Project Scheduling Using Microsoft Project Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Project Managers, Project Planners 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-126

Before you join: Participants should have experience contributing to, managing or reviewing project plans and should understand basic project terms such as scope, milestone, task, resource and risk.

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

Reliable project schedules turn approved scope into a controlled sequence of work, decisions, resources and dates. Many project plans fail because activities are poorly defined, dependencies are incomplete, calendars are unrealistic, or progress is reported without a valid baseline. Microsoft Project can expose these weaknesses, but only when schedulers understand the logic behind task relationships, constraints, critical paths and status updates. This course addresses the practical discipline required to produce schedules that project managers, sponsors and delivery teams can use to make decisions.

Participants build and analyse schedules in Microsoft Project Desktop, from initial work breakdown structures through resource assignments, baselines, progress updates and management reporting. They learn to apply Critical Path Method logic, distinguish deadlines from hard constraints, identify resource overallocations, assess schedule compression options, and calculate schedule variance. The course also covers earned value fields, schedule health checks, change control and recurring update cycles. Participants gain the ability to explain why a finish date has changed and identify credible recovery actions.

Instructor-led sessions combine short technical briefings with guided software demonstrations, case-based schedule work, group analysis and structured discussion of common planning failures. Examples reflect capital projects, technology deployments, operational change programmes and regulated delivery environments. Participants leave with a reusable Microsoft Project schedule model, a schedule quality checklist, reporting views and a practical plan for applying consistent scheduling controls in their own work.

The course is suited to project managers, planners, project coordinators, PMO staff and technical specialists who contribute to plans or are accountable for delivery dates. It is particularly useful for professionals moving from spreadsheet-based plans to controlled, logic-driven project schedules.

What you will be able to do

  • Build a deliverable-based work breakdown structure and task hierarchy in Microsoft Project
  • Configure project calendars, scheduling modes, task constraints and deadline indicators
  • Create dependency networks using predecessor logic, leads, lags and milestones
  • Assign work, material and cost resources using units, effort and availability settings
  • Analyse critical paths, total slack, near-critical activities and schedule compression options
  • Save baselines and update actual progress against a defined status date
  • Interpret earned value indicators, schedule variance and forecast completion dates
  • Produce schedule health checks, management reports and a recurring update cycle

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Create logic-driven schedules rather than date lists maintained in spreadsheets
  • Diagnose delayed finish dates using critical-path and constraint analysis
  • Produce credible progress updates supported by baseline variance data
  • Communicate schedule risks clearly through tailored Microsoft Project reports
  • Apply a repeatable weekly schedule update and review routine

For your organisation

  • Improves reliability of delivery dates through valid dependencies and realistic calendars
  • Identifies resource conflicts before they affect critical work packages
  • Provides consistent baseline, progress and variance reporting across projects
  • Strengthens change-control decisions with visible effects on dates and resources
  • Reduces manual reporting effort through standard views, filters and report templates

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can configure a Microsoft Project file for controlled schedule development.

  • Schedule maturity assessed against scope definition, approvals, and reporting needs
  • Microsoft Project Desktop interface, views, tables, and ribbon commands
  • Project start dates, status dates, and scheduling modes configured
  • Working-time calendars established for organisations, teams, shifts, and holidays
  • Options controlling automatic calculation, new-task scheduling, and date formats
  • File properties, project information, and organiser elements managed consistently

Participants can translate approved scope into a structured, measurable task plan.

  • Scope decomposition using deliverable-based work breakdown structure coding
  • Tasks and summary tasks constructed from approved scope deliverables
  • Milestones defined for approvals, handoffs, contractual dates, and releases
  • Duration estimates entered using effort assumptions and planning packages
  • Recurring tasks, deadlines, and notes recorded without distorting logic
  • Outline levels, WBS codes, and custom fields standardised

Participants can build and test task relationships that reflect actual delivery logic.

  • Relationship types selected to represent actual construction and approval logic
  • Lags and leads quantified from handover, curing, review, and mobilisation requirements
  • Predecessors and successors entered through Gantt Chart and Network Diagram views
  • Logic ties audited using driving predecessors, missing links, and open ends
  • Hard constraints distinguished from deadlines and discretionary date preferences
  • Schedule logic tested through forward pass and backward pass analysis
  • Negative float investigated through imposed dates, calendar conflicts, and contractual constraints

Participants can control dates without introducing misleading constraints or calendar assumptions.

  • Base, resource, and task calendars configured for realistic working time
  • Calendar exceptions entered for shutdowns, public holidays, and shift rotations
  • Must Start On and Finish No Earlier Than constraints controlled
  • Constraint dates reviewed with Task Inspector and scheduling messages
  • Manual scheduling converted safely to automatically calculated task logic
  • Deadline indicators used to expose threatened commitments without hard constraints

Participants can assign resources, identify overallocations and assess resolution options.

  • Work, material, and cost resources created with appropriate availability settings
  • Resource calendars and maximum units aligned with operational capacity
  • Assignments built using effort-driven scheduling, units, and work formulas
  • Resource Usage and Resource Graph views expose allocation conflicts
  • Overallocation resolved through task changes, reassignment, delay, and levelling
  • Resource levelling options evaluated against critical-path and delivery implications
  • Cost rates and fixed costs used for schedule cost forecasts

Participants can identify schedule drivers and evaluate practical recovery choices.

