How do you choose Microsoft Project training? Microsoft Project has long been one of the most popular choices for project management tools. It has influenced a generation of online scheduling systems, and it has grown up itself too. Today, Project is a full-featured enterprise tool that can support your whole portfolio and integrate seamlessly with the other Microsoft products in your estate.
However, many Project users don’t make the best of all the available functionality, simply because there is a lot of it and they don’t know how. It’s important that Microsoft Project users are trained in how to use the features they need so they can use the tool efficiently.
There are lots of Microsoft courses, so how do you choose Microsoft Project training which is right for you? Here’s our guide to help you choose Microsoft Project training which is best for you and your team.
What do you want to know?
Think about what you want the course to cover – this is the most important requirement. Experienced users will need a syllabus that helps them speed up their project scheduling and get the best out of reporting and automations. New users will need a completely different course – something that covers the basics well, giving them the confidence to go ahead and set up their own projects.
Look to see whether the syllabus will teach only the technical features or also the application those features. It’s useful to know how to do resource levelling in the tool, but it’s more useful to know when you would want to do so. Good courses will also provide the project management principles and context so delegates can accurately apply what they have learned in their environment.
Courses that list lots of subjects aren’t necessarily the best. In our experience, users rarely need to be able to use everything the tool can do – they simply won’t use all the functionality. Instead, it’s more helpful to focus on the features they need to be proficient at managing their project.
How do you want to learn?
There are lots of different ways to learn about Microsoft Project, and they all have a place. Here are some options.
- YouTube ‘how to’ videos
- Microsoft’s own website with mini-tutorials and help files
- Books
- Online recorded/video training
- Online training with a live instructor
- Face-to-face training in a public class
- Face-to-face training on your own organization’s premises.
You’ll want to consider a range of support and training for your Microsoft Project users, covering formal and informal options depending on what they want to learn and when. A book could be a useful desk reference for your system administrators, who want an ongoing guide to configuring system options. On premise training could be appropriate if you have a whole team requiring training, whereas one new starter could go on a public access course.
What’s the format of the course?
If you are going with instructor-led video, online or in-person training, another consideration is how the course is delivered. Will there be plenty of time to get your hands on the tool and test it out? Will there be a worked example so you don’t have to create data from scratch? Do you need to bring along a test project to use?
During our 2-day Project Management Fundamentals with Microsoft Project course, participants work to take a project through the full project life cycle. A blend of simple exercises and project simulations offer a creative range of ways to learn about the tool at a variety of levels, and our trainers can adapt the course as they go to suit the delegate’s learning styles and pace. Microsoft Project is used as the tool to support, so they learn in a very practical, hands-on way.
If your delegates learn best through doing, look for courses that allow you full access and example projects so you can see (and test out) how the tool’s functionality can be applied.
How will you be using Microsoft Project Server?
As with all tools, Microsoft Project has different user roles for people who need different levels of access. Microsoft Project Server or Project Online extend the standalone versions of the tool into a full project portfolio management solution that works on premise or in the cloud.
When you layer on portfolio management requirements, your users need to have a slightly different – broader – view of how the tools work. Project data is aggregated to provide a complete picture of the portfolio of work, so there are different features and reports to configure and review.
Consider who is going on the training and what role they will have when they return to the office. Your Project Server and Project Online administrators, resource managers and portfolio managers will need access to different parts of the functionality, and a full understanding of how to use them to support the organization’s goals.
We offer role-based training so each of your Project communities can have access to bespoke training appropriate to your organization’s use of the tools. We support companies so that their users have training relevant to your own internal processes and the way you have chosen to implement Project Server.
Tools shouldn’t bloat your project management or make it harder to get the work done. With the right training, you can make Microsoft Project work for you. Streamline how you use it, get the best out of it for your particular environment, and then let it take the strain.
Empower your project managers to do what they do best: making decisions about the day-to-day running of the project, leading the team and working with stakeholders to deliver the work successfully. The right tools, and the right training, will help them deliver time after time.