ms project manual

Prepared by: Hadeesullah Sahak AWCC: IT-Trainer

Mastering Microsoft

Project 2010

COMPUTER AIDED PROJECT MANAGEMENT USING MICROSOFT PROJECT 2010

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How MS Project 2010 Facilitates Project Management

Establishing realistic schedules and budgets for projects that support business objectives

and meet client expectations is one of the most challenging aspects of project planning.

Delivering on those results within the agreed time, cost and quality constraints are a

critical success factor.

Study after study shows the majority of projects finish "late" or "over budget". This makes

them failures in the eyes of key stakeholders. Further, attempting to meet impossible

deadlines and budgets leads to unplanned project shortfalls that cause long term support

and utilization problems!

Project Planners should recognize the contribution that viable schedules and cost

estimates make to influence the business success of projects, products and the

organizations that perform and own them.

This course focuses on tools and techniques that have proven to lead to establishing

schedules and cost estimates that are realistic. Quite simply, they work!

This is an exercise-driven, no-nonsense practice focused workshop, positioning the

participants for immediate action when they get to work

Introduction to Project Management

Project management is the process of planning, organizing, and managing tasks and

resources to accomplish a defined objective, usually within constraints on time, resources,

and cost. A project plan can be simple, for example, a list of tasks and their start and

finish dates written on a notepad. Or it can be complex, for example, thousands of tasks

and resources and a project budget of millions of dollars. Most projects share common

activities, including breaking the project into easily manageable tasks, scheduling the

tasks, communicating with the team, and tracking the tasks as work progresses.

Microsoft Project 2010 comes with a rich collection of new features especially designed to

enhance your ability to schedule, collaborate with resources, track progress, and

communicate status on your projects.

MS Project 2010 Microsoft Project 2010 is Microsoft's answer to project management. It provides all

the tools you need for effective planning, tracking, problem solving, sharing, and completing a project in keeping with conventional management principles and practices.

It can be used for a project of any size. It simply provides a framework to start with, as well as the means to organize and manage effectively. It is like having a project management assistant.

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Defining the Project

Starting a New Project We will now start a new project; to do this:

o Click on the File tab at the left of the Ribbon. o Click on New. o Double-click on Blank project below the Available Templates heading.

Note: Alternatively you may use the default blank presentation that displays when Project is first accessed. However, it may be preferable to follow the above procedure if you wish to be sure that the file is completely new.

Set the Project start date or finish date:

The first step in creating a schedule are starting a new file, designating a project start or

finish date, and entering general project information. If you dont enter a project start or

finish date, Ms Project automatically uses the current date as the start date.

Inputting Start and Finish Dates The first step in starting a new project is establishing basic project information. The

start or finish date is what you will use to anchor your project. Your schedule will be built around either the start date or the finish date that you choose.

The start and finish date information is entered in the Project Information dialogue

box, which we will open now.

To do this: o Click on the Project tab around the Centre-left of the Ribbon.

o Click on Project Information in the Properties group at the left of the Ribbon to display the Project Information dialogue box.

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o Depending on what you choose from the Schedule from: drop-down menu (Project Start Date is the default), either the Start date: or Finish date: will be available for you to enter a date into.

o You can either type in the date, or click the down-arrow to display a pop-up

calendar to select a date.

Typically, the other fields (Current date: Status date: and Calendar :) can be left as the default values. o In this case use the drop-down calendar in the Start date: field to select

Monday, February 20, 2012

o We will also set the Current date: so that we can easily see the projects start date. Therefore use the drop-down calendar in the Current date: field to change the date to Sunday, February 19, 2012

Project supplies three basic calendars (Standard, Night Shift and 24 Hours)

o In this case ensure that Standard is selected from the Calendar: drop-down menu.

Standard: The base calendar that has a standard work day and work week of

Monday through Friday, 8:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M., with 12:00 P.M. to 1:00

P.M. of nonworking time for a break.

24 Hours: The base calendar that has no non-working time. All time, from

Sunday through Saturday, 12:00 A.M. to 12:00 P.M., is set as working time.

Night Shift: The base calendar that is set up for a graveyard shift. Working

times are Monday night through Saturday morning, 11:00 P.M. to 8:00 A.M.,

with 3:00 A.M. to 4:00 A.M. of nonworking time for a break.

Click [OK] to close the Project Information dialogue box.

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o You will be returned to the Gantt Chart view where you will notice that the dates you specified in the Project Information dialogue box are now displayed in the Gantt Chart.

Note: The Status date: is used to record when the project was updated to

reflect changes in task durations, costs etc, and is used to identify differences between what was expected and what actually happened.

It should be noted that all of this information can be changed at any time

throughout your project, which can be useful in trying out "what-if" scenarios in the planning stage.

Saving your Project:

Before going further you have to save your project in a specific directory or folder.

To do this: o Click on the File tab at the left of the Ribbon. o Click on Save As to open the Save As dialogue box.

o Type the name New Product Brochure in the File name: panel. Note: Notice that the file extension for a Project file is *.mpp

o Click on [Save].Tasks

Entering task:

Tasks are the specific activities that must be completed in order to finish your project (i.e. a 'to-do' list). Your task list is the backbone of your project plan. It is essential to create your task list as comprehensively as possible because if a required task is omitted, you may not be able to achieve all of your goals. It is beneficial to create your task list in approximately the same order as the tasks will be performed, although it is not necessary to be completely accurate as there are ways to edit, add, delete and move tasks.

Automatic verses Manual Scheduling In contrast to previous versions which automatically arranged the scheduling of tasks,

Project 2010 offers the facility to manually arrange the scheduling of tasks. This may be useful where you want full control over the scheduling of your

projects task. However, for our current project we will let Project do the scheduling for us.

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As Project 2010 applies Manual Scheduling by default we now need to change this to Automatic Scheduling.

To do this:

o Click on the New Tasks: Manually Scheduled button at the left of the status bar at the bottom of the screen.

o Select Auto Scheduled Task dates

are calculated by Microsoft Project from the menu that displays.

Entering Tasks

There are a couple of ways to enter a new task. The first is to click in the Task Name column in the first empty row of the Gantt table and enter the task name. We will now use this method to enter our first task:

o Click in the top row of the Task Name column of the Gantt table. o Type: Write Brochure o Press [Enter]. The task is entered into the Gantt table.

After you accept the information, the task is assigned an ID number that is

displayed in the far left column. This is useful for establishing relationships between tasks, such as successors and predecessors.

Project uses 1 day as the default length for estimated task durations. Project notifies you that this is an estimated date by displaying a question mark (?) at the end of the entry. If your estimate for the duration of your task is different than one day, you can change it, however we will leave these default start and finish dates as they are for now (amending start and finish dates will be covered later on in this session).

Entering Subtasks

Subordinate tasks, or subtasks, are used to break large tasks into smaller units until you reach the level of detail you want. This can be useful in the displaying and printing of your project.

By breaking large tasks into smaller, more manageable tasks, you may be able to

schedule them to run concurrently, and thereby reduce both the duration of the task and the duration of the project.

We will now enter the task to Research the New Product, which is a subtask of the Write Brochure. To do this:

o Click in the Task Name cell below the Write Brochure task. o Type: Research New Product

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o Press [Enter] to accept the new task.

