Practical work No. 4.

Task Planning

I. Tasks in Microsoft Project

The following task categories exist in Microsoft Project:

1. Project Summary Task - A task that displays summary information about the duration, cost,
and scope of tasks throughout the project. The project summary task is always in the zero line and has a
unique program extension of zero. It is displayed either through a check mark in the menu "File -
Parameters - Advanced - Display parameters for this project - Project summary task" or a check mark in
the "Format" tab - Show or Hide - Project Summary”.
2. Summary task (phase/stage). Any project, when implemented, goes through certain stages,
following in series or going in parallel. The definition of such large stages in each project is the definition
of summary tasks (stages/phases) that display the final information about the duration, cost and scope of
simple tasks, the implementation of which is necessary to achieve the results of the stages. Summary tasks
are a kind of combination of simple tasks under one "umbrella." Summary tasks can be automatic or
manual. For automatic summary tasks, the duration is calculated as the difference between the start of the
earliest task and the end of the latest task of this stage. For manual summary tasks, the duration is not
calculated as for automatic tasks, but is set by the user.
3. The task is the work of the lower-level project of the work structure decomposition, to which
you can assign resources (labor, material, cost) and which must be completed to complete the project.
Task - an action (activity) performed from the beginning to the end by the invariable composition of
resources.
4. Control events are tasks that have no duration, the so-called "Milestones." They usually reflect
the onset of important project events (for example, "Signed land allotment agreement"), the achievement
of planned results.

In Microsoft Project, milestones can also be summary activities and activities (Figure 4.1).

5. Recurring tasks - tasks that have a duration and are repeated repeatedly for modeling
meetings, meetings, payments, etc.

For the name of summary tasks, it is best to use nouns, for example, a stage "Land Allocation,"
"Testing," "Feasibility Study of the Project."
For the name of problems, it is best to use verbs, such as "Make," "explore," "find."
For the name of control events, it is best to use past verbs, for example, "Decision made," "Contract
concluded."

Figure 4.1 - Task categories

II. How to Schedule Tasks

Microsoft Project has two ways to schedule tasks:

1. Manual.
2. Automatic.

Manual scheduling (task mode) is used when it is necessary to rigidly fix the start/end dates of a
task so that they do not shift from incoming links, assigned resources, etc. (for example, contract work
dates can be modeled through manual scheduling) (Figure 4.2).

Figure 4.2 - Manual tasks and command "Observe connections"

As you can see from Figure 4.2, in the second summary task, the duration of the second task was
changed, but the duration of the dependent third task did not move, since it, or rather, its start/end dates,
are rigidly fixed through manual scheduling. If the scheduler agrees with the changes that should lead to
new start/end dates, he must select those tasks that have not moved due to manually fixed scheduling, and
on the “Task – Schedule” tab click on the "Follow Links" button.
Manual scheduling is also used when you do not know the start/end dates for a known duration,
when you know only the start date or only the end date of the task.
Automatic planning (task mode) is used by default in all project management products and means
that the start/end dates of the tasks are calculated by the product itself based on the activity's relationships,
dependencies, and constraints.
To schedule tasks in a project, select “File - Options - Schedule - Scheduling Options for this
project”.
If in the process you need to change the planning method for newly created tasks, in the status bar,
click the left mouse button on the description of the planning method and select the method you want.
If you need to change the planning method for existing tasks, you need to select them and on the
"Tasks" tab in the "Tasks" section click on the button of the corresponding planning method.
In addition to the ability to use two types of planning in tasks, you can use the division of tasks into
active and inactive for an "what-if" analysis.
To carry out this analysis, you need to create several paths for the development of events in the
project, and then select one or another fragment and use the "Make inactive" icon to exclude the time,
work and cost of the alternative path of the project from the project. When you deactivate a summary
activity, all its nested activities become inactive.
 The “what-if” analysis is best carried out on tasks with an automatic planning type, so that you can
see the change in the project timing from the exclusion of a particular branch.

III. Project Planning Methods

Microsoft Project provides two ways to plan a project:

1. Directive or top-down planning;
2. Bottom-up planning.

In top-down planning, the following scenario is used:

1. The Project Manager defines the stages/sub-stages of the project and sets their duration using
the “Manual Planning” summary task planning type.
2. Those responsible for the stages/sub-stages define the tasks, their duration and relationships to
achieve the results of the stage.
3. The terms set by the manager and the terms
requested by the contractor are analyzed (Figure 4.3).
4. If necessary, you adjust either the dates of the summary tasks or the dates of the tasks nested in
the stage.
5. Summary tasks are either put into automatic mode or remain in manual mode to control the
duration of nested tasks.

