I remember opening MS Project for the first time, playing around in the tool for a while, then thinking “I can do all this in Excel”. I put the tool away and never touched it again. That is until I became an official Project Manager. My thoughts at that point were “I should probably learn how to use this tool”. Well after many years and many projects, I realize that MS Project is a powerful tool at helping me manage my work. I now work with MS Project the way most people work with Excel. I find various uses for the tool that may be outside the norm.

For example, I facilitate a number of meetings or training sessions. If you think about it, a training session (or meeting) is nothing more than a small project involving Scope, Cost and Time. You have specific information that you need to deliver in a fixed duration. These training sessions are anywhere from 2 to 12 hours in duration. So just like a traditional project, if you do not have a plan, you are likely to get off track and run out of time before the targeted completion. And also like a project, if you have a baseline plan, you can compare your current status to the baseline to ensure you stary on track.

The following article will demonstrate how to leverage MS Project to help you construct an agenda.

Step 1 – Open MS Project

Step 2 – Save file with meaningful name

Step 3 – Activate Project Summary Task

Click on >Tools, >Options, >View and place a check in the Show Project Summary Task option

Step 4 – Alter the Date format

Click on >Tools, >Options, >View and select the dropdown for the Date Format. Change this to 12:33PM

Step 5 – Change Duration format

Click on >Tools, >Options, >Schedule and change the option “Duration is entered in” to Hours

Step 6 – Change Project Start Time

Click on >Project, >Project Information and input the start time for your meeting.

Step 7 – Input your agenda items

This step would equate to PMI’s Time Management Process of Activity Definition.

Step 8 – Link Topics

This step would equate to PMI’s Time Management process of Activity Sequencing. Given that this is a meeting or training session, all tasks must occur sequentially. In other words we will use a Finish to Start type relationship between all tasks. We link these tasks together using the predecessor field. You could type in the predecessor for each task, but there is an easier way! To link a series of tasks together sequentially using MS Project, there is an option to Link Tasks. Here’s how to use it: first select all the tasks, then click on the Link Tasks option (chain link). Notice how all selected tasks are now joined together sequentially (Finish to Start).

Step 9 – Input Durations

AKA: Activity Duration Estimating. For each topic or agenda item, simply input the estimated duration it will take to cover that topic. By default, if we simply enter a number, MS Project will assume we are inputting hours. But in the case of a meeting, we need to input the duration in the form of minutes. In order to do that we simply type an “m” after the duration. For example, if we feel it will take 10 minutes to provide the Meeting Overview, we click on the Duration field for the Meeting Overview task and type “10m”. Then hit enter.

Complete this step for all items.

We can now see that in order to cover all of these agenda items, it is going to take a little over 2 hours. But if your overall duration is fixed at only two hours, you realize some tweaks will need to be made to this schedule or plan. There are two options we can take. Option 1 is to reduce the duration of at least one item. Option 2 would be to remove an item from this meeting.

We will select Option 1. Topic Two can probably be covered in only 10 minutes.

Notice that the overall duration is now 2 hours. We have a do-able plan!!

But wait….you just realize that the coffee and bagels are not scheduled to arrive until 9:30am. You must adjust the Break time so it begins at 9:30AM. No worries!!!! Simply highlight the entire task for Break and drag it down. MS Project will automatically recalculate and re-establish the links.

Step 10 – Add Resource Names

If different people are responsible for covering the various topics, you can leverage the Resource Names field to identify these individuals.

Step 11 – Save and print the plan

Step 12 – Manage to the plan

Distribute copies of your agenda at the beginning of the meeting. Just like a project, you want your team to know the objective, timing and assignments. Leverage your agenda just as you would a project schedule. Watch the time to make sure you stay on track. If you get off track, you will be able to tell how far off track you are and assess what needs to occur in order to get back on track.

This approach may seem like overkill for a short meeting, but if you have a long meeting or training session with a number of topics that need to be covered, I’m sure you will find this approach to be very beneficial.

5 Tasks + 3 Years = 60 PDU’s

So you passed the PMP exam and have been applying all those fundamental principles on your projects. Perhaps you’ve gotten a new job, promotion or even received an increase in salary as a result of the additional knowledge. In a nutshell, you realize the PMP is of value and you would like to remain PMP certified.

You know that in order to maintain your PMP certification you must acquire 60 PDU’s over the course of 3 years. You’ve ventured to PMI’s CCR site and perhaps even logged a few PDU’s. But you realize that you are still far from having 60. How will you ever get there?

Well, if money is not an object, then acquiring 60 PDU’s is easy. All you have to do is find a find a few project management related seminars or training classes, pay your money and attend. 60 PDU’s will come quickly.

But if you are searching for a more economical approach to acquiring your PDU’s, all you have to do is follow the 5 following steps. This approach will not be easy, as it may require considerable time and effort. But the there are two major benefits. One is that there will be very little direct costs to you. The second benefit is this economical approach will place you in great networking situations. You will have the opportunity to interact with others in the project management field. These contacts can help you resolve your difficult project issues or provide you an inside track to those un-advertised open project management positions.

Step 1 – Do Your Job

That’s right, simply performing your job as a project manager for 1500 hours per year is worth 5 PDU’s. 5 PDU’s per year for 3 years is 15 PDU’s. Do the math. Already, you are 25% there!! These PDU’s should be logged into sub-category 2H.

Step 2 – Do A Little Research

Sub-category 2SDL grants us 1 PDU for each hour of “Self Directed Learning”. There is a limit of 15 PDU’s, but why not claim them all. Pick a topic that you would like to learn about and begin your research project. For example, perhaps you would like to know more about Program Management, Portfolio Management, or Using MS Project to help you better manage your projects. The Research Center at PMConnection provides a great online source for your research.

There is no formal tracking form that PMI requires one to fill out, but it is advised to keep a personal record of all books or articles read. It might even be a good idea to produce powerpoint presentation summarizing your research or perhaps a nice article. Your tracking form and summary report may prove beneficial if PMI would ever audit your PDU records. Producing an article can actually help you with step 3.

Step 3 – Get Published

So if you elected to produce an article from your 15 hours of research, most of your work is complete. All you have to do now is get it published. Try submitting your article to MPA for publication in “The Project Network” or PMI for publication in “PM Network”. If they elect to publish your article, you have just earned another 15 PDU’s!! These get recorded into sub-category 2B, which is getting published in a non-refereed journal.

Step 4 – Become a Committee Member

Find your local PMI Chapter and volunteer a little time. Being a committee member of a project management organization for a year is worth 5 PDU’s. If your closest chapter is too far for a convenient commute, you might want to check out this page of PMI’s website as they are always performing some type of research and rely upon volunteer committee members. These PDU’s get logged into sub-category 5B.

Step 5 – Become an Officer

One notch above a committee member is becoming an officer of a project management organization. Again, your local PMI or MPA chapter provide this opportunity. Being an officer for one year is worth 10 PDU’s. These get logged into sub-category 5A.

If you’ve been keeping a running total, you’ll realize we have now accumulated 60 PDU’s. Below is a nice little scorecard that summarizes our 5 steps.

Summary

Remember that these 5 steps are merely suggestions for earning PDU's economically. Visit PMI’s CCR site for a comprehensive list of categories for earning PDU’s. Here are a few more suggestions:

• Regardless of how you plan to earn PDU’s, get started now! The longer you wait, the greater pressure you put on yourself and the more likely you are to have to attend an expensive event to meet your PDU requirements.
• Log your PDU’s on PMI’s site as you acquire them
• Keep a hard copy of all records in case of a PMI audit