Download - Project 2007 Intro

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Copyright 2010 West Virginia University

MicrosoftProject 2007

Office of Information Technology

Technical Support Services

Help Desk

(304) 293-4444 [email protected]

oit.wvu.edu/training/classmat/pm/

Last revised: August 27, 2010
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


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Table of Contents

Project Environment ........................................................................................... 1Calendars ........................................................................................................ 2Other Options .................................................................................................. 3

File Management ................................................................................................. 5Creating a new project ..................................................................................... 5Opening an Existing Project ............................................................................ 5

Saving a Project ............................................................................................................... 6Project Templates ............................................................................................... 6

Saving a template ............................................................................................ 6Built-in templates ............................................................................................. 6

Activity 1 Creating a Project Using a Template ............................................................. 6Project Views ....................................................................................................... 7

Activity 2 Switching Between Views .............................................................................. 7Work Breakdown Structure ................................................................................ 8

Task Entry Form .............................................................................................. 8New Tasks ....................................................................................................... 9Moving Tasks ................................................................................................ 10Inserting a Task ............................................................................................. 10Recurring Tasks ............................................................................................ 10Deleting Tasks ............................................................................................... 11

Activity 3 Create a New Project and Work with Tasks ................................................ 11Grouping and Subtasks (Summary Tasks) .................................................... 12

Activity 4 Task Grouping ............................................................................................. 13Linking Tasks ................................................................................................. 13

Activity 5 Linking Tasks ............................................................................................... 15Setting Constraints ........................................................................................ 16Project Scheduling ......................................................................................... 18

Resources ......................................................................................................... 19Adding Resources ......................................................................................... 19Removing a Resource ................................................................................... 19Assigning Resources ..................................................................................... 19Removing Resource Assignments ................................................................. 20

Activity 6 Resource Assignments ................................................................................ 20


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Viewing Resource Information ....................................................................... 21Activity 7: Viewing Resource Information ....................................................................... 21

Maintaining your project .................................................................................. 22Creating a baseline ........................................................................................ 22

Activity 8: Baselines ....................................................................................................... 23Updating Tasks .............................................................................................. 23

Activity 9: Updating Task Status .................................................................................... 24Project Tracking ................................................................................................ 25

Tracking Gantt Chart ..................................................................................... 25Activity 10: Tracking Gantt Chart ................................................................................... 26


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Microsoft Project 2007 1

Project Environment

Unlike other components of Office 2007, Project 2007 retains the user interface ofprevious versions of Project, including the traditional menus and toolbars. Thescreen shot below shows a Gantt chart view of a new project file. Tasks and basic

information about them can be entered into the spreadsheet-like space on the leftside of the workspace while the corresponding Gantt chart is shown on the right sideof the workspace.

The View Bar allows you to quickly switch to alternate ways of displaying yourproject information. You can activate the View Bar, if it is not currently visible, byselecting View > View Barfrom the menus.

Various toolbars are available that will make creating and maintaining your project

easier.

To open additional toolbars:

1. Select View > Toolbars from the menus.

2. Click on the name of the toolbar that you wish to open.

Two toolbars are visible in the screen shot above, both on the same line. TheStandard toolbar is to the left and the Formatting toolbar to the right.


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2 Microsoft Project 2007

Calendars

Calendars are used in Project to specify when work can be done on a project. Basecalendars are templates on which other calendars are based. Project 2007 beginswith Standard, Night Shift, and 24 Hour calendars. The default base calendar(initially, the Standard calendar) will generally reflect the organizations standard

work week as well as exceptions for holidays or other events. At the time you createa project, you can specify which base calendar will be adopted as the projectcalendar. Tasks or resources that operate on a different calendar are permitted, butunless you specifically set up a different schedule, all work schedules will derivefrom the default base calendar.

Modifying the Standard calendar

To modify the Standard calendar to reflect your organizations work schedule,proceed as follows:

1. Select Tools > Change Working Time from the menus. You should see thecalendar described as Standard (Project Calendar).


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2. Click on the Work Weeks tab to specify working hours other than the default 8a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.

3. With [Default] work week highlighted, click on the Details button.4. Select Monday through

Friday and click on the

Set day(s) to thesespecific working timesradio button.