  • Critical path identified using total slack, driving tasks, and network logic
  • Near-critical paths examined through filters, grouping, and slack thresholds
  • Task Inspector used to diagnose dates, constraints, calendars, and links
  • Multiple critical paths and critical slack thresholds configured for review
  • What-if scenarios modelled through copied schedules and alternative sequencing
  • Schedule compression assessed using crashing, fast tracking, and resource trade-offs

Participants can baseline a schedule and maintain credible progress and forecast data.

  • Approved baseline saved after scope, logic, resources, and dates review
  • Interim plans distinguished from baseline snapshots and current schedules
  • Status date set to separate actual progress from forecast work
  • Actual Start, Actual Finish, Remaining Duration, and percent complete updated
  • Physical Percent Complete selected where duration-based progress is misleading
  • Reschedule Uncompleted Work command moves incomplete tasks beyond status date
  • Variance tables compare baseline dates, work, costs, and finish forecasts

Participants can use earned value measures to interpret schedule and cost performance.

  • Earned Value fields configured using baseline cost, progress, and status date
  • Planned Value, Earned Value, and Actual Cost interpreted correctly
  • SV, CV, SPI, and CPI calculated for schedule performance control
  • Percent Complete, Percent Work Complete, and Physical Percent Complete compared
  • Late tasks and slipped milestones prioritised through variance analysis
  • Forecast finish dates communicated with stated assumptions and recovery actions

Participants can produce audience-specific reports and identify schedule data quality issues.

  • Gantt Chart, Tracking Gantt, and Timeline views tailored for audiences
  • Custom tables, filters, groups, and fields support schedule reviews
  • Visual Reports export timephased data to Excel and Visio templates
  • PDF and printed views prepared with readable timescales and legends
  • Milestone reports separate executive decisions from detailed team coordination
  • Schedule health checks document missing logic, constraints, and data quality
  • Change-control records link approved changes to updated baseline decisions

Participants can establish a repeatable schedule control cycle for their own projects.

  • Schedule update cycle designed around data cut-offs, reviews, and approvals
  • Weekly progress collection assigns evidence, owners, dates, and acceptance criteria
  • Responsibility matrix clarifies scheduler, task manager, sponsor, and control roles
  • Project templates standardise calendars, codes, views, reports, and defaults
  • Risk registers connected to schedule threats, triggers, and response dates
  • Personal implementation plan defines first schedule, stakeholders, and review cadence

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

What you take back to work

  1. Microsoft Project schedule model
  2. Deliverable-based WBS template
  3. Schedule logic quality checklist
  4. Baseline and status-update procedure
  5. Critical-path analysis guide
  6. Weekly schedule governance plan

Who should attend

  • Project Managers — need defensible schedules for delivery decisions and stakeholder commitments
  • Project Planners — build, maintain and analyse detailed project schedules
  • Project Coordinators — collect progress data and administer schedule updates
  • PMO Analysts — standardise planning controls, reports and schedule quality reviews
  • Engineering and Construction Supervisors — manage task sequencing, resources and site milestones
  • Business Change Leads — coordinate dependencies across technology, process and people workstreams

Skills and tools covered

Microsoft Project schedulingCritical path analysisResource allocation controlBaseline variance analysisEarned value reportingSchedule health checks

Tools and standards

Microsoft Project, PMI Practice Standard for Scheduling, Critical Path Method, Earned Value Management

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings followed by guided work in Microsoft Project Desktop. Participants configure schedules, test dependency logic, assign resources, save baselines and interpret tracking data using realistic project cases. Group exercises examine flawed schedules, critical-path changes, resource conflicts and recovery choices. Simulations show how status dates, incomplete work and approved changes affect forecast completion. Facilitated discussion connects software settings to project controls, governance decisions and reporting expectations. Each participant prepares an application plan for their next scheduling assignment.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have experience contributing to, managing or reviewing project plans and should understand basic project terms such as scope, milestone, task, resource and risk. Familiarity with Microsoft Windows, Excel-style tables and file management is assumed. Prior use of Microsoft Project is helpful but not required; the course starts with the interface and core setup decisions before moving into advanced scheduling controls. Formal project management certification, programming knowledge, advanced mathematics and prior earned value experience are not required.

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

No prior Microsoft Project experience is required. Participants should understand basic project terms and be comfortable working with Windows applications, tables and files.

Bring a laptop for live online delivery and, where permitted, an example of a current or planned project. Pre-course joining information will confirm Microsoft Project access and any required software arrangements.

It is designed for project managers, planners, coordinators, PMO staff and technical leads who create, update or review delivery schedules. It also suits professionals moving from spreadsheet plans to dependency-based project controls.

General project management courses cover broad disciplines such as scope, risk, stakeholders and governance. This course focuses on building, analysing, updating and reporting schedules in Microsoft Project Desktop.

Participants can use the work breakdown, logic, calendar, baseline and reporting methods on their next project plan. The schedule governance plan supports a repeatable weekly update cycle with clear roles and decision points.

Training runs from 08:30 to 16:30 each day, providing about 6.5 contact hours daily. Time is allocated to software instruction, guided schedule development, analysis of case schedules, discussion and application planning.

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

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