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Project Management Using MS Project 2002 - Training Manual
Project Management Using MS Project 2002 - Training Manual
FOR
SUR CONSTRUCTION PLC.
TRAINING MANUAL
PROJECT MANAGEMENT USING
MICROSOFT PROJECT 2002
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER NO.1: SETTING UP A NEW PROJECT.........................................................................................................4
INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................................................................4
E NTERING P ROJECT P ARAMETERS .........................................................................................................4
S ET PROJECT C ALENDARS .......................................................................................................................6
S ET VARIOUS MICROSOFT PROJECT OPTIONS ....................................................................................7
IDENTIFY DELIVERABLES ..........................................................................................................................15
CHAPTER NO.2 : ENTER AND MODIFY TASK .............................................................................................................16
WORK BREAKDOWN S TRUCTURE ..........................................................................................................16
C REATE S UMMARY , D ETAILED TASKS AND MILESTONES:................................................................17
INSERT / D ELETE AND I NDENT / O UTDENT TASKS:...............................................................................23
E NTER ESTIMATES :...................................................................................................................................23
CHAPTER NO.3: SCHEDULE TASKS ...............................................................................................................................26
E STABLISH R ELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN T ASKS ....................................................................................26
E DIT TASK R ELATIONSHIP TYPE AND LAG ...........................................................................................26
E NTERING D EADLINES AND CONSTRAINTS ..........................................................................................27
CHAPTER NO.4: SPECIFY AND ASSIGN RESOURCES ..........................................................................................28
C REATE R ESOURCE LIST ........................................................................................................................28
MODIFY R ESOURCE C ALENDARS ...........................................................................................................28
ASSIGN R ESOURCES TO TASKS .............................................................................................................28
CHAPTER NO.5: OPTIMIZE THE SCHEDULE ...............................................................................................................29
D ISPLAY THE CRITICAL P ATH..................................................................................................................29
D ISPLAY S PECIFIC INFORMATION USING FILTERS .............................................................................29
C HECK AND ADJUST A TASK DEPENDENCY : .........................................................................................29
IDENTIFY SLACK ON TASKS .....................................................................................................................29
S HORTEN THE P ROJECT SCHEDULE .....................................................................................................30
D ISPLAY RESOURCE ASSIGNMENTS AND W ORKLOADS ....................................................................30
LEVEL THE W ORKLOADS OF RESOURCES............................................................................................30
S ELECT AND MODIFY VIEWS ...................................................................................................................32
S ELECT AND MODIFY REPORTS.............................................................................................................35
CHAPTER NO.7: ENTER AND TRACK PROGRESS ...................................................................................................36
S AVE B ASELINES .......................................................................................................................................36
S ET PROJECT S TATUS D ATE..................................................................................................................36
E NTER ACTUAL / REMAINING D URATION/ W ORK ON TASKS .............................................................38
VIEW P ERCENT COMPLETE.....................................................................................................................38
R ESCHEDULE U NCOMPLETED WORK ....................................................................................................40
CHAPTER NO.8: MULTIPLE PROJECTS PLANNING.................................................................................................42
1) INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................................42
2) WHY SHOUL D YOU USE A MASTER PROJECT AND SUBPROJECTS? ....................................42
Project Information:
To open this dialog box, on the Project menu, click Project Information. Use this
dialog box to enter, review, or change initial information for a new project. You can:
• Choose whether you want the project to be scheduled from the start date or the finish
date.
• Enter the start date for a project to be scheduled from the start date.
• Enter the finish date for a project to be scheduled from the finish date.
• Set the project calendar by specifying which calendar is to be used as the project
calendar.
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. (If you schedule from the
finish date, all new tasks have a default constraint type of As Late As Possible.
Change Working Time Option: To open this dialog box, on the Tools menu, click
Change Working Time. Or, in any resource view (Resource Sheet, Resource
Usage, or Resource Graph), click the resource name, and then click Resource
Information.
Click the Working Time tab.
Use this dialog box to enter, review, or change base calendars and resource
calendars. You can:
Review and modify the working days and times in the project calendar.
Review and modify the working days and times in any base calendar or resource calendar.
Create a new calendar for use as the default hours for a set of resources or as a task
calendar.
Change a resource’s working times and days off.
