2nd Term - Microsoft Project Planner Nicmar

S.R.P** NICMAR 2ND TERM- MICROSOFT PROJECT PLANNER Page 501

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What Is Project Management?

To understand project management we must first define what a project is. There are as

many different definitions of a project as there are books written about it! So I would

define project in the following terms:

A project is a unique undertaking

that has a clearly defined start and

finish, and requires the

management of time, resources,

cost and quality.

What Can Microsoft Project Do For You?

. However, which ever project management software package you have, the machine

cannot do four things:

it cannot create the tasks for you

it cannot create the logic relationships

it does not know the duration of each task

it cannot possibly know what resources you have to apply to the tasks

So what can Project do for you?

As such it can do the calculations accurately for you. Imagine doing the forward

pass using calendar working days, taking into account national and company

holidays! Doing the backward pass is even more mind boggling and prone to

error!

It makes visible the parameters it needs (have I forgotten something?) and any

problems (like unacceptable circular logic).

It allows "what-ifs?" to make changes to the project and see the effect of those

changes before finalizing your plan and committing it to work.

Once your plan is in action, it allows progress to be tracked so that you can make

adjustments to keep on target.

And finally it is a tremendous aid to communication:

o There are built-in reports to print.

o You can export to PowerPoint for presentations, to Word for detailed

reports, to Excel to do intricate cost analyses, and to Access for

manipulation of project data.

o You can send information by e-mail.

o You can pass information over networks and the Internet.


Microsoft Project: 2 - Entering Task Data

Firstly, let's look at the opening screen so that we can become familiar with its layout and terminology. Although there will be some detailed differences depending on your version of Project (this picture is from Project 2000), the basics are identical with the exception of the View bar which was introduced into Project 2000, and a Project Guide which appears down the left side of the Table in Project 2002. The Project Opening Screen

Working Area of the Screen The main working area of the screen is in two main parts: the Entry table on the left and the Gantt chart [named after the U.S. engineer H. L. Gantt (1861-1919)] on the right, separated by a divider bar. Entry Table The entry table will hold a listing of every task required by the project and will show calculated details for each task. Gantt Chart The Gantt chart will show bars drawn to represent the time span of each task against a calendar timescale. Divider Bar


The vertical parallel lines forming the divider bar can be moved to the right to show more columns in the table or to the left to show more of the Gantt chart. Hovering the mouse over the bar will invoke a left-right arrow: click and drag to move the bar, and double-click to dock the divider bar neatly to the nearest column edge. Entering Data

Entry Bar Enter a task and the text also appears in the entry bar. Click on the tick or press enter to accept, or click the X to cancel. Edit by selecting a field and clicking the text that appears in the entry box, or by pressing F2 and it will be available for editing. Data can also be edited within the cell. Project will give the task an identification number (ID) of 1, fill in a default duration of 1 day?, show a 1-day bar on the Gantt chart and move the cursor down to highlight the next task cell. Data can also be edited within the cell. Entering Durations Project assumes the duration is 1 day? The question mark (introduced in Project 2000) indicates that this is an estimated or uncertain duration, and clicking on the duration cell can alter this. Enter the duration required as a number followed by a letter code and ? if you wish to retain the uncertainty indication. [Note: Months were introduced in Project 2000.]

m = min

= minute

em

= elapsed minute

h = hr = hour eh

= elapsed hour

d = dy = day ed

= elapsed day

w = wk = week ew

=elapsed week

mo

= mon

= month

emo

=elapsed month

y = yr = year ey

=elapsed year

A question mark can also be entered to indicate the duration is estimated or tentative

Alternatively, use the Spin Control by clicking on the up arrow to increase the duration and the down arrow to reduce. 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. [Note that elapsed times should only be used for inanimate (material) resources or for tasks that are independent of resources, eg.,


concrete curing or paint drying.] Any changes will appear in the entry bar—click the Tick to stay in that cell, press the Enter key or press the down arrow key to accept and move the cursor down to the next field. The duration of a month defaults to mean 20 working days, but this can be changed in Tools/Options/Calendar tab. Milestones To create a milestone, enter zero duration.

Outlining Project allows representation of a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) in that it allows outlining. When outlining the tasks in a project schedule, it is organised so the structure of the project can be seen, making the schedule easier to manage. Outlining can:

· Arrange tasks in a hierarchical structure so it can be seen how subtasks fit within broader groups of tasks called summary tasks.

· Identify the major phases of the project with summary tasks. · Use either a top-down (enter summary tasks first) or bottom-up (enter

subtasks first) approach to building the schedule. · Display only the summary tasks for the project. · Create reports that include subtasks, summary tasks, or both. · Display the project using a task numbering system called a Work

Breakdown Structure (WBS). A task is moved to a lower level by indenting or demoting it. A summary task is created by demoting the task directly following it (in the order of task ID numbers). A task can be moved to a higher level by outdenting or promoting it, unless it is already at the highest level.

Select Project/Outline… or click on the appropriate tool button to indent or outdent. A Summary task will then appear bold (black) and have outline symbols beside the task name. A - (minus sign) indicates that the summary is expanded, i.e., all the subtasks


are showing at the next level. Clicking on the - sign will close down the summary so that only the summary bar is showing (note the missing task ID numbers). It will then sport a + sign, that can be clicked to reverse the process. Similar + and - signs are available in the Formatting toolbar. Greater choice of the levels to be revealed can be selected from the pick list invoked from the Show tool button, introduced with Project 2000—earlier versions have a double-plus button to show them all. Manipulating Gantt Bars Task Selection In the Gantt chart, move the mouse pointer over the centre of a Gantt bar, and the pointer will turn into a 4-way arrow. An information box will appear to aid selection of the correct task.

Changing the Start Date When the 4-way arrow appears, click and hold down the left mouse button and drag left or right and an information box will show the Start and Finish dates. These dates will change as the bar is dragged, leaving the duration the same—release the button when satisfied. A constraint indicator will appear in the Indicator column: hover the mouse pointer over the indicator to read constraint details.

Note! Resist changing start or finish dates by typing in the data or by manipulating the bars with the mouse, as this will cause a constraint date to be imposed thus losing flexibility. Make sure that was what was intended. If the new start date coincides with a non-working day, a Planning Wizard will allow the option to Move the task to the next working day or Make the non-working day into a working day. As with most Wizards, there is an option to prevent further activation of this Wizard by clicking the box Don't tell me about this again. In doing so Project will assume the first (default) setting will apply to any subsequent occasions.

If, however, the new start date is near to the end of an adjacent Gantt bar, another Wizard will allow the option to Link them or to Move the task without adding a link. If linking is allowed, then no constraint will be set, as the predecessor will drive its start date.


Changing the Duration To change the duration of a task, move the mouse pointer the right end of a Gantt bar and the pointer will turn into a right-pointing arrow. Click and drag to the right and an information box will show the Finish date and Duration that will change to reflect the lengthening of the bar.

To Indicate Progress Move the mouse pointer the left end of a Gantt bar and the pointer will change into a % right-pointing arrow. Click and drag to the right and an information box will show the Complete Through date.

The Complete Through date will change to reflect the percentage duration completed and will show as a black bar within the task bar.

Click and drag from the right end of the progress mark will allow editing. When progress or actual data has been entered, moving the pointer to the left end of the bar will turn the pointer to a left-pointing arrow, allowing the start date to be changed to reflect reality.

Splitting Tasks Tasks can be split to show breaks in the schedule. Click on the Split Task tool button in the Standard toolbar, then click on the appropriate part of the Gantt bar and drag to the right. Tasks can be split many times. To remove the split, click on a split section to the right of the first section and drag to the left until the gap closes.


Microsoft Project: 3 - Entering the Logic

Entering Dependencies

A dependency link can be entered in several ways. When the link is created, Project will

calculate the new start of the successor task, and move the bar to its new date.

Click And Drag

On the Gantt chart, position the mouse pointer on the centre of the predecessor task

bar until the mouse cursor turns into a 4-way arrow. Hold down the left mouse button

and drag up or down until it changes to a link image.

A Finish-to-Start Link box will show to help you link to the correct task.

Drag the pointer over the successor task to be linked and release the mouse button. A

link line will join the bars in the default finish-to-start relationship. Although click and

drag works, it is not very convenient particularly when the successor task requires you

to scroll to a remote task, as you cannot control the speed of scrolling. Beware of

momentarily releasing the left button as this could cause the link to be mis-directed. If

you hover the mouse over a link line, a link box will appear giving details of the selected

link (not in Project 98), and double clicking will show a Task Dependency form from

which you can delete the link (see later).

Link Tasks Tool

Click on the Task Name of the predecessor task to highlight it. Hold down the Ctrl key

and click on the successor task. Select Edit/Link Tasks or Ctrl/F2 or click on the Link

Tasks tool button to create a finish-to-start relationship. Several tasks can be linked at

the same time by sequentially selecting them and clicking the Link Tasks tool button.

Task Form

Click on the Task Name of the successor task or its bar to highlight it. If selecting the

bar, a tip will appear giving details of the selected task. Select Window/Split or right-

click in a free area of the Gantt chart and select Split. A combination view (an

extremely useful technique bye the way) will be seen with the Gantt chart in the upper

pane and the Task Form in the lower pane.


Enter the ID numbers or the Predecessor Name of the linkages required in the

predecessor part of the form (bottom pane right-hand side). If the predecessor is off the

screen, you can scroll up or down to find precisely the task you want without losing the

focus of the cursor, so having found it, just type its ID and it will automatically enter the

ID in the correct place. You could also click in the predecessor area and select the task

from the pick list, though you have to be careful if there is more than one task of the

same name. Select Previous or Next buttons on the form or press Enter to go to the

next task.

Using the Task form is the most positive method of entry and is less likely to

cause errors and is thus the recommended technique. Lag times (or Lead times as

negative Lag) or other task relationships can also be entered (see later).

Unlinking Tasks

To unlink a task from its predecessor, select the unwanted ID in the Task Form and

press the delete key. Alternatively, double-click on a link line in the Gantt chart (a bit

fiddly) to bring up the Task Dependency dialog box and select Delete (you can also use

this box to change the dependency Type or Lag—see later).

Or select the linked tasks then Edit/Unlink Tasks, or click the Unlink Tasks button on

the Standard toolbar.


Logical Task Relationships

There are four Types of task relationships in Project:

The illustration above shows the following diagram display:

Finished-toStart (FS)—Task (B) cannot start until another task (A) finishes.

Start-to-start (SS)—Task (B) cannot start until another task (A) starts.

Finish-to-finish (FF)—Task (B) cannot finish until another task (A) finishes.

Start-to-finish (SF)—Task (B) cannot finishe until another task (A) starts.

Lag or Lead

Lag or Lead (which is entered as negative lag) can be entered in the Task Dependency

Form or in the Task Form to enhance the scheduling of the requirement. For example,

you want to lay a cable across a field; you might estimate the job in 3 parts: dig trench

(3 days), lay cable (1 day) and fill trench (3 days). If these were scheduled as a chain of

tasks it would take 7 days. However, you don't necessarily have to wait for the trench to

be completely dug before you can start to lay the cable. Thus, you could have a Start-

to-Start relationship with a lag of 1 day: i.e., the cable laying can start after the first day

of digging the trench. A bit of thought would lead to the conclusion that filling the trench

also doesn't have to await completion of the laying of the cable. Thus, by using lag the

whole project can be finished earlier, as the cable laying part can be done within the

total time and the trench filling will have only 1 day left after the cable is laid: i.e.,

totalling 5 days. This type of project scheduling is known as a progressive feed.

(Actually, by also splitting the lay cable task into three, the total Duration can be

reduced to 4.33 days.)

Gantt Layout

Selecting Format/Layout or right-clicking in a blank area of the Gantt chart and

selecting Layout will allow the layout of the Gantt chart to be changed. Here a different

link style can be chosen or turned off altogether.



Microsoft Project: 4 - Manipulating the Data

Manipulating Data

Selecting Data

Again, like most Windows programs, you can click to select data, and click and drag to

highlight adjacent data. Selecting one piece of data and Shift-click to another piece of

data will select all in between. You can also use Ctrl-click to select non-contiguous data.

Selecting A Cell

Select data by clicking on the cell containing it and the selected cell will be highlighted

with a black border.

Selecting A Column

Click on the column heading to select the column and all the cells in the whole column

will be highlighted.

Selecting A Row

Select all the data in a row (which includes all data fields in the record for that task) by

clicking on the row heading, which is the cell holding the identification number (ID). All

the selected row cells will be highlighted.

Selecting All Rows And Columns

To select all of the rows and columns in a sheet (for instance, when copying and

pasting project data into another application) click the Select All button: the cell

immediately above ID 1 and to the left of the column headings.


Go To

Sometimes the Gantt bar is not visible on screen. To make it visible, select Edit/Go

To…, Ctrl+G, F5 or select a task in the Gantt table and press the Go To Selected

Task tool button.

This procedure will also work in other Views that show time scaled data.

Deleting Data

Very Important Note: If one or more cells are selected, pressing the Delete key

will delete the entire selected rows, and all of the selected records will be lost

(and you have only one chance to Undo). In Project 2002, only the cell(s) will be

deleted and a Smart Tag will give you the final option of deleting the cell or the

whole task.

Rows

Select the rows to be deleted. Press the Delete key, select Delete Task from the Edit

menu, right-click and select Delete, or click on the Cut tool button. If you delete a

summary task, all of its subtasks are deleted too. After you delete a task, Project will

automatically renumber the remaining tasks.

Columns

Select the headings of the columns to be deleted. Press the Delete key, Edit/Hide

Column, right-click and chooseHide Column, or you can click the boundary line

between columns and drag to the left. In each case, the information is not lost, the data

fields still exist and can be shown by re-inserting the column: i.e. the column information

is simply hidden from view.


Cells

Select the cells to be deleted. Select Edit/Cut(Cell), Edit/Clear/Contents, right-click

and Cut(Cell), right-click and Clear Contents, press Ctrl+Delete (Clear),

Shift+Delete (cut), Ctrl+X (cut) or click the Cut tool button.

They can also be deleted individually from the Entry Box on the Entry Bar.

Moving Data

When moving data, whether it's within a project, between projects or to other

applications like spreadsheets or documents, it is often easiest to cut and paste data

fields rather than using click and drag.

Moving Rows

Select the row(s) by clicking the row heading(s) (the ID numbers) release the left

button, then click again in the row heading and when you see a 4-way cursor, drag to

the new position. A grey T bar will help you to find the desired position between two

existing rows. Selecting a summary task will automatically include all its children as

soon as you start to drag. It is often easier, therefore, to close down the summary by

clicking the little minus sign before dragging and then clicking the plus sign to open it up

again..

Moving Columns

Columns can be re-ordered using the drag and drop editing method in Project 2002. In

earlier versions, to re-order columns, a new table must be defined, or you can insert a

column in its new positions and delete the old one.

Copying Data

Select the rows, columns or cells to be copied. Select Edit/Copy… or right-click and

select Copy…, or Ctrl+C, or click on the Copy button.

The selected fields will be copied to the Clipboard.

Click where the top left hand corner of the data is required to appear. Select Edit/Paste

or right-click and select Paste, or Ctrl+V or click on the Paste tool button.

Note! Data can only be copied to fields that are of like format, e.g. monetary data can


only be copied to monetary fields.

Inserting Rows and Columns

Inserting Rows

Select all or part of a row—the new row will be inserted above the selected row. Press

the Insert key or select Insert/New Task. To insert more than one new row, press the

Insert key the requisite number of times or select a set of rows and Insert—Project will

insert the same number of empty rows as rows selected and renumber the rows that

follow the inserted rows. Drag the row boundary in the row heading to change the

individual row's height, however, in Project 98 such action will change the height of all

rows.

Inserting Columns

Select all or part of a column—the new column is inserted to the left of the column

selected. Select Insert/Column… or select a column heading and press the Insert key.

From the Column Definition dialog box, type the Field Name or click on the drop-down

arrow, and select from the pick list. (Pressing the first letter will go to the first field

beginning with that letter.) If required, type in a new Title and select the Alignment and

Width or select Best Fit. After the column has been inserted, dragging the boundary

line to the right of the column heading can change its width. A double-click when the

right-left arrow appears will also obtain a best fit. Project 2002 also allows you to

choose text wrapping in the heading.

Undo

If the changes are not required to be permanent, particularly to recover immediately

deleted data, use the undo facility. Clicking the Undo tool button can reverse most

actions.

Otherwise, use Edit/Undo… or Ctrl+Z.


Cut data is cut to the Clipboard where it can be recovered by Edit/Undo Cut, right-

click and select Paste or by using the Paste tool button.

Spell Check

Select Tools/Spelling, or press F7, or click on the Spell Check tool button.

When the spell checker finds a word that is not in a dictionary, it displays the word in the

Spelling dialog box. If the suggested correction in the Change To box is required,

choose Change or Change All. To specify a different correction select a word from the

Suggestions list or type the spelling wanted, then select Change. To skip a suggestion

choose Ignore or Ignore All. Select Add to add the word to the custom dictionary. Click

OK when Project displays the message: Spell Check Complete.

Auto Correct

Project uses the standard Windows AutoCorrect facility. Tools/AutoCorrect… will

invoke the settings.

