Microsoft Project 2007: The Missing Manual · 2018-03-15 · 68 Microsoft Project 2007: The Missing...

Microsoft Project 2007: The Missing Manualby Bonnie Biafore

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Chapter 4chapter

4

Breaking Work intoTask-Sized Chunks

When you organize a simple activity like seeing a movie with friends, you probablydon’t bother writing out the steps. You just call your friends, pick a movie, gettickets, and buy popcorn without a formal plan. However, for more complexprojects—like preparing your income tax return or launching a new productline—identifying the work involved is key to planning how and when to get itdone. For example, missing the April 15 deadline can cost you hundreds of dollarsin penalties. That new product may make a profit only if you keep costs below$100,000 and get it on the shelves before Thanksgiving. At such times, cost, deliv-ery dates, and other objectives are important.

That’s where a WBS (work breakdown structure) comes in. Carving up the project’swork into a hierarchy of progressively smaller chunks until you get to bite-sizedpieces is the first step to figuring out how and when everything will get done. Ifyou’re new to managing projects, don’t panic—you’ve built a WBS before. Themovie example in the previous paragraph is actually a simple WBS. The structureof a WBS is much like the system of blood vessels in your body, with the aorta rep-resenting the entire project and the smaller blood vessels as progressively smallerchunks of the overall work at each level (summary tasks). The hoards of tiny capil-laries that deliver blood to every part of your body correspond to the individualtasks (called work packages) at the bottom of the WBS, which are the smallestchunks of work that you assign to people to complete the project.

In this chapter, you’ll learn how to create a WBS that successfully communicatesthe work within a project. Equally important, you’ll learn how to tell when theWBS is broken down enough. The rest of the chapter helps you get your WBS intoMicrosoft Project, so you can proceed to constructing a project schedule asdescribed in Chapter 6.

67

6

Identifying theWork to Be Done

The fastest way to create a WBS is to construct it directly in Project, and this chaptershows you several ways to do just that. If you’re working alone, you can emptyyour brain into Project, or you can just as easily transcribe the results of collabora-tive WBS sessions. You can also build a WBS in Microsoft Word, and import theresults into Project (in case you love working in Word, or teams submit individualWord documents for their portions of the project). Finally, you’ll also learn how tocreate documents that describe and support your project’s work packages.

Identifying the Work to Be DoneKnowing the high-level tasks that make up your project is important, but bigchunks like Build Bridge, Hire New Staff, and Plan Grand Opening Party don’thelp when you’re trying to estimate costs, line up resources, schedule work, ortrack progress. You need to get much more specific about the actual work all this isgoing to take. The point of a WBS is to break down the work into small enoughpieces so you can do the following:

• Improve estimates. Smaller tasks are not only less intimidating, they make itmuch easier to figure out how many people you need to perform each portionof work, how long it’ll take, and how much it’ll cost.

• Keep the team focused. Because the WBS spells out exactly what’s needed toachieve the project’s objectives, it acts as a checklist for the work on the projectteam’s plate. And it also gently guides team members away from doing thingsoutside the scope of the project.

• Assign work to resources. When the work is broken down into discrete tasks,it’s easier to identify the skills needed to complete the assignment. The projectmanager can clearly determine who’s responsible for what. Also, team membersare more likely to understand their individual assignments, which makes themhappy, and helps keep the project on track.

On the other hand, don’t go overboard by dissecting work into minisculeassignments. Productivity drops when team members keep switching to newassignments while your temptation to micro-manage increases. (You’ll learnhow to determine the appropriate size for a work package in the next section.)

• Keep the project on track. Shorter tasks give you frequent checkpoints fortracking costs, effort, and completion dates. Moreover, if tasks have strayed offcourse, you can take corrective action before things get too far out of hand.

Note: In the PMI project management methodology, introduced briefly in Chapter 1, a WBS is the resultof the scope definition process. The starting point is a scope statement (page 47), in which you define theboundaries of the project—what’s within the scope of the project and, just as important, what isn’t withinthe scope. For example, knowing whether the cleaning service you hire takes on teenagers’ rooms couldbe essential to success. For many projects, especially those performed for government agencies, the WBSis a contractually binding document, making the correct inclusion and exclusion of work essential.

8 Microsoft Project 2007: The Missing Manual


Breaking Down WorkLike Goldilocks, you have to find the right size for the work packages—not too big,not too small, but just right. Large work packages can be so vague that team membersaren’t sure what they’re supposed to do. Moreover, your team could reassure youfor weeks that a large chunk of work is running smoothly, only to beg for a sched-ule-busting extension just when you thought they’d be done. Too-small workpackages, on the other hand, carry all the disadvantages of micromanagement:excessive communication, unending status reporting, lost productivity, and so on.So, how do you build a WBS with work packages that are just right?

Each project is unique, so don’t expect the same project management approach towork for every project you manage. Identifying work can run the gamut frominvigoratingly informal to scrupulously methodical, depending on whether you’replanning a small project for a close-knit group or wrestling with a multi-year,multi-vendor project. (Whatever the project, a sure-fire shortcut is to borrow fromexisting sources, as described in the box below.)

A WBS has only two types of elements: summary tasks and work packages. As youlearned in Chapter 3, the lowest level of a WBS contains the work package tasks—hunks of actual work that you assign to team members. Anything else in a WBS issimply some level of summary of that work, which can nest to as many levels asyou need, as shown in Figure 4-1. As it turns out, you can build a WBS fromwhichever direction you prefer—top down, bottom up, or side to side—asdescribed in the following sections.

