In any organization, project management is one of the most crucial aspects that should be emphasised and performed with extra care. Project management refers to the method of directing the team to accomplish established targets or goals. Managing projects systematically will ensure the expectations from a project and performance are met within the milestones. The main purpose of project management is ensuring the objectives are achieved and avoiding errors.
Microsoft Project
Microsoft has been one of the most accessible and used software around the globe, regardless of what purposes. Some people may not know but Microsoft also offers an application for managing projects, known as Microsoft Project. It is one of the most favourite and commonly used software in project management.
Microsoft Project is full of useful features that could help managing projects proactively. It has planning and scheduling features that could give a clear picture of your schedule based on priorities, criticality, and so forth. It is also equipped with a project timeline view for easy tracking of your project’s progress. Besides, it allows collaboration where files could be shared and accessed by other people.
Reporting is also easy in Microsoft Project. Customization is allowed for data and an easy generator of your reports. With all of these features, you could choose from available reporting interfaces to present your data systematically. The data could also be presented in any form available. For instance, Gantt Chart, calendar, resource usage chart, and a lot more to choose from. Other than that, Microsoft Project is equipped with resource management features which could aid in managing resources and availability. This may include the budget allocation, the team members, materials needed, the meetings, and many more. You could also work on multiple projects in one platform by using Microsoft Project.
There are quite a number of tutorials or courses offered to train users in handling Microsoft Project. Project Managers may look into this list to find out more about the functions of Microsoft Project that you may be unaware of all this while. In this article, we will look at twelve of the best Microsoft Project tutorials available. We will explore on both free and paid programs. Let’s begin now.
1. Master of Project Academy
Master of Project Academy is one of the most recommended online tutorial courses for Microsoft Project coaching. Users could join this training at their own pace. It offers a subscription for monthly, annual, and even lifetime. There is also the free training provided here which will cover the basic skills to use Microsoft Project.
The foundation package offers more than 9 hours of training with over 50 lecturers involved. The monthly fee is $47, $127 for the annual fee, and $227 for the lifetime subscription. The advanced package includes more than 8 hours of advanced course with also more than 50 experts contributing. The monthly fee is $57, the annual fee is $137, while the lifetime fee is $237.The last package is known as the bundle package which combines both foundation and advanced packages. It comprises more than 17 hours of training by industry experts. The fee is $87 monthly, $227 annually, and $377 for lifetime access.
2. Udemy (Microsoft Project ALL: BEGINNER to EXPERT 10 Projects 9 PDU)
Udemy is known to be beginner-friendly as their target users are mostly new project managers with little to no experience of using Microsoft Project. There are over 100 lecturers who contributed training courses here. The most recent courses offered was in October 2020, named Microsoft Project ALL: BEGINNER to EXPERT 10 Projects 9 PDU which offers step-by-step tutorial from the most basic skills to use MS Project to the most complex features there. This tutorial also includes video lectures, downloadable exercises, PDF, and many more. There are more than 120 lessons here with over 9 hours of instructions. The fee for this course is $139.99 but there may be a discount going on, so grab your chance while the promo is still up. This course is rated 4.5 out of 5 by more than 12,000 users.
3. Udemy (Master Microsoft Project 2016 – 6 PDUs from a PMI REP)
Another course that you can join also consider is Master Microsoft Project 2016 – 6 PDUs from a PMI REP which is available in Udemy. Its rating is 4.5, vote by over 3700 users. It has been enrolled by a total of more than 16,000 students. The price for this course is $99.99 but just like the previous course, this website may also offer discounts for some of the training available here. A total of 9 sections are offered in this course where 89 lecturers are directly involved with the coaching. Each section may comprise several lectures. The total length of courses for this training is more than 6 hours.
4. ed2go
One of the recent courses offered in ed2go is Microsoft Project 2019. It is a self-paced online course which will take 6 months to complete. 120 course hours are offered for this training. The fee is $795 for the whole span of 6 months. This training will teach you how to use MS Project 2019. You will then be assigned to develop a master project upon completion of quizzes and assignments. The enrolment is open and users could start anytime. The content of courses include teaching on how to plan, implement, and track project performance. They also teach on how to examine schedules to monitor progress, and many other things important in project management.