Figure 4.3 - Top-down and bottom-up planning differences

As you can see in figure 4.3, to achieve the results of the first summary task, you need 12 days from
the results of the detail, and not 10 days, as the share of the stage was set. The mismatch between the end
dates of the summary task and the last nested task is also visible due to the underscoring red wavy line in
the “End” column. You can also see that the third task in the "To be done for" stage is displayed
differently.
When planning from bottom to top, summary tasks are switched to automatic mode, and their
duration is calculated from the duration of nested tasks, Figure 4.3.

IV. Project Schedule Detail Requirements

At different stages of project planning, there should be different requirements for detailing the
schedule.
In the early stages, it is enough to draw up a schedule for the future project with large strokes, for
example, if you plan a project with a duration of one year, then at the very beginning it is enough to
determine the tasks that will be fulfilled in the distant future, determine the duration by month, and as you
approach the dates of the start of work, detail them.
Let's briefly formulate the principles that are used to detail the summary task:
 1. You can assign one deliverable owner to a task.
2. The task can be evaluated from the point of view of the scope of work, duration, and cost. As a
rule, if you take an estimate for the construction of a certain house, then in it in the section "Outdoor
works" you can find work, for example, "Wall laying" with a work volume of 900 m 3, working hours and
cost, everything seems to be measurable, but too much, since this work implies this amount of work
throughout the house. Therefore, I break up, for example, the object by floors, and alternatively, by
entrances. In stadiums, I detailed the work to at least sectors.
3. You can create links between tasks that display real dependencies between them.
4. The duration of tasks is no more than the reporting period (for example, if, according to
paragraph 1, the contract is made by one lawyer, but he needs a month to develop the contract, and reports
on the project are collected once a week, then I will go the next way - I will create a stage "Develop the
contract" with tasks, for example, according to the proposed sections of the contract and lasting up to one
week).
5. The minimum duration should be such that the system does not start working for itself. For
example, if you decide to detail up to hours/minutes ("Scanning documents" (10 minutes), "Sending a
fax" (15 minutes)), then you should be aware of how long it will take to draw up such a schedule and then
track it for feasibility according to the established parameters.
6. The duration of tasks should directly depend on the duration of the project. So, if you have a
project with a duration of a month, then you can detail to tasks with a duration of one day.
7. If you do not know what tasks to do for one reason or another, create a control event with the
date on which the result should be received. As you receive information about the planned works from
the performers, create tasks, connect their ending with each other and a control event and make sure that
the control event does not move.

V. Task types

Each task has its own type - a characteristic that takes into account which elements of the task are
fixed and which are variables.
First, you must enter the following definitions:
1. Duration - the time required to implement the task/project. Defined as the difference between
the end date/time and start date/time. By default, newly created tasks display duration in Microsoft
Project always on workdays specified in the project calendar. It is necessary to distinguish between the
duration of the task and the duration of the resource on the task. So, for example, on the task "Signing an
agreement," a duration of one day, the duration of work (signing) of the director is only one hour. If you
need to specify the duration of the task in calendar days, you need to add the letter "a" in the duration
field, before the symbol (days, months, minutes), and in this case, the duration of the task will become
equal to the calendar duration.
2. Labor is the number of man-hours or man-days required to complete the tasks/project. So, for
example, if we give the performer a job so that they do it in three eight-hour days, then the duration of the
task will be 3 days, and it will take 24 people-hours to perform, and if we divide this work equally
between the two performers, then the duration will be 1.5 days with the same 24 man-hours.
Tasks in Microsoft Project can be of the following types:
1. Fixed duration (the duration of the task remains constant regardless of the number of assigned
labor resources (assignment units) or the amount of work required). I.e.:
A) when the number of assigned labor resources changes, the labor costs are recalculated, and the
duration is unchanged;
B) when changing the total amount of labor assigned to work of labor resources, the peak load and
the unit of assignment during the task execution period are recalculated, and the duration is unchanged.
The destination unit - the load or quantity of a resource on a specific task, can be set in percentage
or unit. For example, if you want a resource to work only half the working day of a task calendar on a
“Test” task, you need to specify its assignment unit, depending on the settings, equal to 0.5 or 50%.
Peak Load - Maximum resource load in the project.
 For tasks of this type, the duration of the work is determined first, then the amount of work (work),
and resources are assigned at the end.
When assigning labor to a task with a fixed duration and a specified amount and work, Microsoft
Project calculates the resource assignment units (number) for the specified conditions.
When you assign labor to a task with a fixed duration and work set for the resource, Microsoft
Project calculates the assignment units of the specific resource on the specific task.
When assigning resources to a fixed-duration activity, Microsoft Project calculates the total amount
of work (work) on the resources according to the working time calendar of each assigned resource.

An example of tasks with the type "fixed duration" - meetings, work under a contract, which spells
out specific deadlines for providing the result, work on weekends at the dacha of parents.

2. Fixed work (the amount of work remains constant regardless of any changes to the duration or
number of resources (assignment units) assigned to this activity). I.e.:
A) when changing the resource assignment units, the duration is recalculated, and the work is
unchanged;
B) when the duration changes, the peak units and resource load are recalculated, and the work is
unchanged.
For tasks of this type, the amount of work (work) is first determined, and then resources are
assigned with a determination of their quantity, after which Microsoft Project calculates the duration of
the task.

An example of tasks with the type "fixed labor" - writing code for a software product, laying walls,
building a sandcastle.

3. Fixed number of resources (the number of assignment units remains constant regardless of the
amount of work or the duration of the task). I.e.:
A) when the work is changed, the duration is recalculated, but the destination unit 2.the peak
resource load does not change;
B) when the duration changes, the work is recalculated, but the peak load and destination units do
not change.
For tasks of this type, the amount of work (hours) is first determined, and then resources are
assigned with a determination of their number, after which Microsoft Project calculates the duration of
the task.

An example of tasks with a fixed resource type is room cleaning, dishwashing.

The selection of one or another type of task takes place in the properties of the task (right-click on
the task and select Information... from the context menu) on the "Advanced" tab usingthe"Task t y p e " f i e l d
(F i g u r e 4.4) o r u s i n g t h e b u i l t - i n " T y p e " f i e l d s a n d
"Fixed Scope of Work."
 Figure 4.4 - Selection of task type

In turn, the Fixed Duration and Fixed Resource task types can be either with or without a fixed
scope of work (Figure 4.4). Under the term
A "fixed amount of work" in Microsoft Project refers to fixing a work value to a task. I.e. the duration of
a “Fixed Resources” activity does not change (the tick is set) or decreases (the tick is set) as resources are
added or removed on the activity, while the amount of work (work) on the activity increases when the tick
is cleared and remains unchanged when the tick is set.
For example, we have a task of type “Fixed Duration”, with a duration of 10 days and work 80
hours and with one resource assigned. If we assign another resource to this task, then when:
1. With the "Fixed Quantity of Work" check box, the work will be split equally between the two
resources. I.e. the duration will remain, as before 10 days, but the work of each resource on the task will
be 40 hours.
2. When the “Fixed Quantity of Work” check box is cleared, the work will increase in proportion
to the number of additional resources assigned. I.e. the duration will remain as before 10 days, but the
work for each resource on the activity will be 80 hours, and the total work for the activity will be 160.

Planning with a fixed quantity of work only makes sense when resources assigned to a task are
added or removed.
Planning with a fixed quantity of work does not apply when you change the work, duration, or
number of resources already assigned to an activity.

Recommendations for using task types:

– It is recommended to use the types "Fixed labor" and "Fixed resources" on those tasks where
the same personnel/teams are assigned (Designer Ivanov, Designer Sidorov and Designer Petrov) and
other types will not.
– Use “Fixed Resources” task type when all resources are piled "in a heap." For example, builders
have workers, cranes, etc. The entire load will be evenly distributed throughout the duration of the task.
– Use the “Fixed Duration” task type when you do not have permission to change the duration of
tasks.
Remember that the "built-in intelligence" of Microsoft Project for any type of task at the time of the
first assignment of resources is connected into one whole - duration, work and assignment units. Further
changes to one of these parameters will recalculate the rest, according to the logic described above.
Therefore, a subsequent increase in labor, a decrease in duration, and resource units will not always lead
to the same result,
as in the first assignment to an "empty" task. Therefore, when assigning resources, think about whether no
one is forgotten, and nothing is forgotten.

