MicrosoftВ® Office Project 2007 Step by Step (Step By Step (Microsoft))

If you’ve completed most or all of the chapters in this book, you’re well on your way to mastering Microsoft Office Project 2007. However, one book can only get you so far. To help further your Project and project management knowledge, a few sources are available to you.

Joining a Project Learning Community

If there’s one thing we can say about Project users, it’s that they love to talk about the program and their work with it and to share ideas with others. Whether you work in a large organization or independently, you’re likely to find a community of Project users nearby.

If you’re in a large organization, especially one with a strong project management focus, you might find an internal Project user group or support group there. Such groups often meet informally to provide peer training and support, critique project plans, and share best practices. If such a group does not exist in your organization, you might well start one.

In the public realm, there are many Project user groups around the world. These groups typically meet on a regular basis to share tips and tricks about Project. For example, in the Puget Sound area in the northwest United States-where the authors live-there’s an active Microsoft Project Association chapter that meets most months for informal idea sharing and formal presentations by industry experts. Joining a user group is a great way to broaden your exposure to Project usage; it also can be a great source for informal product support, training, and career networking.

The following are a few places where you can investigate Project user groups and related resources:

• The Microsoft Project Association (MPA) is the official industry association for Project. MPA offers both free and membership-based information about a variety of Project and project management resources, as well as a directory of Project user groups around the world. Find it on the Web at www.mympa.org.

• The Project area of the Office Online Web site at microsoft.com includes a variety of tools and information from Microsoft and other Project users to help you manage your projects. Find it on the Web at http://office.microsoft.com, and then navigate to the Project page.

• The official Project newsgroup offers help and discussions with other Project users, including Microsoft Most Valuable Professionals (MVPs). You can use any newsreader software to access this newsgroup. To view or subscribe to this newsgroup, point your newsreader to news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.project.

• The Microsoft Project MVPs are independent Project experts (not Microsoft employees) officially given MVP status by Microsoft in recognition of their product expertise and work in helping the larger user community utilize Project successfully. MVPs frequently respond to questions in the newsgroups. Find the MVP Web site at http://project.mvps.org.

• To discuss Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) in Project, point your newsreader to news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.project.vba.

• The Project Server area of the Office Online Web site at microsoft.com includes evaluation, deployment, and IT administration information for the Microsoft Office Enterprise Project Management (EPM) Solution. Find it on the Web at http://office.microsoft.com, and then navigate to the Project Server page.

• To discuss Project Server, point your newsreader to news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.project.server.

• The Project Portfolio Server area of the Office Online Web site at microsoft.com describes the new portfolio management solution. Find it on the Web at http://office.microsoft.com, and then navigate to the Project Portfolio Server page.

To formally showcase your Project or EPM expertise, you can become certified. Microsoft has worked with the Project Management Institute (PMI, described in the next section) and others to develop a new set of certifications for Project and the EPM solution-the Microsoft Office Project 2007 Certification Program. These new certifications are aligned with the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK, described in Appendix A). The certifications include:

• Desktop Technology Specialist, focusing on competency with the features found in Project Standard or those in Project Professional when used as a stand-alone.

• EPM Technology Specialist, focusing on competency with Project Professional and Project Server.

• EPM Professional, focusing on Project Professional and Project Server competency with large projects and programs.

To learn about training opportunities and certification requirements for Project 2007 certification, look on the Web at www.microsoft.com/learning.