UP TO SPEED

Borrowing a WBSEven with input from all the stakeholders for the project, ablank WBS can be as daunting as the first blank page of thenovel you want to write. Fortunately, several methods ofdeveloping a WBS let you learn—or even borrow outright—from the ideas and work of project managers who walkedthis path before:

• Similar projects. If you know of a project that’ssimilar to the one you’re working on now, the fast-est way to create a WBS is to use one that’s alreadyfinished, whether it’s stored in Project or anotherprogram. Be sure to check that project’s final sched-ule and its closeout documents (page 107) to iden-tify work that was added during project execution.

• Experienced resources. If people in your organiza-tion (or outside consultants and contractors, for that

matter) have experience with your kind of project,they can help flesh out a WBS or identify workyou’ve missed. You can write up the WBS as bestyou can, and then ask folks to look it over for you.

• Microsoft Project templates. When you installProject, you automatically get a set of built-in tem-plates for different types of projects, from technol-ogy deployments to residential construction (page424). If these templates don’t meet your needs,Microsoft Office Online (http://office.microsoft.com)and other Web sites offer hundreds of specializedProject templates. Start with one of these templatesto launch your WBS, altering it until it fits yourproject like a glove.

Chapter 4: Breaking Work into Task-Sized Chunks 69

http://office.microsoft.com

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Building a WBS from the top down

As the name “work breakdown structure” implies, the most common way to builda WBS is to start with the entire project and break it down until you reach assign-able work packages at the bottom. The most common way to decompose (that is,break down) a project is by the deliverables that you want the project to produceand the milestones you want it to attain. (See page 123 for a detailed definition ofdeliverables and milestones.)

A project scope statement (page 47) usually lists a set of deliverables that theproject customer and other stakeholders expect to receive. One of the best ways toidentify project work is to create high-level tasks for every project deliverable. Forexample, if you’re planning the party of the century, you’d create summary tasksfor the tents and tables, the food, the drinks, the music, and the video you need toblackmail your friends after the fact.

Once you have these top-level tasks, you take another run at decomposition toidentify intermediate deliverables and critical milestones, for instance, the completionof the celebratory rum cake or finalizing the reservations for all the party vendors. Foreach intermediate deliverable and milestone, ask yourself what work it entails. Forinstance, the music requires an audio system as well as a song list, so you add one

Figure 4-1:The organization of aWBS can vary, but thework packages remainthe same. For example,you might track a projectby phases (planning,design, and construction)or by completedcomponents (from condounit to floor to building).As you build a WBS, youcan change summarytasks and move workpackages around.



task to rent the audio equipment and another to build a playlist of songs on yourcomputer. Then, you simply repeat this process for each deliverable until you havework packages that you can assign to your spouse, your kids, the caterer, and otherfolks you hire. (See the box below for advice on effectively naming these tasks.)

Once you complete your WBS, take some time to verify it. Make sure all items inthe scope statement have corresponding work on the WBS, and look out for workpackages that don’t support the scope. Add missing summary tasks and workpackages. If you think of a deliverable that isn’t on the scope statement, add thework to the WBS, and revise the scope statement. Keep in mind, though, if you’redoing projects for customers, you probably need their approval to change thescope statement.

Developing a WBS from start to finish

Another way to slice and dice a project is to identify what you have to do from thebeginning of the project until the end. This approach isn’t all that different fromthe top-down decomposition described in the previous section, except that youdecompose each branch of the tree until you reach its work packages. Then, you goback to the top and work your way to the bottom of the next branch.

This variation on the top-down method is ideal when different teams or groupswork on a project. Once you identify top-level tasks, you can assign their decom-position to the groups that do the work. See “Importing a WBS into Project” onpage 84 for instructions on assembling WBSs from several groups.

GEM IN THE ROUGH

Good Task NamesThe more a task name conveys the work it represents, theless you have to worry about whether team members aredoing what they’re supposed to. Effective task namesinclude a verb and noun—the action you want people totake and the result you expect.

Using the present tense of a verb presents the task as a com-mand or directive. For example, “Write How-to Manual”clearly identifies the type of work and which deliverable thework applies to. “How-to Manual” doesn’t tell the assignedresources whether they are reading, writing, editing, or print-ing a how-to manual. Unambiguous verbs help clarify work.Instead of telling your partner to prepare the chicken for din-ner, specify whether you mean frying, roasting, or breakingthe bad news about life expectancy to the chicken.

You can help your audience interpret tasks by differentiat-ing summary tasks, work packages, and milestones with dif-ferent grammatical forms:

• Because summary tasks represent a series of activi-ties that span time, change the verbs for summarytasks to a gerund (a verb with “ing” at the end), like“Moving household goods.”

• Milestones represent goals or states. A typical formfor a milestone name is the deliverable and its state,such as Steel Columns Fabricated or Steel ColumnsErected.


7


Tip: Don’t forget to include project initiation and management tasks in your WBS. Sure, some of yourwork goes on behind the scenes without obvious deliverables, but project management is essential tokeeping projects within budget and on schedule. Besides, project management does have deliverables,since most customers and stakeholders sign off on project plans, and want to see status reports, docu-ments, and expenditures.

Constructing a WBS from the bottom up

Identifying work packages and then organizing them into summary tasks usuallyworks only for small projects, but small projects occur often enough to make this apopular approach. Whether you write tasks on sticky notes or type them intoProject, you can pump out every iota of work you think of, and then organize itinto higher-level tasks.

When Is Enough Enough?Most people can keep track of up to five things, although stress and age increaseforgetfulness. If you’re a juggler extraordinaire, you might be able to absorb eightitems, but, beyond that, all bets are off. For a WBS that audiences can digest,between three and seven levels of summary tasks are ideal. For example, you candivide the entire project at the top level into phases like defining requirements,designing systems, and developing components. Then, within each phase, you cancreate lower levels to identify work in more detail.

