MSP Problems

8/6/2019 MSP Problems

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/msp-problems 1/21

1

MS Project-Advanced/Intermediate for L&T IPM

Vinit Thakur

1. Simple schedule

a. Identify duration

b. Identify and group critical path

2. Schedule with complex relationships

A12

B10

D12

E9

C18

F11

H11

G10

I7

SS3, FF5 SS2

SF7

FF7

SS8FF5

FF3FS7

J0

SS8



2


Vinit Thakur

3. Consider following schedule:

a. Create WBS, Activities, Relations

b. Choose 5 day calendarc. Input 3 resources (People) with 8 hrs/day @ $25/hr

d. Do

i. CPA

ii. Resource Allocation

e. Resource leveling

4. Open Project-views.mpp and perform following tasks.

a. Get the view bar on left hand side

b. Try out Calendar, Gantt chart and Resource graph views

c. Create a combination view that looks like this:

d. Who (resource) was paid maximum amount? How much?

e. What is a bar roll up view

f. What is the advantage of Detailed Gantt view



3


Vinit Thakur

5. Use Project-views.mpp

y Create a custom field under resource table with text1

y Call this field as Location

y Fill any location values in this field

y Create a new table by copying existing entry table and adding location value.

6. Open PUII.mpp

a. Current calendar is Standard 5 day work.

b. Create a 6 day calendar and call it a offshore calendar

c. Assign it to all the activities taking place at Mumbai

d. What is the project duration now?

7. Workshop Assignment-1

1)Create a new blank project file.

2) Use the Project Information dialog box to:

y schedule the project from a Project Start Date of 1 June this year; andy choose an overall project calendar of 24 Hours

3) You may notice that the Gantt Chart is still showing Nonworking Time for theStandard calendar. Remedy this by formatting the Gantt's nonworking time with the

correct calendar. Right-click on the Gantt Chart and choose

Nonworking Time 4) The office will shut down for 2 weeks in the summer. Use theChange Working Time dialog box to create an Exception called "Summer Shutdown"

and make the first 14 days of August nonworking time.



4


Vinit Thakur

Exception

days are marked in blue 5) Scroll through to August on the Gantt Chart to check that thesummer shutdown period is correctly displayed as nonworking time. 6) Save the file with

the name August Shutdown.mpp and close it down.

8. Workshop assignment 2

1) Create a new blank project file and schedule it to start on 11 March 2011. This project should be based upon the Standard calendar. 2) A part-time worker will be used

on this project. Go to the Change Working Time dialog box and create a new copy of the Standard calendar, calling it "Part Timer". 3) Amend the working time of your new

calendar so that:

y

Mondays and Fridays are nonworking time (wouldn't that be nice?); andy The remaining three weekdays have working time of 10:00 to 15:00 (with no

breaks)

4) As if life wasn't easy enough, our part timer has also booked a holiday to Greece from

2 to 11 September (inclusive). Create an Exception to their calendar with a sensiblename and model these days as nonworking.



5


Vinit Thakur

The calendar being edited is shown at the top of the dialog box.Make sure it's the right one! 5)

Although the overall project will be based upon the Standard calendar (as per the Project

Information dialog box), feel free to format the Gantt Chart to show the nonworking

time for your new Part Timer calendar. There won't be much white working time left if you do! 6) Save your file with the name Cushy Number.mpp and close it down.

9. Create a new MS-P project. Just enter one task Identify Design Parameters with duration of 20

days. Split the window and get screen as follows:

a. Change the various options of Task Type and see the impact.

10. Workshop Assignment 3

1) Download the files needed to start this exercise: ex-664 (Planning Escape)2) Open the file found in the folder shown above. 3) Assign the appropriate Task Types and

3)Effort Driven indicators as shown below:



6


Vinit Thakur

The Type and Effort Driven columns have been inserted to the Entry Table.

4) Make the resource assignments as indicated below to create a plan similar to the below

maintaining the durations as indicated:

You can change the Max Units to Decimal via the Schedule tab on Tools => Options...

5) The three escapees cannot spend 100% of their time on Dig Tunnel as they will be missed,change the assignment on this task to 25% of each of their time. How long will this task now

take?

6) Save the updated file as Escape Planned and close it down.

11. Prepare a dynamic customized report for Bridge24.mpp. The report should ask for a specific day

from which the list of Who does what gets created.

