There is a manual for Poser 8, it should be available off the help menu in Poser. I suggest read it for the starting sections on how to load stuff from the libraries. 

 

Animation in Poser is fairly basic keyframe animation, without the extras that more complex apps supply. It takes a while to learn though.

 

More detail on what your project is would be a big help. How long the animation is, how many figures, what actions they need to take all would give an idea on how to proceed. And when you need to have it done.