## View the Right Set of Project Information

If Microsoft Project’s only skill were to store your data out of sight in its database, it wouldn’t be very useful as a project management aid. You need to be able to see your project data and add to it, delete it, or modify it as circumstances dictate. Microsoft Project has the tools that let you do just that. They are called views.

Each view gives you a different way of looking at some of the data in the database. The view you choose depends on what information you want and the format you want to see it in. You can, for example, use a table format or a bar-graph format to see how many hours each resource works during a given time period. You can also use views to accomplish specific tasks, such as entering and editing information about tasks and resources.

Some views show essentially the same information, but in different formats. For instance, you can enter data in a column in one view and see it displayed as a bar graph in another view.

There are two major categories of views: task views and resource views. Task views show information about one or more of your tasks. One of the most often used task views, which you see by default when you start Microsoft Project, is the Gantt Chart view. Resource views show information about one or more of the resources — people or equipment — you assigned to your project. One example of a resource view is the Resource Usage view, which displays work allocations over time for each resource.

The following tables describe some of the more commonly used task and resource views and the types of information they display.

Use a task view when you want to enter, change, or display task information.

Task view | Description
--- | ---
Gantt Chart | A list of tasks and related information and a chart that graphically shows tasks and durations over time. Use this view to enter and schedule a list of tasks.
PERT Chart | A network diagram showing all tasks and task dependencies. Use this view to create and fine-tune your schedule in a flow chart format.
Calendar | A monthly calendar showing tasks and durations. Use this view to show the tasks scheduled in a specific week or range of weeks.
Task Usage | A list of tasks showing assigned resources grouped under each task. Use this view to adjust the amount of work your resources do on tasks.
Tracking Gantt | A list of tasks and related information and a chart that graphically shows planned and scheduled bars for each task. Use this view to compare the desired schedule to the actual schedule.
Task Sheet | A list of tasks and related information. Use this view to enter and schedule tasks in a spreadsheet-like format.

Use a resource view when you want to enter, change, or display resource information.

Resource view | Description
--- | ---
Resource Graph | A graph showing resource allocation, cost, or work over time. Use this view to display information about a single resource or group of resources over time.
Resource Sheet | A list of resources and related information. Use this view to enter and edit resource information in a spreadsheet-like format.
Resource Usage | A list of resources showing assigned tasks grouped under each resource. Use this view to show cost or work allocation information for each resource. Also, use this view to adjust the amount of work resources do on tasks.

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