Choose the calendar that you want to review or modify. By default, Standard
(Project Calendar) is selected. This list includes the base calendars that come with
Microsoft Project, as well as any new base calendars you create and all the resource
calendars, which are automatically created as soon as the resource is created. The
base calendars and their working times that come with Microsoft Project is as follows.
If you create additional bases calendars or modify the working times for existing base
calendars, your changes are reflected in this list.
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.
Customize the calendar: When scheduling individual tasks, task calendars define
unique or s pecific exceptions, such as machinery that runs during nonworking time.
On the Tools menu, click Change Working Time.
Click New .
In the Name box, type a name for your new calendar. To create a new base calendar
based on an existing calendar, click Make a copy of, and then click the calendar
Click OK.
Select the days you want to change on the calendar.
To select adjacent days, hold down SHIFT, and then click the abbreviation for the first
and last days you want.
To change a day of the week for the entire calendar, click the abbreviation for the day in
the top row of the calendar. Under Set selected date(s) to, click Use default,
Nonworking time, or Nondefault working time.
To change Nondefault working time, type the times you want work to start in the From
boxes and the times you want work to end in the To boxes.
Set Various Microsoft Project Options
Options dialog box: To open this dialog box and tab, on the Tools menu, click
Options .
Use the Options dialog box to enter, review, or change preferences controlling the
general operation and appearance of Microsoft Project. You can change the default
used for some local settings by changing the setting and then clicking Set As
Default, which appears on some tabs of the Options dialog box. This makes the
settings you have selected for this project the default for any new project file you
create.
Throughout the tabs of the Options dialog box, some options will be unavailable,
depending on the active view. For example, on the View tab, the outline options are
only available if a task sheet is displayed.
Options dialog box, View tab:
Use this tab to enter, review, or change preferences for the way Microsoft Project
displays different types of project information. You can:
Change the default view that appears when you create a new project
• Change the date format used throughout the project.
• Specify which screen elements are to be shown or hidden.
• Specify how external links are shown. (External dependency is a relationship in which
the start or finish date of a task depends on a task in another project.)
• Specify how currency information is to be displayed.
• Specify how outline information is to be displayed.
Currency options are local settings. That is, this preference is set for the current
project only. Choices for outline options can change depending on which view is
currently displayed.
Changing options in this dialog box does not affect the project calendar or resource
working times calendars. It only affects how Microsoft Project converts the durations
into related time amounts used throughout your project. For example, if the Hours per
day box is set at the default of 8 hours, and then if you enter 2 d in the Duration field,
this shows on the Gantt bars as 16 hours of duration. If you set Hours per day to 5,
and then enter a 2-day duration, this translates to a 10-hour duration. The time
amounts you set here also apply to the translation of duration to work amounts. The
translation of time amounts operates the same way with the Hours per week and
Days per month boxes. To control how the work is actually scheduled, change the
appropriate working times calendars. Also, if you change the number of hours per
day, hours per week, or days per month, you might want to update the project
calendar to match, so that times and durations are properly synchronized.
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.
If you use the Update Project dialog box to reschedule uncompleted work, make sure
that the Split in-progress tasks check box is selected here. This check box controls
whether uncompleted tasks with any progress reported on them can be split to
reschedule remaining work from a new selected date. Also, if there is progress
reported on a successor task before the predecessor task is completed, the
remaining work on the successor task can be shown as a split, using the same task
dependency with the predecessor on remaining work. If you use many constraints, as
well as task dependencies, throughout your project, you might consider which should
take precedence in the event of a conflict. By default, constraint dates are always
honored, even if they cause negative slack. This can happen, for example, if Task A
has a finish-to-start dependency with Task B, but Task B has a Must Start On
constraint that’s earlier than the finish date of Task A. If you always want task
dependencies to take precedence over constraints, then clear the Tasks will always
honor their constraint dates check box.
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.
changes that affect dates, duration, work, or costs. When your project is set to
manual calculation, if you make a change that requires recalculation, the status bar
shows "Calculate," to remind you to calculate the project when you're done making
changes.
Microsoft Project Server: Indicates that you typically use Microsoft Project Server to
communicate with project teams.
Email only: Indicates that you typically use your company MAPI-compliant e-mail
system to communicate with project teams.
None: Indicates that you don't use collaboration in your project.
• Indicate the default file format that you want to use to save Microsoft Project files.
• Specify default file locations for projects, templates, databases, and more.
• Set Auto Save options.
The following are details about the File Locations list, which defines the default, save
and open locations for four different types of files. These are the locations that open
when you click Open or Save As on the File menu.
File types: Lists the types of files used in Microsoft Project. In addition to standard
projects and templates, you can set the default file type to be a database.
User templates: Boilerplate project files that come with Microsoft Project, or that you
create yourself. Templates are saved with the .Mt filename extension. When you click
New on the File menu, available templates from the location you specify are listed on
the Project Templates tab in the New dialog box.
Workgroup templates: Boilerplate project files that are used for work in a
workgroup.
ODBC Database: ODBC data sources that you can use to access data in a database
that contains Microsoft Project information. In the Save Microsoft Project files as box,
click ODBC Database, click Modify, and then click the data source.
Locations:
Lists the default location in the computer system for the corresponding file type.
These are the default locations that appear when you choose this file type in the
Open or Save As dialog box. Click Modify to browse through the computer’s filing
system to find and
specify a different default location.
• Control the appearan ce of special prompts when you make changes to resource
assignments; start and finish dates; and work, units, or duration; or when you delete a
task in the Task Name field.
The check boxes under Show indicators and option buttons for control the display of
graphical indicators that contain a menu of edit options. For example, when you
delete text in the Task Name field, an indicator appears with a menu containing
options that let you choose whether to delete only the task name or the entire task.
Clear the check box if you don't want the indicators to appear.
On this tab you can control the appearance and content of the Project Guide, which
provides explanations and tasks to help you start and manage a project. If your
organization has created its own Project Guide start page or added custom
information for the start page, you can specify the custom start page and content file.
If you are using the start page and content that Microsoft Project provides, you can
leave the defaults.
Identify Deliverables
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).
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.
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.”
Task Information dialog box, General tab
Use this tab to enter, review, or change basic information about the selected task.
You can:
• Enter task duration and indicate whether the duration are estimated or set.
• Track progress on a task by entering the percentage of completion.
• Enter the task start or finish date to set a Start No Earlier Than or Finish No Earlier
Than constraint.
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.
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 per centage. Indicate
lead-time with a negative number and indicate lag time with a positive number.
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.
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 sched uling 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.
• 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.
Milestones: References point marking a major event in a project and used to monitor
the project's progress. Any task with zero duration is automatically displayed as a
milestone; you can also mark any other task of any duration a milestone.
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.
INSERT:
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.
DELETE:
As you create a task list, you will probably want to break large tasks into smaller tasks
and rearrange tasks. You may want to copy, delete, or move tasks in your project.
INDENT/OUTDENT:
You can indent related tasks under a more general task, creating a hierarchy. The
general tasks are called summary tasks; the indented tasks below the summary task
are subtasks, and the outdented tasks are hidden subtasks.
Enter Estimates:
Duration Estimates:
You can enter an accurate duration for a task or a new estimated duration to replace
the estimated duration that Microsoft Project assigns to each task by default.
• On the View menu, click Gantt Chart.
• In the Duration field of the task you want to change, type the duration you want.
• You can enter durations in minutes, hours, days, weeks, or months.
• Note To assign the task an elapsed duration, type an e before the time unit. For example,
to assign an elapsed duration of 3 days, type 3ed.
• To indicate or flag the new duration as an estimate, type a question mark after it.
• Press ENTER.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Prorated: The cost is incurred as prorated over time. This is the default.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 time’s calendar, Microsoft Project displays the name of the over allocated resource in
red in resource views.
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.
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.
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.
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 sched ule.
Microsoft Project assigns a finish-to-start task dependency when you link tasks. If
another relationship better models your tasks, change the dependency type. For
example, 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.
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 allocati ons are alleviated.
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.
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 d elaying 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.
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 exam ple, a bar graph
views of resource allocation shows you, which of your resources are over allocated.
• On the View menu, point to Table, and then click the table you want to apply. To apply a
table that is not on the Table submenu, click More Tables, click the table you want, and
then click Apply.
• You can also create or modify existing tables to display the exact information you want .
1. On the View menu, point to Table, and then click More Tables.
2. To create or modify a task table, click Task, and then click a table name in the Tables
list.
To create or modify a resource table, click Resource, and then click a table name in
the Tables list.
3. To create a new table, click New.
To modify an existing table, click Edit.
4. In the list of fields, type a new name for the table.
5. Under Table, select a field name, data alignment, and column width.
6. To add a column title other than the field name, type a title in the Title field and select
a title alignment in the Align Title field.
7. In the Date format box, click a date format for date fields.
8. In the Row height box, click a number to change the standard row height.
9. To prevent the first column from scrolling, select the Lock first column check box.
10. Click OK, and then click Apply.
• You can apply filter, groups and sorting on any view sheet. On the View menu, click any
sheet view. Click on more views, click More Views, and click the view you want to use in
the Views list, and then click Apply. Now you can apply filter, group by and sort by
options.
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.
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
• On the Tools menu, point to Tracking, and then click Save Baseline.
• Click Save baseline, and then click the baseline you want to save.
• Click Entire project.
• In the Percent complete box, type a whole number between 0 and 100.
• Click OK
• Change the look of a type of Gantt bar, including color, shape, pattern, start shape
and color, and end shape and color.
• Adjust the range of dates each bar represents.
• Change the information and position of text for a type of Gantt bar.
• Create a new Gantt bar for a particular category of task. You can display up to four
rows of bars for each task.
Bars are drawn in the order they are listed in the table, starting at the top. Make sure
that any overlapping bars are listed in the proper order so that the ones you want on
top are drawn last.
You can control other aspects of Gantt bars. On the Format menu, click Layout. The
Layout dialog box has additional Gantt bar formatting choices. Also, on the Format
menu, click Timescale. The Timescale tab of the Timescale dialog box includes
choices about the timescale on the chart portion of the Gantt chart view. The Non-
working time tab includes choices about how nonworking time is displayed in the
chart.
1) Introduction
Master Project à a project containing other projects (known as inserted projects
or sub projects). Also called a consolidated project
Sub Project à a project inserted into other project. Use sub project as a way to
break a complex project into small manageable projects.
Instead of opening them one by one, all the subprojects are opened at once when
the master project is opened. This approach also makes it easy to generate
reports on multiple projects quickly. If the projects are interrelated, the project
manager can create task dependencies between tasks in different projects.
Creating dependencies between projects makes it easier for different project
managers to see how work by other project managers affects their schedules.
• Are some projects subordinate to other projects? You can accurately reflect the
hierarchy of multiple projects by inserting various projects into other files. The
resulting structure of subprojects should reflect the priorities and responsibilities
of your team members as well as the interrelationships between tasks in different
areas and the overall deadline.
• Is your project modified by several people? Ideally, one file is owned, managed,
and modified by one project manager. But often a project is part of a larger
program that upper -level managers may need to manage. If you have such a
project, your team can retain focus on their work by viewing it as a separate file.
And the project manager who controls the master project can coordinate each
subproject team's schedule. It may even make sense to have the master project's
milestones drive each subproject team's milestones in order to keep the
schedules coordinated for a deadline. (Coordinating the milestones can be done
by creating a dependency between the milestones or by copying and pasting the
milestone tasks from the master project to each subproject.)
• Are there multiple stakeholders who care about different parts of the project?
When people want to look at different details, project managers can put all the
project files on a server and customize different views for various stakeholders.
The same project file can be used as a subproject in different master projects to
tailor the information displayed.
• Do you want the subprojects to be read-only? You can retain additional control
over parts of a project by moving tas ks to a subproject and restricting access to
key people.
• Do you want to analyze the critical path for each phase as well as the overall
project? Each individual project contains a critical path. Consolidating multiple
projects into one master project file makes it easy to see the overall picture as
multiple critical paths in the master project while retaining separate critical paths
for each subproject.
• Are the resources shared among subprojects? Managing groups of resources in
many projects is much easier when resource information is stored centrally. By
connecting to a resource pool, different projects (including the master and
subprojects) have all the resources available for scheduling.
project manager would be able to see all the tasks in the subprojects within the
master project.
• Resources assigned to repetitive tasks: If the project's task list contains
recurring tasks that are part of an internal process, it makes more sense to allow
those groups to schedule their own time and be responsible only for deliverables
or milestones. For example, if the accounting department is responsible for billing
cycles and audits entered in the project as recurring tasks, those tasks can be
added to a subproject and the manager of the accounting department can assign
the tasks to the various accountants working on the project.
• Resources assigned to only one phase of the project: When small groups of
resources are assigned to or interested in only part of the project, you can put
them in a subproject. It more accurately reflects their view of the length of the
project because it spans the length of their involvement. This technique also
keeps the resource list of the master project limited to the resour ces that will be
involved throughout the project, which can look most realistic when reporting
resource information.
• Different budgets: If you have different internal budgets from which you are
billing, it may be easier to view the budget totals if the tasks for each budget are
in separate subprojects. You can still view the project cost totals in the master
project, but you will have greater flexibility in viewing and reporting subproject
budget totals.
i. Click New
Tip You can also use the New Project Wizard to guide you through the process of
setting up a new project. In the Tasks side pane, click Define the project or Define
general working times, and then follow the instructions. Click a link at the bottom of
each pane to move through the wizard.
How do you want to schedule your project?
Schedule from the project start date
Schedule from the project finish date
Tips
• A quick way to access the Copy, Cut, and Paste commands is to use the
shortcut menu. Shortcut menus contain commands that apply to the current
view and content. Click the right mouse button to display the menu, and then
click the command.
• Each Microsoft Project plan has its own button on the Windows taskbar when it
is open. You can quickly switch between open projects by clicking a project's
button.
Notes
• Use caution when pasting text from a field that contains a date. You may set an
unintended constraint on your schedule.
• The information you paste from a field must be the same type as the field into
which you're pasting, for example, task names must be pasted into a text field,
costs must be pasted into a currency field.
• You cannot paste any information into a calculated field from another field.
• If a task or resource you paste has a task or resource calendar, you must copy
the calendar to the new project.
• Learn how to copy a calendar .
• When you use the Cut command to move the contents of a calculated or
entered field, the field is recalculated.
or outdent tasks within the subproject, and the subproject is linked to its source
file, those changes will also be shown in the original project.
• When consolidating projects into a master project, resources remain in h
te
individual projects. You cannot assign a resource from one subproject to
another subproject. Learn how to combine resources from multiple projects into
a shared resource pool.
Clicking the plus sign next to a subproject expands that subproject's tasks
for viewing.
12) What's the difference between a consolidated file and a master project?
Microsoft Project doesn't treat consolidated files and master projects and subprojects
differently. The difference is in the way that you choose to organize your multiple
projects, which can be based on the relationships between the projects.
Master projects and subprojects If you have projects that are a part of a larger
project, you can create a master project and subprojects. The way you insert and
organize the subproject files shows a hierarchy among the projects. You can work
with existing projects or start new files and then insert the subprojects into the master
project. You can insert any project file into another project file, but you can't create a
circular relationship by inserting the same projects into each other.
When you have a large, complex project involving many individual projects, such as
the construction of an office building, you can insert projects in an outline structure in
the master project file to organize the different construction projects into more
manageable phases called subprojects.
Learn more about strategies for organizing a master project and subproject files .
Consolidated files If you have multiple files you would just like to combine in one
window (whether they are related or not), you can consolidate into a new file any files
you want to see merged together. Combining unrelated files in a consolidated project
makes it easier to see information from multiple projects in various views and to print
information combined from various files you may want to filter, sort or group together.
It is especially useful for project managers to oversee multiple projects.
You might consolidate project files if you need to keep track of many ongoing projects
developing different products simultaneously. You can sort and group by product
names, project deadlines, managers, and so on, in order to find and evaluate the
specific information you need. For example, you can print out a Gantt Chart that
includes all your projects.
summary task in the task list, and an indicator appears in the Indicators field . The
subproject is indented at the outline level of the row where you insert it, but you can
indent or outdent it just as you would any other task. Because the subproject is
represented as a summary task, you can't edit its summary information. But you can
expand the outline to show the subproject's tasks and edit the project information
within the master project file. When you save the master project, changes to the
subproject are saved within the subproject's source file, as well. Or if you want to
work directly within the source file without opening the master project file, changes to
the subproject's source file are updated automatically in the master project file.