What's Project?

Project is a computer application published by Microsoft, one of the largest software publishing houses in the world.

What can you do with Project?

Project is a software tool used to answer question such as:

• What tasks must be done to produce the deliverable - what needs to be produced as a result of all the hard work by you and your team?

• Who will complete these tasks?

• What is the best way to communicate project details to people who have an interest in the project?

• When should each task be performed?

• How much will it cost?

• What happens if some tasks are not completed as schedules?

Note that good project management does not guarantee the success of every project, but poor project management usually guarantees failure.

Project is a very sophisticated application indeed. Since it is so complex, we will not be able to cover all aspects of it in this 'introductory' course, but after you complete the course, you will be certainly be able to manage some modest size projects.

Our course

We offer three different ways of learning to use Microsoft Project, each covering the same material:

1. Online learning via broadband - fast Internet connection required.

The most popular option is to take a course by online learning at http://www.softwaretutor.net. The cost of this course is $AUD320.00 for >40 hours of high quality training. This broadband leaning course features rapid enrolment, multi media materials, online forums, multi choice reviews, questionnaires, submission of assignments etc. This is an enhanced learning experience at an affordable price.

Please note that this course costs a little more than our standard charge for an online course, because it includes a book - 'Step by Step Microsoft Office Project 2003' by Carl Chatfield and Timothy Johnson'.

Click here to visit our broadband online learning site (www.softwaretutor.net), scroll down the page to the Microsoft Office group and click on the blue information button alongside the course 'An Introduction to Project' to sample a course.

2. CD-ROM based distance learning

This courses is also available via our CD-ROM based distance learning program at a cost of $AUD395.00.  We post a personalized CD-ROM containing the complete course which runs in your web browser without the need for an Internet connection. The whole course can be completed at home or at work at your own pace. This course costs a little more than our standard charge for a distance course because it also includes a book - 'Step by Step Microsoft Office Project 2003' by Carl Chatfield and Timothy Johnson'.

There is an additional charge of $AUD50.00 if access to the broadband learning version of the course is also required. Many students take this option and use it when it is convenient to make an Internet connection as the broadband learning version of the course contains various forums, quizzes and the opportunity to submit questions.

When ordering (by email to info@designcad.com.au), please be specific about which option you wish to take.

3. Group or one-on-one courses (Adelaide or Canberra - in our offices or yours).
Each course takes one day and costs $AUD750.00 + book cost $60.00[the same cost for one or up to a maximum of three students]. This course costs a little more than our standard charge for a distance course because it includes a book - 'Step by Step Microsoft Office Project 2003' by Carl Chatfield and Timothy Johnson'.

As part of our continuing drive to reduce our carbon emissions by using digital delivery, each participant in our group or one-on-one courses is automatically enrolled at no extra cost in the broadband learning version of this course. This would normally cost an additional $250.00 per student.

In this way, students get a double benefit - personal tuition and the ability to access any of the written instructional materials online, replay any of the demonstration movies, download sample files, log questions, take quizzes and submit assignments for review.

Again, as part of our continuing drive to reduce our carbon emissions, because you have access to the broadband learning site at no extra cost, you can view the online workbook at any time. This enables us to avoid printing a hard copy of the manual and lets you always view an up-to-date copy.

We usually work group or one-on-one, but can take up to 3 students in our training room.  ** Please note that we only run groups if all students come from the same organization.

Our learning system

We believe that what we offer is unique as each person who books a course is given (in addition to a full day of on-site training) access to an online version of the same material, Q&A forums, email support etc. Here is the link to the online course site: http://www.softwaretutor.net. If you ask, we are willing to give you free access to the MS Project course for a brief time so that you can test the quality of our materials.

The fact that the online learning  system exists, means that we can be quite flexible during the day and head off in directions that the student dictates, secure in the knowledge that the more structured and formal materials is available to them as backup. In that sense, we provide custom training – we always get the student to create a project typical of what they want to do rather than sticking rigidly to a formal course.

We feel the need to stress that we do not provide ‘high end’ and detailed problem solving and consulting on particular aspects of MS Project which may have arisen through use of the software on your projects – that is more properly the role of consultants who charge considerably more than the cost of our course. [If you can organize three students for a day,  then the cost is $250 each [+ book] – a competitive price we think]. In short, we target those who are just beginning with Project or have self taught and have got themselves into somewhat of a 'pickle', not power users!

About our courses & methodology

Experience over many years has taught us that adults learn best by progressing through a course of study at their own pace and at times that suit them. Wherever possible, they like to learn by working on their own materials, rather than work through long practice exercises. Our courses are specifically designed so that this can occur - we introduce a topic, provide a movie which shows you how to do it and then give detailed step-by-step instructions for you to follow.

Training in Adelaide

We do not follow a published schedule. Simply send an email tell us that you want to take the course, tell us how many students from your organization will be attending and we will offer you the first available date.

Training in Canberra

In Canberra, we usually work in a small room in client premises. Our maximum capacity is three students, so a small meeting room is all that’s required. We bring computers with us and a large 19” screen. We have been offered access to a larger training room in Civic (it looks very classy and holds 10 students), but its daily rate of hire is not known.

Caveats

Two caveats

1.  MS Project is different to all of our other courses – we supply a text book to go with the course in addition to our electronic workbook. This adds $60 to the cost of the course. The book is written by the two main programmers on Microsoft’s project team and provides a valuable resource.

2. We base the teaching around Project 2003. We have not yet adapted the course for Project 2007, which has just been released.

Times:

Starting time is 9.15 am and finish time around 4.15 - 4.30 pm.

Course duration:

When taken in-house, An Introduction to Microsoft Project normally runs over a full day session.

When taken externally, experience has shown us that students take significantly longer to complete the course, primarily because they are able to break up their learning into small 'chunks' as time permits. Project is a large program - please allow plenty of time to work through our materials. We would estimate that you have 40-50 hours of work in front of you!