MICROSOFT PROJECT 2007 PRACTICAL GUIDE

BEGINNERS PACK FOR OFFLINE USAGE.

By Eburuche, Obinna Chimezie Banito

Foreward By
Akpan, Inimfon Sylvester

BNTC International
Published November, 2013.
 MICROSOFT OFFICE
PROJECT 2007 PRACTICAL
GUIDE.

BEGINNERS PACK FOR

OFFLINE USAGE.

Eburuche, O. C. Banito
BNTC International

Website: [Link].
E-mail: bntconsortium@[Link].
Tel: 2348147029035
 Acknowledgement

I wouldn’t have written this piece of work if not for the encouragement that came from my

project management trainees. They so much desired to have a guide that could help them practice

at home so as to develop their skills more. My greatest inspiration had been from all that is

involved in the management of BNTC International as a company. Sincerely, without my

association with BNTC International, there would be no such as this guide. Also, I want to

appreciate the entire crew of Joint professionals Training and Support International (JPTS); they

brought out what had been lying intrinsic of me. Engr. Sylvester Akpan, who forwarded this

work, had been a source of strength. He had been a friend, a mentor, a colleague and a partner. I

seriously want to say thanks to us all.

Eburuche O. C. Banito
Eburuche O. C. Banito is a multi-talented consultant having
specialized skills in the areas of Human Resource
Management, Project Management, Occupational Safety and
Corporate Management among others. He is an online
entrepreneur and he is seriously delivering his mandate. He is
also an integrator of consultants. His passion is to help his clients
accomplish faster through the application of expertise knowledge. He is a
human developer, author and life-transforming speaker. He had trained
unnumbered in project management, health safety and environment and
he is earnestly preparing to launch his Human Capital Management
Courses online courses soon. He had featured in many seminars,
conferences, workshops and lectures. He enjoys working in a team and has
excellent motivating and influencing skills.
Contact: Email Call Facebook Group Website Blog

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 Table of Contents

Introduction

Part One: Review On Project Management (PM)

Definitions

Triangle of PM

Managing Project Constraints

Project Management with Microsoft Office Project 2007.

Part Two: Microsoft Office Project 2007.

Getting the software

Installing the software

Opening the application

Let’s walk around

Using a template.

Setting out MS Project 2007

Part Three: Schedule Development

Defining Activities

Create Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)/Tasks

Sequencing Milestones and Tasks

Estimating Activity Duration

Estimating Project Resources

Part Four: Advanced

Budgeting

Tracking

Reporting

Part Five: Summary

INTRODUCTION

The knowledge of project management will be incomplete without a practical knowledge of

Microsoft Project; be it 2003, 2007 or 2010. Nonetheless, it is crucial to the project manager to

keep updating and remain flexible with his continuous improvement plan via learning and

practice. This is what keeps you as a professional. There are one or two things that might have

prompted you to seek this knowledge; maybe you are done with your Project Management

Professional (PMP) course or you might have gotten a diploma or degree in the course or you

just developed interest in the course or any other. Whatever be the motive, our aim is to make the

explanation on the use of MS Project simple so that you can work it over and over again.

Before going further, it is important to note that project management as a professional course is

independent of your discipline but in a simple advice, it is critical that you integrate the

knowledge of project management into your field. Some misconceptions arise that project

management is perpetually for engineers, builders and others in this category. This is actually

fallacious as it has no underlying basis to prove this opinion. It is therefore vital that as you’ve

decided to be a project manager whether by omission or commission, it remains your

responsibility to remain a project manager else, you will be ejected out of the system.

Just as what we discus in the theory, we majorly deal with integration, scope, time, cost, quality,

human resources, risk, communication and procurement management. In all these, we are only

interested in raising the project management plan and making sure that all efforts needed to make

it a success is followed. Therefore, our major target is to create the work breakdown structure

(WBS) in its simplest form as tasks, resource the tasks, track and report the project progress and

performance. These aspects are therefore going to form the basis of this manual.
 PART ONE

REVIEW OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Succeeding as a project manager requires that you complete your projects on time, finish within

budget, and make sure your customers are happy with what you deliver. That sounds simple

enough, but how many projects have you heard of (or worked on) that were completed late, cost

too much, or didn’t meet the needs of their customers?