For monster projects, though, you can exceed the level limit without losing focusby breaking the behemoth into subprojects. If the overall project is building a newjet, you can have a few levels of decomposition to reach a set of subprojects, eachof which contributes major deliverables (engines, fuselage, electronics, and so on).Then, separate WBSs for each subproject can use their own three to seven levels.When vendors or subcontractors perform subprojects, ask them to develop theWBSs for their subprojects.

WORD TO THE WISE

Too Many Cooks Can Spoil the WBSIf you’re a team of one, but tend to argue with yourself, ask-ing another person to act as a tiebreaker can save time andfrustration. In most cases, however, the problem is toomany people with their own unquestionably correct ideasabout how to break down the project. You’ll end up chang-ing your WBS organization, rearranging summary tasks,and revising work packages with little progress toward acompleted WBS.

Start with a small group of renaissance folks—people knowl-edgeable in one or more sections of the project and familiarwith the overall goal. You could work with the managers foreach department involved in the project to craft the top twoor three levels of the WBS. Then, you can assign the decom-position of the lowest summary tasks of this initial WBS towork teams experienced with the type of work involved.The party caterer can identify the food tasks, whereas yourbrother-in-law may write up the tent-wrangling tasks.



Note: If you have a bunch of folks helping you put the WBS together, see the box on page 72 for adviceon working together effectively.

As with almost any endeavor, the last 20 percent is the most difficult. The first severallevels of the WBS might appear almost effortlessly, but then the decomposition canslow to a crawl as you try to decide whether something represents a work packageor not. Here are some ideas for how to choose what constitutes a work package:

• To estimate work. When you break work down into work packages based onthe work you know how to estimate, figuring out the overall project is as easy asadding up estimates for all the chunks. You may not have a clue how long it willtake to deploy Windows Vista throughout your organization, but you do knowthat it takes 3 hours to upgrade and reconfigure one computer.

• To track progress. One rule of thumb for defining work packages is to keep taskduration between 8 and 80 hours (in other words, anywhere from one work dayup to two work weeks). These durations also give you early warning when tasksoverrun their estimates. In addition, if you break work down into durations nolonger than the time between status reports, you’re likely to have concreteprogress to report. The downside is you need a clear idea of how long varioustasks take, but this approach works well for projects similar to those you’veperformed in the past.

• To maintain focus. Guidelines aside, simply decompose work to the level ofdetail that you can handle. If you’re a keep-things-simple type, you can keepyour WBS at a high level and let team leaders manage details. On the otherhand, if you can remember details the way a Starbucks barista remembers coffeeorders, you can break down the work to your heart’s content. Just remember thatdividing work into portions that take less than a day can reduce productivityand morale (with certain exceptions, as discussed in the box on page 73).

GEM IN THE ROUGH

When Short Is SweetMost of the time, you don’t want to break down your WBSinto tasks that take less than a day. Most people can handlea task like sending out invitations without reporting back totheir boss after they buy the postage stamps. But supposeyour project is about replacing a mission-critical softwaresystem. When it’s time to flip the switch to the new system,you probably have only a few hours or even minutes tomake the change. That’s when you need a detailed planwith short work packages for the crucial period.

Fortunately, situations like this are few and far between. Buthere’s an example: You spend months preparing for thechangeover with work broken into day- or week-longchunks. However, for the work that must be done over asingle night before the staff starts coming back to work inthe morning, you break work down into minute-by-minutepackages. These miniature work packages help you line upthe people you need (because you won’t have time to callthem in at the last minute) and spot potential delays.


7

Building a WBS inMicrosoft Project

Building a WBS in Microsoft ProjectYour WBS may not have started out in Project. A WBS might be scribbled on awhiteboard, scrawled on sticky notes pasted to flip charts, or just rattling aroundnoisily in your head. Regardless of where your ideas are, you can make short work ofgetting them into Project. Once you get familiar with the techniques for outliningtasks described on the next few pages, you’ll develop a rhythm to your data entry. Ifyou already have an outline, you can quickly type it into Project from the top down(see the box on page 77). Or if work packages are bubbling up in your brain, you canenter them without worrying about the order of the tasks or the overall structure.You can rearrange and add summary tasks and work packages later.

Creating a WBS in Project from the Top DownOne of the more efficient data entry methods is to start at the top of a WBS andcomplete each level of tasks before dropping to the next level. Because Project createsa new task at the same outline level as the previous task, this approach keepsindenting and outdenting to a minimum.

For maximum efficiency, when you flesh out a lowest-level summary task, insert asmany rows as there are work packages for that summary task, and then type thenames of the work packages in the Task Name cells. The following steps show youexactly how to work your way down a WBS one level at a time:

1. Choose File ➝ New to create a new blank project file.

The Gantt Chart view appears with the Entry table on the left and the GanttChart timescale on the right. If the Gantt Chart view doesn’t appear, chooseView ➝ Gantt Chart or, in the View bar, click Gantt Chart.

2. If the WBS column doesn’t appear in the Entry table, right-click the TaskName heading and, from the shortcut menu, choose Insert Column.

The Column Definition dialog box appears. In the “Field name” drop-downlist, choose WBS, as shown in Figure 4-2, and then click OK. The new columnappears to the left of the Task Name column.

Figure 4-2:In the Column Definition dialog box, in addition tochoosing the field to display, you can label the columnwith a different name, align the text in the column, andspecify the column width.



Note: Project keeps track of WBS numbers for tasks whether the WBS column is visible or not. The WBScode format that comes out of the box is a number at each level, with levels separated by periods. If yourorganization has a custom WBS format, you can set up your own WBS code (page 79).

