Raphael Santos, a Microsoft Project MVP, presented on setting up standardized project schedules to be used across an organization without a project portfolio management (PPM) solution. He discussed concepts like proactive project management, standardizing general and scheduling options, metadata like calendars and custom fields, communication elements, and reporting. The presentation provided guidance on configuring these elements in Microsoft Project and sharing them to establish consistent project schedules for all project managers.

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Setting up a project schedule to be
used in the organization without a
PPM solution
February 13, 2019 @ 12:00 – 1:00 pm EST
Raphael Santos, Microsoft Project MVP

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About Your Presenter: Raphael Santos
• Principal Consultant at Sensei Project Solutions
• Project MVP since 2016
• PPM implementations in 3 continents
- South America
- North America
- Africa
• Trainer / Blogger / Speaker
• Based in São Paulo, Brazil
raphael.santos@senseiprojectsolutions.com

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About Sensei Project Solutions
• Microsoft’s PPM Partner of the Year Winner in 2014;
finalist in 2015, 2017 and 2018.
• 500+ Microsoft PPM deployments
• 5,000+ PPM users trained (Admins, PMs, RMs, TMs,)
• Global impact, with clients in 35 countries and staff on
four continents
http://www.senseiprojectsolutions.com

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What do we offer?
TRAINING
Role-based, Process-focused
Best Practices Books and E-Learning
APPS
Enhanced Productivity Experiences
Extended Cloud Capabilities
SOLUTIONS
Packaged Industry Best Practices
Jumpstart  Reporting  Integration
SERVICES
Process and Technology Consulting
Deployments and Support
• Process maturity
• Technology guidance
• Deployment execution
• Health checks
• Support and maintenance
• Problem tickets
Visit www.senseiprojectsolutions.com/services
Pre-configured Best Practices Microsoft PPM
Turn-key PPM reporting and dashboards
Integrates Microsoft PPM with LOB systems
Enterprise data warehouse for Microsoft PPM
Agile/Scrum capabilities inside Microsoft PPM
Best practices Power BI dashboards & reports
Visit www.senseiprojectsolutions.com/solutions
• Project Manager training
• Team Member training
• Application Administrator training
• Resource Manager training
• Report Author training
• Application Administrator Guides
• Project Manager Guides
• Team Member Guides
• PPM eCoach™ for Project Managers
• PPM eCoach™ for Team Members
Visit www.senseiprojectsolutions.com/training
Checks the quality and scores project schedules
Checks compliance of projects in the portfolio
View resource availability, engagements, and
coverage
Allows Administrators to bulk update metadata
Visit www.senseiprojectsolutions.com/apps

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Agenda
• Concepts of Proactive Project Management
• Standardization
• Configuring MS Project to be used in the organization
• General options
• Metadata
• Communication
• Reporting
• Additional elements

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Proactive Project Management & Scheduling
It is a philosophy and a set of best practices to help project managers and
their organization be successful on using Microsoft Project Desktop to plan,
execute, and monitor and control their initiatives
Printed directions
Static, out of sync after detour or wrong turns;
no update to arrival time or distance
GPS System
Tracks actual progress; reroutes on detours;
provides accurate forecast of arrival time

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Standardization
To guarantee that everyone is in the same page
• General scheduling options are set
• KPIs are the same across the organization
• Communication is clear, always using the same
parameters
• A single set of reports are globally used
• There is a formal schedule template
• Additional elements can be configured individually

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General MS Project Options
Project Options settings affect how your schedule is displayed and calculated, so it is very
important to understand them and set the appropriate defaults.
• General options
• Display options
• Schedule options
• Define Working Time
• Scheduling Mode (auto vs. manual)
• Default Task Type
• Additional Scheduling Options
• Proofing options
• Save options
• Advanced options

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Project Metadata
Project Metadata must reflect the standards being used in the organization, so all PMs
manage their projects using the same metrics. They include:
• Calendars (working time)
• Custom Fields & Formulas

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Project Communication
Project Communication refers to how the elements of the project schedule are organized
to help PMs identify the topics of interest. They include:
• Custom Tables
• Custom Filters, Groups & Highlights
• Custom Views

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Project Reporting
A subset of Project Communication, the reports will provide key information (based on
real-life data) PMs need to understand the health of their projects and to take proactive
actions to get them back on track.

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Additional Elements
There is also a collection of additional elements you can configure within Microsoft Project
to help your PMs do their work in a better and productive way. They include:
• A Customized Ribbon
• A Customized Quick Access Toolbar
• A project schedule template that reflects the regular WBS used in the organization

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Call for action
As for the next steps, you can:
• Configure the general options in MS Project (default task type, scheduling mode, etc.)
• Determine the custom fields and formulas to be used in your organization and create them in
MS Project
• Configure the calendar (working time) to be used in your organization
• Create custom tables and views
• Create custom reports
• Build the schedule template to be used in your organization
• Save and share the file (using SharePoint or a common drive to be used by project
managers)
• Import all customizations to your Global MPT

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Links & Downloads
Downloadable content: Microsoft Project Schedule Template:
https://app.box.com/s/2lglk7ygvbebmq77vt6i05tqxuisrkg1
Configuring the Global MPT:
https://support.office.com/en-us/article/copy-reports-calendars-and-views-in-
project-78d9c687-b70f-4a20-86c5-e1c65c124261?ui=en-US&rs=en-US&ad=US

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Questions and answers
???

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Thank you!
Setting up a project schedule to be
used in the organization without a
PPM solution
February 13, 2019 @ 12:00 – 1:00 pm EST
Raphael Santos, Microsoft Project MVP
raphael.santos@senseiprojectsolutions.com