We now need to make our new task a subtask of the Write brochure task. To do this:

Ensure that Research New Product is selected by clicking on it if necessary.

o Click on the Task tab at the left of the Ribbon.

Click on the Indent Task button in the Schedule group at the Centre-left of the Ribbon.

o You should notice that the higher-level task (Write Brochure) has now become what is known as the summary task, and its representation in the Gantt Chart has changed to reflect this.

We will now add another subtask, to do this: o Click in the Task Name column, in the next empty cell beneath the

Research New Product task. o Type: Create an Outline o Press [Enter] to accept the entry.

Note: Notice that this task has been automatically entered as a subtask.

Another way to enter a task is to use the Task Information dialogue box, which we will use now to create another subtask. One advantage to using this dialogue box is that it includes access to the Notes pane, which can be very useful for adding details about the task. For example you can include details of when the task was set up and any changes made to it during the projects progress.

We will now add another task using this dialogue box. To do this: o Double-click in the Task Name column, in the next empty cell beneath the

Create an Outline task to display the Task Information dialogue box.

Note: This can also be displayed by clicking on the Information button in the Properties group at the right of the Task tab.

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o Ensure that the General

tab is selected. o In the Name: panel type:

Write a Rough Draft

o Now click on the Notes tab and enter details of who and when this task was created, for example: Created by Ann Nonymouse 20/02/2012

o When you have finished click on [OK] to return to the Gantt Chart.

o You should notice that the new task has been added to the Gantt table list, and has also appeared as a blue square in the Gantt Chart on the right.

o You should also notice that a Notes icon has been added in the Information column to the left of the Create an Outline task.

Note: The Notes pane can be easily displayed, for example to enter updates, by clicking on the Notes button in the Properties group at the right of the Task tab on the Ribbon.

Click on Save in the Quick Access Toolbar at the top-left of the screen to save

the changes.

Editing the Notes for a Task

Once a Note has been added to a task it is easy to edit it, for example to include updated details. To do this: o Double-click on the Notes icon in the Information column to the left of the

Create an Outline task. o The Task Information dialogue box opens displaying the Notes pane.

o Make any necessary changes and when you have finished click on click on

[OK] to close the dialogue box.

Inserting, Moving and Deleting Tasks To insert an additional task between two existing tasks

o Right-click on the ID number below the position you want to insert the new task.

Therefore, in this case, right-click on the ID number 3 to the left of the Create an Outline task name.

o Select Insert Task from the menu that displays. A new blank row is created.

o Click within the new cell under the Task Name heading to obtain an insertion point.

o Enter the name for the new task, which in this case is: test o Press [Enter] to accept the change.

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To move a task

o Click on the ID number for the task that you want to move to select the entire row. In this case click on the ID number for the test task that you have just created.

o Now click again on the ID number and drag the task to its new position. As you do so a grey horizontal bar displays to indicate where the task will be positioned.

o In this case position it so that it is between the Write brochure and Research New Product tasks.

o When you are happy that it is in the correct place release the mouse button.

To delete a task

o Click on the ID number for the task that you want to delete. In this case select the ID number for the test task that you have just moved.

o Press [Delete] on the keyboard. The task is deleted. o That completes our work on this project so close it by clicking on its lower grey

Close button .

When you are prompted to save the changes click on

[No].

Creating Dependencies:

Dependencies are a way to link tasks together in order to describe which tasks must precede or succeed one another in other words, some tasks must start or finish before another task can begin or end. Creating dependencies allows Project to create a flexible time framework relative to the task preceding or succeeding it.

There are two types of tasks in a dependency. A predecessor task must occur

before another task. A successor task must occur after another task.

There are four different types of dependencies (or linkages) that can be assigned to a task or tasks. These are described below.

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Dependency Description

finish-to-start This is the most common type of relationship. (FS) The start of one task begins as soon as its predecessor finishes.

The successor can't start until the predecessor finishes.

E.g. A report must be finished before it can start to be edited.

Start-to-Finish This requires the successor task is completed after its (SF) predecessor starts.

That is, the successor task cannot finish until the predecessor task starts.

This relationship is rarely used, although it may be necessary in unusual instances. E.g. Employees can start using a new procedure only after they have finished being trained.

Start-to-Start This is where the successor cannot start until the predecessor (SS) starts.

The tasks can happen simultaneously, but the predecessor has to have started in order for the successor to start. E.g. One you start to receive results you can start to process them.

Finish-to-Finish This is where the successor can't finish until the predecessor (FF) finishes.

The tasks can happen simultaneously, but the predecessor has to have finished in order for the successor to finish. E.g. The computer installation is finished at the same time as employees finish moving in so that they can start work immediately

How to create Dependency:

We will now set up a dependency to specify that the Research New Product task must be completed before the Create an Outline task can begin.

To do this:

o If necessary, use the scroll bar at the bottom of the Gantt chart on the right-hand side of the screen to scroll to the left so that you can see the dates of the project in February 2012.

o Double-click on the Create an Outline task in the Task Name column to

display the Task Information dialogue box for that particular task. o Click on the Predecessors tab.

o Click in the first row of the Task Name column to display a drop-down arrow. o Select Research New Product from the drop-down list that appears.

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o Now click in the first row of the Type column to display a drop-down arrow. o Ensure that Finish-to-Start (FS) is selected from the drop-down menu. o Click on [OK] to close the Task Information dialogue box.

You will notice that the ID number of the predecessor is shown in the Predecessors column of the Gantt table, and that the dependency is represented by an arrow that links the two subtasks in the Gantt chart.

You will also see that the start and finish dates of the Create an Outline task

have changed, to reflect the fact that it cannot start until its predecessor finishes.

We will now add two further predecessors to our task list. To do this:

o Double-click on the Write a Rough Draft task to open the Task Information dialogue box.

o Click on the Predecessors tab.

o Click in the first row of the Task Name column of the Predecessors tab. A drop-down arrow appears.

o Select Create an Outline from the drop-down list that appears.

o Now click in the first row of the Type column. A drop-down arrow appears.

o Ensure that Finish-to-Start (FS) is selected from the drop-down menu.

o Click on [OK] to close the Task Information dialogue box.

When applying Finish-to-Start dependencies you can also create them by clicking and dragging from the Predecessor Gantt bar to the Successor Gantt bar in the Gantt Chart.

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To demonstrate this we will create a dependency between the Write a Rough

Draft and Edit Rough Draft tasks. To do this:

o In the Gantt Chart on the right click on the Gantt bar for the Write a Rough Draft task so that a four-headed arrow displays.

o Now click and drag a link to the Edit Rough Draft task.

When a chain link icon displays, along with a panel on the right displaying the

dependency details, release the mouse button to create the dependency.

We will not enter any further Predecessor information on this file.

Therefore close the New Product Brochure - Tasks.mpp by clicking on its

lower grey Close button .

When you are prompted to save the changes click on [No].

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Creating Resource list:

Resources are people, supplies and equipment that you need to use to accomplish your tasks and goals.

Project uses the resource information you provide to make the schedule for

your project typically the more resources you assign, the shorter the duration of the project will be. This is because a task is completed faster when there are more people or materials assigned to it.

o Select New Product Brochure Resources from the list that appears and then click on [Open]. Note: you will notice that the file we are viewing is a further completed version of the same project, with many more predecessors entered. As a result, the project is now extending over a much longer estimated time span.

Using the Resource Sheet View

One of the best ways to enter resources is by using the Resource Sheet view, which we will open now. To do this: o Click on the View tab at the Centre-left of the Ribbon.

o Click on Resource Sheet (not the down-arrow) in the Resource Views

group towards the left of the Ribbon.

The Resource Sheet view is useful for viewing, entering and editing resource information. It contains detailed resource information in a worksheet format. We will now enter two resources into our project. This will involve entering a

descriptive name for the resource in the Resource Name field. This can be a worker's name, a job title, or the name of a material. You also need to

specify what Type of resource it is.

We will now enter our first resource directly into the Resource Sheet. To do this:

o Click in the first row of the Resource Name column. o Type: Jane Smith o Press [Enter] to accept the entry.

Another way to enter resources is to use the Resource Information dialogue box. One advantage of using this method is that it includes a Notes pane, which can be useful for adding notes about the resource.

We will now use the Resource Information dialogue box to add a resource for

Postage.

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To do this:

o Double-click in the Resource Name column in the next empty cell below Jane Smith to display the Resource Information dialogue box.

Note: This can also be displayed by clicking on the Information button in the Properties group at the right of the Resource tab.

o In the Resource name:

panel type: Postage o Now, to add a Note about

this resource, click on the Notes tab and enter: Created by Ann Nonymouse 20/02/2012, Postage to be arranged with Royal Mail.

o When you have finished

click on [OK].

o You will be returned to the Resource Sheet where you will notice that the

Postage resource has been added below Jane Smith. You should also notice that a Notes icon has been added in the Information column to the left of the Postage resource.

Note: The resources Notes pane can be easily displayed, for example to enter updates, by clicking on the Notes button in the Properties group at the Centre of the Resources tab on the Ribbon.

Setting the Resource Type

Once you have entered a resource you should notice that Project has assigned some default values to the resource, of which one of these is the resource Type.

Project allows you to choose either Work (human resources), Material or Cost

as the resource Type.

Note: Do be aware that if the file is viewed in Project 2003 any Cost type is converted to Material. Therefore do not use this option if sharing the file with anyone using this earlier version.

We will now change the resource Type for Postage to cost. To do this:

o Click in the Type column to the right of Postage. o Select Cost from the drop-down list.

o Click anywhere away from the cell you have just

updated.

Click on Save in the Quick Access Toolbar at the top-left of the screen to save the changes.

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Entering Working Time Where necessary you can customise a resource's availability during the project by

modifying their project calendar. We will now customise the calendar for Jane Smith to record that she is having a

days leave on a normal working day during the project. To do this:

o Open the Resource Information dialogue box by double-clicking on the Resource Name Jane Smith in the Resource Sheet.

o Click on the General tab and click on the [Change Working Time] button at the right of the dialogue box.

o Ensure that Standard is selected in the Base calendar: panel. o If necessary use the scroll bar to the right of the calendar to scroll to

February 2012.

o Click on the date 21 February 2012. This is going to be an Exception Day i.e. a day away from work, or nonworking day, for our resource.

o Ensure the Exceptions tab towards the bottom of the dialogue box is selected. o Click in the Name panel and type in a reason for not being available on that

date. In this case enter Day off.

o Click in the panel at the right under the Start heading. 21 February 2012

will automatically be entered.

Note: If this occurs regularly, click on [Details] to the right of the panel and specify how often this occurs in the Recurrence pattern panel.

o Click on [OK] to close the Change Working Time dialogue box.

o Click on [OK] to close the Resource Information dialogue box.

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Entering Rates

It is important to enter rates for a resource, even if they are estimates, as this allows Project to calculate the overall cost of a project.

The cost of a resource may increase or decrease during the life of your project,

and you need to be able to reflect these changes.

We will now enter some rates for our resource Jane Smith.

To do this:

o In the Resource Sheet double-click to select the Std. Rate cell for the resource Jane Smith to open the Resource Information dialogue box.

o Click on the Costs tab.

o Type 20 in the Standard Rate column to record that her normal pay rate is 20 per hour.

o Press [Enter] to accept the entry.

o Type 30 in the Overtime Rate cell. o Press [Enter] to accept the entry. o When you have finished click on [OK] to close the dialogue box.

Click on Save in the Quick Access Toolbar at the top-left of the screen to save the changes.

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Assigning Resources: Now we have entered some resources information we can assign these resources

to particular parts of the project. To do this:

o Begin by redisplaying the Gantt Chart by clicking on the View tab at the Centre left of the Ribbon.

o Then click on Gantt Chart (not the down-

arrow) in the Task Views group at the left of the Ribbon.

o In the Gantt Chart view, click on the Resource Names

column for the Research New Product task. Note: If necessary resize the Gantt table to fully view the Resources Names column by dragging the vertical divider to the right.

o Click on the down-arrow and select Jane Smith from the list that displays to

associate her to this task. o Press [Enter] to accept the change.

Another way of achieving this is by using the Task Information dialogue box. To use this method to associate the Postage resource to the Do mass mail out task:

o Double-click on the Do mass mail out task to open the Task Information

dialogue box. o Click on the Resources tab.

o Click within the first blank cell below the Resource Name heading to obtain an insertion point and then click on the drop-down arrow that appears to the right of the panel.

o Select Postage from the drop-down list. o Click [OK] to close the dialogue box.

You will notice that the names of the resources that you have assigned have appeared in the Gantt Chart to the right of the tasks to which they relate.

Now close the file, by clicking on its lower grey Close button . When the

dialogue box appears asking you if you would like to save your changes, choose

[No].

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Understanding Baselines

The baseline is a picture or image you capture of the project plan the moment planning is complete.

It is used to track the planned progress of the project against the actual

progress. It provides a point of reference when tracking your project.

With smaller projects, one baseline is usually sufficient because planning is usually close to what actually happened. With larger projects, however, several baselines may be required because projects can move far off the planned path. Project 2010 allows you to save 11 different baselines and 11 interim plans.

Setting the Baseline

We will now set a Baseline to record the current position of the project. To do this: o Click on the Project tab towards the left of the Ribbon.

o Click on Set Baseline in the

Scheduling group at the centre of the Ribbon to display a menu.

o Select Set Baseline to display the Set

Baseline dialogue box.

o Ensure that the Set Baseline check box displays a check mark.

o In this case we want to record the entire project, so ensure that the Entire project check box under the For: heading displays a check mark.

o Click [OK] to save the baseline information and close the dialogue box.

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Recording Actuals - Tasks Once a project is underway, it is important to collect and record data on task progress to

show what has actually occurred. This allows Project to automatically reschedule the remaining tasks and gives tangible ways to measure progress (when compared to the baseline).

When updating and recording actuals the Gantt Chart is the best view to work

from.

Setting Actual Start and Finish Dates Recording the actual start or finish date of a task is critical to the overall finish date of

the project. If tasks are finishing on time, the project is likely to finish on time, and conversely, if tasks are completed behind schedule, the project is likely to finish behind time.

We will now record the actual start date and status of the Research New

Product task. To do this: o Click on the Task tab at the left of the Ribbon.

o Click on the Display Task Details button at the right of the Properties group

on the Ribbon.

The Task Details Form appears in the bottom half of the screen.

o In the top pane of your screen, select the Research New Product task by clicking within it in the Task Name column.

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o We wish to specify the actual date this task started, therefore in the bottom pane, choose Actual from the option buttons at the bottom of the Dates panel.

o We need to state that this task did begin on Monday. So click on the drop-down

calendar in the Start: panel within the Dates section and select Monday 20 February 2012 as the actual start date.

o We will also record that the task is now 100% complete. So to do this click on the

up/down arrows to the right of the % complete: text box toward the right of the dialogue box so that it displays 100%.

o When you have finished click on [OK] at the top of the dialogue box to accept the

changes.

You will notice a tickmark has appeared in the Information column next to the

Research New Product task in the top half of the screen. This indicates that the

task has been completed. The Gantt Chart entry also displays a full black band in the Research New

Product task, indicating that it is complete. Note: You may need to scroll across to the right to see the date area for 20

th

February 2012.

We no longer need the Task Details Form, therefore to remove it and view the Gantt Table and Chart in full screen mode: o Click on the Task tab at the left of the Ribbon.

o Click on the Display Task Details button at the right of the Properties

group on the Ribbon.

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Setting Actual Task Durations In a similar way, it is possible to record the actual duration of tasks, which we will

now do for the Create an Outline task. To do this: o Begin by clicking on the task you would like to update to select it. o In this case click on Create an Outline in the Task Name column.

o Click on the Task tab at the left of the Ribbon.

o Click on the down-arrow to the right of the Mark on Track button in the Schedule group at the centre of the Ribbon to display a menu.

o Select Update Tasks to display the Update Tasks dialogue box.

o We need to specify that the duration of the Create an Outline task was two days,

not one as expected.

o Therefore use the up-arrow to the right of the Actual dur: option box to

change the actual duration of this task to 2d (2 days). o Click [OK] to accept the change and close the dialogue box.

o You will notice a tick mark has appeared in the Information column next to the

Create an Outline task at the top of the screen, indicating that the task has been completed.

o You will also see that the duration has changed to 2 days, and that subsequent dates

have been altered to reflect that this part of the Project took longer than originally planned. Note: You may need to scroll across to the right to see the date area for 20

th

February 2012. Click on Save in the Quick Access Toolbar at the top-left of the screen to save the

changes.

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Introduction to Views

Project includes a number of different Views, which enable you to see the project from a variety of perspectives and focus on different aspects.

So far we have used the Gantt Chart view, which is the default view, and the Resource Sheet view.

Two other views we will look at now are Task Usage and Calendar.

You can use most views to enter and edit information, although some views can only display information.

The Views available can all be accessed from the More Views dialogue box, which can be accessed by clicking on the down-arrow on most of the view buttons.

For example, to do this:

o Click on the down-arrow at the bottom of the Gantt Chart button at the left of the Task or View tab on the Ribbon.

o Select More Views from the bottom of the

menu that displays.

o We will not use this dialogue box, so close it by clicking on [Cancel].

Using the Task Usage View

The Task Usage View can be considered to be a composite of the Gantt Table and the Properties Sheet, as it displays both the tasks and the associated resources together.

To access this from its own button:

o Click on the View tab at the centre-left of the Ribbon.

o Click on Task Usage button (not the

down-arrow) in the Task Views group at the left of the Ribbon.

When you have finished return to the Gantt Chart view by clicking on Gantt Chart (not the down-arrow) in the Task Views group at the left of the Ribbon.

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Using the Calendar View The calendar view is useful for a general overview of what needs to be done on a

specific day. To access this from its own button:

o Click on the View tab at the centre-left of the

Ribbon.

o Click on Calendar button (not its down-arrow) in the Task Views group at the left of the Ribbon.

When using this the main points to consider are:

o You can switch from Monthly view to Weekly view by clicking on the buttons at the

top-left of the actual calendar.

o You can scroll through the months by using the arrow buttons immediately below the Month/Week buttons.

o A black box surrounds the current date.

o Tasks are shown by a bar stretching over the amount of days allocated for the task. o A solid black bar shows the projects milestones.

o You can double-click on any of the tasks to open the Task Information dialogue

box and view specific information about that task.

That completes our work on this project, so close the file by clicking on its lower grey

Close button .

When the dialogue box appears asking if you would like to save the changes, click on [No].

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The Gantt Chart View The Project file has been opened in Gantt Chart view.

The Gantt Chart view is Projects default view. It consists of a Gantt table (on the

left) and a Gantt Chart (on the right). The Gantt table is made up of columns of information, and the Gantt Chart is the graphic representation of the information entered.

The Gantt Chart view is useful for entering task information and for viewing the timing and relationship between tasks.

The Gantt table on the left displays information in columns such as:

o Task Name showing the different tasks and subtasks which are involved in the project

o Duration, Start and Finish - The estimated duration of each of the tasks or

subtasks, including start and finish dates

o Predecessors Indicates the relationship of a subtask to other tasks, if any exists

o Resource Names displays the resources assigned to each task or subtask, e.g. personnel or materials. Note: we will consider each of these categories in more detail later on in this session.

The two windows on your screen can be resized so that you can view a larger or smaller portion of the window. To resize, simply hover your mouse cursor over the grey vertical divider until it becomes a double-headed arrow. Click and drag the line until it is in the position you desire.

o Practice this now by clicking and dragging the vertical divider to the left, to

decrease the size of the Gantt table on the left, and increase the size of the Gantt Chart on the right.

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How the Gantt Chart Displays Information

You will notice that the Gantt Chart displays different types of task in different

ways. The most common of these are outlined below:

Type of Task Description Gantt Chart Representations

Normal All tasks that are not Blue bar milestones or summary tasks.

Milestone Either a task with a zero Black diamond duration, or a task that has been designated as a milestone.

Summary Tasks that represent the Black bar duration of the tasks subordinate to them in an outline.

Critical* A task or series of tasks that Red bar must be completed on schedule in order for a project to finish on schedule.

Finished Tasks for which an actual finish Blue bar with black centre date has been entered or that have been marked 100% complete.

In Progress Tasks for which an actual start Blue bar with black progress date but not an actual finish line date, has been entered.

* Note: to view the critical tasks in Gantt Chart view you need to display the Detail Gantt chart. To do this: Click on the View tab towards the centre of the Ribbon.

Click on the down-arrow to the right of Other Views in the

Resource Views group towards the centre of the Ribbon. Click on More Views. Select Detail Gantt in the More Views dialogue box. Click on [Apply].

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Now close the file, by clicking on the lower grey Close button at the top

right of the screen.

When the dialogue box appears asking you if you would like to save the changes, choose [No].

26


MS Project 2010 Options and their definitions:

Calendar: based on start and finish dates

If you choose to schedule from the finish date, the Start date box becomes unavailable. You set the

finish date, and Microsoft Project calculates the start date based on your task information. Also, if you

schedule from the start date, all new tasks have a default constraint type of As Soon As Possible (ASAP).

If you schedule from the finish date, all new tasks have a default constraint type of As Late As Possible

(ALAP).

Default task type: Specify the effect that editing existing assignment information work, assignment

units, or durationhas on the calculation of the other two fields for assignments to this task. This

setting controls the default for all new task types. To change the task type for individual tasks, click the

task, click Task Information, click the advanced tab, and then click an option in the Task type box.