3. In the Entry table, click the first Task Name cell, and then type the name forthe first top-level summary task.

Press Enter to save this task, and then move down to the Task Name cell in thenext row, as illustrated in Figure 4-3.

By the way, you don’t have to create a top-level task for the overall project.Project has a project summary task, which sits in an exalted position of Row 0and rolls up the values for all the other tasks in the schedule. If you want to seethe Project Summary task, though, you have to tell Project to display it. ChooseTools ➝ Options. In the Options dialog box, select the View tab, and then turnon the “Show project summary task” checkbox.

4. Repeat Step 3 for each top-level task in the WBS.

Creating the tasks at the top-level is as easy as it gets. You type a task name,press Enter, and repeat until all your top-level tasks are there. Now you’re readyto add tasks at the next level of the WBS.

Figure 4-3:Project creates the next task at thesame level in the WBS outline as theprevious task, so you’re ready toenter the next top-level task. As you’llsee shortly, this behavior makes iteasy to add several tasks at the samelevel, no matter which level of theWBS you’re creating.

Pressing Enter movesto next Task Name cellso you can type the

next task name


7


5. To add subtasks to a summary task, click the Task Name cell immediatelybelow the summary task you’re fleshing out, and then press Insert as manytimes as there are subtasks, as demonstrated in Figure 4-4.

This step is the secret to speedy outlining because it works in the same way atevery level of the WBS: second-level, third-level, or lowest-level summary task.When you insert rows for the lowest-level summary task, insert as many rows asthere are work packages for that summary task. Then you can type away and fillthem all in quickly.

6. With the blinking insertion point in the blank Task Name cell beckoning you,type the name of the subtask, and then press Enter to create the task.

Pressing Enter moves the active cell to the next Task Name cell. However, the firstsubtask isn’t at the right level—it’s still at the same level as the summary task.

7. To indent the task, press the up arrow key, and then press Alt+Shift+rightarrow. Or, on the Formatting toolbar, click Indent (the green arrow pointingto the right).

Project indents the subtask and indicates its subordinate position in two ways:with the WBS number and the outline box—both shown in Figure 4-5.

8. Press the down arrow key to move to the next Task Name cell, type the name,and then press Enter.

Because the first subtask is at the correct level, the remaining subtasks come tolife at the right level for their summary task.

9. Repeat steps 5 through 8 for every summary task in the WBS, ultimately fillingin each level of the WBS.

Your initial draft of the WBS is complete.

Figure 4-4:You can insert blank task rows byclicking anywhere in the row below thesummary task and pressing Insert. Butif you click the Task Name cell, whenyou press Insert the blank task’s TaskName cell becomes the active cell—ready for you to type the name of thefirst subtask.

Press Insert toadd blank rows

Click this cell toinsert tasks



Creating and Modifying a WBS on the FlyIf you’re in high gear churning out project tasks, you can gleefully insert, delete,and rearrange the WBS outline as you go. The resulting WBS looks exactly thesame as one methodically typed from the top down. Also, the methods for adding,moving, and changing outline levels for tasks are the same whether you’re creatingor modifying a WBS.

Figure 4-5:The WBS code for thesubtask includes anadditional level ofnumbers. If thesummary task WBSnumber is 2.4, its firstsubtask has the number2.4.1. Summary tasknames are preceded byan outline box—a squarewith a minus sign insidethat indicates that thesummary task isexpanded. If you click thebox, the summary taskcollapses and hides itssubtasks, and the outlinebox changes to a squarewith a + sign.

POWER USERS’ CLINIC

Displaying a WBS in a HierarchyThe outline in Project shows the levels of the WBS hierarchy,but you might prefer to view the WBS as a hierarchy similar toan organization chart (see Figure 4-6), for example, whenyou’re presenting the WBS to audiences unfamiliar withProject. In Microsoft Project 2003, the Visio WBS Chart Wizardtransformed a task list in Project into a tree diagram in Visio,but that tool has gone the way of the dodo bird in Project2007. A visual report (page 410) is the Project 2007 solutionfor turning a task list into a tree, but the process and resultaren’t nearly as satisfying as the Visio WBS Chart Wizard.

Project 2007 doesn’t include a built-in visual report for dis-playing a WBS. But you can navigate to www.missing-manuals.com/cds and download a visual report template

for a WBS. When you work with visual reports, you canspecify which folders to search for customized templates, asdescribed on page 421. Project then displays the templatesin that folder in the visual report list. This template uses onlythe task name, WBS, Work, and Duration fields and sets upa tree structure. However, you must expand each summarytask individually by right-clicking the task, and then, fromthe shortcut menu, choosing Tasks. (See page 411 to learnhow to generate a visual report from a template.)

Expandedoutline box

WBS code

Collapsedoutline box


http://www.missingmanuals.com/cds


7


You can use the following techniques to develop a WBS in any order:

• Insert a new summary task. In the row below the new summary task, click theTask Name cell, and then press Insert. Type the task name, and then eitherpress Alt+Shift+left arrow or, on the Formatting toolbar, click Outdent untilthe summary task is at the level you want.

• Insert a new subtask. Click the Task Name cell in the row that should be belowthe new subtask, and then press Insert. The task appears at the same outlinelevel as the task you clicked.

• Make a summary task into a subtask. Select the summary task, and then eitherpress Alt+Shift+right arrow or, on the Formatting toolbar, click Indent (thegreen arrow pointing to the right). When you indent a summary task, its out-line box disappears. In addition, the task above it remains at the same level inthe outline.

• Move a subtask to the next lower level. Select the task, and then pressAlt+Shift+Right Arrow or, on the Formatting toolbar, click Indent. The taskdrops to the next lower level while the task above it turns into a summary task.

