Need guidance for MS Project

[vk]

Hello All,

I am an expert Oracle developer aspiring to become a technical
lead/project manager. Are there any specific books that deal with IT
project management/Microsoft Project? what are the other project
management software comparable to MS project?

Can MS Project be used for Job scheduling planning for data warehouse
load sequences?

TIA,
VK

 

[Jonathan Yong]

MS Project Step by Step is a primitive book for starters. But this only
cover only the software functionality.

To learn more about project management as a dicipline, visit www.pmi.org

MS Project is good enough for average type of projects if the
requirement on project management is not too complicated.

For example, if you just want to have a schedule for planning and
tracking purpose, it is adequate.

However if your schedule is used as a contractual document and involve
commercial impact and you need advance tracking and auditing
functionality, MS Project still require a few more iteration of
advancement to be there.

 

[Rob Schneider]

Jonathon,

I'm curious... can you elaborate on your points about the schedule being
a contractual document, commercial impact, what you mean by "advance"
tracking, and auditing, and what you would expect Project to be doing in
these areas?

Hope this is useful to you. Let us know.

rms

 

[Bobby]

You must differentiate project *management* from project *planning*.

MS Project is a (very good) project planning tool - but project planning is
one (small) part of project management -- which includes planning,
directing, starting, initiating, developing and closing.

The world's most commonly used PM methodology is called "Prince". More info
here:

http://www.prince2.com/

Hope this helps.

Bobby

 

[Steve House]

For an overall discussion of project managment in an IT context, you might
take a look at the Sybex publication "IT Project+ Study Guide" by William
Heldman. It's not MS Project specifc but it can be useful in connecting the
dots between PM software such as MSP and the needs of project management in
an IT environment.