Find and Replace

Project's find and replace facility is invoked through the Edit/Find (Ctrl+F) or

Edit/Replace (Ctrl+H). Both bring up a dialog box where the text to be found is typed in

the Find what: box. The Look in field: to be searched and the Test: to be applied can be

selected from the pick lists. For the replace facility, in the Replace dialog box, insert the

text in the Replace with: box. Project then finds the first occurrence of the text and gives

the opportunity to Replace or Replace All or Find Next.

Auto link

A word of warning! Project has a default setting to automatically link tasks. When

inserting a task, the links between the previous and subsequent tasks will be broken

and re-set to the inserted task in a chain. Similarly, if a task is moved, the gap produced


is re-linked with a finish to start relationship. With complicated logic diagrams, this can

cause apparent havoc and you will need to re-examine all the connecting links to

ensure Project has guessed correctly! It is my strong advice to turn off this facility in the

defaults set up in Tools/Options.../Schedule tab: Autolink inserted or moved tasks

before you even start to type in tasks.

Planning Wizards

Planning Wizards can aid many scheduling tasks, pointing out possible problems and

prompting for clarification of ambiguous actions. Most Planning Wizards will appear

automatically, but one special Wizard helps specifically with the Gantt Chart layout.

Gantt Chart Wizard

Select Format > Gantt Chart Wizard or right-click the Gantt Chart and select Gantt

Chart Wizard or click on the Gantt Chart Wizard tool button.

Follow the options on screen to customize the chart. For now, go as far as Step 2 and

select the Critical Path radio button, Finish/Format It/Exit Wizard. You will now see

the Gantt Chart with the Critical Path shown in red. Other options include the colour,

pattern, size and end shape of the bars, milestones, and summary bars, type of link,

display of text (e.g., Resource information or dates) to be associated with each bar,

baseline and slack. More of this in a later lesson.


Microsoft Project: 5—Working With Resources

Resource Allocation

Entering a Resource

You will be pleased to know that entering a resource is one of the easiest steps in

Project: what happens afterwards is another story!

Select Tools > Resources > Assign Resources…, ALT+F10 or click on the Assign

Resources tool button:

This will activate the Assign Resources dialog box, as shown in the image below.

The dialog box ―floats‖, i.e., remains on screen until it is closed, allowing work in the

active view while the dialog box is visible (click and drag on the title bar to reposition it).

Because of this, always click in the appropriate window to make it active before entering

data, otherwise you will enter the data in the wrong place. So, in the dialog box, click in

the first Name cell and type in the name of the resource, and press Enter. There, that

was easy wasn‘t it?

Assigning a Resource

Once the resources have been entered into Project, using the

same Assign Resources dialog box, select the task, then select

the resource and then click the Assign button. Alternatively,

move the mouse pointer into the cell to the left of the name of the resource. The pointer

will change to an arrow attached to the Assign Resources icon. Hold down the left

button and drag it to the task and release.

When assigned, there will be a Tick in the cell next to the resource name, the Units will

register the default setting of 100%, and the resource name will appear to the right of

the Gantt bar. If more or less than 100% is wanted, enter the number required before

assigning the resource.


Removing a Resource Assignment

Select the tasks to which the resource is assigned and in the Assign Resources dialog

box, select the resource to be removed then click the Remove button.

Effort Driven Scheduling

Project is an effort driven program. This is defined as a scheduling method that bases

a task's duration on the amount of work the task requires and the number of resource

units assigned to it: i.e., calculation is based on the formula:

Resource Units X Duration = Work

The values in the formula are set up for each task when a resource is first assigned;

subsequent changes will be governed by the formula. I can‘t do better than quote from

the Help pages:

"When people are assigned or removed 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 assigning 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 (the emphasis is mine—Mike). Effort-driven

calculation rules are not applied when changes are made to 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.

Okay, enough of the Help pages! Resource assignment can be very complicated as you

can see. My advice is, if at all possible, keep to one resource per task and it is difficult

to go wrong or fail to understand what‘s going on. Remember, and I repeat: Effort-

driven scheduling only takes effect when resources are added to or removed

from a task. So, after the first assignment of a resource, effort driven scheduling has no

effect unless you subsequently add or remove resources from the task.

Resource Leveling

After assigning resources, it is likely that at certain times there will be more work

assigned than there are resources available. In Project, leveling means resolving

resource conflicts or overallocations by delaying tasks. Leveling requires delaying tasks

until resources are available, thus enabling the project to be finished, though often

resulting in a later project finish date.

Overallocations

To see overallocations, I‘d like to suggest my favourite way for dealing with

resources, and that is to use the split screen technique that I introduced in the

March issue. I repeat: select Window > Split or right-click in a free area of the

Gantt chart and select Split. A combination view will be seen with the Gantt chart in the

upper pane and the Task Form in the lower pane. Click in the lower pane to make it

active and select View > Resource Graph, or click the Resource Graph icon in the

view bar.

Note! To view the resource graph from a split screen, a task must be selected that has

the resource assigned.

Resource Graph

The resource

graph will indicate

the peak usage

rate of that

resource as a

histogram.

Overallocated

resources are shown in red text and the amount of overallocation is shown red on the

graph. Use this resource view to display information about a single resource or group of


resources over time. If you have assigned different resources, use the horizontal scroll

bar on the left side under the resource name label to see the others.

Automatic Levelling

When you have resources that are overallocated, you will need to level the project to

ensure that no resources are assigned to work more than the standard working day.

Project levels the resource allocations by delaying tasks until the resource becomes

available.

To invoke Project‘s built-in leveling process, select Tools > Resource Leveling…

(Tools > Level Resources… in Project 2002 ) and select the Level Now button.

Such leveling, with the default settings, will be resource-limited and will remove

overallocations but will almost certainly delay the project beyond the time of the critical

path. This will be the normal behaviour as you will want Project to tell you what is

possible. However, selecting the setting to Level Only Within Available Slack

produces a time-limited schedule, ie maintaining the critical path, but is unlikely to

resolve all resource overallocations, which then become your problem to manage.

Unleveling

The effect of leveling can undone by selecting Tools > Resource Leveling and

selecting the Clear Leveling… button


Microsoft Project: 6 - Working With Views, Tables and Filters

Views

Views are used to enter, change, and display information about the tasks and resources

in the project. By using a variety of views, the same project information can be seen in

different ways as the project is organised, tasks and resources scheduled, and changes

managed.

There are three basic types of views to display project information:

A sheet resembles a spreadsheet or table of information.

A chart or graph displays information graphically.

A form facilitates the entry of information about specific tasks and

resources.

The most commonly used views are

accessed through the icons on the View

bar or from the View menu. Further views

are available from View > More Views… or

by clicking the bottom-most icon in the view

bar. Note the New, Edit and Copy buttons,

used for the modification or creation of

views to display different information from

that provided by Project.

Project can display project information in task views or in resource views. Use

a task view to enter, change, or display task information. Use a resource view to

enter, change, or display resource information.

Calendar

The Calendar view shows the Gantt bars on a desktop calendar. Tasks can be

created, resources assigned, tasks linked, tasks edited, etc., in the same way as

in the Gantt View. Refine the view by using filters to select a particular resource or type

of activity. Select View > Calendar or click the Calendar icon on the View Bar. To


change the active day: click on the date, or use the large up or down arrows to scroll

through the dates.

Network Diagram

The Network Diagram is a logic chart showing all tasks and task dependencies — the

logical relationship between tasks. Use this task view to create and fine-tune the

schedule in a flowchart format. Tasks can be created, resources assigned, tasks linked,

tasks edited, etc., in the same way as in the Gantt View. Select View > Network

Diagram or click the Network Diagram icon on the View bar.

Task Usage

The Task Usage view is a list of tasks showing assigned resources grouped under each

task. Use this task view to see which resources are assigned to specific tasks and to set

resource work contours.


Use the view to work with task and resource information side by side. With the

Task Usage view, useful, real-world reports can easily be created about when a

resource is scheduled to work on a task over a period of time. Seeing clearly

which resources are working on a task, and when work is occurring, can help make

better decisions about the project. Select View > Task Usage or click the Task Usage

icon on the View bar

Tracking Gantt

The Tracking Gantt view provides a list of tasks and

related information, and a chart showing baseline

and scheduled Gantt bars for each task. To create a

baseline plan, go to Tools > Tracking > Save

Baseline….

The baseline can be used to compare the original plan for the project with the actual

course of the project. The Tracking Gantt view shows which tasks started earlier

or later than planned, exceeded their original budget, took longer than planned,

and so on. Select View > Tracking Gantt or click the Tracking Gantt icon on

the View bar.

