updating the visual reports in MS Project 2010 and 2013

Using units instead of the resource calendar

Hi Readers, This is it, the third (and final?) post related to Max. Units in Microsoft Project. I wrote two posts already that can be accessed through these links: Post 1 and post 2. This is a Do it Yourself post and will teach you how to use Max. Units correctly in the situation where you want to accurately portray the resource availability, but don’t care about specific days off or non project work. I frequently use this method at municipals or companies that do high level capacity management. Continue reading Using units instead of the resource calendar

Units vs Peak units in Microsoft Project

Hi readers,

Here is a follow up post related to the post Using max units in Microsoft Project. In that post I talk about the max units of a resource in length. However as the post got bigger and bigger I knew I needed to do some follow up posts. This will be the first follow up.

I try to keep the post short because there is a lot of great content already available on the subject (to which I will happily refer at the end of the post). Continue reading Units vs Peak units in Microsoft Project

Using max units in Microsoft Project

Hey readers, Here is another post for you to bite into. This post is about using Max units in Microsoft Project. And if you are not familiar with the term max units, don’t worry I’ll start with a little explanation. Here we go. Continue reading Using max units in Microsoft Project

Book review: Forecast scheduling with Microsoft Project 2013

In the time I was busy settling in, in my new role as a dad I got an interesting offer. I was asked by Eric Uyttewaal to join the team to review his new book pre-release. A chance to get my hands on a book before it even hit the shelves, cool! Needless to say I took the opportunity with both hands.

Today the book came in the mail, crispy new. Sadly, this is all I have to show for my reviewing actions, due to limited time as a new dad, and some e-mail trouble, only 3 of the 13 chapters I reviewed got to the team. That’s the reason, I believe, you will not find me in the acknowledgements on page 3.

Continue reading Book review: Forecast scheduling with Microsoft Project 2013

About start dates in Microsoft Project

Hi Readers,

It’s been a busy month but here I am again with a new post. This post will be all about the different start dates Microsoft Project has to offer and what you can expect from them. We all know “start date” and most of you will be familiar with “baseline start date”. However, there are more! Hope you enjoy the post, let me know if I missed anything. I will be using MS Project professional 2013 in examples.

Just a small update, I got connected with Webucator, they created a video based on this post. Have a look here.

Continue reading About start dates in Microsoft Project

About Percent Complete in Microsoft Project

Hello readers,

In this post I will take an extensive look at a set of fields that report progress in the schedule. I will have a close look at the Percentage complete entities within Microsoft Project There are % complete, % work complete fields and then there is also something called Physical % complete. In the field I get asked about the differences between the 3 fields on a regular basis. This post will help clear up some of the confusion, I hope.

March 2016 update ——————
Raphael Santos, Consultant at Sensei Project Solutions, is kind enough to provide a translated version of this post in Portuguese. Here is the link: http://www.raphael-santos.net/2016/03/campos-de-percentual-concluido-do-Microsoft-Project.html.

@Raphael; thanks man!
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Continue reading About Percent Complete in Microsoft Project