AIS 655

MICROSOFT PROJECT – TUTORIAL

KAREN SDN BHD, a toy production company is continually active in designing new toys every
year. Its latest product is going to hit the market before the next new year holiday. The
production is scheduled to commence on the 1 January 2020. As a project manager, you are
required to plan and monitor the production using Microsoft Project software. Details of
summary tasks, subtasks and other relevant information are as follows:

MAIN TASKS / SUB-TASKS DURATION (DAYS) RELATIONSHIP

TO ITS PREDECESSOR
CONCEPTION PHASE
Market analysis 20
Invention of product 20 FS
Budget development 14 FS
DESIGN PHASE
Product design 30 FS
Raw material requirement 14 SS
Vendor selection 14 FS
Cost analysis 14 FF
PRODUCTION PHASE
Production planning 10 FS
SOP development 21 SS
Production 50 FS
Quality control 30 FS

1. Enter all the above information in the newly created Microsoft Project file.
2. Create a new milestone – Begin, before “Market analysis” to indicate the beginning of
the project and another milestone “End” after “Quality Control” at the end of the project.
3. Outlining all the tasks by indenting the sub-tasks from the Summary tasks.
4. Link all tasks accordingly.
5. Set all tasks to “Auto Schedule” and remove any constraints that prevent tasks from
being automatically scheduled.

QUESTION 1:

a. What is the project end date?

b. How long does it take to complete?
Conception phase
Design phase
Production phase

6. You are required to assign the resources to project tasks according to information
provided in the following table.

MAIN TASKS / SUB-TASKS RESOURCES

CONCEPTION PHASE
Market analysis Research Assistant & market analyst
Invention of product Product designer 1 & Product designer 2
Budget development Accountant
DESIGN PHASE
 Product design Product designer 1 & Product designer 2
Raw material requirement Product designer 1
Vendor selection Accountant
Cost analysis Accountant
PRODUCTION PHASE
Production planning Production engineer, Product designer 1, Accountant
SOP development Production engineer
Production Production engineer, Product designer 1
Quality control Production engineer

7. Both product designers and production engineer are paid based on number of working
hours whereas market analyst, research assistant and accountant receive fixed
payment for each task performed. You are required to assign the following variable costs
and fixed costs to the resources.

Variable cost (Prorated)

Resource Standard rate Overtime rate
Product designer 1 RM100/hour RM200/hour
Product designer 2 RM100/hour RM200/hour
Production engineer RM200/hour RM400/hour

Fixed Cost (end)

Resource Task RM
Market analyst Market analysis 8,000
Research Assistant Market analysis 600
Budget development, Vendor selection, Cost 12,000
Accountant
analysis, Production planning

QUESTION 2:

a. Fill in the following table:

Task No. Variable Cost Fixed Cost Total Cost
5
12

b. The variable cost in Task 12 is used to pay which resource?

............................................................................................

c. The fixed cost in Task 12 is used to pay which resource?

...........................................................................................

8. You are required to create a new Calendar to incorporate the different working time and
assign the resources to this new calendar accordingly.

Resource Standard Calendar

Market analyst MON-FRI: 8am-12pm, 1pm-5pm
Research Assistant
Accountant

Resource SH Calendar
Product designer 1 MON-THURS: 8am-12pm, 1pm-5pm
Product designer 2 FRIDAY: 8am -12pm, 3pm-5pm
Production engineer
9. Once all the above have been accomplished you must track and save the baseline for
the project. Set the current date to 30 April 2020 and update the project as scheduled.

QUESTION 3:

In the following table state the tasks that are 100% completed.