Fixed Duration: Set the task to Fixed Duration if you want the task duration to remain constant,

regardless of any change in assignment units or work for the task. For fixed-duration tasks:

If you revise units, Microsoft Project recalculates work.

If you revise duration in a fixed-duration task, Microsoft Project recalculates work.

If you revise the amount of work, Microsoft Project recalculates the units.

Fixed Units: Set the task to Fixed Units if you want the number of assignment units to remain constant,

regardless of any change in duration or work for the task. This is the default. For fixed-unit tasks:

If you revise units in a fixed-unit task, Microsoft Project recalculates duration.

If you revise duration, Microsoft Project recalculates work.

If you revise the amount of work, Microsoft Project recalculates the duration.

Fixed Work: Set the task to Fixed Work if you want the amount of work to remain constant, regardless

of any change in duration or resource assignment units for the task.

Because, by definition, fixed-work tasks are effort-driven, the Effort driven check box is automatically

selected for fixed-work tasks. For fixed-work tasks:

If you revise units, Microsoft Project recalculates duration.

If you revise duration, Microsoft Project recalculates units.

If you revise the amount of work in a fixed-work task, Microsoft Project

Recalculates the duration.

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Differentiate work from Duration:

Duration: The total span of active working time required to complete a task. This is generally the

amount of working time from the start to finish of a task, as defined by the project and resource

calendar. Elapsed duration is the amount of time a task will take to finish, based on a 24-hour day and a

7-day week, including holidays and other nonworking days; minutes, hours, days, and weeks can be

entered in elapsed duration.

Work: For tasks, the total labor or "person-hours" required (in terms of minutes, hours, days, weeks, or

months) for all resources to complete a task. For assignments, the amount of work to which a resource

is assigned for a specific task. For resources, the total amount of work to which a resource is assigned for

all tasks. Work is different from task duration. For example, a resource may require 32hours of work to

complete a task, but the task may be scheduled with duration of 2days. This indicates that more than

one resource needs to be assigned to this task, namely two. Working 8hours a day on the task, two

people would complete the task in 2days.

What is a deliverable?

A deliverable is a tangible, verifiable outcome of work done to produce a product or a service. To be

verifiable, the deliverable must meet predetermined standards for its completion, such as design

specifications for a product (such as a new car) or a checklist of steps that is completed as part of a

service (such as maintenance of factory machinery).

Who does the deliverable affect?

Deliverables have stakeholders. Stakeholders who receive the finished product or service are external,

such as another team that depends on the deliverable to do their own work or a company's customers.

And stakeholders who work on the deliverable directly are internal, such as project manager and team

members. The stakeholders must accept the finished state of the deliverable

What do the stakeholders need from the deliverable?

Deliverables have an agreed upon grade and quality that set appropriate expectations for its

completion. For example, the agreed upon grade for the new car might be an inexpensive commuter

model as opposed to a luxury sedan. Quality is the degree of defect and workmanship within the agreed

upon grade. For example, the grade of a luxury sedan and commuter car may be different, but the same

high standards may be set for the quality of both vehicles. Grade and quality are two standards that

stakeholders must agree on in order to complete a deliverable that will meet its objectives.

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Organize deliverables and tasks in a Work Breakdown Structure:

A phase is a group of tasks that represents a distinct time period, intermediate goal, or some other

logical division within a project. A phase usually results in the completion of a deliverable. In Microsoft

Project, a summary task and its subtasks make up a phase. If your project consists of relatively few tasks,

you may not want to group them into phases. However, for larger projects, phases can visually break a

long task list into fewer, more manageable chunks and can give you an overview of the major steps you

need to take to reach your project goals.

You can show the structure of your project in a variety of ways using built-in or customized work

breakdown structure (WBS) codes or outline codes. For example, you can simply view the hierarchy of

tasks and subtasks that you created when entering your task list, or you can use custom WBS codes or

outline codes to organize your task list based on a variety of coding systems, such as accounting codes

or your organizational breakdown structure.

Create summary tasks, detail tasks and milestones:

Summary Tasks: A summary task is made up of subtasks and summarizes those subtasks. Summary

tasks are shown by default and can be shown independent of project-level summary tasks.

Task: A typical project is a series of related tasks. A task represents an amount of work with a clear

deliverable; it should be short enough to track its progress regularly. Tasks should generally be between

one day and two weeks long.

Enter tasks in the order they will occur. Then estimate how long it will take to complete each task, and

enter your estimate as the duration. Microsoft Project uses durations to calculate the amount of work to

be done on the task.

To define your tasks most effectively, take into account the following guidelines:

Break down tasks to the level of detail that you want to track. You should break them down in greater

detail for riskier areas.

Make sure that tasks have clear completion criteria.

Define tasks that are short compared with the overall project duration. Shorter tasks allow you to

more easily estimate time and resources.

You can enter tasks as follows:

On the View menu, click Gantt Chart.

In the Task Name field, type a task name, and then press TAB.

Microsoft Project enters an estimated duration of one day for the task followed by a question mark.

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In the Duration field, type the amount of time each task will take in months, weeks, days, hours, or

minutes, not counting nonworking time. You can use the following abbreviations:

months = mo

weeks = w

days = d

hours = h

minutes = m

Note To show an estimated duration, type a question mark after the duration.

Task Information:

Use the Task Information dialog box to enter, review, or change detailed information about a selected

task. When you click a single task and open the Task Information dialog box, the title bar reads Task

Information, and all five tabs are available. If you click multiple tasks to make the same change to

several tasks at once, the title bar reads

Multiple Task Information and the Predecessors tab is not available. If you click a summary task or the

project summary task, the title bar reads Summary Task Information.

Percent complete: Type the percentage of the task that is complete to indicate the actual progress of

the task. Microsoft Project calculates the task's actual and remaining duration using this number. If you

enter a percentage for summary tasks, the progress is distributed to its subtasks.

Priority: You can set task priorities to indicate their availability for resource leveling. You can sort tasks

by priority using the Sort command on the Project menu. You can also use priority to filter tasks. Set the

priority to 1000 (meaning Do Not Level) if you don't want Microsoft Project to delay this task at all when

leveling.

Task Information dialog box, Predecessors tab

While you can select and change multiple tasks at once with the other Task Information tabs, the

Predecessors tab is available only if a single task is selected.

Use this tab to enter, review, or change predecessor information about the selected task. You can:

Enter a predecessor for the current task.

Click the predecessor type: Finish-To-Start (the default), Start-To-Start, Finish-To-Finish, and Start-To-

Finish.

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Enter a lag time indicating a delay between linked tasks.

Enter lead-time indicating overlap between tasks.

ID: Type the identification number of the task's predecessor. Type the ID of only one predecessor per

row and enter information about that predecessor in the remainder of the row. If you don't know the

ID, you can click the name of the task in the Task Name column. You can only enter the ID of a task that

already exists. If you want to link to a task in another project, with the other project open, you can type

the project name and the task ID.

Task Name: Click the name of the predecessor task from the list. All other tasks in the project are listed.

If you typed an ID in the ID column, Microsoft Project automatically enters the task name in this column.