5. GoSkills
The other course that you may find useful is Microsoft Project Fundamentals in GoSkills. This course will offer you the solid fundamentals to run MS Project. 44 lessons are provided here with an estimated 19 hours needed to study all materials. The video here is more than 3 hours and you will be certified upon completion. This is also a self-paced course hence the user may choose among the available choices. A free trial is offered here while the monthly fee is approximately $24 and the annual fee is around $148.
6. Lynda.com
Microsoft Project tutorials in Lynda.com comprises of 20 courses that users could choose from. There are three skill levels with three authors who will bring users to explore four versions of MS Project. A total of more than 900 video tutorials could be accessed here with the duration ranging from 30 minutes until even longer than 9 hours. This website is linked to Linkedin.com. A one-month free trial could be subscribed to here. A monthly subscription fee is around $30. However, if you subscribe to the annual plan, you could save 34% since the monthly fee is only $20.
7. Webucator
One of the trainings offered in Webucator is Introduction to Microsoft Project 2019: Getting Started. This is suitable for the beginner user of Microsoft Project who wishes to learn the simple and basic functions of this software. This course takes place for two days. There are three delivery methods available which are private class, live instructor online, or self-paced course. The fee for the live class is $690 while the self-paced course will cost you $99.99. The live class will be done periodically and you are given options on the date that you wish to join. As for the private class, you may have to request the pricing through the Webucator website to learn more about the details.
8. New Horizons
Users who enrol in Microsoft Project Training in New Horizons will be given the chance to develop the project plan, manage tasks in the application, track budget, and also learn how to combine data with other Microsoft applications. To date, there are two versions of MS Project courses available here, namely Microsoft Project 2019 which comprises of two parts, and Microsoft 2016 which consists of four parts, Mastering MS Project 2016, Part 1, Half-day session of Part 1, and Part 2. The courses offered here are also self-paced. However, there is no mention of how much the fee for the courses offered on this website. You may need to check based on your residing region first before looking into the pricing.
9. Simplilearn
The Microsoft Project 2013 Certification Training offered in Simplilearn has a high rating of 4.6 out of 5, rated by more than 2300 users. More than 11,000 students have enrolled here and left positive feedback about the courses offered here. It contains more than 11 hours of high-quality e-learning inputs with two simulation exams. More than 43 demos for MS Project tools are available, aside from the downloadable e-book. The total number of PDUs offered here is 16. It also contains more than 40 applications. There are two available options for the training. Self-paced learning allows a lifetime access to the courses with a fee of $149. The second option is corporate training which delivers content in both self-paced eLearning or lead by instructors. The pricing options are flexible and offer 24/7 assistance and support for the students.
10. LinkedIn
You may have been familiar with LinkedIn but do you know that this website also offers a long list of courses for Microsoft Project. Some of the available courses will also award you with certification which will be a great opportunity to display your qualifications to your potential employer. One of the most recommended tutorials offered here is Microsoft Project 2016 Essential Training which was initially released in 2015. The course will cost you $35, or a one-month free trial. This course is suitable for beginner and intermediate level users. The video length in this course is approximately 5 hours.
11. Coursera (MS Project: A Deeper Dive)
If you are looking for free courses, you may want to visit the Coursera website. One of the courses, named MS Project: A Deeper Dive, offers training on necessary skills needed to run MS Project as well project management. This website only requires you to sign up to watch all the three available video tutorials. Most reviews stated that the courses are impactful and easy to follow especially for beginners. Given how it is free of charge, this course may be one of the recommended ones for beginner project managers who just started to use MS Project. From this point onwards, you may consider joining paid courses which included more complicated features in the application.
12. Universal Class
The Universal Class website offers a completely online and self-paced courses. A total of 18 lessons are offered here with more than 40 assignments and exams to be completed. The average time needed to complete this course is around 8 hours. The lessons in this course are printable aside from the high-definition video tutorials. Users are given six months to complete the course here. The CEU equivalent accreditation for this course is 0.8. The fee for this course is $50, however, you will not be awarded with a certificate. In order to obtain the CEU certificate, you will need to pay $75 as the fee.
Microsoft Project is one of the most used applications for project management. Due to its popularity, there is a high chance that the company you are working at or the one you plan to work at uses this professional software. Hence, having the basic skills to use this application is a must if you are a project manager, either beginner or veteran. The list before has mentioned some of the best Microsoft Project tutorials that you may want to have a look at. Some of the websites offer free courses or free trials, highly recommended for the beginner project manager who lacks experience on this application. Once you have the basic skills to run this skill, it is suggested to gradually enrol in paid courses which teach on more complicated features.