Resource Sheet

A Resource Sheet is a list of resources and related information. Use this resource view

to enter and edit resource information in a spreadsheet-like format.


Use the Resource Sheet view to review, add or edit data about resources and

to copy or paste information from one resource to another. Different tables can

be applied to see resource information from a different perspective or a filter

can be applied to display only the information wanted. Select View > Resource

Sheet or click the Resource Sheet icon on the View bar.

Resource Usage

The Resource Usage view is used to work with resource and task information side by

side. It is a list of resources showing allocation, cost, or work information for each

resource over time.

Use this resource view to show cost or work allocation information for each

resource and to set resource contours. This view is a valuable management tool

for tracking a resource‘s work or cost allocation, seeing how costs change over

time, and creating timesheets. Select View > Resource Usage or click the Resource

Usage icon on the View bar.

Tables

A sheet view, which contains a list of tasks or

resources, is defined further by a table, which is

a group of related columns or fields. The

columns seen in a sheet depend on the table

applied. Commonly used Tables can be

selected from View > Table: Entry. Further

tables can be accessed through View > Table:

Entry > More Tables, from the selection menu

after right-clicking the select all button or the

view bar. Note the New, Edit and Copy buttons that allow tables to be created, edited

or copied.

Filters

To make a view fit needs, Project allows the display of a subset of the tasks or

resources in a project, highlight specific information, or determine what information is


displayed. A filter contains instructions, called criteria, that specify the conditions under

which a task or resource appears.

Filters applied to a view can be changed or

created to show different information in the

current format.

To apply a filter, click the drop-

down arrow in the filter

selection toolbox and then select the filter, or

Project > Filtered For: All Tasks > More

Filters…, then select the filter needed, Apply or

Highlight. Note that filters can be for Tasks or

Resources and can be Copied, Edited or

Created.

The AutoFilter facility can be invoked in any sheet view from the AutoFilter tool

button or Project > Filtered For: All Tasks > AutoFilter that puts a drop-down arrow

in the column headings. Use of the drop-down arrow gives a filter pick list based on that

field.

Sorting

Sorting changes the order of tasks or

resources in the active view according to the

fields specified. Sorting does not change the

contents or scheduling of the project, it simply

changes the display in the active view. Project

sorts only tasks or resources that are

displayed. It does not sort tasks or resources

that are filtered out or collapsed in an outline.

Select Project > Sort > Sort By…. and a drop-

down menu will allow selection of the appropriate sort criteria. Note that it is possible to

Permanently renumber tasks in their new sort order (and Permanently does mean

that!).


Microsoft Project: 7 - Task and Resource Information dialogs, Working Hours and

Calendars

Detailed Information

In many instances, double-clicking on a field, Gantt bar, calendar date, network

diagram task, links, column headings, etc, will provide either a drop-down menu or a

dialog box of information.

Task Information

Double-click on a task, right-click on a task and select Task Information …, select

Project > Task Information…, Shift+F2, or click the Information tool button.

A tabbed Task Information dialog box will appear where information on the selected

task can be added or edited. Selecting a summary will give a dialog for Summary Task

Information. Pre-selecting multiple tasks will invoke a Multiple Task Information

dialog that will be blank, and data entered will be applied to all the selected tasks. In this

way, you can make global changes, provided there is a field in Task Information

dialog. Choose the appropriate tab for the type of information to view or enter.

NOTE. Although you can enter new data in the fields shown, in the main you should

treat this as Project allowing you to look at information on what you have selected.

Resist the temptation to change data until you know the consequences of your actions.

For example, entering Start or Finish dates is generally not a good idea, as this action

will create Constraints which will limit the flexibility of your project. As you have seen,

the Start date is defined by the Finish date of its predecessor, and the Finish date is

calculated by Project based on the Duration you have estimated. Let Project do what it

is designed to do - calculate dates to show you what is possible.


In the General tab, you have the options of viewing or entering %Complete (for

tracking progress) and Priority (for telling Project which task gets overallocated

resources when levelling). If you don‘t want the task bar to appear in the Gantt chart,

you may select that action. Selecting "Roll up Gantt bar to summary" will overlay the

task bar on its summary task. Selecting both these actions will show only the summary

with the task bar superimposed on its bar – useful for showing milestones in a high level

report.

Details of Predecessors and Resources can be viewed, entered or edited in the

appropriate tab, whose appearance is similar to the familiar Entry Form of a split

screen.

Advanced Tab

The Advanced tab allows the viewing, entering or editing of a Deadline, Constraint

type and date, Task Type, the Effort Driven setting, and applying a Calendar and

WBS code. Here is the place to create a constraint as a deliberate act – use the pick

lists to select the Constraint type: and Constraint Date:. More of these in later

months.

Notes


A note can be attached to a task by selecting the Notes tab in the Task Information

dialog box, or Project > Task Notes…, or Right-click on a task and select Task

Notes, or click on the Attach Notes tool button.

The Task Information dialog box will appear with the Notes tab already selected. The

white area is a simple word processor in which text can be entered, edited or formatted

and objects (like a chart, diagram, picture, etc) pasted.

Once a note has been written, a Notes indicator will appear in the indicator field for that

task.

Hovering the mouse pointer over the indicator will reveal the beginning of the note.

Task notes can be entered and edited from any view that shows the task name. There

are separate note fields for resources that can be accessed from most views that show

resources.

Resource Information

Resource information and notes can be entered and edited in a similar way to that for

Task Information. To activate, double-click the name of a resource shown in the

Resource Sheet view or any view that shows resource names with the exception of the

Gantt chart view.

The Resource Information dialog allows the viewing, entering or editing of resource

availability, working times and cost rates which I‘ll cover in a later lesson. There is

also a Notes tab which is identical in layout and operation to that for Task Notes,

though this is for resource information like listing qualifications, etc.


General Tab

In the General tab, you can enter Workgroup details like an Email address used for

communicating within a Workgroup. You can identify the Resource type as a Material

resource or Work Resource (usually meaning human!). You can use the Group and

Code fields for whatever purpose you chose: eg management, programmers,

bricklayers, or pay code, employee number, etc, allowing you to sort or filter using these

fields. You can also indicate the Availability of the resource (a sort of resource

contour). This will allow for arrivals and departures from the project for individual

resources and to allow the Units available to be changed for a pool type of resource or

if a resource has a part time role. Enter the date (use the drop-down calendar) and

change the Units appropriately

Working Hours

If you plan to change the working hours from Project‘s default, it is essential to set

them up correctly, ideally before entering any task data. It is worth, therefore going into

a little more detail. The settings can be seen and changed in Tools > Options (where

all Project‘s defaults are set – more another day) and select the Calendar tab.


The values for the working week or day affect the way project views your entries in the

duration field. If, in the task Duration field, you type in 1 week, Project looks to the

setting you've made to define the number of hours (and thus man-hours) that a week

contains. Similarly for the working day. Equally, if you don't specify a time, a task starts

at the default setting of 08:00, and if you schedule from the finish, tasks will end at the

default of 17:00, both leaving the Duration to determine the other date. So, set these

times first. Remember that it is best to do this before entering any data as changes to

Tools > Options generally apply to the future entry of data and not what has already

been entered. Hence, it's a good idea to set the defaults in a "New Project" template

(more another day).

To schedule your project working time properly, you must also change the values in

Tools > Change Working Time.


Project calls the default working time the Standard (Project Calendar). This is set to

working from Monday to Friday, 0800 hrs to 1700 hrs, 40 hours a week. So, to define a

working day, select all the days in the calendar week by click and dragging across the

calendar headings (M,T,W,Th F) so they are all highlighted. (Doing this will also

highlight every working day in every year throughout from 1984 to 2049.) Now on the

right hand side, click in the working hours setting and change the figures to meet your

working day requirements.

To make a weekday nonworking (eg a national holiday): select the day(s) concerned

and then the Nonworking time box. To change a default nonworking day (Saturdays

and Sundays) into a working day select the day(s) concerned and then the Nondefault

working time box. To change working hours for individual day(s), select and then click

and edit the From: and To: fields. Note that a night shift has to be set in one day, ie

from midnight to cease work and then from start work to midnight.

Resource Calendars

In the Resource Information dialog, click the Working Time tab and you will see a

Change Working Time dialog, identical to the Standard calendar you have just set up,

with the Resource‘s name already applied. Make appropriate changes and click on OK.

Note that the Options… button will go to Tools> Options > Calendar tab so that

equivalence can be checked.

Task Calendars (Project 2000+)

Task calendars were introduced into Project 2000. If one or more tasks are to be

scheduled only on certain days or within certain hours (for example, scheduling

equipment maintenance after hours) a task calendar can be assigned to those tasks.

Create a New calendar and then assign the calendar to a task by picking the calendar


name in the Calendar field on the Advanced tab of the Task Information dialog box.

