Project guide

[Lieve]

I'm teaching MS Project 2003. However on the student-PC's
the Project Guide is not available. It is missing from the
GLOBAL.mpt. The OS is Windows XP professional with SP1
installed, students are normal 'users'. What could be the
cause? Thanks for helping me out.

 

[Gary L. Chefetz \(MVP\)]

Lieve:

How do you know it's missing? Could it simply be turned off? Look under
Tools > Options > Interface tab and see if this is the case.

--

Gary L. Chefetz, MVP
"We wrote the book on Project Server
http://www.msprojectexperts.com

-

 

[Mike Glen]

Hi Lieve,

Welcome to this Microsoft Project newsgroup

Also try a right click on a toolbar and select Project Guide, then click the
left hand tool to show the Project Guide.

FAQs, companion products and other useful Project information can be seen at
this web address: <http://www.mvps.org/project/>

Hope this helps - please let us know how you get on )

Mike Glen
MS Project MVP

 

[Steve House [MVP]]

The other answers give some ideas how to find it but as an instructor myself
I actually go the opposite way - if I find the Project Guide on the
student's machines I get rid of it. I don't want my students to be rote
button pushers, I want them to know the "why's" of the way Project works and
understand why they do things the way they're done manually before they
start relying on such shortcuts and conveniences. I've even been known to
take away note pads if I find students writing down keystroke and menu
sequences on them. IMHO, mere "using" is not the goal of training,
"understanding" is. Ideally, after training a student should be well on the
way to understanding project management well enough to CREATE a customized
project guide from scratch for his organization.

Just one contrarian's view ...

 

[Gary L. Chefetz \(MVP\)]

Steve:

Don't you find that the project guide is like help files on steroids? It
seems to me that after a while users tend to wean themselves from such
crutches as their understanding increases. Retention rates being what they
are, it's hard for me to believe that you're every 100% successful at
achieving complete understanding. Although I agree that in the classroom,
the focus shouldn't be on the Project Guide unless it is customized to the
point it must be used to meet corporate standards, but we believe that
leaving students with an understanding that help is available when the class
is over is invaluable. We also want them to understand how to access and use
it.

--

Gary L. Chefetz, MVP
"We wrote the book on Project Server
http://www.msprojectexperts.com

-

 

[Steve House [MVP]]

Yes and no. In a production environment I like to use all the shortcuts and
workarounds I can. But in a training environment I like to dispense with
all of them and go back to fundamentals. Of course they should know the
Guide is there, but in class they should never use it and I never go through
it other than mention in passing. It's the old cliche of "Give a man a fish
and you feed him for today but teach him how to fish and you feed him a
lifetime." They need to know what lies behind the Guide and how to think
through the process it describes so as to do it on their own initiative, not
just how to follow the steps in the Guide by rote. IMHO, the essential goal
of training is to stimulate the learners to form a gestalt around the topic.
I think such crutches as the Project Guide interfere with rather than
enhance that process. You can do it expeditiously or you can do it right,
but never count on doing both together. <grin>
--
Steve House [MVP]
MS Project Trainer/Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs