Project Management Using Microsoft Project 2016: A Training and Reference Guide for Project Managers Using Standard, Professional, Server, Web Application and Project Online for Office 365

This training and reference guide provides a comprehensive coverage of Project Management theory that is applied to the use of Microsoft Project 2016, from the project manager’s perspective. Our debut of Project Management Using Microsoft Project 2013 was well received by the project management community in over 25 countries. It has been so successful that we decided to convert that work to our new version for Project Management Using Microsoft Project 2016. We have improved the hands-on exercises with new features, we have re-captured the screen images in larger, improved quality and higher resolution. We have also added the new features in Microsoft Project 2016, especially the new Resource Engagement feature.This text has been created to serve as a comprehensive reference and training guide that presents the main principles of project management theory which is then applied to the best practices of using Microsoft Project 2016.When used cover-to-cover, this text serves as a comprehensive guide to running a project from definition and initiation thru execution and closeout, accompanied with hands-on guidance that shows how to effectively apply project management principles to the use of Microsoft Project. The hands-on exercises are delivered in appropriate detail that provide detailed, step-by-step illustrations, supported by actual Microsoft Project files that can be download from our training web page. This is the same training material that we use to deliver all our Microsoft Project 2016 training for our clients.Each chapter begins with a list of learning objectives and finishes with 25-50 questions that reinforce the learning that occurs throughout each chapter. For academic audiences, we provide the answer key for all questions and supporting PowerPoint slides for instructors.This training material and reference is also an excellent preparation guide for passing the Microsoft certification Exam 74-343: “Managing Projects with Microsoft Project 2016” [See: Microsoft Exam 74-343: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/learning/exam-74-343.aspx]This guide has been created to serve as the most comprehensive reference and training guide available, assembling content and best practices honed over our many years of Microsoft Project and general project management training. Many training guides on technology are primarily manuals on features and functions of the software. The goal of this book is to show why those features and functions are important from a project management standpoint (based on PMI’s Project Management Body of Knowledge, PMBOK), and then demonstrate how to effectively leverage that value in the use of Microsoft Project 2016. The information in this book was selected based on Project Assistants’ 21+ years of project management consulting, Microsoft Project training, and managing real projects with Microsoft Project with real clients in real project scenarios.This book is one-of-a-kind that covers Microsoft Project from the desktop all the way thru the enterprise capabilities, including specific training for:•Microsoft Project 2016 Standard •Microsoft Project 2016 Professional•Microsoft Project Server 2016•Microsoft Project Web Application (PWA)•Microsoft Project Online for Office 365

Gus Cicala is the president, CEO, and co-founder of Project Assistants, a regularly published author on project management, and an acclaimed speaker. He graduated cum laude from the Wharton Business School and has over thirty years of project management experience and thirty-five years of information technology development and consulting expertise. In his 21 years since founding Project Assistants, he and his team have served their clients, based on the mission to “Deliver the Future into the Present.” Project Assistants fulfills their mission by ensuring the success of their clients’ vision working with the PMO’s expectation to ensure better, faster, & more cost-effective projects. Project Assistants support their clients through two primary services offerings. The first is PMO definition, deployment, and adoption, which includes Microsoft Project EPM implementation. The second is project management staffing and full-time placements. In addition to writing this publication, Gus was a contributing author to the third edition of Expediting Drug and Biologics Development. He was also a contributing author on the topic of project leadership for The Keys to Our Success: Lessons Learned from 25 of Our Best Project Managers. Gus’ articles on Microsoft Project are routinely published, including in the Microsoft Project Users Group, Macmillan’s Que book series: Special Edition: Using Microsoft Project, and Microsoft's own Step-by-Step guides for Microsoft Project. He was a long-standing member of Microsoft's product advisory council and an active member of the Microsoft Partner Research Panel, both of which had a say in the very features, functions, and distribution of Microsoft Project. In Gus' personal life, he has been married to his lovely wife, Susan, for 37 years and enjoys much of his free time at their Christmas tree farm in Shaftsbury, Vermont. Gus & Susan raised four adult children and now have five grandchildren (so far). Gus owns & flies a Piper Arrow as an instrument rated private pilot. He is the former president and active Board of Directors member of the Limen House, a non-profit organization dedicated to turning around the lives of recovering alcoholics and addicts in Wilmington, Delaware. Gus is also one of the founders of the rapidly growing social entrepreneurship program at Malvern Prep.