An indicator is used to flag those tasks that have a task calendar.

Recurring Tasks

Recurring tasks,

typically meetings, can

be selected from Insert >

Recurring Task… to

open the Recurring

Task Information dialog.

The Frequency of the

meeting and its Duration

can be specified

precisely. (Note that the

Duration of the

Recurring Task's

summary task measures

from the start of the first meeting to the end of the last meeting, and thus has little

relevance.) Beware of assigning resources to Recurring Tasks as it may cause

overallocations that become difficult to resolve and could well extend the end date of

the project. For short meetings it might be best to accept the absence of the resource at

a meeting, or perhaps assign at zero units.


Microsoft Project: 8—Printing Reports and Views


Reports

Reports are a series of built-in layouts that can be edited, or new ones created. To print

a report, go to View > Reports and select accordingly. Use the preview facility before

printing to check the output.

Selecting Custom will give a pick list of all the built-in reports.

Note the New and Edit buttons. If Edit is chosen, then be sure to give the report a new

name so that the original report remains available. Note also the Organizer button that

will allow the edited report to be deleted or made available in other projects.

Views

To print a View, set up the view required, adjusting the graphics to meet needs, and

printing will reproduce that screen. Starting from a View table, insert or delete columns

as required. Select the appropriate Fonts, Filters and Sort. Views with calendars might

need adjustment to the timescale. Always use File > Print Preview or click the Print

Preview tool button, as it is easy to print out many pages if the timescale is

unnecessarily detailed.

Formats


In the Format menu, there are options to select Bar... or Bar Styles..., and Font... or

Text Styles.... The difference is that the Styles options change the way whole projects

appear, whereas Bar and Font change the way selected data appears.

Fonts

To change fonts from Text Styles..., first select the drop-down arrow to choose the

categories of Items To Change:, then select the font details. For Font... first select All,

individual Rows, Columns or Fields, then click on the Font... and select the changes

needed.

Bars


To change bar styles, click on Bar Styles... select the bar type to change and then the

details. To change the style of selected bars, click on Bar... and then the details

required.

Timescales

Zoom

To zoom in or out to show a greater or lesser timescale, select View > Zoom..., or right-

click on the timescale and select Zoom.... From the Zoom dialog box, select the scale

desired.

Alternatively, click on the + or - Zoom tool button to see more or less detail.

Working Time


If greater control is required, double-click on the timescale, or right-click and select

Timescale... or select Format > Timescale.... A Timescale dialog box will open

allowing changes to the representation of the calendar.

To change the field criteria, click on the down arrow next to the appropriate field and

select from the pick list the new criteria needed. To compress or expand the timescale,

type a new percentage in the Size: field.

Nonworking Time

To change the way Nonworking time is shown, click the Nonworking Time tab.

Bars can be shown in front of or behind nonworking time shading, or none can be

selected. Note how the representation changes in the Prieview section. Different

calendars can also be applied, including resource calendars.

Printing

When the view is ready, if certain of the output, select File > Print or select the Print

tool button.


However, if unsure always select File > Print Preview, or select the Print Preview tool

button.

In the status bar, you can see how many pages will be printed. To view the way multiple

pages will appear, click the Multiple Pages tool button.

If the preview is not right, click on the Close button and re-edit the view criteria. When

the preview is satisfactory, select the Page Setup button. All settings apply to the active

view. The name of the active view appears in the Page Setup title bar.

When the project is saved, all page setup settings are also saved. Choose the


appropriate tab for the kind of information wanted or to be specified. Use the Print

Preview button to check any changes made. When satisfied with the preview settings,

click the Print button.

Page - Specifies page orientation and scaling. Scaling recognizes the actual

space requirements at each end of the project to allow for text on the Gantt chart

and will proportion vertically to minimize white space at the bottom of the project.

Margins - Specifies margins and borders.

Header Footer - Specifies and formats page headers and footers.

Legend - Specifies and formats a legend for the Gantt Chart, PERT Chart, and

Calendar.

View - Specifies options for printing views that contain sheets, such as the Gantt

Chart and Resource Usage view.

View (Calendar) - If printing a Calendar view, additional options are available to

specify time units and other calendar specific options.


Microsoft Project: 9 – Manipulating Tasks

Task calendars can be used to good effect if, for example, a specialist person or a piece

of equipment is only available on certain dates and times. It is also useful when you

need to force Project to schedule a task to start on a specific day of the week, say

Fridays. Create a one minute task and assign it to a task calendar that only allows work

on Fridays 0800 to 0801. Insert it between two Finish-to-Start tasks, making it a

predecessor of the task that must start on a Friday. Then, no matter which day the

predecessor finishes, the one minute task can only be scheduled on a Friday whence

its successor can begin. Subsequent tasks will then be one minute out; so, if this is

important, subtract one minute from its immediate successor.

Constraints

Setting Constraints

Activate the Task Information form and select the Advanced tab.

In the Constraint type: box, select the constraint necessary that gives the most

flexibility, then enter the date to its right. As Soon As Possible is the default setting,

meaning that there are no constraints when scheduling from the project start (other than

those of the logic dictated by the task dependencies already set). All constraints set can

be viewed by applying the Constraint Dates table (View/Table:Entry/More

Tables…/Constraint Dates/Apply).

Constraints can also be set inadvertently by moving a Gantt chart bar to change its start


date. Project will show a constraint indicator in the Indicator column. Hovering the

cursor over the constraint indicator will reveal a tool tip stating the constraint set: be

sure this is what you desired.

Definition of Constraints

The following table lists and describes the constraints available in Project:

Constraint Description

As Late As

Possible

(ALAP)

Schedules the task as late as possible without

delaying subsequent tasks.

As Soon As

Possible

(ASAP)

Schedules the task to begin as early as

possible. This is the default constraint for tasks.

Finish No

Earlier Than

(FNET)

Schedules the task to finish on or after a

specified date. Use to ensure that a task does

not finish before a certain date.

Finish No

Later Than

(FNLT)

Schedules the task to finish on or before the


not finish after a certain date.

Must Finish

On (MFO)

Schedules the task to finish on a specified date.

Other scheduling parameters such as task

dependencies, lead or lag time, resource

leveling, and delay become secondary.

Must Start On

(MSO)

Schedules the task to start on a specified date.

Other scheduling parameters such as task

dependencies, lead or lag time, resource

leveling, and delay become secondary.

Start No

Earlier Than

(SNET)

Schedules the task to start on or after a


not start before a specified date.

Start No Later

Than (SNLT)

Schedules the task to start on or before a


not start after a specified date.

Hard and Soft Constraints

By electing for soft constraints in the Tools > Options... > Schedule tab (switch off


tasks will always honor their constraint dates), tasks depending upon predecessors will

still be scheduled to reflect reality, but flagged with a negative slack alert. Soft

constraints can move, but only in relation to their links with other tasks, rather than be

scheduled firmly according to their constraint dates.

Deadlines

From Project 2000, tasks can include a Deadline date that allows an indicator to be

displayed in the Indicator column if a task‘s Finish date is later than the Deadline. Enter

the date in the Task Information dialog, Advanced tab and view the arrow on the Gantt

chart.

No indicator displays if a task finishes before the Deadline. This provides a visible yet

unobtrusive notification that the current scheduled Finish is later than the planned

Deadline.

[Note that if the Gantt Chart Wizard is used, the codes for the Deadline are deleted

(Corrected in 2002 onwards). These can be reset in the Format > Bar Styles dialog –

see Bar Styles.]

Splitting

Another way to resolve overallocations is to split the task. From the standard tool bar

select the Split Task tool button or Edit > Split Task.

Move the mouse cursor to the start date of the part of the Gantt bar to be split, click and


drag to the right. The text box will reflect the start and finish date of the split remainder.

Let go of the mouse when finished. Gantt bars can be split as many times as you wish

by repeating the process on a split bar.

Edit or correct by re-selecting the split part and dragging as required. (You can more

accurately create the same effect by entering zeros in the Work field of the Task Usage

view - more of that later.)

Task Calendars

Project 2000 introduced Task Calendars. These allow you to get Project to ignore the

Project(Standard) calendar and any calendars for any resources assigned, allowing you

to create schedules specific to that task. Task calendars are created through

Tools/Change Working Time…/New.

Assign a Task Calendar through the Task Information dialog, Advanced tab. You can

also select whether or not to ignore resource calendars.

