Project management
Microsoft Project for Planning Engineers
Build, track and hand over a construction or plant schedule in Microsoft Project, from calendars to earned value.
- Free
- Beginner
- 11.5 hours
- Self-paced
- Certificate optional
No card, no trial. The course is free for good. Certificate US$23.99, optional.
After this course you can
By the end you will be able to:
- Set up a plan with calendars and a work breakdown structure
- Link tasks and find the critical path and slack
- Assign resources and level an overloaded crew
- Baseline a plan and track progress to a status date
- Report earned value and hand a schedule to Primavera P6 users
Who it is for, and what you need first
Who it is for
Site, planning, MEP and civil engineers, project coordinators and graduates who must build or read a construction or plant programme.
Level: Beginner. Beginner to intermediate. For site and planning engineers, project coordinators, MEP and civil engineers and students who must read or build a programme. No scheduling experience is needed.
What you need
Software: Microsoft Project desktop for Windows, as in a Planner and Project Plan 3 or Plan 5 subscription or the Project 2024 one-time edition; the scheduling steps are the same from Project 2019 on. Microsoft offers no trial of the one-time editions: the supported way to try Project before buying is a trial of Planner and Project Plan 3, whose terms Microsoft sets and changes. ProjectLibre is a free open-source option that opens .mpp files, and the notes show every step that works in it. Project for Mac does not exist; Mac users need ProjectLibre or a Windows machine. Project Online was announced to retire on 30 September 2026 and is not used..
Hardware: A Windows computer for Project desktop, or any computer that runs ProjectLibre.. What to download, and how.
How this course works
Watch the lessons
Short video lessons, one module at a time, at your own pace.
Read the notes
Open the Reading tab for the written notes and diagrams of the module.
Check yourself
Answer the questions to see what stuck before you move on.
Final assessment
Pass the final once you have been through the modules.
Certificate, if you want oneOptional
Optional, with a page anyone can use to verify it.
What you learn
15 modules in order, at your own pace. 11.5 hours of video lessons, with written notes and a practice task in each module.
- 1Start here: the Project workspace, project information, calendars and options30m
- 2Work breakdown structure: summary tasks, outline levels and milestones33m
- 3Durations, task types and effort-driven scheduling26m
- 4Dependencies: finish-to-start, lags, leads and the logic of a schedule26m
- 5Constraints and deadlines23m
- 6The critical path, total slack and free slack16m
- 7A construction schedule from scratch: the warehouse fit-out1h 42m
- 8Resources and assignments: work, material and cost resources12m
Show the other 7 modules
- 9Overallocation and resource levelling33m
- 10Baselines, progress and the status date33m
- 11Cost units and earned value in Project45m
- 12Views, tables, filters, groups and custom fields40m
- 13Reports, dashboards, printing and exporting39m
- 14Handing a schedule to Primavera P6 users, and ProjectLibre as the free option16m
- 15Final Assessment
Software you need
What to download, where from, what it costs and how to install it. Every link goes to the maker's own site, never a mirror.
Nothing is required to read the lessons
To practise, use Microsoft Project desktop (Microsoft offers a trial of Planner and Project Plan 3, not of the one-time editions) or the free ProjectLibre, which opens .mpp files. A spreadsheet helps for the hand checks.
Show what to download (2 tools)
Optional
Useful, not needed to finish the course.
- 01Free
ProjectLibre Desktop
ProjectLibre
- Runs on
- Windows, macOS and Linux
- Account
- None needed
ProjectLibre Desktop is free and open-source project scheduling software with no subscription. It opens Microsoft Project .mpp files and can import Primavera P6 files. The separate ProjectLibre Cloud product for teams is paid.
Steps
- 1.Open the ProjectLibre Desktop page.
- 2.Select Download ProjectLibre Free; the file downloads from ProjectLibre's SourceForge project.
- 3.Run the installer for your operating system.
- 4.Start ProjectLibre and create a new project, or open the course's .mpp file.
- 5.Build the task list, links and resources, then view the Gantt chart and critical path.
- Use it to practise the scheduling ideas from Microsoft Project or Primavera P6 lessons; menus and some features differ.
Official download pageprojectlibre.com - 02Free
LibreOffice
The Document Foundation
- Runs on
- Windows 10 or 11, macOS 11 or newer (Intel or Apple silicon), Linux
- Account
- None needed
- Size
- up to 1.5 GB of disk space on Windows
LibreOffice is free, open-source software under the Mozilla Public License 2.0, for any use including business. Calc is its spreadsheet.
Steps
- 1.Open the LibreOffice download page.
- 2.Check the page has picked your operating system, then select Download.
- 3.Run the installer (administrator rights are needed on Windows).
- 4.Start LibreOffice Calc for spreadsheet work.
- 5.Save as .xlsx if you need to share files with Excel users.
- Choose the latest main version unless your organisation asks for the older, more conservative release.
Official download pagelibreoffice.org
Checked against each maker's own page on 27 September 2026. Trial lengths and editions change; the maker's page is the final word.
What you practise
Course project, about 8 hours
Baseline, track and hand over the programme for a warehouse fit-out: logic, critical path, resources, earned value and XML handover
Act as the planning engineer for a 14-task warehouse fit-out. Build the plan in Microsoft Project, find the critical path, load the crews, save a baseline, update progress at week 4, report earned value in cost units and hand the schedule to a Primavera P6 team as XML. The sample pack shows each document filled in.
