Excel and MS Project for Project Management Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Project Managers, Project Coordinators and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 16 Nov 2026 Course code SD-PM-117

Before you join: Participants should be comfortable using Windows, managing files and performing basic Excel tasks such as entering data, formatting cells and creating simple formulas.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Project plans fail when scope, schedules, resources, costs and progress data are maintained in disconnected files or updated without consistent controls. Project managers need to turn approved work into an achievable schedule, test resource capacity, establish a defensible baseline and report exceptions before they become missed milestones or budget overruns. Excel and Microsoft Project serve different but connected purposes: Excel analyses and communicates project data, while Microsoft Project builds and maintains the schedule model.

This course develops practical command of both applications for project planning and control. Participants structure project data in Excel, use formulas and PivotTables for analysis, build work breakdown structures, create linked schedules, assign resources and calculate costs in Microsoft Project. They apply Critical Path Method, resource leveling, baseline control and Earned Value Management to assess delivery performance. The course also covers status-date updates, incomplete-work rescheduling, change control, dashboards and concise status reporting for sponsors and delivery teams.

Teaching combines short instructor briefings with guided software demonstrations, project cases, group planning tasks and individual application work. Cases use realistic delivery situations such as technology implementation, infrastructure works, service improvement and procurement projects. Participants leave with reusable Excel reporting templates, a Microsoft Project schedule model, a project controls checklist and a personal implementation plan. The course is delivered over five days in a classroom in more than 50 cities or live online, with approximately 6.5 contact hours each day. Participants receive a certificate of completion.

The course suits project professionals who already work with project plans or reports and need a more disciplined method for planning, tracking and communicating project performance.

What you will be able to do

  • Build controlled Excel workbooks using tables, validation rules and project formulas
  • Create work breakdown structures, work packages and milestone plans
  • Sequence project activities using dependencies, leads, lags and Critical Path Method
  • Assign resources and resolve capacity conflicts through resource leveling
  • Establish schedule and cost baselines for project performance control
  • Track progress using status dates, actuals, remaining work and Tracking Gantt views
  • Produce Excel dashboards and status reports from Microsoft Project data
  • Integrate risk, issue and change records into a weekly project control cycle

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Build project schedules that show realistic dependencies, constraints and critical work
  • Diagnose late tasks and resource conflicts before they affect committed milestones
  • Convert raw project updates into concise Excel reports for sponsors
  • Use baseline and earned value data to explain cost and schedule variance
  • Apply reusable controls to current projects immediately after the course

For your organisation

  • Improves consistency of schedules, resource plans and project reporting
  • Identifies delivery risks earlier through linked dependencies and status-date controls
  • Reduces manual reporting effort through structured Excel models and PivotTables
  • Strengthens budget accountability with baseline, actual and forecast comparisons
  • Creates clearer evidence for sponsor decisions, escalations and change approvals

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can build controlled Excel workbooks for project planning and reporting data.

  • Workbook structure for project controls: inputs, calculations, outputs and audit trail
  • Excel Tables, named ranges and data validation for controlled updates
  • Relative, absolute and mixed references in schedule and cost formulas
  • IF, SUMIFS and COUNTIFS formulas for project status calculations
  • Date functions calculate working days, deadlines and reporting periods
  • Formula auditing traces precedents, dependents and calculation errors systematically

Participants can clean project data and create focused analyses for management reporting.

  • Importing schedule, timesheet and cost extracts using Power Query basics
  • Data types, blanks and duplicate records checked before analysis
  • XLOOKUP matches resource, work package and cost code records
  • PivotTables summarise planned, actual and remaining work by owner
  • PivotCharts communicate schedule variance and resource demand trends
  • Slicers filter monthly project reports without altering source data

Participants can translate approved scope into traceable work packages and milestones.

  • Scope statement translated into deliverables, work packages and planning accounts
  • Work breakdown structures follow the 100 percent rule
  • Work package dictionaries define acceptance criteria, assumptions and accountable owners
  • Milestones distinguish decision points from activities requiring duration estimates
  • RACI matrix assigns responsible, accountable, consulted and informed project roles
  • Rolling-wave planning separates near-term detail from future planning packages

Participants can set up a Microsoft Project file and build a structured initial schedule.

  • Project calendars define working time, holidays, shifts and exceptions
  • Set project start dates, scheduling mode and calendar options
  • Create tasks, summary tasks and milestones from approved work packages
  • Task durations, constraints and deadlines model realistic delivery conditions
  • Outline levels and WBS codes preserve traceability to scope
  • Task notes, hyperlinks and custom fields retain planning assumptions

Participants can model task logic and identify the work driving project completion.

  • Precedence diagramming method maps finish-to-start and other dependency relationships
  • Lead and lag values represent handoffs, curing time and approvals
  • Network logic identifies parallel work, bottlenecks and mandatory sequencing
  • Critical Path Method calculates zero-float activities and completion dates
  • Review task constraints that can distort critical path calculations
  • Schedule Inspector diagnoses links, constraints and calendar-driven conflicts

Participants can assign resources, assess capacity and address overallocations in Microsoft Project.

  • Resource sheet records work, material and cost resource attributes
  • Assign resources using units, availability and task-specific booking details
  • Effort-driven scheduling distinguishes work, duration and assignment units
  • Resource histograms expose overallocations across concurrent task assignments
  • Leveling delays or splits tasks while protecting delivery priorities
  • Capacity scenarios compare internal staff, contractors and subcontracted work

Participants can establish cost baselines and interpret schedule and cost performance measures.