VI. Create and edit tasks

You can create tasks in Microsoft Project in the following ways:

1. In the "Task name" column, enter the name of the task you need;
2. On the "Task" tab, in the "Insert" section, click on one of the icons:
a) summary task (The summary task will be created together with the subtask);
b) milestone;
c) recurring task (In this case, it will be necessary to enter its name, duration, frequency of
repetition and their number in the window "Information about repeating task, select the task calendar);
d) import tasks from Microsoft Outlook.
3. Copy the task list from any other source.

Note that the structure is copied from Microsoft Outlook and Word text tasks, but not Excel.

To edit the properties of an activity, you must either:

1. Click on it with the left mouse button;
2. Right-click on it and select "Information" from the menu. The “Task Details” window has five
tabs:
1) General. On this tab you can:
a) select the planning mode (manual/automatic);
b) select the task mode (active/inactive);
c) select the priority of the task in relation to other tasks in the project;
d) set the percentage of completion;
e) set start/end dates;
f) set the possibility of displaying on the timeline.
g) hide or display the display of the task in the Gantt diagram.
2) Predecessors. In this tab, you can define the preceding tasks of a specific task, that is,
define relationships, their type and lag/lead.
3. Resources. This tab allows you to assign resources and set their quantity.
4. Optional. On this tab, you can:
a) set the deadline and its date;
b) set the type and date of the restriction;
c) select the task type and fixed/non-fixed scope of work;
d) select the task calendar;
e) select the method of calculation of the mastered
volume;
f) set the task as a milestone.
5. Notes. On this tab, you can maintain a change history by task, specify links to documents.
6. Custom fields. Here you can relate the task to certain custom fields (cost items, drawing code,
work acceptance date, etc.).

VII. Define Work Breakdown Structure Code

Structural Work Decomposition (SWD) is a hierarchical structure that serves as the basis for
dividing the work of the project into smaller and, therefore, easier to manage parts of the work. The
hierarchical structure of work can be organized in different ways, for example, by project phases, by main
results, by functional areas or by geography (ISO 21500).

The task name can be edited by selecting the task and pressing the "F2" key.
 Microsoft Project allows you to represent a work breakdown structure using task IDs or SWD codes
assigned to each task.
To insert the “SWD” field, right-click on the header of any column and select “Insert Column” from
the drop-down menu. Then either scroll to the “SWD” field or enter the “SWD” field name.
SWD codes are like numbers in the structure, but these codes can be changed or a specific SWD
format or mask can be used. SWD codes are unique, that is, SWD codes for tasks are not repeated.

To create a custom SWD, you must:

1. On the "Project" tab, in the "Properties" area, click on " SWD - Define Code";
2. In the “Code Prefix” window, enter the code prefix. In our case, let it be "CTG" (short for
"Cottage");
3. Define the code mask (optionally selected by the user himself), as shown in Figure 4.5. When
choosing digits, you will be obliged to encode only through digits. When choosing uppercase or lowercase
letters, you will be obliged to encode using only large or small letters. By choosing signs, you can use
both large or small letters and numbers.
4. Determine the maximum encoding length.
5. Define a separator between levels. You can add a delimiter to existing ones, for example, add a
underscore "_"

Figure 4.5 - Definition of SWD code

If you do not know in advance what the SWD code will be, select signs in the code mask.

Now, in the received SWD code entry mask, you can in the cell opposite the stage name
"Investment stage," instead of three stars, enter the abbreviated name of the stage, for example, "INV."
After that, automatically, the encoding of the stage is applied to the encoding of the tasks of this stage.
Thanks to SWD encoding, the user can solve the following problem. For example, there is a model
for building a house. When you design a model, the process creates enough tasks with the same name,
such as “Wall Masonry”. If the user filters all such tasks, then by the SWD code, he will be able to
understand which floor/entrance this or that "Wall Masonry" belongs to.
 TASK
1. Create the SWD code of the “Cottage” project, similar to that shown in Figure 4.6.

Figure 4.6 - Example of user SWD

QUESTIONS
1. Describe the features of manual and automatic task scheduling.
2. List the basic principles for detailing tasks.
3. List task types, provide examples of using different task types.
4. What does the “fixed quantity of work” mean? What is its application, for what
tasks is it used?
5. Describe which task parameters can be edited on different task property tabs.
6. What is the SWD code, why is it necessary? How do I create a SWD code?