First step is to save a baseline (Tools, Tracking, SaveBaseline) so you know
what your initial plan called for. The I like to switch to the Tracking
Gantt view and set the table on the left side of the screen to the Tracking
Table (seems like the table should switch automatically but it doesn't).
There's also a tracking toolbar that you can display for convenience.
You'll notice the table has entries for actual start, actual finish, percent
complete, actual duration, and remaining duration. If a task is doen and
began and ended just as your plan called for, just mark it 100% done. If it
started early or late put the actual start date in the actual start column.
If it is in progress, mark the amount of time that has been spent on it in
the actual duration field. If the person doing it thinks it will take more
or less time than originally planned, put a revised remaining time in the
remaining duration field. If it's finished, put the actual time it took in
the actual field and set the remaining to zero. One final step - if there's
work that should have been done before the date you're updating through (the
"status date") but didn't get done for some reason, use the tool in the menu
Tools, Tracking, Update Project, Reschedule Uncompleted Work After to move
it to the next workday it could happen (you can't go back in time and do
work last Tuesday that should have been done then but wasn't - the only
thing you can do is reschedule it to some time when you can get back to it).
Now switch back to your regular Gantt chart view and if some of the downline
tasks have slipped because things earlier in the project are running earlier
or later than planned, be sure to let the resources know about the revised
schedule so they'll be in the right place at the right time to do their
part.
This is a very rough outline of the process - there is a lot more to it than
that but this should get you started. Look in help and in the tutorials on
the MS website for more information.
HTH