  • Standard rates, overtime rates and fixed costs create budget estimates
  • Cost resources capture travel, licences, equipment and procurement commitments
  • Baseline schedule and budget preserve the authorised performance reference
  • Earned Value Management calculates PV, EV, AC, CV and SV
  • CPI and SPI interpret cost and schedule performance trends
  • Forecast EAC and ETC using current performance assumptions

Participants can update schedules consistently and assess the consequences of progress changes.

  • Status date establishes the reporting cut-off for progress updates
  • Update tasks with actual start, actual work and remaining duration
  • Physical percent complete avoids misleading time-based progress estimates
  • Reschedule incomplete work after the status date using Project controls
  • Tracking Gantt compares baseline bars, actuals and remaining work
  • Change log records approved scope, schedule and budget amendments

Participants can produce decision-focused reports using Microsoft Project views and Excel analysis.

  • Custom views, tables and filters focus reports on stakeholder decisions
  • Group tasks by resource, workstream or WBS reporting level
  • Excel PivotTables analyse exports from Microsoft Project tracking tables
  • Conditional formatting flags late tasks, variance thresholds and missing updates
  • Dashboard charts show milestone health, critical tasks and forecast finish
  • One-page status reports separate decisions, risks, actions and escalations

Participants can combine planning, reporting and governance controls into an operating project routine.

  • Project management plan aligns scope, schedule, resources, cost and reporting
  • Risk register links threats, owners, responses, triggers and review dates
  • Issue log distinguishes current problems from uncertain future risks
  • Change control evaluates impact before updating baselines and forecasts
  • Weekly control cycle combines data collection, analysis, decisions and actions
  • Personal application plan specifies reports, templates and first implementation steps

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Excel project controls workbook template
  2. Microsoft Project schedule model
  3. Work breakdown structure template
  4. Resource capacity planning checklist
  5. Earned value reporting model
  6. Weekly project control plan

Who should attend

  • Project Managers — need reliable schedules, baselines and performance reports
  • Project Coordinators — maintain project data and support planning governance
  • PMO Analysts — consolidate schedule, resource and cost information for portfolio reporting
  • Workstream Leads — plan dependencies, assignments and milestone commitments
  • Business Analysts — translate requirements and deliverables into traceable work packages
  • Operations Managers — control improvement projects alongside operational responsibilities

Skills and tools covered

Excel project analysisSchedule developmentResource capacity planningBaseline performance controlEarned value analysisProject status reporting

Tools and standards

Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Project, Work Breakdown Structure, Earned Value Management

How the course runs

Training methodology

The instructor uses short briefings to explain planning and control methods, followed by guided demonstrations in Excel and Microsoft Project. Participants work through realistic project cases to build schedules, assign resources, establish baselines and analyse performance data. Group tasks focus on dependency logic, resource conflicts and reporting decisions. Simulated progress updates require participants to assess variance and recommend actions. Individual application planning helps participants select templates, reports and controls for immediate use in their own projects.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should be comfortable using Windows, managing files and performing basic Excel tasks such as entering data, formatting cells and creating simple formulas. Some exposure to project plans, task lists, budgets or status reports is expected, whether as a project team member, coordinator or manager. Prior use of Microsoft Project is not required; the course starts with project setup and schedule construction. Participants do not need programming, advanced Excel modelling, formal project management certification or prior Earned Value Management experience.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

You should be comfortable with basic Excel data entry, formatting and simple formulas, and have some familiarity with project work. No previous Microsoft Project experience, programming knowledge or project management certification is required.

Bring a laptop with Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Project installed if you want to work in your own software environment. You may also bring a non-confidential project schedule, task list or status report to inform your application plan.

It is designed for project managers, coordinators, PMO staff, workstream leads and analysts who prepare or use project plans and reports. It is particularly useful for professionals moving from spreadsheet-based task tracking to controlled scheduling.

General project management courses concentrate on methods, governance and leadership across the project life cycle. This course concentrates on applying those methods in Excel and Microsoft Project to build schedules, analyse data, track progress and report performance.

The methods apply directly to scope breakdown, dependency planning, resource assignments, baseline control and status reporting. Participants finish with templates and a personal implementation plan for their own reporting cycle.

The course runs from 08:30 to 16:30 each day, providing about 6.5 contact hours daily. Ten modules progress from Excel controls and schedule construction through resource planning, performance tracking, reporting and integrated project control.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

More courses in Project Management

Project Management Community Development Project Management Training Course 10 days · from USD 2,200 · next 16 Nov Project Management Complex Project Leadership Training Course 5 days · from USD 1,100 · next 16 Nov Project Management Economic Feasibility Analysis for Projects Training Course 10 days · from USD 2,200 · next 16 Nov Project Management Engineering Project Management Training Course 10 days · from USD 2,200 · next 16 Nov Project Management Excel and Project Management Tools Training Course 5 days · from USD 1,100 · next 16 Nov Project Management Excel for Project and Programme Management Training Course 5 days · from USD 1,100 · next 16 Nov Project Management Executive Project Management Training Course 10 days · from USD 2,200 · next 16 Nov Project Management Feasibility Analysis Training Course 10 days · from USD 2,200 · next 16 Nov