Once the environment is set up, you are ready to start creating your project. The approaches and best practices we cover are applicable whether you are creating a new project from a template, or starting from blank project.
Start by creating a new blank project either from the Start Screen or by selecting New on the File ribbon. If you are using a template instead of a blank file, open the template file, and save it as a new project.
Access the Project Information dialog box by selecting the Project Information button in the Properties section of the Project ribbon.
This is where we will set our Project Start Date, and make sure that our Project Calendar is set correctly.
Set the Project Start Date to the date you anticipate the work will begin on your project. This can be changed later if needed. Validate that the Project Calendar is set as needed.
These are the only values we will change in the Project Information dialog box. Click OK.
As part of our project initiation we will also assign a Project Name. This is the name that will be displayed when you print your Gantt Chart, display the Project Summary Task, or insert the project into a Master Project.
By default, the project name will be set to whatever name the file is saved to. However, we may want to use a different name for our project. The simplest way to do this is by entering the project name we want as the Task Name for our Project Summary Task.
The Project Summary Task is a task that is created automatically by Microsoft Project. It spans the entire length of your project, and field values will be rolled up where applicable.
To display the Project Summary Task, under the Format ribbon, in the Show/Hide section, check the Project Summary Task checkbox.
Task ID 0 – the Project Summary Task – is displayed.
Enter the name you want to use for your Project Name. Microsoft Project will now use this as the Project Name instead of using the .mpp file name.