Type: Specify a task dependency. You can click the dependency type from the list. Or you can type it,

using the two-letter combination shown in parentheses below: Finish-To-Start (FS): The successor task

cannot start until the predecessor task finishes. This is the default task dependency.

Start-To-Start (SS): The successor task cannot start until the predecessor task starts.

Finish-To-Finish (FF): The successor task cannot finish until the predecessor task finishes.

Start-To-Finish (SF): The successor task cannot finish until the predecessor task starts.

Lag: Type the lead time or lag time between the tasks. Enter an amount followed by a time unit

abbreviation. You can also enter lead or lag as a percentage. Indicate lead-time with a negative number

and indicate lag time with a positive number.

Task Information dialog box, Resources tab

Use this tab to enter, review, or change resource assignments and assignment units for the selected

task.

Resource Name: Enter the name of a resource you want to assign to the task. Enter the name of only

one resource per row. You can replace one resource assignment with another. You can also delete a

resource assignment by clicking the row and then pressing DELETE.

Units: Type the number of assignment units that you are allocating to the task. For example, to assign a

work resource to work half-time on a task, type 50%. The default for assignment units is the same as the

resource's maximum units, up to 100%. That is:

If a resource's maximum units is set to 100%, the default assignment units setting is 100%.

If a resource's maximum units is set to 50%, the default assignment units setting is 50%.

If a resource's maximum units is 300%, the default assignment units setting is still 100%.

The assignment units percentage is based on the working time available as set in the resource calendar.

If the resource calendar indicates that the resource is available for 8 hours on Monday, then 100% on a

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task scheduled for Monday means 8 hours of work on the task. If the resource calendar indicates that

the resource is available for 4 hours on Tuesday, however, then 100% on a task scheduled for Tuesday

means 4 hours of work on the task.

To assign a material resource to a task, type the quantity of material to be used. The unit of

measurement label (tons, boxes, yards, and so on) that you used to define the material resource

appears in the Units field, and the default is 1.

Task Information dialog box, advanced tab

Use this tab to enter, review, or change supplemental task information. You can:

Enter a deadline for the task if you want to be alerted about missed deadlines.

Change the constraint on the task to affect schedule dates.

Specify the task type for the task to affect how changes to task information affect scheduling.

Specify the task calendar for the task.

Mark the task as effort-driven, or as a milestone.

Deadline: Enter a date that indicates when you want this task to be completed. Setting a deadline does

not set a date constraint or affect the task scheduling. Instead, it displays an indicator if the deadline

passes and the task is not completed. It also displays an arrow on the chart portion of the Gantt Chart

view.

Constraint type: Specify any restriction on the allowable start or finish date for the task. You can assign

one constraint per task. If you specify a constraint other than As Soon As Possible or As Late As Possible,

enter the appropriate date in the Constraint date box.

Effort Driven Scheduling: When you assign or remove people from a task, Microsoft Project will extend

or shorten the duration of the task to accommodate the additional or fewer resources applied to the

task, but it will not change the total work for the task.

This is called effort-driven scheduling and is the default Microsoft Project uses when you assign

resources to tasks. As resources are added to a task, the total work on the task stays the same. The

amount of work distributed to the resources assigned to the task, however, will change.

Effort-driven scheduling only takes effect when resources are added to or removed from a task. Effort-

driven calculation rules are not applied when you change work, duration, and unit values for resources

already assigned to a task.

When working with effort-driven scheduling, keep the following in mind:

The effort-driven calculations will apply only after the first resource is assigned to the task.

Once a resource is assigned, the work value will not change as new resources are assigned to or

removed from the same task.

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The effort-driven calculations will not be applied to multiple resources that are assigned at the

same time and that are the first assignments on a task. After this initial assignment of multiple

resources, however, the work value will not change as new resources are assigned to or removed from

the same task.

If the assigned task type is Fixed Units, then assigning additional resources will shorten the

duration of the task.

If the assigned task type is Fixed Duration, then assigning additional resources will decrease

the individual unit values for resources.

If the assigned task type is Fixed Work, then assigning additional resources will shorten the

duration of the task.

Summary tasks and inserted projects cannot have the effort-driven setting turned on.

Earned Value method: Specify whether you want earned value calculated by using % Complete or

Physical % Complete.

% Complete: Calculates basic cost of work performed (BCWP) by using the percentage of the task

duration that has been completed.

Physical % Complete: Calculates BCWP by using the percentage of the task that is complete

independent of the actual duration/total duration of the task.

Task Information dialog box, Notes tab

To open this dialog box and tab, in any task view, click the task and then click Task Information, Click the

Notes tab. Use this tab to enter or review notes for a selected task. You can:

Add new notes about a task.

Revise or add to existing notes.

Format the font and alignment of notes.

Insert objects into a note.

Create a milestone to represent an external dependency:

In the Task Name field, type the name of the external event or task that you want to track and then

press TAB to move to the Duration field.

In the Duration field, type 0 days, and then press ENTER.

Some milestones may need duration. For example, your project has an approval milestone at the end of

a phase and you know that the approval process will take a week. To mark a task as a milestone with

duration of more than 0 days, click Task Information, and then click the advanced tab. In the Duration

box, enter the task duration, and then select the Mark task as milestone check box.

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Cost Estimates:

Microsoft Project allows you to assign rates to human and material resources so you can manage project

costs accurately. You can assign standard rates, overtime rates, or per-use rates to resources.

For a work resource, in the Std. Rate, Ovt. Rate, or Cost/Use fields, type the resource rates.

For a material resource, in the Material Label field, type a measurement unit for the material resource

(such as ton), and in the Std. Rate or Cost/Use fields, type a rate

Fixed Cost: Fixed costs are set costs for a task that remain constant regardless of the task duration, the

work performed by a resource, or the number of assigned resource units. A rate-based resource cost

may increase when a task takes more time, but a fixed cost does not. For example, if a carpenter is paid

hourly and is scheduled to complete a task in five days, but the task takes seven days, the carpenter will

be paid more than planned. If the carpenter is paid a fixed cost for the work, then the cost will be the

same no matter how

long the task takes. Fixed costs can be assigned to a task in addition to rate-based resource costs. For

instance, if a resource assigned to a task would also incur travel costs, the travel costs can be added as a

fixed amount to the same task. Fixed costs are included in the cost totals of phases (on summary tasks)

and the entire project.

Note: If you want to enter a fixed cost for the entire project (for example, if you are only interested in

overall project costs, not task-level costs, or if you want to add project overhead costs, such as the cost

of utilities), click Options on the Tools menu, and then click the View tab. Under Outline options, select

the Project summary task check box, and then click OK. In the Task Name field, select the project

summary task. In the Fixed Cost field, type a cost for the project.

Overtime: The amount of work on an assignment scheduled beyond an assigned resource's regular

working hours, and charged at the resource's overtime rate. Overtime work is not additional work on

the assignment. Rather, it indicates the amount of the assignment's work that is specified as overtime

work. For example, if an assignment has 40 hours of work and 8 hours of overtime work, the total work

on the assignment is 48 hours: 40 hours of regular work and 8 hours of overtime work.. 0 Overtime can

be entered for a resource assignment to shorten the time it takes for the resource to complete work on

the assignment. This can often affect task duration. When overtime hours are entered for an

assignment, Microsoft Project recalculates the span of the assignment by subtracting the overtime

hours from the total work hours.