5. In the appropriate boxesunder From and Tochange the hours tomatch the organizationshours. The examplescreen shot at the rightreflects WVUs standardhours.

6. Click OK to return to theChange Working Timewindow.

7. Click on the Exceptions tab so we can enter holidays.8. For each holiday, proceed in this way:

a. Click on the day in the calendar.b. Click on the first available blank Name field under the Exceptions tab

and type the name of the holiday.c. Press Enter. You should see the appropriate dates in the Start and

Finish fields.9. Click OK to save the changes youve made to the Standard calendar.

IMPORTANT: To avoid having to repeat these changes for every new project, besure to save the current file as a template on which new project files can be based.See page 6 for details on saving a template.

Other Options

Before starting to use Microsoft Project 2007, you should examine some of theparameters that affect the softwares behavior to be sure that they are in accord withyour work environment and preferences.

Most of these parameters can be set by selecting Tools > Options from the menusto open the Options window. Lets start with the Calendar tab:


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The screen shot above shows calendar options set for the WVU environment. Assuggested in the window, the values correspond to the changes we made in theStandard calendar. Click on the Set as Default button to make these values thedefault for all subsequent Project files opened under the account you are currentlyusing on your workstation.

You may also want to visit the Save tab and use the Modify button to change thedefault location where project files are saved. For example, it may be better to havethem saved on a network share where they will be backed up regularly andaccessible to others in your workgroup, rather than in your My Documents folder.


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File Management

Creating a new project

New projects can be created in any of three ways:

1. As a new, blank file.2. From an existing projectpresumably one that describes a project similar to

the new one.3. From a project template. Several project templates come with Project 2007;

others are available on-line. You can also turn existing Project files intotemplates for future use.

For the moment, we will begin with a blank project.

1. Choose File > New from the menus, which causes the New Project pane,shown below, to open to the left of the View Bar.

2. Click on Blank Project.

You can also create a new blank project by clicking on the New Project icon (theblank page icon) at the left end of the Standard toolbar, or by pressing Ctrl-N on thekeyboard.

Opening an Existing Project

1. Choose File | Open from the menus.

2. Navigate to the folder where the project file is kept.

3. Click on the filename.

4. Click Open.


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Saving a Project

1. Choose File > Save from the menus.

2. Navigate to the folder where you want to save the file.

3. Enter a filename.

4. Click Save.

Project Templates

Any Project file can be saved as a template, but you will probably want at least onetemplate that is blank aside from containing all of the default settings that you want.

Saving a template

Saving a file as a template is little different from saving it as a Project file. Hereshow:

1. Choose File > Save As from the menus.

2. At the bottom of the Save As window, select Template (*.mpt) from thedrop-down menu. The Save in location will change to the MicrosoftTemplates folder for the account under which you are logged in to yourcomputer.

3. Enter a filename.

4. Click Save.

5. The Save As Template window will open, giving you a chance to removefrom the template any data that may be in it that is not wanted in the template.

6. Click Save.

Built-in templatesIn addition to providing a good head start on developing a new project plan, built-intemplates give us a way to explore features of Microsoft Project.

Activity 1 Creating a Project Using a Template

1. Open Microsoft Project.

2. Select File > New from the menus.

3. In the Templates section of the New Project pane, click on the link labeledOn computer.

4. Click on the Project Templates Tab. (Templates that youve created yourselfwill be available under the General tab.)

5. Select Marketing Event Planning and Execution.

6. Click OK.


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Project Views

Projects can be viewed in a wide variety of views. Project tasks can be entered,deleted, or updated in any view.

Gantt Chart The most commonly used view. Displays a split window showing

your tasks on the left and the Gantt Chart on the right.

Calendar Displays projects tasks in a monthly calendar format.

Network Diagram Displays project tasks as a flow chart. Shows progressionwith connecting lines. This is also sometimes referred to as a PERT Chart (PERTstanding for Program Evaluation and Review Technique).

