New to Microsoft Project?

The aim of this page is to give you some background and overview information about MS-Project, and to point to some of the online resources that we have found to be most useful.

Don't have Microsoft Project?

You can download a free 60-day trial of Microsoft Project 2003 Standard Edition from here.  The download is rather huge (but possible - we've done it!), so unless you are on a fast connection you may prefer to choose to receive a trial on CD from the same page.

The big picture.

Firstly, let's take a look at some history;

• Back in the year 2000, Microsoft Project was Microsoft's 5th best-selling product of all time, with over 5 million users worldwide.

• Around the same time it was estimated that if Microsoft Project was valued as a standalone business in its own right, it would feature in the UK's FTSE list of top 100 companies

• Version 1.0 of MSP was released in 1990, and came with a free copy of Windows 2.1

• Today Microsoft Project still has over 60% of the Project Management  software market

So if you're wondering whether MSP is the right product for you, you can at least rest assured that you won't be on your own! Supporting MSP has become a huge spin-off industry in its own right, and there are a myriad of training companies, books, websites, discussion groups and consultancy providers who can offer assistance.

Getting Started.

One of the best online resources we know of  to assist new users just starting out with Microsoft Project (or project planning in general), is Mike Glen's excellent series of articles (28+ in all) hosted on TechTrax. These take you from the very basics of what MSP can do, and what PERT and Critical Path Analysis are all about, through to some of the more complex areas of MS-Project such as managing multiple projects. Articles 1 to 28 are free to view, the later ones require a TechTrax subscription.

Click here for a list of links to each article.

Finding answers.

A common problem faced by new users when starting out with MSP is that  there is such an overwhelming wealth of online material and support options - it can be daunting to say the least, especially when you are trying to put a project plan together on a deadline. And if you have hit a snag, and you need to find an answer quickly, where do you look? Links to two of the best resources to search for an answer to a problem are;

Project MVPs FAQ List

MS-Project newsgroups on Google Groups

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