Tip: If you want to move, indent, outdent, or delete several tasks at once, then select them all, and thenuse the techniques in this section. To select adjoining tasks in the outline, drag across the adjacent tasks.To select several separate tasks, Ctrl+click each task.

Figure 4-6:In Project 2007, visualreports can make projectinformation easier todigest by displaying thedata in Excel or Visio.This visual report usingVisio takes the tasks in aProject file and displaysthem as a WBS treestructure. As you’ll learnin Chapter 17, you canuse other types of visualreports to decomposeproject information, forinstance, or to analyzecost and scheduleoverruns to identifyproblems areas.


Setting UpCustomized WBS

Codes

• Elevate a subtask to the next higher level. Click the task. On the Formattingtoolbar, click Outdent (the green arrow pointing to the left) or pressAlt+Shift+left arrow.

• Move a subtask to another summary task. Click the ID cell (the first column ofthe view table) for the task you want to move. After the pointer turns into afour-headed arrow, drag the task to its new home in the outline. Change its out-line level if necessary.

• Delete a subtask. Select the subtask, and then press Delete.

• Delete a summary task. If you want to delete a summary task and all of its sub-tasks, select the summary task, and then press Delete, or choose Edit ➝ DeleteTask. (And if you want to delete a summary task and keep all of the subtasks, seethe box below.)

Note: To use the Delete key to delete a task, you must select the entire task row (by clicking the ID num-ber for the row). If you select only the Task Name cell, and then press Delete, Project deletes the text inthe cell. Alternatively, if you click the Smart Tag with an X, which appears to the left of the Task Name cell,you can choose the “Only clear the contents of the Task Name Cell” option or “Delete the entire task”option.

Setting Up Customized WBS CodesThe WBS codes built into Project are simple outline codes with a number for eachlevel in the outline hierarchy. For instance, a WBS code of 2.1.3 might representthe second phase of the project, the first summary task in that phase, and the thirdwork package for that summary task. If your organization uses customized codes,you can build a tailored numbering system—called a code mask—to specify each

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTION

Sparing the SubtasksHow do I delete a summary task without deleting its sub-tasks?

It depends on what you want to do with the subtasks. If youwant to shift the subtasks to a different summary task, it’seasiest to first relocate the subtasks to their new home.Then you can delete the empty summary task by selectingit, and then pressing Delete.

However, if you’re not yet sure where you want theorphaned subtasks to end up, simply change them to thesame outline level as the summary task before deleting thesummary task.

Here’s how:

1. Select the subtasks by dragging across their TaskName cells.

2. Press Alt+Shift+left arrow to change the tasks to thesame outline level as their summary task. You cantell that the summary task is devoid of subtasksbecause the outline box with the + or – sign disap-pears.

3. Select the summary task demoted to a regular task,and then press Delete.


8

Setting UpCustomized WBSCodes

level of your WBS code. If you use abbreviations for phases, numbers for sum-mary tasks, and letters for work packages, a customized WBS for the design phaseof a project might look like this: Dsn-1.a.

To define a customized WBS code, follow these steps:

1. Choose Project ➝ WBS ➝ Define Code.

The WBS Code Definition dialog box appears. Although any existing WBScodes show numbers for each level with a period as a separator, the boxes in theWBS Code Definition dialog box are empty until you specify a custom schemefor your WBS codes.

Note: If you assemble several projects into a single master project (page 437), you can make WBS codesunique for each project, even if they use the same code mask. If you work with multiple projects, set upthe code mask for a new project before you get too deep into defining the project tasks. That way youdon’t have to renumber all your tasks later. In the Project Code Prefix box, type a prefix for the currentproject. Project inserts the project prefix at the beginning of the WBS codes for the tasks in the project; forinstance, PRJ01.1.4.1.

2. In the “Code mask” section, in the first Sequence cell, choose the type of char-acters you want to use for the top level of the hierarchy, as shown in the topfigure of Figure 4-7.

You can choose from Numbers (ordered), Uppercase Letters (ordered), LowercaseLetters (ordered), and, for most flexible coding, Characters (unordered). Orderednumbers and letters mean that Project automatically increments the numbers orletters as you add tasks to the WBS, for example, proceeding from 1.1 to 1.2. to 1.3.

3. In the first Length cell, choose a number (from 1 to 10) for the length of themask for the top level.

Project initially selects Any, which means the entry for the level can be of anylength. If the level uses a number, Project increments the number beginning at 1and continuing to 10, 100, or 1000, if necessary. If the level uses letters, thenyou can type a code of any number of characters at that level.

Choosing a number limits the entry to between one character and the lengthyou specify. If you limit a numeric entry to one character, Project cyclesthrough the numbers 1 through 9, moves to 0, and then repeats.

4. In the Separator cell, choose the character that separates the top level from thenext level.

The only choices for separators are a period (.), minus sign (–), plus sign (+), orslash (/).

5. Repeat steps 2, 3, and 4 for each additional level of the code mask.

You can specify dozens of levels in a code mask (in fact, a WBS code can be aslong as 255 characters), but being miserly with levels makes the schedule easierto comprehend.


Setting UpCustomized WBS

Codes

6. After you’ve defined all the levels in the code mask, be sure that the “GenerateWBS code for new task” checkbox is turned on if you want Project to automat-ically assign a WBS code to new tasks you create.

The only time you might decide to turn this checkbox off is when you plan torenumber all the WBS codes after you’ve organized your tasks, and don’t wantto be distracted by the interim codes that Project assigns.

7. To ensure that your WBS codes are unique, keep the “Verify uniqueness ofnew WBS codes” checkbox turned on. Click OK, and then review the refreshedWBS codes in the task list, as shown in Figure 4-8.

