Put MS Project to work right away for brainstorming and pre-formatting. This is the way to plan your work and work your plan. Be on-side . Commitment of senior management to standardization of project planning is essential and should be 'seen to be' by regular use of the program reports being generated. Seek experience .
Many projects are one-offs.
All the more important then that you seek an experienced consultant who will bring counsel on formatting your project and customized training to the table. Lever compatibility . Users of MS Word and Excel will find the same intuitive feel to MS Project. Precious days down the line can be banked up front by playing the compatibility card during training. Think defense .