- 5documents in the pack
- 7steps to follow
- 5things to hand in
- 8 hof work, at your pace
- PlanProgramme basis: Dockline warehouse fit-out
- RegisterBaseline task register
- RegisterStatus register at the end of week 4
- ReportProgress report, week 4
- ProcedureHandover note for the Primavera P6 team
The project is optional practice. The certificate needs only the modules and the final assessment.
After the course, your next step
Show what you can do, then keep going in the same field.
A certificate you can verify
Finish the modules and pass the final assessment (15 questions, pass mark 60%) and you can add a certificate with a public verification page. One-off, US$23.99 for you. It is not a vendor credential.
Want a free certificate? Do the matching Free internship: 4 weeks, nothing to buy, with a free certificate of completion.
Project work you can show
Weekly briefs and a work record, online. Pick the internship that fits you. Finish the 4 weeks and get a free Internship Completion Certificate, with a QR code anyone can scan to verify it. Training, not employment.
Find an internshipPart of a learning path
Courses in a planned order, so each one builds on the last.
More free courses
Roles that use this skill
- Project coordinator
- Project engineer
- Planner
- Delivery manager
These are the kinds of roles where the skill is used. We make no promise of a job or an interview.
Plain notes
- Free: the whole course, the notes, the practice tasks, the final assessment and support from practising engineers.
- Paid, and optional: the course certificate, and the Premium internship (the Free internship costs nothing).
- No job promise: the course teaches a skill. It does not place you in a job.
- Lessons by: Simon Sez IT, Skills Factory, TechnoCivil, ITsEasyTraining1st, CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT, Dale Howard Microsoft Project MVP, Engineering Academy, Indigo Software, PM Expert, Tom Stephenson, Alvin the PM - Become a Certified Project Manager, Project-O-Metric, Prime Project Control, EasyMSProject, Performance with Project, NextGen Learning, Project Management Solutions, ACM - Administrative Controls Management, Inc. Independent creators; the lessons stream from their own channels. EDWartens wrote the study plan, notes, practice tasks and assessments.
Simon Sez IT · Skills Factory · TechnoCivil · ITsEasyTraining1st · CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT · Dale Howard Microsoft Project MVP · Engineering Academy · Indigo Software · PM Expert · Tom Stephenson · Alvin the PM - Become a Certified Project Manager · Project-O-Metric · Prime Project Control · EasyMSProject · Performance with Project · NextGen Learning · Project Management Solutions · ACM - Administrative Controls Management, Inc. If you are one of these creators and want a lesson removed or credited differently, write to info@wartens.com.
Why learn with EDWartens
What you get with this course, and what comes after it.
- Free from the first lesson to the final assessment.
- Video lessons with written notes and a project.
- An optional certificate that anyone can verify online.
- Free internships to keep practising afterwards.
Common questions
What is the Microsoft Project for Planning Engineers course?
It is a free-to-learn course that teaches the Microsoft Project desktop workflow used by planning engineers on construction, MEP and plant projects: calendars, the work breakdown structure, task types, dependencies, constraints, the critical path, resources, baselines, progress, earned value in cost units, reports and handing a schedule to Primavera P6 users. You learn from curated video lessons by named creators plus EDWartens notes, worked problems and an optional project.
Who is this Microsoft Project course for?
It is for site, planning, MEP and civil engineers, project coordinators and graduates who must build or read a project programme. No scheduling experience is needed. You should be able to use a Windows computer and a spreadsheet.
Which version of Microsoft Project does the course use?
It uses Microsoft Project desktop for Windows, as in a Planner and Project Plan 3 or Plan 5 subscription or the Project 2024 one-time edition. The scheduling steps are the same from Project 2019 on. Project Online was announced to retire on 30 September 2026 and is not used; Microsoft's pages were checked on 1 November 2026.
Can I learn Microsoft Project for free, and is there a trial?
The lessons, notes and practice are free to learn on EDWartens. The software is Microsoft's: it offers no trial of the one-time editions, and its supported way to try Project is a trial of Planner and Project Plan 3, whose terms Microsoft sets and can change. ProjectLibre is a free open-source program that opens .mpp files, and the notes show the steps that work in it.
Should I learn Microsoft Project or Primavera P6?
Many planning jobs ask for both, and one does not replace the other. This course teaches Microsoft Project and shows how to hand a schedule to P6 users as XML, and the separate Primavera P6 course on this site teaches P6. If you must choose first, read the job advert you want and learn the tool it names.
What certificate do I get, and is it a Microsoft certification?
You get a verifiable certificate of completion from EDWartens, issued when you finish the modules and pass the 15-question final at 60 percent. It has a unique certificate number, a QR code and a public verification page that shows the course, the modules and your final score. It is not a Microsoft certification, and EDWartens is not affiliated with Microsoft.
How long does the Microsoft Project for Planning Engineers course take?
About 8 hours of video and around 12 hours in total with the notes, worked problems and practice tasks, at your own pace. There are 14 study modules and a final. The first module is about 40 minutes.
What jobs does Microsoft Project knowledge lead to?
It is a core skill for planning engineer, scheduler, project coordinator, project controls and construction manager roles, which are advertised in many regions, including the Gulf. The course covers the knowledge used in that work. It does not promise a job.
Start free today
Microsoft Project for Planning Engineers, at your own pace. Add the certificate only if you want one.