Although Project adds WBS codes to tasks when the “Generate WBS code fornew task” checkbox is turned on, sometimes you want to type WBS codes man-ually, and that can lead to duplicate WBS codes. The only time you might turnoff the “Verify uniqueness of new WBS codes” checkbox is if you’re planning torenumber tasks later, and you get tired of the warnings that Project displays. Asthe box on page 82 explains, you can renumber the WBS codes for tasks to cor-rect or reorder your project.

Congratulations! You’ve customized your WBS codes.

Figure 4-7:Top: The choices for characters, length, andseparators are limited. If you use unorderedcharacters, you have to type the characters youwant for each code, such as Dsn.1, Const.3, orRvw.7.

Bottom: As you specify the code mask for eachlevel, the “Code preview” box at the top of thedialog box displays a sample WBS code.


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Documenting a WBSin Another Program

Documenting a WBS in Another ProgramEveryone has a favorite word processor, but Microsoft Word is a strong favoritefor WBS creation because of its outlining feature. Word makes it easy to indent,outdent, insert, move, and delete tasks. Then, with a few additional steps, you canimport the Word WBS into Project, as described in the next section. Moreover,more of your team members are likely to be familiar with Word than with Project,so you’re likely to get project information from them in Word documents.

Figure 4-8:When you click OK, Project automatically appliesthe code mask to all the tasks in the schedule.

WORKAROUND WORKSHOP

Renumbering Task WBS CodesWhen you customize WBS codes, the “Generate WBS codefor new task” checkbox tells Project to automatically assignWBS codes to new tasks you create, whether you inserttasks within the outline or add new tasks at the end. Withthis setting, as soon as you press Enter to save a new task,the WBS code pops into the WBS cell, maintaining thesequence you’ve defined. Moving tasks around also adjustsWBS codes and, before you know it, your WBS sequencecan be a mess.

The alternative is to turn off this checkbox, and then, after aheated session of adding or modifying the task order,renumber the WBS codes all at once. When the WBS is theway you want it, do the following:

1. If you want to renumber only some of the tasks inthe Project file, select them first.

2. Choose Project ➝ WBS ➝ Renumber.

3. In the WBS Renumber dialog box, select the “Entireproject” option to renumber all tasks. If you want torenumber only the selected tasks, choose the“Selected tasks” option.

4. Click OK. Project reapplies the WBS code scheme tothe tasks, alphabetizing ordered letters and incre-menting ordered numbers.

When you start to build other documents, like work pack-age Word files, which reference your WBS codes, you don’twant Project to change existing codes. That’s another timeto turn off the “Generate WBS code for new task” checkbox.As you type in new WBS codes manually, the “Verifyuniqueness of new WBS codes” checkbox tells Project towarn you if you’ve duplicated an existing WBS code.


Documenting a WBSin Another Program

Folks who are fans of Word outlining already know that adding and rearrangingtopics goes as fast as your fingers on the keyboard. If you haven’t experienced thejoy of Word outlining, here are some techniques you can use:

• Switch to Outline view. In Word 2007, click the View tab, and then, in theDocument Views section, click Outline. In Word 2003, choose View ➝ Outline.

• Add tasks. Insert a new line by clicking at the end of the preceding task, andthen pressing Enter. Type the task name. Press Enter to add another task.

• Demote tasks. Select the task or tasks you want to push to a lower level, andthen press Tab (or Alt+Shift+right arrow key). In Word 2007, click Outlining ➝

Outline Tools ➝ Demote, as shown in Figure 4-9. In Word 2003, you can alsopress Tab or, on the Outlining toolbar, click the Demote arrow.

Note: In Outline mode, you can select an outline item by clicking to the left of the item. To select sev-eral adjacent items, drag to the left of the items. Ctrl+click items to select several nonadjacent items.

• Promote tasks. Select the task or tasks you want to promote to a higher leveland then press Shift+Tab or Alt+Shift+left arrow key. In Word 2007, click Out-lining ➝ Outline Tools ➝ Promote. In Word 2003, press Shift+Tab or, on theOutlining toolbar, click the Promote arrow.

Figure 4-9:Microsoft Word’s Outlineview is a friendlyenvironment for projectoutlining. To promote anitem to the top level,click the “Promote toHeading1” button. Wordoffers a button fordemoting items to BodyText, but it’s best to stickto heading levels, sincethese levels translateinto Project outline levelswhen you import thetasks from Word intoProject. (This pictureshows Word 2007.)

Promote toHeading 1 Promote Demote

Click and press Enterto insert a new task

Click or drag toselect tasks


8

Importing a WBSinto Project

• Move tasks. Select the task or tasks you want to move, and then drag them to anew position. Or, use Ctrl+X and Ctrl+V to cut and paste the tasks from oneposition to another. If need be, demote or promote the tasks to the correct level.

• Delete tasks. Select the task or tasks you want to delete, and then press Delete orCtrl+X.

Importing a WBS into ProjectIf you build a list of tasks in Word or, for that matter, Excel, WordPad, or anotherprogram that can produce text files, you can easily import tasks into Project. Supposedifferent teams use Word outlines to document the tasks they plan to perform.They can save their outlines as text files and send them to you. All you have to dois open the text file in Project; the Import Wizard launches to guide you throughimporting the tasks into a Project file.

Word doesn’t save Tab-delimited files out of the box. In addition, ideally you’d likeimported tasks to come in at the correct WBS level. If you use Word outlining, theheading styles in the Word document correspond to the WBS level in the Project file.

The Import WBS Word template (created in Word 2003) at www.missingmanuals.com/cds has some handy tools for importing tasks into Project. The heading stylesnumber each task with a WBS code, so you can confirm that the tasks are at thecorrect level before you import them. In addition, the template includes a macrothat creates a text file that separates the task name (the first value) from the out-line level (the second value).