Activity 2 Switching Between Views

1. Choose Calendarfrom the View Bar.

2. Observe how the tasks appear in the Calendar.

3. Choose Network Diagram from the Views Menu.

4. Use the Zoom tools in the Standard toolbar to zoom out or in. You can seethe flow of the project with this view.

5. Choose Gantt Chart from the View Bar. This will be the main view that weuse today.


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Work Breakdown Structure

A work breakdown structure is a project plan in outline form in which the stepsneeded to complete a project are laid out in a suitable level of detail. A high-levelplan may consist of a relatively small number of large steps needed to achieve theprojects goal. If more detail is required, then the plan can be refined by applying thesame sort of analysis to each large step as was applied to the project as a whole.The large steps then become summary tasks consisting of several subtasks. Inaddition, milestones indicating that the project has achieved a particular state canbe inserted to mark progress.

Well look now at how to develop a work breakdown structure in Microsoft Project2007.

Task Entry Form

The Gantt Chart view provides the most convenient means for specifying tasks in awork breakdown structure.

The task entry form that occupies the left side of the workspace in the Gantt ChartView lets you create a task and define many of its attributes.

Task Name: A brief, descriptive name for the task.

Duration: The expected elapsed time from the beginning of work on a task tothe end of work on the task. If you do not specify the duration, then anestimated 1 day will be assumed. A question mark at the end of the durationvalue indicates that the value is estimated.

Start: The expected date on which work on the task will begin. The currentdate is the default value.

Finish: The expected date on which work on the task will end. The currentdate is the default value.

Predecessors: A list of the task numbers for those tasks that must precedethe current task.

Resource Names: A list of the resources needed to complete the task.

The left-most, grey column will contain a task number for each task you havespecified. Numbering is sequential from the first task in the plan to the last.

The column preceding Task Name may contain icons indicating the task type, taskstate, constraints on the tasks, and other task features. It may also contain iconsindicating that the task has an associated note or hyperlink.

Its worth noting that Duration, Start, and Finish cannot be specified independently.You can set any two of them and the third will be computed.


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The task entry form shares many interface features with Microsoft Excel:

Resize columns by moving the mouse cursor to the right boundary of thecolumn header. When the mouse cursor is a double-headed arrow, click anddrag the boundary in the desired direction.

Auto-fit a column to the data in it by double clicking on the right boundary of

the column header. Select a column or row by clicking on the column header or row number,

respectively.

Furthermore, if you have a list of tasks in an Excel spreadsheet, then you can copyand paste the list into the Task Name column of your project plan. Similarly, anarray of data in an Excel spreadsheet (task names, durations, and start dates, forexample) can be copied successfully to Project. If you provide Duration, Start, andFinish, the latter two will be used to recompute the former, if necessary, when thedata is copied to Project.

New TasksNew project components can be entered initially without regard to whether they aresummary tasks, subtasks, or milestones; we can easily adjust them later to reflecttheir specific natures. Focus on the task name and, if available, its expectedduration. Start and Finish are easily determined later from the projects start date,predecessor relationships among the tasks, and any constraints imposed on theproject.

1. Click in the Task Name field of the first empty row.

2. Enter the name of the task. Press Enter to move down to the next task or Tabto move to the Duration field. A task number will automatically be added to

the task.3. Enter the Duration of the task if you have an estimate for it or 0 if you are

specifying a milestone. Task Duration can be entered in just about any unit oftime. The abbreviations are as follows:

m minutesh hoursd daysw weeks

4. Press Tab to move to the next field or Enter to move to the next task.

If you do want to enter data in the Start or Finish fields, you havethree options:

1. Type the date in mm/dd/yyyy format, such as 2/17/2008

2. Type the date in Month dd, yyyy format, such as February17, 2008

If you want to enter an estimatedtime, enter a question mark afterthe unit of time. For example, 2w?would be an estimated 2 weeks.


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3. Click on the drop-down menu indicator in the date field and select the datefrom the calendar that appears, as shown to the right.

Moving Tasks

Sometimes it is necessary to move a task from one point in the list to another.

1. Click on the task number of the task that you want to move.

2. Click again on the task number and drag the task up or down. A gray line willindicate the new position of the task if you release the mouse button at thatmoment.