Per-use cost: A set fee for the use of a resource. This can be in place of, or in addition to, a variable, or

hourly resource cost. For work resources, a per-use cost accrues each time the resource is used. For

material resources, a per-use cost is accrued only once when assigned, regardless of units.

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Standard Rate: The hourly rate to be accrued for regular work, or straight time, for this resource.

Cost accrual box: Indicates when resource costs will be incurred. The following are details about the

options for the Cost accrual box.

Start: The cost is incurred at the start of an assigned task.

Prorated: The cost is incurred as prorated over time. This is the default.

End: The cost is incurred at the end of an assigned task.

Change the project's standard and overtime default rates: You can set the default standard and

overtime rates for any new resources you enter. On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the

General tab. In the Default standard rate and Default overtime rate boxes, type the new rates. If you

want to set this default for all future projects, click Set as Default.

If the rate for a resource will change over the course of the project or if the resource will be paid at

different rates for different assignments, or if you work with different grades of material, click Resource

Sheet on the View menu. In the Resource Name field, select a resource and then click Resource

Information Then, enter the information on the Costs tab.

1 Establish relationships between tasks:

To establish relationships between tasks, use task dependencies. First, select the related tasks, link

them, and then change the dependency type, if necessary. The task whose start or finish depends on

another task is the successor. The task that the successor is dependent on is the predecessor. For

example, if you link "Hang clock" to "Paint wall," then "Hang clock" is the successor and "Paint wall" is

the predecessor. After the tasks are linked, changes to the predecessor's dates affect the successor's

dates. Microsoft Project creates a finish-to-start task dependency by default. Because a finish-to-start

dependency does not work in every situation, you can change the task link to start-to-start, finish-to-

finish, or start-to-finish to model your project realistically.

Edit task relationship types and lag:

After you've sequenced tasks by linking them, you can overlap or delay them as well. In Microsoft

Project, delay tasks by adding lag time to the predecessor task, and overlap tasks by entering lead time.

You can also enter lead or lag time as a percentage of the task.

Entering deadlines and constraints:

Set a specific start or finish date for a task: You can schedule your tasks most effectively by entering

task durations, creating dependencies between tasks, and then letting Microsoft Project calculate the

start and finish dates for you. However, you can set a specific start or finish date for a task if necessary.

Task constraints that tie tasks to specific dates are called inflexible constraints; the most inflexible

constraints are specific start or finish dates. Because Microsoft Project takes constraints into account

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when calculating your schedule, use these inflexible constraints only when tasks must start or finish on a

specific date.

Add a deadline to a task: When you set a deadline for a task, Microsoft Project displays an indicator if

the task is scheduled to finish after the deadline. Setting a deadline doesn't affect how tasks are

scheduled. It's just a way to have Microsoft Project inform you that a task will finish past its deadline.

You then have the option of adjusting the schedule to meet that deadline.

Entering Constraints: You can schedule your tasks most effectively by entering task durations, creating

dependencies between tasks, and then letting Microsoft Project calculate the start and finish dates for

you. However, you can set a specific start or finish date for a task if necessary. Task constraints that tie

tasks to specific dates are called inflexible constraints; the most inflexible constraints are specific start or

finish dates.

Because Microsoft Project takes constraints into account when calculating your schedule, use these

inflexible constraints only when tasks must start or finish on a specific date. See Task Information,

Advanced Tab.

Split a task into segments: You can split a task if work on the task is interrupted and then resumes later

in the schedule. This is useful, for example, when you need to temporarily stop work on a task to work

on another task. You can split a task as many times as necessary.

Create a resource list: You can use the Resource Sheet in Microsoft Project to create a list of the people,

equipment, and material resources that make up your team and carry out the project tasks. Your

resource list will consist of work resources or material resources. Work resources are people or

equipment; material resources are consumable materials or supplies, such as concrete, wood, or nails.

Modify resource calendars: The working hours and days off defined in the project calendar are the

default working hours and days off for each resource. When an individual resource works a different

schedule entirely, or when you need to account for vacations or equipment downtime, you can modify

an individual resource calendar.

Assign resources to tasks: When you assign a resource to a task, you create an assignment. You can

assign any resource to any task and change assignments at any time. You can assign more than one

resource to a task and specify whether a resource works full-time or part-time on a task. If the work

assigned to a resource exceeds the daily full-time allotment indicated in the resource's working times

calendar, Microsoft Project displays the name of the over allocated resource in red in resource views.

Fix the duration of a task: As you assign more resources to a task, Microsoft Project automatically

decreases the duration of the task. For example, a task with a one-day duration and one assigned

resource has 8 hours of work. With effort-driven scheduling, if you assign a second resource, the task

still has 8 hours of work, but its duration is reduced to half a day. If you want to change the amount of

work on the task instead, you can turn off effort-driven scheduling and assign another resource. The

task will then have 16 hours of work and still have a one-day duration.

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Check and edit resource assignments: The Resource Usage view shows project resources with their

assigned tasks grouped underneath them. Using the Resource Usage view, you can find out how many

hours each resource is scheduled to work on specific tasks and see which resources are over allocated.

You can also determine how much time each resource has available for additional work assignments.

Display the critical path:

The critical path is a series of tasks that must be completed on time for a project to finish on schedule.

Most tasks in a typical project have some slack and can therefore be delayed a little without affecting

the project's finish date. Those tasks that cannot be delayed without affecting the project finish date are

the critical tasks. As you modify tasks to resolve over allocations or other problems in your schedule, be

aware of the critical tasks; changes to critical tasks will affect your project finish date.

Display specific information by using a filter:

When you want to focus on certain tasks or resources in the current view, you can apply a filter to the

view. You can specify that the filter show or highlight only those tasks or resources that meet the filter

criteria

On the Project menu, point to Filtered for, and then click the filter you want to apply.

To apply a filter that isn't on the Filtered for submenu or to apply a highlighting filter, click

More Filters.

Click Apply to apply the filter, or click Highlight to apply a highlighting filter.

If you apply an interactive filter, type the requested values, and then click OK.

To turn off a filter, point to Filtered for on the Project menu, and then click All Tasks or All

Resources.

Check and adjust a task dependency: A task dependency describes how a task is related to the start or

finish of another task. Microsoft Project provides four task dependencies you can use to connect a series

of tasks in a schedule: finish-to-start (the most commonly used dependency), start-to-start, start-to-

finish, and finish-to-finish. By using these dependencies effectively, you can modify the critical path and

shorten your project schedule.

Microsoft Project assigns a finish-to-start task dependency when you link tasks. If another relationship

better models your tasks, change the dependency type. Forexample, when two tasks need to start at the

same time, you can create a start-to-start link. When tasks need to finish at the same time, you can use

a finish-to-finish link.

Identify the slack on tasks:

The amount of slack in your schedule tells you how much you can delay tasks before other tasks or the

project end date is affected. If you know where slack exists in your schedule you can move tasks when

certain phases of the schedule have no slack and other phases have too much.

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Shorten the project schedule: After you've assigned resources to a task, Microsoft Project recalculates

the task's duration if you add or remove additional resources. For example, if you add another resource

to an effort-driven task with a four-day duration and one assigned resource, the task will be shortened

to two days. If you have more flexibility with your resource assignments than schedule deadlines, adding

resources can be an effective way to shorten your schedule.