Task calendars can be used to good effect if, for example, a specialist person or a piece

of equipment is only available on certain dates and times. It is also useful when you

need to force Project to schedule a task to start on a specific day of the week, say

Fridays. Create a milestone and assign it to a task calendar that only allows work on

Fridays. Insert it between two Finish-to-Start tasks, making it a predecessor of the task

that must start on a Friday. Then, no matter which day the predecessor finishes, the

milestone can only be scheduled on a Friday whence its successor can begin


Microsoft Project: 10 – Multiple Resource Assignments


Effort Driven

In Microsoft Project: Lesson 5—Working With Resources I commented that

resource assignment can be very complicated.

So what happens if we assign more than one resource to a task? Project is an effort

driven program. This is defined as a scheduling method that bases a task's duration on

the amount of work the task requires and the number of resource units assigned to it:

i.e., calculation is based on the formula:


The values in the formula are set up for each task when a resource is first assigned;

subsequent changes will be governed by the formula. There are several places in

Project where you assign resources, but with multiple resources on one task you need a

view that shows all the relevant parameters.

To illustrate this best, I always recommend using the split screen technique as in the

following example. Let's have a project to make a garden with an initial plan that

includes a pool of Gardeners. In a new project starting on 1 Mar 04, create a 10 day

task: Make Terraces, then select it and then Window/Split.

You will see in the lower pane all the details we need to get the assignments right, i.e.

the task Name and its Duration. There is the Effort driven selection (default is

checked ON) and the Task type (default is Fixed Units) of which more later. On the left

you can also see fields for the Resource Name, the Units assigned and the Work.

Click in the Resource Names cell and enter "Gardeners" and click OK (activating the

OK button turns it and the adjacent button into Previous and Next to allow progression

through the tasks.) You will see that Project assumes you want one full time gardener

(100%) and for the Duration of 10 days it will consume 80 hours of Work (based on the

http://pubs.logicalexpressions.com/Pub0009/LPMArticle.asp?ID=213


default 8 hour day or 40 hour week).

Now, let's say it's going to take too long at 10 days, and to speed it up we assign

another Gardener from our pool. So, change the Units value to 200% and click OK.

Note that against the Gantt bar, the number of resources assigned is placed after the

resource name if the Units are other than 100%. As this task is Effort Driven, the effort

(Work) remains the same at 80 hours and thus Project reduces the Duration to 5 days

- mission accomplished.

Play around with assigning more Gardeners and see the Duration reduce each time,

and try less than 100%, say 50% meaning a Gardener only works half time per day (i.e.

4 hours per day, and thus to achieve 80 hours work, the Duration goes out to 20 days.)

OK, changing the number of Units using the same resources from a pool is quite

straight forward and works as one might expect with effort driven tasks. Restore the

Units to 100% and the Duration should still read 10 days.

Different Resources

Fred from next door is a keen gardener and offers to help out. Click in the next

Resource Name cell under the Gardeners and type in Fred and click OK.


As you would expect the Duration again halves as they now both share the work: 40

hours each.

Suppose the task was still taking too long and you decide to add another Gardener.

Click on the Gardeners‘ Units and increase to 200% and OK.

You will see no change to the amount of work and the Duration doesn't change as you

would have hoped. What has happened to the effort driven formula now? Well, you‘ve

presented Project with problem it cannot answer without guidance from you. It still

upholds the 80 hours of work, but each Gardener is now only doing 20 hours whilst poor

Fred slaves on for his original 40 hours. Thus, Fred becomes the driving resource as he

still needs 5 days to finish. Try adding more and more Gardeners – the Duration

remains the same based on Fred‘s assignment. Equally, if you put in one gardener

working half time (50%), the Duration goes back to 10 days, as that resource becomes

the driving resource. (Remember always to click the OK button whenever you‘re happy

with the changes in order to get Project to calculate the new data. When you do, the

buttons change to Previous and Next to allow you to progress through the tasks.)

You can see that blindly adding resources to a multi-resourced task my not achieve the

reduction in Duration you want. You have to engage brain and be selective in your


choice of resource assignment.

Now let‘s try a different assignment. Remove Fred and assign 200% to Gardeners and

ensure the Duration is 5 days with 80 hours Work. Now reassign Fred.

The Work is assigned equally between the 3 resources at 26.67% (Project rounds to 2

decimal places, though the real value is used in calculations) each, reducing the

Duration to 3.33 days. Try experimenting with these assignments and try adding Mary

and Joe, and also a material resource like Bricks, until you run out of explanation of why

Project calculates as it does. Isn‘t it easy to get into a mess!

In real life I have two prime tips:

Always use the split screen technique when you have more than one resource to

assign so that you can see all the elements and the resulting calculations that Project

makes.

If you run into problems, delete all the assignments from the task, reset the

Duration and reassign them all to read what you want before you click the OK button:

this in effect becomes the first assignment to that task and thus the effort driven

formula will not come into effect until you click OK.


Microsoft Project: 11 – Task Types

Effort Driven – Task Type


IRemember, the values in the formula are set up for each task when a resource is first

assigned; subsequent changes will be governed by the formula.

there are several places in Project where you assign resources, but as with multiple

resources on one task, you need a view that shows all the relevant parameters. If you

want to investigate and use the different settings that can be made to the Tasks, you

need a view where all the parameters are shown. Again recommend using the same

split screen technique as we used last month. Using the same example for a project,

make a garden with an initial plan that includes a pool of Gardeners. Make it start on 1

Mar 04, create a 10 day task: Make Terraces, select it and then Window/Split. Now

assign a Gardener from the pool to get the following view:

In the bottom pane you can see the Effort driven box and the Task type selection. Use

the drop-down arrow to see that the Task Type can be Fixed Units (the default), Fixed

Duration or Fixed Work.


Effect of Changes to Task Type

So let’s experiment. First remove the Effort driven check and notice that the adjacent

Previous button changes to OK. You must click the OK button to set Project in this new

mode before changing any data – the button changing to OK, I hope, will prompt you to

remember this. With Project in the Fixed Units default mode, try changing the Work.

What happened? The Duration changes as Project won’t change the Units as that’s

what you’ve told it to do. Now change the Duration – as you now would expect, the Work

changes.

Try selecting Fixed Duration (don’t forget to click OK before continuing) and then

change the Units and then the Work. Finally, select Fixed Work and change Units and

Duration. I think you’ll find this straightforward and Project does what you expected.

A little experimentation along those lines shows how you can get Project to do what you

want, provide you’re aware of the formula! You will have seen that Project will not

change the element you’ve selected to be fixed.

Changes to the Fixed Parameter

However, there’s nothing to stop you from changing the parameter that you’ve “fixed” –

the fixing is only an order to Project not to change it. So, Project has a built-in bias

towards keeping the Units fixed if possible and then Work. In the Garden project, reset it

to the original 100% units, 10 days and 80 hours of work. Try Fixed Units, and then

change the Units – you will see that the Duration changes rather than the Work:


However, if we select Fixed Work and then change Work, it is also the Duration

changes rather than the Units this time:

So, I'm sure as you have guessed, if we try the final type, Fixed Duration and then

change the Duration, it is the Work that changes not the Units.

To summarise, therefore:

Changing Fixed Units will adjust Duration.

Changing Fixed Work will adjust Duration.


Changing Fixed Duration will adjust Work.

To put them all together, see the table below - I have it printed out on a card propped up

in front of me whenever I want to set up anything other than the default effort driven and

fixed Units.

Default Setting

If you would like to change the

default parameters that Project

will use, you must do this before you enter any data. Open Tools/Options…/Schedule tab

and select the Task Type you want from the pick list and also select the box for New

tasks are effort driven. If you wish these settings to be applied, not only to this project,

but to all new projects, then click the Set as Default button before clicking OK.

Work = Resource Units X Duration

Field that

you change

Field

calculated if

the task is

Fixed Units

Field

calculated if

the task is

Fixed Work

Field

calculated if

the task is

Fixed

Duration

Work Duration is

recalculated

Duration is

recalculated

Units are

recalculated

Duration Work is

recalculated

Units are

recalculated

Work is

recalculated

Units Duration is

recalculated

Duration is

recalculated

Work is

recalculated


All new data entries will then obey your settings. However, if you have already made

assignments and you want to change their settings, select all the tasks first, then enter

the changes you want in Project/Task Information…/Advanced tab. When you click OK,

the new settings will be applied "globally" to all the selected tasks.

Remember my two prime tips:

Always use the split screen technique when you have more than one

resource to assign so that you can see all the parameters and the resulting

calculations that Project makes.

If you run into problems, delete all the assignments from the task, select

the parameter you want Fixed click on OK to set that mode and then reset

the data to read what you want before you click the OK button.


Microsoft Project: 12 – Working Pattern

T

Calendar Options

the importance of setting up the project calendars before entering any task data. This is

because the settings in Tools/Options…/Calendar tab work for the future and not the

past. So, if you’d like to open up that little Garden project with a Make Terraces task

we’ve been playing with, we’ll set up some different calendar times. It would also help if

we could see the times of day, so in Tools/Options…/View tab select a Date Format: 28

Jan 12:33.