3. Once the gray line is positioned where you want the new task, release themouse button.

Notes:

1. The task number will automatically change to fit its new position in the list.Predecessor fields listing this task will be updated to reflect the new tasknumber, much as Excel formulas are updated when row or columndesignations change due to insertion or deletion of new rows or columns.

2. Its important to release the mouse button in step 1. If, instead, you click andimmediately begin dragging, then the effect will be just to select several tasks,

not to move any of them.

Inserting a Task

Instead of creating a task in the first empty space and then moving it to the properposition, you can insert a new task at any point in the project plan.

1. Click anywhere in the task that is to follow the new task.2. Select Insert > New Task from the menus (or simply press the Ins key).3. Fill in the Task Name and other information as usual.

Recurring Tasks

Some tasks may occur repeatedly over the course of a project. To spare yourselfthe tedium of entering much of the same information over and over, you can createrecurring tasks as follows:

1. Choose Insert > Recurring Task from the menus.

2. Enter the task name on the Recurring Task Information.

3. Enter the task duration, using the same abbreviations as describedpreviously. The duration must initially be the same for all occurrences of the


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task but can be adjusted individually for each occurrence once all have beencreated.

4. Choose among daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly recurrence patterns.

5. Provide details of the recurrence pattern. The precise nature of those detailswill vary depending on your choice in step 4.

6. Choose a Start date

7. Choose either the total number of occurrences of the task or an End date forthe recurrences.

8. Click OK to finish.

The recurring task will appear on the task list as a group with a circlingarrows indicator to let you know that it is a recurring task.

These are all individual tasks. The task properties (duration, start, finish, etc.) can be

changed individually by first clicking on the icon next to the task name to expandthe recurring task into a list of its instances and then adjusting the properties of anindividual instance.

Deleting Tasks

1. Select the task by clicking on the task number

2. Press the delete key on the keyboard, or right click and choose Delete Taskfrom the Edit menu.

The tasks number will automatically be assigned to the next task down so that tasksare always in numerical order.

Activity 3 Create a New Project and Work with Tasks

1. Create a new blank project.

2. Enter the following information into the task list.

Task Name Duration Start Date Finish Date

Single Family House 1 day? 04/16/08 04/16/08

General Conditions 1 day? 04/16/08 04/16/08

Finalize plans and develop estimate with owner 20 days 04/16/08 05/11/08

Sign contract and notice to proceed 1 day 04/16/08 04/16/08Apply for Permits 0 days 04/16/08 04/16/08

Foundation 1 day? 04/16/08 04/16/08

Excavate for foundations 3 days 04/16/08 04/18/08

Form basement walls 13 days 04/16/08 05/02/08

Form basement walls 13 days 04/16/08 05/02/08


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Site Work 1 day? 04/16/08 04/16/08

Clear and grub lot 1 day 04/16/08 04/16/08

Install temporary power service 1 day 04/16/08 04/16/08

Install underground utilities 1 day 04/16/08 04/16/08

3. Select Task 10 and move it between tasks 5 and 6.4. Select Task 11-13 and move them between tasks 6 and 7.

5. Delete Task 13.

6. Choose Insert > Recurring Task from the menus.

7. Enter this task information for the recurring task:

Name Site InspectionLength 2 hFrequency Weekly, every MondayStart Task on 5/14/2008

End task on 7/11/20088. Save the Project with the filename construction.mpp.

Grouping and Subtasks (Summary Tasks)

Some tasks will be made up of several tasks.

To make a task a subtask

1. Create both tasks (The summary task and the task that will become thesubtask).

2. Click in the task that you wish to make a subtask.

3. Click the Indent button on the Formatting toolbar.

To promote a task

1. Click in the task that you wish to promote.

2. Click the Outdent button on the toolbar.

Showing and Hiding Subtasks

To view the list of subtasks associated with asummary task, click on the plus sign next to the

summary task or the one on the Formatting toolbar.

To hide the list of summary tasks, click on the minussign next to the summary task or the one on theFormatting toolbar.