12. You have been given the responsibility to manage a project Bridge24. A completed schedule is

available with you. Each activity has been assigned labor, non labor and material resources.

From your past experience you know that it is a good idea to have data about Up Front Cost

for each activity/WBS, which is typically 10% of the total cost. Your task is therefore, to create a

user defined filed called as Up Front Cost and also a Indicator field-User Defined Cost



7


Vinit Thakur

Indicator. Mark all the Up Front Costs more than 500 with red indicator as shown below:

13. For Aircraft A25.mpp use the following data to update the tasks

a. Current date: 1/9/06

b. Staus date: 1/6/06

c. Task 1 Started on 1/3/06

d. Task 2 started on 1/3/06 and finished on 1/4/06

e. Task 3 started on 1/5/06 and is 25% complete

f. Task 7 started on 1/5/06 and is 50% complete


1) Download the files needed to start this exercise: ex-650 (Wedding of the year)2) Open the file in the folder shown above.

3) Update the following cost details on the project.

y The Fixed Cost for The Dress - Pay for Dress task was actually £800

y The standard rate for The Venue resource was £3,000

y

The standard rate for theG

uest resource was £25/hr

4) Due to the increase in the cost per guest the number of Guests assigned to task 28(The Venue - Pay Balance) should be reduced to 70.

5) Update the actual dates on the tasks as shown in Red on the diagram below.



8


Vinit Thakur

The view has been filtered to bring the tasks together.

6) The Venue is now booked for Sat 28/03/09 therefore The Big Day must start on this date.

7) Update the durations as shown in Red below:

Remember the total duration is the sum of the actual and remaining durations.

8) Update the entire project through to 22/12/08 (as if this is today's date). 9) Now use the

Views, Filters and Reports to answer the following questions.

y What % complete is the whole project?

y How many tasks are now completed?y What is the variance in duration of the project?

y Which tasks are slipping?y Which tasks are yet to be started?

y What is the overall cost variance?y

Which tasks are 'overbudget' and by how much?

10) Save the updated file as Wedding of the year in progress and close it down.

15. EVA Problem

task predecessors

duration

(periods) Resources illing Rate ($)/hr

a none Raju 4

a a Raman 4

a a 6 Ranjita 4

a4 a Rani 4

a a 4 Ramu

a6 a4 4 Rakesh



9


Vinit Thakur

a a ,a ,a6 Rehman

The update data is as follows:

Task Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6

a 25% 60% 100%

a 30% 100%

a 10% 10% 10%

a4 65% 85% 90%

a 10%

a6

a

y Update the schedule as of time period 6.

y Identify: EVC,PVC, AC

y Identify: CPI, SPI

y What are the ETCs under optimistic, Most likely and Pessimistic situations?


1) Download the files needed to start this exercise: ex-651 (DreamHome)2) Open the file in the folder shown above. 3) Using the appropriate tables / views update

the following costs:

y The fixed cost of the Purchase Land task was actually £30,000.

y The balance of the planned cost of the land (£5,000) should be reallocated to

Furnishings for the interior of the house (task 23).y The standard rate of the Electrician is £150/day.

4) Change the durations as shown in Red on the table below:

The total duration is the sum of the actual and remaining durations fields.

5) The actual start or finish dates have changed as indicated in Red on the table below:



10


Vinit Thakur

Date changes should only be recorderd in the Actual fields.

6) Update the entire project to 07/07/08 (as if this is today's date). 7) Use the View,Filters and Reports to answer the following questions.

y What date will our DreamHome actually be ready for us to move in and is this

before our lease runs out?y What is the current overall cost variance?

y Which tasks are 'overbudget' and by how much?y Which tasks are slipping?

y Who has tasks which are yet to start?y What is the variance on the work hours required for this project?

y How many tasks are currently in progress?

8) Save your updated file as Dream Home still on time and close it down.


1) Download the files needed to start this exercise: ex-667 (Dream Home Are we still on time)

2) Open the file shown in the folder above.3) Go to the Visual Reports dialog box and review the Baseline Cost Report.

4) Change the task level shown on this report to show outline level 2 only, to get the reports as

shown below.



11


Vinit Thakur

Excel Pivot Charts are filtered via the fields shown around the chart.

5) Review the Cash Flow report for Q1:

You can aslo not show the weeks in which there are no costs.

6) Review the Resource Status report and add in the Cost Variance field:



12


Vinit Thakur

This is only a section of the report.

7) Save and close the file.



13


Vinit Thakur

Simulation Game for Project Management

y Creating a strategic plan for the project elaborated in simulation

y Collecting all the relevance data

y Running the simulation to see the performance using EVM

Details of Simulation

SimSE Players Manual

1. Beginning a GameWhen you start a new game, you will see a window pop up that contains a short narrative about the

game you are about to play. It is IMPERATIVE that you read this narrative very carefully, as it will usually

tell you what the goals of the game are, how it will be evaluated whether you meet that goal, and very

important hints about how to succeed in the game. At any time during the game, you can come back tothis narrative by clicking the i in the upper left-hand corner of the user interface.

1. Viewing ResourcesYou can see the status of all of the major entities in the game (your artifacts, customers, employees,

projects, and tools) in a few different ways:

1. To view an objects details, you can first click corresponding word to that objects type (e.g., for

an artifact, click artifacts, for an employee, click employees) in upper left-hand corner, next

to the SimSE logo, and then all of that particular type of object will appear in the grid to the

right. Clicking on one of the avatars will bring that object and all of its attributes into view in the

bottom area.

2. For employees, you can also left-click on their avatar in the office, or in the Current Activities

area on the right. This will bring the employee and his/her attributes into view in the bottom

area.

3. You can see a quick at-a-glance view of all of the objects of a particular type by clicking on the

ALL button in the grid after performing step 1. This will bring up a table of all of the different

objects and their attributes. You can hide and unhide attributes/columns by right-clicking on the

column.

2. Interacting with EmployeesYou can interact with your employees through right-click menus. Right-click on one of their avatars in

the office, on their avatar in the Current Activities area on the right, or on their avatar in the grid in

the upper right-hand portion of the interface, and you will be presented with a menu of options. This is

the only way to perform actions in the game.

When you use an employees right-click menu to perform an action, the employee that you

right-clicked on is automatically added as a participant in that action. For example, if you used Andres



14


Vinit Thakur

right-click menu to start the Create Requirements action, Andre automatically gets assigned to the

Create Requirements action. Thus, when prompted to choose other participants for this action,

Andre will not appear as a choice (since he has already automatically been added as a participant).

3. Moving Forward through TimeThe simulation clock is located in the lower right-hand corner of the user interface. You can move time

forward through the game in 2 different ways:

1. Enter the number of clock ticks you wish to advance forward in the clocks text field, and then

click the Advance Clock button. If you check the box Stop at Events, the clock will go until

either: a) one of the employees has something to say, or b) it has already gone forward the

specified number of clock ticks, whichever comes first.

2. Click the Next Event button, which will cause the simulation to move forward until one of the

employees has something to say. (This is the most common way of stepping through time in

SimSE.)

When you tell the clock to move forward, you should first make sure that you have in focus an object of interest. For example, if you have just told your employees to work on requirements, you should bring

the requirements document into focus (make it visible in the lower portion of the user interface by

clicking on Artifacts then the requirements document icon) before you step the clock forward (or just

after starting the clock forward). This way you can monitor the action to see how their work is

progressing by watching how the size, errors, etc. of the requirements document change.

4. AwarenessIn addition to viewing the status of the simulation objects (artifacts, customers, employees, projects,

and tools), there are a couple of other ways to stay abreast of the events that are occurring in your

game:

1. The current activities of all of your employees are listed on the right hand side of the GUI.

2. The employees will often inform you of important events, the beginning and ending of activities,

hints, and other guidance through pop-up speech bubbles that appear over their heads. It is

important that you read these speech bubbles carefully, as they will often give you important

information that will greatly help you succeed in the game.

5. Explanatory (Analyze) ToolThe explanatory tool allows you to view graphical representations of your game in the form of line

graphs, discover insights into some of the rules underlying the game, and create multiple paralleltimelines, or game branches, to explore alternative decisions. The explanatory tool can be accessed

through the Analyze menu in the upper left-hand corner. The Analyze menu is enabled throughout

the game, allowing you to use the explanatory tool during the game.



15


Vinit Thakur

5.1 Generating GraphsThere are three types of graphs that can be generated: object graphs, action graphs, and composite

graphs.

An object graph depicts how an objects attribute values changed over time, and can be generated

by choosing an object in the drop-down list labeled, Object Graph, choosing one or more of that

objects attributes in the list marked, Show Attributes, and then clicking the Generate Object Graph

button. Figure 1 shows an object graph for an employees energy and mood. Time is represented by the

horizontal axis and attribute value is represented by the vertical axis. The title of the graph indicates

which objects attributes are being graphedin this case, a SoftwareEngineer Employee named

Andre. The key below the graph explains which data points correspond to which attributes. Any data

point in the graph can be moused over to reveal that points exact x- and y-values. In Figure 1, the data

point for the energy attribute at clock tick 892 is being moused over, at which point the employees

energy was 0.48.

An action graph provides a trace of events/actions/activities that occurred in the simulation, and can

be generated by choosing one or more actions to graph in the Action Graph list and then clicking the

Generate Action Graph button. Figure 2 shows an example of an action graph that includes threedifferent types of actions: CreateRequirements, ReviewRequirements, and CorrectRequirements,

with one occurrence of CreateRequirements and two occurrences each of ReviewRequirements and

CorrectRequirements (multiple occurrences are indicated by the number at the end of the action

label, e.g., ReviewRequirementsAction-2). The x-axis indicates time progression, in clock ticks. The y-

axis has no semantics, but only serves as a delineator for graphing actionseach action is graphed on a

separate gridline on the y-axis. The key below the x-axis indicates which data points correspond to

Fi ure 1: An ObjectGraphGenerated by the Explanatory Tool.



16


Vinit Thakur

which actions. The data points for an action begin at the time that action was triggered and end at the

time that action was destroyed. For example, in Figure 2 the CreateRequirements action, represented

by the orange (bottom) line, began at clock tick 0 and ended around clock tick 230.

Mousing over a data point will display the name of the action and a reminder that the data point canbe clicked on for more information, as shown for CreateRequirementsAction-1 in Figure 2. When a

data point in an action graph is clicked on, the details and effects of that action are displayed in the form

of the screen shown in Figure 3. There are two tabs in this screen: Action Info and Rule Info. As their

names indicate, the Action Info tab contains information about the action and the Rule Info tab contains

information about the rules that are attached to that action. A rule defines what effect an action has on

the rest of the simulation (e.g., one rule for a CreateCode action is that the size of the code increases

every clock tick by an amount based on the employees productivity in coding).

The Action Info tab is divided into three portions, one for each type of information provided about

the action. The top portion contains a description of the action. The middle portion displays theparticipants that were involved in the action during the clock tick of the selected data point (the point

that was clicked on to bring up the action information. The bottom portion of the Action Info tab lists all

triggers and destroyers for the action, so that the player can see exactly what could have caused the

action to either stop or start. A user can click on any one of these triggers or destroyers to bring up a

description in the field to the right.

Fi ure 2: An Action Gra h Generated b the Ex lanator Tool.



17


Vinit Thakur

The Rule Info tab is shown in Figure 4. On the left are listed all of the rules that are attached to the

selected action. Trigger rules are those that occur when an action starts. Intermediate rules are those

that occur once every clock tick during the duration of the action. Destroyer rules are those that occur

when an action stops. Any one of the rules in the list can be clicked on to bring up a description of that

rule in the right hand pane.

The third and final type of graph that can be generated is a composite graph (see Figure 5). A

composite graph shows both an object graph and an action graph lined up on the same time axis. The

composite graph shown in Figure 5 contains an object graph for the RequirementsDocument artifact,

including the two attributes NumKnownErrors and NumUnknownErrors, and an action graph that

includes the same three actions from the action graph in Figure 2 (CreateRequirements,

ReviewRequirements, and CorrectRequirements). To generate a composite graph, simply choose

the object graph and action graph settings you want, then click Generate Composite Graph.

Because it might not be obvious at first how a composite graph is useful, let us look at an example

from the graph in Figure 5. Upon looking at the last upward slope in the unknown errors (approximately

clock tick 330 to 580), it might be unclear why this slope is there. You would probably first notice this

effect by seeing the hidden attributes revealed at the end of the game and observing that, even though

you did a thorough review of the requirements document and corrected all of the known errors, there

were still undiscovered errors in the document at the end. Looking at this composite graph would

Figure 3: Detailed Action Information brought up by Clicking on an Action in an ActionGraph, with

the Action Info Tab in Focus.



18


Vinit Thakur

provide you with the reasoning behind this: The final upward slope in unknown errors corresponds

exactly to the second CorrectRequirements action, indicating that this action caused some more

unknown errors to be introduced into the requirements document. Clicking on this action in the graph

will then reveal whyemployees correcting requirements will introduce new errors into the document

at a rate dependent on their requirements skill. Thus, you can infer from this that it is just as important

to have skilled personnel involved in requirements document correction as it is for requirements

document creation, and will likely be more careful in assigning people to this task in the next game.

All graphs can be further customized in terms of appearance by right-clicking on the graphthey

can be zoomed in or out on, colors can be changed, and labels can be turned on or off. Using the right-

click menu, you can also print a graph or save it as an image if you want to keep it for future reference.

5.2 Viewing RulesIn addition to viewing rules through clicking on an action graph, rules can also be viewed through the

lower half of the explanatory tool main user interface by choosing an action in the Actions drop-downlist. This will make the rules appear in the lists below the drop-down list. Any rule in the lists can be

clicked on to bring up its description in the window to the right.

Reading rules is one of the most effective ways to learn how to improve your score. As an example,

lets say that your requirements document ended up with numerous errors, and you dont know why.

Looking at the rules attached to the CreateRequirements action will tell you. One of the rules might



19


Vinit Thakur

say, The number of errors in the requirements document increases at a rate dependent on the

requirements experience of the developers working on it, and another rule might say, The rate atwhich errors are introduced into the requirements document is lessened by the use of a requirements

tool. From this, you could conclude that you should use developers with more requirements experience

and also be sure to use a requirements tool.

As another example, you can often discover exactly how your score was calculated by reading the

rule(s) attached to the game-ending action (e.g., DeliverProduct).

5.3 Branching a GameYou can return to any previous point in your game and start a new game from that point. This can be

done in two different ways: using the explanatory tool graphs right-click menus, and using the Multiple

Timelines Browser. To branch a game from an explanatory tool graph (either an object graph, an actiongraph, or a composite graph), simply right-click on any point on a graph, and choose the option, Start

new game from here. It will then prompt you to name that particular game, and the new branch will

begin. Your current game will still be accessible as you also run the new branch. Try to keep the number

of simultaneous games to about 5 or less, or else the performance will significantly suffer. The Multiple

Timelines Browser will be covered in the following subsection.

Fi ure 5: A m ite ra h enerated the Ex lanat r T l.



20


Vinit Thakur

5.4 Multiple Timelines BrowserThe Multiple Timelines Browser, accessible through the corresponding button in the explanatory tool,

allows you to see a graphical depiction of all of your parallel game branches that you have started (see

Figure 6). A solid line represents a game that is still open, a dashed line represents a game that has been

closed, and a number at the end of a line indicates the score given for that game. Left-clicking on a line

(only for open games) brings that game to the front. Right-clicking on a line gives you the option of

starting a new branch from that game. As in branching from an explanatory tool graph, you will be

prompted to give the branch a name, and it will then start.

Figure 6: Multiple Timelines Browser

6. Ending a GameOnce the game is over, take a look again at your various artifacts, tools, etc. Attributes that were hidden

throughout the game will appear (e.g., number of unknown errors), giving you further insight into how

you did.

7. Important Tips for Successy If you ever feel stuck and cant figure out how to successfully get through the game, go back

and look at the starting narrative (by clicking on the i in the upper left-hand corner of the user

interface. This narrative contains important information that might make more sense to you

now that you have played a little bit.



21


Vinit Thakur

y Be sure to read the employees speech bubble comments carefully! Sometimes they will give

you valuable hints about what your next step(s) should be, or give you some other important

information that could help your game immensely.

y When using the explanatory tool, keep an eye out for secret actionsthese are actions that

were not visible during the game but are visible in the explanatory tool graphs and rule

descriptions. For example, in one model, there is a DoubleProductivity action that causes the

whole teams productivity to double when things are being done in an ideal way (what the

ideal way is could be discovered by looking at this actions trigger(s)).

y Be sure to read the rules in the explanatory tool! They are probably the most helpful sources of

information, and are often overlooked by players.

y Always look at the rule(s) attached to the game-ending action (e.g., DeliverProduct). They will

often tell you exactly how your score was calculated.

Date post:	07-Apr-2018
Category:	Documents
Upload:	vinit-thakur
View:	222 times
Download:	0 times

MSP Problems

Documents