UP TO SPEED

Assembling a WBS Without a ComputerSticky notes and an empty wall or whiteboard might be thebest solution for capturing tasks when a team is tossingaround task ideas. In fact, sticky notes offer enough advan-tages that you might use them even when WBS sessionsproceed at a more leisurely pace.

Sticky notes are a democratic way to collect tasks whenseveral people collaborate on a WBS. Team members canhave their own pens and pads of sticky notes, so no oneis stuck as the sole scribe. Moreover, anyone can walk upto the WBS and move summary tasks and work packagesaround. The hardest part of the sticky note approachcould be too much enthusiasm. If disagreements begin tobreak out over added or relocated tasks, then it’s time tojump in and take over sticky note maintenance untilthings calm down.

Sticky notes are slick when you’re searching for the idealproject organization. You can peel a sticky note off the walland move it to wherever you want without mouse clicks orremembering the appropriate keyboard shortcut. If youbuy sticky flip chart pages, you can use them for summarytasks and press sticky notes for work packages to the stickysummary page.

Adhesive is another drawback to sticky notes—to be moreprecise, the loss of stickiness over time. The safest approachis to record the contents of a sticky note WBS into Projector another program before you leave the meeting room. Ifyour room reservation has expired, fold the pages carefullyand transport them to your office. For sticky notes stuckdirectly to the wall or whiteboard, post a polite note askingothers to leave your masterpiece alone until you can comeback and transcribe it.




Importing a WBSinto Project

Note: To use the macro in the Import WBS template, you must set up your copy of Word to let macrosrun. Because the steps to enable macros depend on the level of security you use, refer to Word Help or abook about Microsoft Word—like Word 2007: The Missing Manual by Chris Grover—for instructions.

Here are the steps to use the Word template (CH04 WBS Outline.dot) to import aWBS text file into Project:

1. Replace the text in the template with the tasks for your project.

Use the techniques described on page 83 to indent or outdent tasks to the correctWBS level.

2. In the custom WBS toolbar, click “Create WBS for Import”.

You can specify the number of levels that you want to export, for example, ifyou plan to import the first several levels into a master project. When you clickOK, then Word creates a new Word document with the outline levels separatedfrom the task names with commas.

3. Choose File ➝ Save As. Navigate to the folder you want to use, and then makesure to set the “Save as type” box to Plain Text.

Name the file, and then click Save to create the text file.

4. To import this file into Project, switch to Project, and then choose File ➝ Open.

The Open dialog box automatically sets the “Files of type” box to MicrosoftProject Files, so you need to tell Project you’re importing a text file.

5. In the “Files of type” drop-down list, choose Text (Tab delimited).

As you navigate folders, text files appear in the file list. The text file you createdis comma-delimited, but the idiosyncrasies of Microsoft programs require youto choose Text (Tab Delimited). You’ll change the delimiter in a few steps.

If you import a comma-delimited file instead, for instance, one created withExcel, choose CSV (Comma delimited). Then, continue with the followingsteps.

6. When you locate your WBS text file in the file list, double-click its name. Alter-natively, click the file name, and then click Open.

Project opens the text document, and then launches the Import Wizard.

7. Click Next to start the wizard.

On the Import Wizard–Map page, the wizard automatically selects the NewMap option, which is usually what you want.

Tip: If you make a habit of importing text files, you can save the map (page 463) you define. Then, thenext time you import a file, select the Use Existing Map option, and then choose the map. The fields andother settings are ready for the import.


8

Documenting WorkPackage Details

8. On the Import Wizard-Import Mode page, if you want to import the WBS intoa blank project, keep the “As a new project” option selected. Click Next.

If you’re importing several text files into the same project, the “Append the datato the active project” option imports the tasks at the end of the existing task list.Selecting the “Merge the data into the active project” option imports the tasksat the currently selected row.

9. On the Import Wizard-Map Options page, keep the Task option selected. ClickNext.

If the first row of the text file includes column names (as it might if you’reimporting from an Excel file), then make sure the “Import includes headers”checkbox is turned on. However, if you used Word outlining to build a text file,turn off that checkbox.

The “Text delimiter” box specifies the character that separates fields, includinga comma, tab, or space. For the WBS template, verify that the value is “,”.

10. On the Import Wizard-Task Mapping page, match the values in the text file toProject fields, as shown in Figure 4-10.

If your text file doesn’t include headings, the cells in the From: Text File Fieldcolumn display sequential numbers for each field in the text file. For the WBSimport template, you see “1” and “2” in the first two rows. In the first To:Microsoft Office Project Field cell, choose Name, because the first field in thetext file is the task name. In the second cell in the column, choose Outline Level.

Note: If you import tasks from another source, match up the fields in the To: column with Project fieldsin the From: column. You can match as many fields as you want as long as the field in the text file fornames maps to the Name field in Project and the outline level field in the text file maps to Outline Level.

11. Click Finish.

Project imports the tasks into your Project file.

Documenting Work Package DetailsIf you’ve ever asked a teenager to do a chore, you already know the importance ofclearly specifying the work to perform and the results you expect. Otherwise, thedishes in the dishwasher might be placed in the cupboards—unfortunately, beforethey’re washed. Providing project team members with clear guidance is equallyimportant, but the task names in Project are too short to get into detail. For thatreason, separate documents that describe work packages are a great way to tellteam members how to do their assignments completely and correctly. And youdon’t even have to worry about keeping track of lots of loose documents: You canlink them to the Project schedule, as described at the end of this section.