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Activity 4 Task Grouping

1. Open contruction.mpp, the file that you created in Activity 3.

2. Select task 7 and click the Indent button on the toolbar.

3. Select tasks 8-10 and click the Indent button on the toolbar.

4. Click the minus sign in task 6 to hide subtasks.5. Click the plus sign in task 6 to expand the subtasks.

6. Select task 10.

7. Click on the Outdent button on the toolbar.

8. Indent tasks 3-5, 11-18, and 2-30.

Linking Tasks

Dependencies are temporal relationships between two tasks. In MS Project (as inother project management software), two tasks have no dependency when created,even though the order in which the tasks are listed may imply a sequence to thehuman eye. When a dependency is established, the default dependency type isfinish-to-start, meaning that the first task must finish before the second task canstart. A complete list of the different dependency types is as follows:

Finish-to-start (FS) Task A must be completed before Task B can begin.

Start-to-start (SS) Task A must start before Task B starts.

Finish-to-finish (FF) Task A must finish before Task B finishes.

Start-to-finish (SF) Task A must start before Task B finishes.

Creating LinksLinks can be established between tasks in a number of different ways.

Planning Wizard

When you change the start date of atask to a date that immediatelyfollows the end date of the taskbefore it, the Planning Wizard (shownto the right) will open and ask if youwant to create a link between the 2tasks.

Choose whether or not to link thosetasks and click OK. If you choose tolink the tasks, then Project willestablish the default finish-to-start dependency between the two tasks. If you wantto establish a different type of dependency between the two tasks, then you can doso by opening the task information window (as described below).


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This planning wizard can be turned off by adding a check next to Dont tell me aboutthis again.

Task information window

The task information window is the easiest means by which you can establish adependency other than finish-to-start. You can open the task information window bydouble-clicking on a task, or by right-clicking on it and then selecting TaskInformation from the drop-down menu. Once the window is open, proceed asfollows:

1. Click on the Predecessors tab

2. Click in the first blank Task Name field and select the predecessor task youwish to use. In the terminology of dependencies on page 13, you areselecting Task A for this dependency. The task whose information window isopen is Task B.

3. If you wish to use a non-default dependency type, click in the adjacent Typefield and select the type you want from the drop-down menu.

4. If you wish to specify a lag between tasks, click in the adjacent Lag field and

type the desired lag. You can use the same units as described for Duration(see page 9) or you can use a percentage. A positive time or percentagerepresents a delay between the end of the predecessor task and thebeginning of the successor. The percentage represents a portion of thepredecessors duration. A negative time or percentage in the Lag field impliesthat the start of the successor can occur that much before the end of thepredecessor.


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5. Click on OK.

Task entry form

The fastest way to specify dependencies is to use the Predecessors field of the taskentry form in the Gantt view of the project. For each task or milestone that is to havea predecessor, type the number of that predecessor into the Predecessors field forthe successor. If a task has multiple predecessors, separate the predecessorsnumbers with commas.

For example, in a plan to construct a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, assembly ofthe sandwich depends on prior preparation of the three components, which isindicated by the three task numbers in the Predecessors field for the first assemblytask. Each subsequent assembly task or milestone depends on the task before it,as the numbers indicate.

Activity 5 Linking Tasks

1. Open construction.mpp if it is not already open.2. Change the start date of task 4 to 5/14/2008.

3. Select the radio button forLink them.

4. Click on OK.

5. Open the Task Information window for task 4.Task 3 should be listed as a predecessor task with a Finish-To-Start type.

6. Click OK.

7. Open the Task Information window for task 7.

8. Click on the Predecessor tab.9. Choose Apply for Permits task name under the predecessor list.

10. Choose Finish-To-Start as the Type.

11. Click OK.

12. Look at the Gantt chart to ensure that the link was created.


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13. Change the remaining start dates as follows (the end dates will changeautomatically). You cannot change the dates on the summary tasks. This isdone automatically by Project.