Display Resource assignments and workloads:

People and equipment are over allocated when they are assigned more work than they can complete in

their scheduled working hours. Before you can resolve over allocations, you must determine which

resources are over allocated, when they are over allocated, and what tasks they are assigned to at those

times. To resolve the problem, the people and equipment must be allocated differently or the task must

be rescheduled to a time when the resource is available. Any work resources that are over allocated are

displayed and highlighted in resource usage. After you've assigned a resource to a task, you can change

the total work values for the resource's work on the task or change work values for a specific time

period when the resource works on the task. Tailoring work values this way can make your schedule

more accurate at a finer level of detail. This can be done in Task Usage.

Level the workloads of the Resources:

Resource leveling is a way to resolve having too much work assigned to resources, known as resource

over allocation.

Generally, resources are leveled in two ways:

By delaying a task until the assigned resource has time to work on it.

By splitting a task, so that part of a task is done when planned, and the rest of it is done later when

the assigned resource has time.

You can level the resources in your project in a number of ways. For example you can level all over

allocated resources or just selected resources. You can allow Microsoft Project to level resources for

you, or you can resolve resource over allocations yourself.

Resolving over allocations yourself can be useful when Microsoft Project's leveling doesn't result in the

schedule or assignment adjustments you want, or when you want more control over exactly how over

allocations are alleviated.

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Resource Leveling Dialog Box:

Use this dialog box to set preferences for the way you want resources to be leveled. Also use this dialog

box to start the leveling process. Microsoft Project levels over allocated resources by delaying and

splitting tasks, based on criteria you set in this dialog box.

You can:

Specify whether you want Microsoft Project to level automatically (as soon as it detects an over

allocation) or manually (only when you click Level Now).

Indicate how much a resource needs to be over allocated (for example, by an hour, day, or week)

before they should be leveled.

Set the criteria for the order that tasks should be reviewed for over allocations and leveling.

Reassign work to another resource: If you have tried to resolve a resource over allocation using other

methods and the over allocation persists, it may be time to reassign the task to another resource with

more time. This is an alternate method of manually leveling your schedule by reassigning work rather

than delaying work.

Delay a task: A simple way to resolve a resource over allocation is to delay a task assigned to the

resource until the resource has time to work on it. You can add delay to a task, check the effect on the

resource's allocation, and then adjust the delay further if necessary. Delaying a task also delays the start

dates of its successors and can affect the finish date of your schedule. To avoid this, delay tasks with free

slack first (no critical tasks) and only delay them up to the amount of slack that is available for each task.

Experiment with adding delay to different tasks to see the effect on your schedule.

Change a resource's working days and hours: The project calendar designates the default work

schedule for the project, but you can create a resource calendar to indicate work hours, vacations,

leaves of absence, and sick time for individual resources.

Select and modify views:

A view displays a set of project information in a particular format.

The combination of one or more views (Gantt chart, Resource Sheet, and so on) and, if applicable, a

table and a filter. Using views, you can enter, organize, and examine information in a variety of formats.

There are three types of views:

Charts or graphs represent information graphically. The Gantt Chart, Network Diagram, Resource

Graph, and Calendar views are charts or graphs.

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Sheets represent information in rows and columns. Each row contains information about an individual

task or resource. Each column contains a field where you enter specific information about tasks or

resources. (Columns in Microsoft Project are typically referred to as fields.)

Forms represent information in a format similar to a paper form. Forms show information about only

one task or resource at a time.

You use views to enter, edit, and display information. A view display closely related information in a

logical and easy-to-read format, enabling you to quickly see and understand the status of a particular

aspect of your project. For example, a bar graph view of resource allocation shows you, which of your

resources are over allocated.

Tools use to change the information in a view.

So that you see only a subset of the information stored in Microsoft Project at one time, a filter is always

applied to each view, and a table or set of details is always applied to some of the views. A filter is a set

of criteria for displaying a particular group of tasks or resources. The minimum filter applied to a view is

either the All Tasks filter or the All Resources filter. A table is a set of fields displayed in a sheet view as

columns and rows.

A set of details consists of closely related fields that are displayed either in a columnar format, as in a

form view, or in a tabular format that shows information over time, as in a usage view. To see different

information, you can apply a different filter, table, or set of details.

Modify a view to display different information: If your current view does not display the kind of

information you want, you can customize it so that it does. For example, you can modify the Gantt Chart

to always appear with the Completed Tasks filter applied instead of the All Tasks filter.

Click views, click on more views

In the Views list, click the view you want to modify, and then click Edit. The view you select will

determine which options are available in the View Definition dialog box.

To base a new view on an existing view, click an existing view in the Views list, and then click Copy.

To create a new view from scratch, click New, click Single view or Combination view, and then click

OK.

In the Name box, type a name for the custom view.

Click the screen type, table, group, and filter options you want. To highlight the filter, check the

Highlight filter check box.

If you selected a combination view, click the view you want to display in the top pane in the Top box

and click the view you want to display in the bottom pane in the Bottom box.

To display the custom view on the View menu and View Bar, select the Show in menu check box.

Click OK, and then click Apply.

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Select and modify Reports:

Report is a format in which you can print schedule information that is appropriate for the intended

recipients. You can use the predefined reports provided by Ms Project or create custom reports.

With Microsoft Project, you can print information about tasks, resources, costs, and progress in a report

that suits your needs. You can change the content displayed in most reports by changing tables, filters,

or both.

Microsoft Project includes many predefined task, resource, and crosstab reports and categorizes them

by overview, current activities, costs, assignments, workload, and custom reports. Several of these

reports, such as the Project Summary, Top Level Tasks, or Budget reports, are especially useful for

printing project status information.

Click on toolbar, click on views and then click on reports.

You can view the followings:

1. Overview

2. Current activities

3. Costs

4. Assignments

5. Workload

6. Custom

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Format a Report:

On the View menu, click Reports.

Click the report type you want, and then click Select.

If you chose Custom as the report type, click a report in the Reports list, click Edit, and then go

To step 5.

Click the report you want to format, and then click Edit.

If you clicked Project Summary or Working Days, go to step 5.

Click Text.

In the Item to Change box, click the item (category of text) you want to format.

Select the font, font style, size, and color you want

To underline the item, select the Underline check box.

Click OK twice, and then click Select to review the report

Save a baseline for the entire project or for selected tasks:

After you complete the initial process of creating a schedule (that is, entering tasks, establishing

dependencies, assigning resources and possibly costs, and checking and adjusting your schedule) and

before tracking your schedule, you may want to save a baseline plan. If your project planning stage is

especially long, or you have approved scope changes, you can save multiple baselines to record

changing baseline values over time. You can later compare these against each other and against actual

values. When performing earned value analysis, you can also specify which baseline values to use for

earned value calculations. Each time you save a baseline, the date and time are recorded. This makes it

easier to see if a baseline already has been used and when it was last saved.

Check for tasks that are behind schedule:

If you have set a baseline for your project, you can see how tasks progress over time and see whether

their start and finish dates are slipping. You can track progress by comparing baseline and scheduled or

actual start and finish dates.

On the View menu, click Tracking Gantt

On the View menu, point to Table, and then click Variance. Press TAB to m

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