Overview of MS Project team planner and calendar

The Team Planner and the Calendar in MS Project enable you to plan your tasks and resources precisely and efficiently. With these tools, you can keep track of projects, assign tasks, and identify bottlenecks early on. In this guide, you will learn step by step how to effectively use the Team Planner and the Calendar. Let's dive right in and explore the implementation of these two important features.

Key Takeaways

• The Team Planner provides an overview of resources and assigned tasks.
• The Calendar offers a monthly and weekly view of planned work.
• Careful planning and potential adjustments of dependencies are crucial for a smooth flow.

Step-by-Step Guide

Accessing the Team Planner

To use the Team Planner in MS Project, switch to the "Team Planner" tab in the Task view. Here, you will see the resource names scheduled in your project. In our example, these are Müller, Schulz, and Heinz. This provides you with an immediate overview of assigned tasks and their completion status.

Additionally, you can see when specific tasks are due and at what stage they are. Below the resource names, you can also observe which tasks have not yet been assigned. These often include meetings or other planned activities currently not assigned to any individual.

Shifting Tasks

One of the useful functions in the Team Planner is the ability to shift tasks that have not yet started. For instance, if you notice that Heinz is overloaded with his current task, you can decide to reschedule a not-yet-started task like "Cleaning" to a later time or even assign it to another team member, like Müller.

It is important to adjust any existing task dependencies in the Gantt chart. Otherwise, your changes in the Team Planner may not be implemented correctly. If you wish to delete a link between two tasks, you should do so in the Gantt chart to ensure everything continues to function smoothly.

Using the Calendar

To utilize the Calendar in MS Project, you can access it through the menu selection as well. The Calendar provides a similar overview to the Team Planner, but without the specific resources. Here, you can visualize the work in a monthly view and filter it by weeks or custom timeframes as needed.

This gives you a good overview of all upcoming tasks without resources being at the forefront. If desired, you can also restrict the display to a specific week to examine the pending work in detail.

However, in the Calendar, you do not have the capability to make direct changes. It mainly serves for review and planning. You can customize the layout and adjust the height of the weekly view, but the process remains unchanged.

Adjustments and Review

The Team Planner offers an optimal overview regarding the planning of your resources. Here, you can manually or automatically assign scheduled functions and review current status updates for delayed tasks. This allows you to react in a timely manner and adjust your planning if necessary.

Additionally, it is advisable to work in the Gantt chart during planning to ensure that all links and dependencies are correctly set. This way, you establish a consistent and up-to-date project plan.

Summary

This guide provides you with valuable tips and techniques to utilize the Team Planner and Calendar in MS Project. By efficiently planning and adjusting your resources, you can ensure the success of your project.