ID Task_Name Start_Date Finish_Date

1 Single Family House 04/16/08 07/16/08

2 General Conditions 04/16/08 05/14/08

3 Finalize plan and develop estimate with owner 04/16/08 05/11/08

4 Sign Contract 05/14/08 05/14/08

5 Apply for permits 05/14/08 05/14/08

6 Site Work 05/15/08 05/17/08

7 Clear and grub lot 05/15/08 05/15/08

8 Install temporary power service 05/16/08 05/16/08

9 Install underground utilities 05/17/08 05/17/08

10 Foundation 05/18/08 07/16/0811 Excavate for foundations 05/18/08 05/22/08

12 Form Basement Walls 05/23/08 06/08/08

13 Place concrete for foundation and basement walls 06/11/08 06/26/08

14 Cure basement wall forms 06/27/08 07/05/08

15 Strip basement wall forms 07/06/08 07/09/08

16 Waterproof and insulate basement walls 07/10/08 07/11/08

17 Perform foundation inspection 07/12/08 07/12/08

18 Backfill foundation 07/13/08 07/16/08

19 Site Inspection 05/14/08 07/16/08

20 Site Inspection 1 05/14/08 05/14/08

21 Site Inspection 2 05/21/08 05/21/08

22 Site Inspection 3 05/28/08 05/28/08

23 Site Inspection 4 06/04/08 06/04/08

24 Site Inspection 5 06/11/08 06/11/08

25 Site Inspection 6 06/18/08 06/18/08

26 Site Inspection 7 06/25/08 06/25/08

27 Site Inspection 8 07/02/08 07/02/08

28 Site Inspection 9 07/09/08 07/09/08

29 Site Inspection 10 07/16/08 07/16/08

Setting Constraints

While dependencies are relationships between components of a project or set ofprojects, constraints are relationships between project components and the


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organizations calendar. They provide a means of linking tasks in the project toevents outside the project. In a university environment, many projects must becompleted before a semester starts or cannot start until a semester ends, forexample.

The default constraint on every task at creation is as soon as possible. That is, the

task will be scheduled to begin as early as possible, given its dependencies on othertasks. Here is the complete list of constraint types:

As Soon As Possible (ASAP) The task must start as early as possible.

As Late As Possible (ALAP) The task must start as late as possible withoutimpeding the start date of subsequent tasks.

Finish No Earlier Than (FNET) The task must end no sooner than a certainconstraint date.

Finish No Later Than (FNLT) The tasks must finish no later than a certainconstraint date.

Must Finish On (MFO) The task must finish on a certain date.

Must Start On (MSO) The task must start on a certain date.

Start No Earlier Than (SNET) The task must start on or after a certainconstraint date.

Start No Later Than (SNLT) The tasks must start on or before a certainconstraint date.

Non-default constraints are less common than dependencies in project plan, sothere are fewer means of setting them. Here is how to set constraints in the Task


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Information window:

1. Double-click on the tasks name in the Gantt Chart view.2. Click on the Advanced tab.3. Select the desired constraint type from the drop-down menu in that field.4. Most constraint types require a constraint date. You can set that date in the

Constraint date field or, if you dont specify a date, it will be drawn from thecurrent dates for the task.

5. Click OK.

Project Scheduling

You may have noticed that as you link tasks or set constraints on them, the Startand Finish dates change to accommodate the dependencies and constraints youhave created. The project schedule embodied in the plan thus begins to take amore realistic form. While availability of critical resources can also affect theprojects schedule, we can already begin to experiment with the plan to determine agood start date for the project. The Project Information window provides the means

for doing so.

Open the Project Information window by selecting Project > Project Informationfrom the menus.

Your first decision is whether you want to set the schedule by working from the Startdate or the Finish date. Thats done by making the appropriate choice from thedrop-down menu in the Schedule from field.


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Once youve selected the date from which to schedule, either the Start date or theFinish date, as appropriate, will become an editable field that you can set in order toconsider the resulting schedule.

Resources

Resources are people or groups of people who will be assigned to do a specific taskwithin your project. If you are working with a known, limited group of resources, thento avoid unnecessary duplication of effort, it is a good idea to add resources to yourorganizations project template so that they will be available in any project planderived from that template. Using a common resource pool will also allow you tocombine multiple project plans for a more global analysis of resource availability.

Before adding any resources, you should determine a consistent naming schemethat will produce a unique name for each distinct resource. One possibility is to usethe persons e-mail identifier, since that must be unique within the organization.

Adding Resources1. Choose Resource Sheet from the view bar.