Incidentally, I’m using clips from Project 2003, but earlier versions are very similar.

Split the screen via Window/Split, noting that the Make Terraces task has a 10 day

Duration with a resource called Gardeners entered to give 100% Units and 80 hours of

Work. Now reset the Start Date to 3 May 04. The easiest way to do this is to use the

Adjust_Dates macro in the Analysis toolbar (or Tools/Macro/macros… in earlier

versions), or you can reset the project Start Date in Project/Project Information… dialog.

Fiscal Year

Now, as we learned in Lesson 7, the settings in Tools/Options…/Calendar tab tell project

how to represent calendar data. So, the Week starts on: and the Fiscal year starts in:

settings tell Project to start from the day/year you choose.

Please note that the Fiscal year can be misleading, particularly in earlier versions of

Project. If you change it to, say April, then the fiscal year for 2004/5 will start in April

2004, but it does not finish until the end of May 2005. The Gantt chart timescale thus

does not change the year on 1 January but waits until 1 April as can be seen in this clip:


Try it out and see the result. My advice is therefore; if you need a fiscal report, change

the setting to what you want and when you’ve finished, change the fiscal year setting

back to January as this will avoid confusion.

Standard (Project Calendar) Working Hours

So, let’s suppose we want our Garden project to work form 09:00 to 16:00, this will give

us a 6 hour working day and a 30 hour working week. This might be done to allow a

couple of hours per day for resources to do other things. Enter these details:

There is a Set as Default button which will tell Project to always use these settings on all

future projects.

Have a look at the Duration of the Make Terraces task: it is now 13.33 days. This

because the 80 hours of work at 6 hours per day takes 80/6 = 13.33 days, but still starts

at 0800 and finishes at 1700.

Try entering new task “Swimming Pool” for 10 days. You will see it still starts at 08:00

because new tasks are starting at the project start date of 3 May 04 08:00. This setting

can be changed to Start on Current Date by selecting from the pick list for New tasks: in

the Tools/Options…/Schedule tab.

Change the project Start Date to 09:00 (Project/Project Information...) and you will see

both tasks now start at 09:00 - we’re getting there! Meanwhile, assign Gardeners to the

Swimming Pool task at 100% (click in the Resource Name cell and use the drop-down

arrow to select from the pick list – better than typing in the name in case you get the


spelling wrong). You will see the assignment is 60 hours, which is based on our new

working week. Now observe the Gantt bars for each task, they don’t seem to tie in with

the number of days the Duration requires.

Ah but it does! You see, Project is still using the default calendar of 8 to 5, 40 hour

week. So we need to change that too – Tools/Change Working Time… Click and drag

across the weekday letters (M, T, W, Th, F) so that the whole of the weekday part is

highlighted in black, and change the start time to 09:00 and the Finish to 16:00 and click

OK.

You should now see that the Swimming Pool task is correctly showing on the Gantt

chart as 10 working days as that task was entered after we changed the

Tools/Options…/Calendar times: ie that was in the future.

Whereas, the Make Terraces task is still showing 13.33 days, as Project does not

change what you entered in the past – hence the importance of getting the working times

and calendars set up correctly before entering data. You will now have to make the

decision: was the Make Terraces task an estimate of 10 days Duration or 80 hours of

Work? If the 80 hours was correct, you can leave well alone at 13.33 days, but if the

original estimate was 10 days, then you need to retype the Duration of 10 days giving 60


hours of work – let’s do that.

Note that, if you zoom in to the maximum (15 minute intervals) you can see the tasks

begin at 9 or 09:00 and finish at 16 or 16:00 as we demanded.

Shifts

Let’s have a look at setting up shift patterns. Firstly, enter a new task for the Flower

Beds, give it a 7 day duration and assign a resource Fred who should be working 42

hours. Let’s say that Fred only works afternoons, say 13:00 to 19:30 with half an hour

for tea at 16:00, ie a 6 hour working day. If we want a resource to work different shifts,

then we must set up a new calendar specifically for that resource. In Tools/Change

Working Time… (if it is greyed out, you are still in the bottom pane – click in the top pane

to make it active), select the Resource name Fred from the pick list in the For: box.

Again, select the weekdays and enter the times 13:00 to 16:00 and then 16:30 to 19:30.


Make sure the radio button for Nondefault working time is set and then click OK. If you

are still zoomed in to 15 minutes, then you can see Fred’s task now starts at 13:00 and

finishes at 19:30, as we directed.

Resource Gantt Chart

Supposing we wanted to show a Gantt chart for Fred, then we can show Fred’s

calendar. Format/Timescale…/Non-working time tab; in Calendar: select Fred, and

select a Colour and Pattern, OK.

You can see the selected pattern in the Preview panel as you change the style. The

resulting Gantt chart is now based on Fred’s working pattern.

Whilst we are here, we could make quite a powerful report by filtering for Fred’s tasks

(Project/Filtered For: All Tasks/Using Resource… and select Fred from the pick list) and


giving Fred a print out of his tasks with his calendar applied.

Night Shift

Finally, if you want a night shift, there is a little trick you need to know. Project’s

calendars start and end at midnight. So, to set up a shift working from 20:00 to 08:00,

we have to do it in 2 stages: 00:00 to 08:00 and 20:00 to 00:00 (insert any breaks

similarly).

Summary

To summarize: the values in Tools/Options…/Calendar tab for the working week or day

affect the way project presents your entries in the Duration field. If, in the task Duration

field, you type in 1 week, Project looks to the setting you've made to define the number

of hours (and thus man-hours) that a week contains, and similarly for the working day.

Equally, if you don't specify a time, a task starts at the default setting of 08:00, and if you

schedule from the finish, tasks will end at the default of 17:00, both leaving the Duration

to determine the other date. So, set these default times first. Remember that it is best to

do this before entering any data as changes to Tools > Options generally apply to the

future entry of data and not what has already been entered.


Microsoft Project: 13 - Costs


First and foremost, Microsoft Project is NOT an accounting package. It is not intended to give, and it does not provide, the facilities to do detailed accounting or financial management. It will not provide cost-accounting, pay-roll figures, or the tracking of inventory costs, overhead costs, salaries, or inflation costs. It does not handle Purchase Orders, Change Orders, Asset Requests, Approvals, Purchase Orders Invoices, payments and retentions, and is rotten at keeping track of money to the level of accuracy you need for making payments. It is not interested in profit, revenues, payables, receivables, time-and-billing, professional fees and it does not track Vendors or Vendor Contracts. All these are facets of accounting and time-and-billing programs. Managing the overall costs of employment of a resource is a job for accounting applications, not project management applications and Microsoft Project is no different. It is not concerned with the costs to the company of the resource doing anything else other than the specific project tasks.

So what does it do? Well, Project is a critical path scheduling tool and oriented to

scheduling and managing work, not finances. The costs in Project are bottom-up

budgets - predictions of what something will cost, not top-down limits on how much

you're allowed to spend. It does cost estimating and tracking, but that is only for

budgeting and progress tracking purposes. All it is concerned is with is the direct costs

of getting the deliverables within the specific project done and has no direct provision

for overheads and other costs of doing business.

Resource Costs

Let’s start with setting up some resource costs. Create a new project starting on 31 May 04 (discard the old Garden project we were using last time as it will probably still have non-standard calendars set up) and enter a task ―Make Terraces‖ with 10 days Duration. Now assign Fred to that task. Check from a split screen that he is assigned 80 hours of Work. Double-click Fred’s name (although you can double-click on a resource’s name in many views, like the Resource Sheet, that show the resource name) and in the resulting Resource Information dialog, click on the Costs tab. Click in the first Standard Rate cell, enter ―20‖ and press Return. Project will show the per hour rate.


The currency shown is that selected in Tools/Options.../View tab, where you can enter

a default currency. However, you can have only one currency per project.


Having entered 20, when you press Return, the ―£‖ (or whatever you have set up) and

―/hr‖ will automatically be inserted for you, and the cursor will drop down to the next cell,

ready for another entry. Equally, if Fred was paid by the week or year, then you will

have to enter, say, 500/w or 20000/y – try it!

Standard Rate

Ah! But what is the Standard Rate, did I hear you say? Well, it should not be solely his

wages, but the cost to the project of using this man. It should include his wages, training

costs, holidays, pension scheme, etc, i.e. whatever it costs the company to use this

man on this project compared to whatever else he could be doing to earn money for the

company. These figures should be obtained from the company‘s accounting

department. Many companies produce a series of equivalent, rationalised or equalised

wages to cover a variety of employees – use these costs as your ―standard‖.

