A complete MS Project reference for construction programming, written around the order the job is done: declare the working calendar, enter the tasks and build the work breakdown structure, link the dependencies and read the critical path, declare resources and clear overallocation, set a baseline and track progress, then report and print.

The opening chapters set MS Project against a schedule drawn in Excel — bars calculated from durations and dependencies rather than positioned by hand, a critical path the software identifies, manpower and cost derived from assigned resources, and a baseline compared automatically — then cover the products (Standard and Professional perpetual, the subscription tiers and which of them actually include a desktop application), the file formats including the retired .mpx, the technical limits, and the workflow the guide follows. Installation and licensing follow, with the system requirements and the fact that MS Project has no Mac version, only Windows.

The interface chapter covers the task table, the Gantt chart and its timescale, the status bar showing the scheduling mode for new tasks, the views used most (Gantt Chart, Tracking Gantt, Task Usage, Resource Sheet, Resource Usage, Team Planner, Network Diagram, Timeline), columns and preset tables, filters and grouping, and how to read the bars, milestones, linking arrows, slack and percent complete on a Gantt chart.

Project setup and the working calendar covers the project information, the scheduling mode that must be changed immediately — Manually Scheduled tasks do not move when a predecessor slips, and that is the single most common reason a schedule appears broken — working calendars and public holidays, and time units including elapsed days for concrete curing which runs through non-working days.

Entering tasks and building the WBS covers the two scheduling modes, durations, summary tasks, milestones and recurring tasks, WBS codes, how far to break the work down, notes, attachments and custom fields, and a worked sample WBS for a multi-storey residential building. Dependencies, constraints and the critical path covers the four dependency types, lag and lead, the three ways to create a dependency, flexible and inflexible constraints, what the critical path is and how to display it, how to compress an overrunning schedule, and how to check a schedule once it is built.

Resources and assignments covers the three resource types and the Resource Sheet, the scheduling formula Work = Duration × Units, task types (Fixed Units, Fixed Duration, Fixed Work), assigning resources, over-allocation and levelling, how costs are calculated, and practical notes for resources on Vietnamese sites. Baselines and progress tracking covers setting a baseline, the status date, entering percent complete, the Tracking Gantt and progress lines, variance columns, earned value (SV, CV, SPI, CPI) and the weekly schedule update routine on site.

Views, reports and printing covers the built-in views, customising the Gantt chart, tables, filters and grouping, the Timeline summary strip, built-in reports and Visual Reports to Excel, printing the Gantt chart, and exporting schedule data to Excel and exchange files. Multiple projects, shared resources and teamwork covers when to split a schedule into several files, master projects and subprojects, linking tasks across files, resource pools, comparing two schedule versions, sharing a file among several people, and file naming and version control.

Programming a real construction project walks the whole job: the documents to collect before programming, setting the working calendar and public holidays, building the WBS for a multi-storey building, estimating durations from quantities and crew output, linking tasks in construction sequence, assigning crews and plant and clearing over-allocation, reading the critical path and compressing an overrunning programme, setting the baseline and building the weekly reporting views, and a checklist before submitting a programme for approval. The final chapter covers common errors and troubleshooting: the common MS Project faults and their fixes, why a wrong calendar produces a wrong programme, keeping the file small and clean, backing up and version control, and issuing and exchanging programme files.

Appendices give the most used shortcuts, the columns worth adding while building a programme, the columns worth adding when tracking progress, useful views and filters, and a Vietnamese–English scheduling glossary covering tasks and programme structure, task types and scheduling modes, dependencies and constraints, critical path and float, tracking against the approved programme, resources and levelling, and earned value and calendars.

Written bilingual Vietnamese–English side by side, so you can follow in your own language while still matching the exact English names MS Project prints on screen. Version 1.0, September 2026.