2. Click in the first empty resource name field.

3. Type in the name of the resource you wish to add.

4. Press Enter.

5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until all of your resources are added.

There are many other fields that can be filled in for each resource. We will not usethose fields today. You can ignore them for now.

Removing a Resource1. Choose Resource Sheet from the view bar.

2. Select the resource that you want to delete by clicking on its number.

3. Press the Delete key.

Assigning Resources

Choose Gantt Chart from the view bar.

1. Click on the task to which you wish to assign a resource.

2. Click the Assign Resources button on the toolbar or choose Tools >

Assign Resources from the menus.

3. Select the name of the resource that you wish to assign.


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4. Click Assign. A checkmark will be added tothe resource and 100%will be filled in for theunits, which is the

portion of the resourcestime that is to bedevoted to the task overits duration.

5. To change the units clickin the Units field andenter the desiredpercentage. The units donot have to total 100%.

6. Click Close when you have finished assigning resources to this task.

If you want to assign a single resource to a task with Units at 100%, then you canclick in the Resource Names field of the Task entry form and select the resourcefrom the drop-down menu.

Another, more flexible way to assign resources is to use the Resources tab of theTask Information window. Generally, though, the Assign Resources window is thequickest method.

Removing Resource Assignments

1. Select the task from which you wish to remove a resource.

2. Click on the Assign Resources tool or select Assign Resources from the

Tools menu.3. Click on the resource name that you wish to remove.

4. Click Remove.

5. Click Close.

If you have divided unit time between resources, you may have to manually redothese. The units of the removed resource are not automatically reassigned toanother resource.

Activity 6 Resource Assignments

1. Click on the Resource Sheet from the View Bar.

2. Add the following resources to your list

Resource Name

General contractor

Architect


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Owner

Mortgage lender

Site excavation contractor

Electric contractor

Plumbing contractor

3. Click on Gantt Chart from the View Bar.

4. Select task 8

5. Click on the Assign Resources button on the toolbar.

6. Click on the resource name Electric Contractor

7. Click Assign

8. Click Close

9. Look at the Gantt Chart to make sure that the resource name appears next tothe task.

10. Open the task information window forTask 3.

11. Click on the Resources tab.

12. Using the drop down list, Assign the General Contractor, Architect, Owner,and Mortgage Lender as resources.

13. Change the assigned units to General Contractor 50%, Architect 50%, Owner12%, and Mortgage Lender 12%.

14. Click Close.

15. Assign resources to other tasks in the project.

Viewing Resource Information

Resource Sheet view Gives details concerning each resource within your project.You can add resources to and remove them from your entire project in this view.

Resource Usage view Shows a chart of each resources work allotment in hourseach day using a calendar. A summary section shows total hours by task and forthe project as a whole. Over-allocated resources are highlighted in red.

Resource Graph view If you select a resource in the Resource Sheet or ResourceUsage view and then switch to Resource Graph view, the same information found inthe Usage view will be presented in a bar chart.

Activity 7: Viewing Resource Information

1. Open construction.mpp

2. Select Resource Sheet from the View Bar


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3. Select a resource by clicking on its name

4. Select Resource Graph from the View Bar

5. A chart should be displayed in the workspace with the project schedule forthat resource.

6. Right click on the graph and choose Split from the menu.

7. On the lower half of the screen, a Resource Form should appear.

8. Change the resource displayed on the chart with the Previous and Nextbuttons of the Resource Form.

9. Right click the chart again and choose Remove Split.

Maintaining your project

Creating a baselineBaseline - A baseline is a set of key, original project estimates. This set consists ofthe original task, resource, assignment, and cost estimates that you entered intoyour project plan.

One of Projects most important features is the ability to track a project, whichincludes comparing the projects actual progress against the anticipated progressthat is embodied in the baseline.

When you begin entering tasks into your project, you are estimating the time that itwill take to complete each one. After entering all of the task information, you shouldcreate a baseline for the project shortly before work on the project begins. To obtain

an accurate analysis of the project andits progress, you should not changeyour initial baseline once it has beencreated. You can, however, create upto 10 additional baselines during thecourse of your project and compare thecurrent state of the project to any of thethe baselines.