Remember you‘re not using a cost-accounting system, but inputting figures on which

you can budget and track the project‘s costs.

Now, these rates are used by Project to calculate the cost of each task on which Fred is

employed. Project will calculate by the minute ( actually by 1/10th of a minute,

irrespective of the units entered in the Standard Rate cell) to arrive at £1600 (£20/hour *

80 hours). You can see the resulting task Total Cost from the Gantt Chart view, then

View/Table: Entry/Cost.

The Cost tab allows profiling of the resource‘s cost. The Effective Date will show ―- -― if

the resource is available at the start of the project, otherwise it will show the first date on

which he is available. Profiling allows Project to take into account changes in costs as

time goes by.

Suppose Fred has a 5% increase in wages from 7 Jun 04, enter that and when you

press Return, Project will calculate the new rate as £21/h.

And take that into account for the task‘s costs (5 days to 6 Jun at £20/h = £800 and


another 5 days from 7 Jun at £21/h = £840) which now total £1640.

You can also check costs from the Gantt Chart view: split the screen, double-click in

the lower pane and select Resource Cost.

Costs can be applied by project at the beginning or end of the task, or spread evenly

throughout the task (prorated). In the Resource Information dialog, click the drop-down

arrow in the Cost accrual: box and select from the pick list.

A total of 25 different rate levels can be applied to allow for cost changes with time. In

each, standard, overtime and per use (e.g. a machine might cost £1000 per use) rates

can be entered. In addition, if resources will work on various tasks that require different

base rates (e.g. a different rate for on-site working and another for in-office working), up

to five different base rates can be assigned in tabs A to E for each resource so that the

correct rate for each task assignment can be selected. From the Resource Usage view,

double-click on the Terraces task to bring up the Assignment Information dialog. Here

you can select the appropriate Cost rate table from the pick list.


Overtime

Overtime costs will be accounted for provided work is entered as overtime. Project does not automatically calculate additional hours as overtime unless they are specifically assigned as overtime work. Assignment is made in the Resource Work form viewed from a split Gantt chart screen, by right-clicking and selecting.

Type the number of overtime hours for each resource in the Ovt. Work field. The amount of overtime work specified does not get added to the amount of work for the task. Work always represents the total amount of work. Overtime work merely represents the portion of the total amount of work that should be considered and costed as overtime work. For instance, if a person works 10 hours, which includes 8 hours of regular work and 2 hours of overtime work, assign Work at 10 hours and overtime work at 2 hours, not work at 8 hours and overtime work at 2 hours. Project spreads the amount of overtime evenly over the span of the assignment. Try not to plan to use overtime as this is one of the few tools a project manager has to catch up on a task that's running late - overtime should be used as an emergency facility, not as part of the original plan.

You will then need to put a value into the Overtime Rate cell (usually at a higher rate than the standard of £20: say, time-and-a-half would be £30/h), otherwise overtime will be free! Remember, this is the cost to the company of the overtime work, not necessarily the cash that Fred will get.


Material Costs

To enter material costs that are based on a unit price, assign a Per-use cost to a material resource before assigning this resource to a task. When specifying how many units to be used, Project will calculate the total material cost by multiplying the base unit price by the number or percentage of units specified.

Fixed Costs

Finally, we can see from the Costs table that we were looking at earlier in the Gantt Chart view, that there is a facility to enter Fixed Costs – this is the only place you can enter these. Let’s say that the Make Terraces task requires the purchase of old railway sleepers at a cost of £200. Then enter that figure in the Fixed Cost cell. Notice that the task Total Cost increases by that amount to £1993. If you have a summary task, Fixed Costs are not rounded up although they are added into the Total Cost field. This allows you to place a Fixed Cost on a summary task, for example, the garden designer’s fee for the project could be entered into the Fixed Cost cell for the project summary task.


Microsoft Project: 14–Customizing Fields

Custom Fields

If you want to display specific information about your project, tailor-made to your needs,

then Project provides a variety of fields that are customizable to your requirements.

Custom fields can be inserted and displayed in any sheet view. Project‗s customizable

fields and the sort of data that can be used are:

Cost1 to Cost10 fields can contain currency data.

Date1 to Date10 fields can contain dates

Duration1 to Duration10 fields can contain duration or work values.

Finish1 to Finish10 fields can contain finish dates or other dates.

Flag1 to Flag20 fields can contain yes/no flags.

Number1 to Number20 fields can contain numeric values.

Start1 to Start10 fields can contain start dates or other dates.

Text1 to Text30 fields can contain any text.

Outline Code1 to Outline Code10 fields (introduced in Project 2002) can contain

an alphanumeric code you define to represent a hierarchical structure of tasks or

resources.

Note that if you save Interim Plans, then Project uses the Start and Finish custom

fields to store the data as shown below for Project 2000 (2002 and 2003 also allow up

to 10 Baselines) – so beware of adding your own customization to these fields.

Note also that Project has three sets of Custom fields: one for Task tables, one for

Resource tables and one for Assignment tables. Each one is unique and cannot be

read or seen in the other. Data entered in custom fields like the Text1 to Text30 or

Number1 to Number 20 fields any one cannot be seen in the other two. For example, if


a Text1 field is created for a particular use in the Entry table in the Gantt Chart view,

details of that field cannot be seen in any Resource views or Assignment views.

Inserting a Custom Field

Setting

Create an outline project for the building of a new garden as can be seen below, or

download it in Project 98 format (19Kb) which can be read in all versions to 2003, from

this site: http://www.mousetrax.com/pub/garden14.zip .

Now let‘s suppose you wanted all the task bars assigned to Fred to show up in a

green colour.

Inserting the Column

First we need to identify tasks assigned to Fred by using a Flag field - click on the

Resource Names column heading to highlight it, then Insert/Column…

In the Column Definition dialog, you will see all the fields that can be applied to the

Gantt Chart view – whilst you are there, scroll through to see all the customizable fields

e.g. Text1 to Text30, etc. Then select the Flag1 field.

http://www.mousetrax.com/pub/garden14.zip


In the Title field call it ―Fred‖ and OK

Project will inset that Flag1 field, now called ―Fred‖ into a column. If you make an error,

double click on the column heading to bring up the Column Definition dialog again.

For those of you using Project 98, you will have to manually change the Flag from No to

Yes for each task to which Fred is assigned (you can simplify this by filtering for Fred,

changing the No to Yes and fill down). Then ignore the next few paragraphs which allow

Project 2000+ users to customize the field using a formula which will automatically

detect all the tasks assigned to Fred.

Customizing a Field

Now right click the Fred column heading and select Customize Fields…


The Customize Fields dialog opens up showing the Custom Fields tab. The Field is

selected as a Task field (because we started from a task table as opposed to a

resource table) and the Field Type is a Flag. Notice that all the Flag fields are shown

with Flag1 pre-selected. Click on the Formula… button to reveal the Formula for

‘Flag1’ dialog, with the cursor flashing in the editing box waiting for you to enter a

formula.

We can see that we can enter text and numbers, and we can apply arithmetical symbols

as well as Boolean symbols, just by clicking the appropriate button, We can also select


an appropriate Field - have a look at all the Fields on offer from the pick list: the

example shown is the expanded Cost Field.

And we can also select Function: again, have a look through all the functions to get a

feel for their contents and scope.


In the example setting, we want Project to identify which tasks are assigned to Fred. To

do this we need a formula that says ‖if the resource name is Fred, then mark the Flag1

Field as Yes, otherwise mark it No‖. This is a pretty common need when customizing

fields, and is possibly one of the most useful of the formulae. Hence, I‘ve shown the

Function/General formula IIf( expression, truepart, falsepart ). Now you could, of

course, type all of the formula in if you wish, but you will be more confident of getting

the formula correct by selecting what you can from the dialog boxes. So select

Function/General/IIf( expression, truepart, falsepart ) and that will now appear in the

edit box. Double click ‗expression’ to highlight it, then Field/Text/Resource Names.

Type in the condition: = ―Fred‖ Enter Yes in place of truepart and No in place of

falsepart until it looks like this:

Then OK your way out of the dialogs. You should now see a Yes for Fred's tasks.

Changing the Gantt Chart

Project 98 users can now continue! To finish, from the Gantt Chart view, Format/Bar

Styles… make a copy of the Task bar (Do this by clicking ―Task‖ and then Cut Row to

put a copy on the clipboard, and Paste Row to put it back again.


Now scroll to the bottom and in the next blank space click Paste Row again.

Change the task name to Fred, then change its colour to Green and a solid pattern.

Click in the Show For… Tasks cell, click the drop-down arrow and select Flag1, OK.

All bars for Fred will now show the selected appearance.


Try adding a new task and assigning Fred: it should have a green bar. (Project 98 users

will need to set the Flag to Yes.

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