Ideally, a work package document describes the work to perform, how to tell whenthe work is done, and how to tell whether it’s done right. A work package for bakinga loaf of bread might include the steps for mixing, kneading, forming, and baking thebread. The document could specify that the bread is done when tapping the loafdelivers a hollow thump. Similarly, the work package might state that a successfulloaf of bread is an attractive brown color, twice as tall as the unbaked dough, andfull of evenly sized holes.

Building Work Package Documents in WordEven small projects require dozens of work package documents. You can speed upyour work by creating a Word template for work packages, as basic or as fancy asyour knowledge of Word. That way, you can open the template and have a docu-ment all labeled and ready for you to fill in. For example, you might set up a basicwork package template with the following information:

• WBS number. The WBS number that Project assigned to the task in yourProject schedule.

• Work package name. The task name from the Project schedule.

Figure 4-10:As you map the fields,the Preview area showshow the values in yourtext file map to Projectfields. In this example,the Name field will holdthe values Planning,Identifying Requirements,DocumentingAssumptions, and so on.If the mapping isn’tcorrect, then modify thefields in the To: MicrosoftOffice Project Field cellsuntil you’re satisfied.

Value infield in text

file

Choosecorrespondingfield in Project

Field in Project

Values to beimported into field


8


• Description of work. You can use paragraphs or bullet points and provide asmuch detail as you need to ensure success. If you know an experienced resourceis going to do the work, the document can be brief. For trainees, you can providedetailed checklists of steps, or, perhaps, the name of the person who can mentorthe assigned resource.

• Result. Describe the final state when the work is done as well as how to verifythat the work is done correctly. For a work package for setting up a computer,you might include the list of programs that should launch when the installationis complete.

• Reference materials. Projects use many types of documents to specify deliverables:requirements, specifications, blueprints, and so on. If additional detailed docu-mentation exists, include the location of those documents, like the folder on thenetwork drive or the project notebook.

Making a Word template

Creating a Word template is no harder than creating a Word document. However,finding and using a template takes some setup. Here’s how to create a Wordtemplate and save it for reuse:

1. Create a Word document with the labels you want to include.

If you want to get fancy, then insert a logo, add instructions to help others fill inwork packages, and so on.

2. In Word 2007, choose Office button ➝ Save. In Word 2003, choose File ➝

Save.

The Save As dialog box appears.

3. Navigate to the folder you use for your custom templates.

For example, create a folder called Templates in the My Documents folder.

4. In Word 2007, in the “File name” box, type the name of the template, and inthe “Save as type” box, choose Word Template. In addition, in the navigationbar on the left side of the dialog box, click Trusted Templates. Click Save.

In Word 2003, in the “Save as type” box, choose Document Template.

5. To set up faster access to your template, Click the Office button and then, atthe bottom of the Office menu, click Word Options.

Telling Word where to find your custom templates makes it easier to find andopen this template later. That way, you can see these templates right in the NewDocument dialog box every time you start a new project, as described in thenext section.



Tip: If you don’t specify a folder for templates, then you can always use Windows Explorer to navigate tothe folder that contains your template files. When you double-click a Word template file, Word launchesand creates a new document based on the template.

6. In the Word Options dialog box, click Advanced. Then scroll to the bottom ofthe window to the General section, and select File Locations.

You want to tell Word where to find your templates.

7. Select “User templates” or “Workgroup templates”, and then click Modify. Inthe Modify Location dialog box, navigate to your template folder, and thenclick OK.

Choose the folder you created in step 3.

8. Click OK again to close the Options dialog box.

Tip: The box below explains how to find the File Locations feature in Word 2003.

Opening a Word template

In Word 2007, click the Office button, and then choose New. In the New Documentwindow, click “My templates.” The New dialog box appears showing the tem-plates in your Trusted Templates folder. Select the template, and then click OK.

To use a template in Word 2003, choose File ➝ New. In the New Document taskpane, under the Templates heading, click “On my computer”. The Templates dia-log box appears open to the General tab, which displays the templates in your Usertemplates or Workgroup template folders (whichever you chose in the previoussteps). Select the template, and then click OK.

Linking Work Packages to the Project ScheduleWith work package documents illuminating the details of tasks, you’re likely torefer to those documents as you work on your Project schedule. There’s no need toopen them by hand or try to remember where they are. Instead, you can insert a

DON’T PANIC

Setting File Locations in Word 2003If you’re still using Word 2003—and plenty of folks are—you’ll find File Locations in a radically different location thanin Word 2007. To specify where you store your customtemplates, do the following:

1. Choose Tools ➝ Options, and then click the FileLocations tab.

2. Select “User templates” or “Workgroup templates”,and then click Modify.

3. Navigate to and select the folder you created in step3 on page 88, exactly as for Word 2007.


9


hyperlink from a task in the Project schedule to the corresponding work packagedocument. With a hyperlink in place, opening the work package document is aquick click in Project.

To create a hyperlink in a Project task, do the following:

1. In Project, select the task you want to link to a work package document, andthen choose Insert ➝ Hyperlink.

The Insert Hyperlink dialog box appears.

2. In the “Link to” bar, click Existing File Or Web Page.

Navigate to the folder that contains the work package document, and then double-click the name of the work package file. The “Look in” box shows the folderwhile the Address box displays the file name.

3. Click OK.

In the Indicators column, a hyperlink icon appears, as shown in Figure 4-11.

4. To access a hyperlinked file, simply click the hyperlink icon in the Indicatorcell.

The program associated with the file launches, and the file opens.

Figure 4-11:The Hyperlink icon looks like a globewith a link of chain, a not-so-subtlecommentary that hyperlinks connectthe world. If the Indicators columnisn’t visible, then right-click the Entrytable and choose Insert Column onthe shortcut menu. In the Field Namedrop-down list, choose Indicators, andthen click OK.


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