To create a baseline:

1. Enter all initial information for a

project. (tasks, dependencies,constraints, resources,assignments)

2. Select Tools > Tracking > SetBaseline from the menus.

3. The Set Baseline windowappears. Make sure that Set


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baseline and Entire project are chosen.

4. From the Baseline drop-down menu, select the baseline you wish to set.Take care not to overwrite the original baseline.

5. Click OK.

As you see, you can also save interim plans during the course of the project.Interim plans resemble baselines in that they can be used to monitor projectprogress, but they provide points of comparison only on task start dates and finishdatesnot on durations, costs, resource estimates, and other factors included inbaselines.

Viewing your baseline task sheet

1. Click the More Views button on the View Bar or right-click the View Bar andchoose More Views from the menu.

2. Double click the Task Sheet option in the More Views window.

3. Choose View > Table > More Tables from the menus.4. Choose Baseline from the More Tables list.

5. Click Apply. (The Baseline table will now be the default when you chooseTask Sheet from the More Views list.)

The table that is displayed shows your baseline task data. This is what Project willuse when comparing your current project status. Again, you should not makechanges to your baseline once the project is under way.

Activity 8: Baselines

1. Open construction.mpp if it is not already open.

2. Set a baseline for your project.

3. View the baseline table, as described just above.

Updating Tasks

As the project progresses, you will want to update the information in your Project fileto reflect that progress. You can make updates in any of the available views throughthe Task Information window:

1. Click on the Gantt View button on the View Bar.

2. Double-click the task that you wish to set or right click on the task and chooseTask Information from the menu.

3. Click on the General tab.

4. Change the Percent complete field to the desired amount.


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5. Set the Start date and (if the task is finished) the Finish date to reflect actualwork on the task.

6. Click OK.

Once your project is underway, you may want to have the Tracking toolbar open tofacilitate task updates. Open it by choosing View > Toolbars > Tracking from themenus. Easily recognized tools on the Tracking toolbar allow you to set thecompletion status of a selected task to 0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, or 100%.

There is also a tool for an abbreviated Update Tasks window focusing on the mostpertinent task parameters.

The Gantt chart provides a graphical display of the completion status of your tasks.

The black bar down the middle of the task bar represents progress on the task, asreported in the Task Information window.

Activity 9: Updating Task Status

1. In your construction project plan, change the duration of task 7 to 2 days.Note that all the tasks after this one depend on it. They cannot start until this


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task finishes so they are all moved back in the schedule the same amount oftime.

2. Change the Start Date of task 11 to 05/23/2008.This also moves all remaining tasks back in the schedule.

3. Change the end date of task 14 to 07/13/2008. The duration of this taskchanges as well as the remaining tasks of the project.

4. Change the Start Date of task 16 to 07/17/2008.

5. The Planning Wizard willappear and warn you of theexisting link between task 15and 16.

6. Choose the option button thatremoves the link and movesthe task.

7. Click OK.The link will be removed onthe Gantt Chart.

8. Select task 3.

9. Open the Tracking Toolbar bychoosing View > Toolbars >Tracking.

10. Set the task to be 100%complete.

11. Set tasks 4 and 5 to be 100% complete.12. Set task 7 to be 50% complete.

Project Tracking

The Gantt Chart that you view while working on your project is the actual projectinformation. If a task takes longer to complete than you originally thought you willchange the information in the project to reflect the changes.

Throughout the duration of the project, you will probably want to compare your

progress to your baseline to determine how well your project was planned and tospot scheduling issues that must be addressed in order to bring the project tocompletion on time.

Tracking Gantt Chart

On the View Bar choose the Tracking Gantt view to see both your baseline scheduleand your actual schedule on the Gantt Chart.


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The blue and red bars show the actual project progress. The gray bars show yourbaseline schedule.

You can easily spot tasks that have deviated from the baseline schedule. Then youhave to decide what action to take.

Activity 10: Tracking Gantt Chart

1. Switch to the Tracking Gantt view.

2. Move your mouse cursor over each of the Gantt chart symbols associatedwith a particular task and observe the information displayed.

Download - Project 2007 Intro

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