Definitions

Project

A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (4th edition, published by the Project

Management Institute, 2008) — referred to as the PMBOK— defines a project as “a temporary

endeavor undertaken to create a unique product or service.” Let’s walk through this definition

to clarify what a project is and is not.

First, a project is temporary. A project has a definite start and end date. You might not know that

end date when the project begins, but it’s out there somewhere in the future. Projects are not the

same as ongoing operations, although the two have a great deal in common. Ongoing operations,

as the name suggests, go on indefinitely; you don’t establish an end date. Examples include most

activities of accounting and human resources departments. People who run ongoing operations

might also manage projects; for example, a manager of a human resources department for a large

organization might plan a college recruiting fair. Yet, projects are distinguished from ongoing

operations by an expected end date, such as the date of the recruiting fair.

Next, a project is an endeavor. Resources, such as people and equipment, need to do work. The

endeavor is undertaken by a team or an organization, and therefore projects have a sense of being

intentional, planned events. Successful projects do not happen spontaneously; some amount of

preparation and planning happens first.

Finally, every project creates a unique product or service.

By now, you may realize that much of the work that goes on in the world is project work. If you

schedule, track, or manage any of this work, then congratulations; you are already doing some

project management work!

What if you invent new machines, products or services. Just think of what they could be? Think

of organizing a wedding in a unique way, releasing a new album, installation of an equipment, or

organizing a game-show. You’ve also done project management. The five processes of project

management which are initiation, planning, execution, monitoring and control and closure are all

embedded in these activities.

Management

This is the systematic means of planning, organizing, executing and directing and controlling of

available resources to successfully achieve a set goal.

Project Management

This is the systematic application of skills, tools and management processes that will guarantee

the successful completion of a project.

The Triangle of PM : views projects in terms of time (schedule), cost (budget) and scope

You can visualize project work in many ways, but our favorite method is what is sometimes

called the project triangle or triangle of triple constraints.

This theme has many variations, but the basic concept is that every project has some element of a

time constraint, has some type of budget, and requires some amount of work to complete. (In

other words, it has a defined scope.) The term constraint has a specific meaning in Project 2007,

but here we’re using the more general meaning of a limiting factor. Let’s consider these

constraints one at a time.

Time

Have you ever worked on a project that had a deadline? (Maybe I should ask whether you’ve

ever worked on a project that did not have a deadline.) Limited time is the one constraint of any

project with which we are all probably most familiar. If you’re working on a project right now,

ask your team members to name the date of the project deadline. They might not know the

project budget or the scope of work in great detail, but chances are they all know the project

deadline.
The following are examples of time constraints:

You are building a house and must finish the roof before the rainy season arrives.

You are assembling a large display booth for a trade show that starts in two months.

You are developing a new inventory-tracking system that must be tested and running

by the start of the next fiscal year.

Since we were children, we have been trained to understand time. We carry wristwatches, paper

and electronic organizers, and other tools to help us manage time. For many projects that create a

product or event, time is the most important constraint to manage.

Cost

You might think of cost simply in monetary terms, but project cost has a broader meaning: costs

include all of the resources required to carry out the project. Costs include the people and

equipment that do the work, the materials they use, and all of the other events and issues that

require money or someone’s attention in a project.

The following are examples of cost constraints:

You have signed a fixed-price contract to deliver an inventory-tracking software

system to a client. If your costs exceed the agreed-upon price, your customer might be

sympathetic but probably won’t be willing to renegotiate the contract. The president

of your organization has directed you to carry out a customer research project using

only the staff and equipment in your department. You have received a $5,000 grant to

create a public art installation. You have no other funds.

For virtually all projects, cost is ultimately a limiting constraint; few projects could go over

budget without eventually requiring corrective action.

Scope

You should consider two aspects of scope: product scope and project scope. Every successful

project produces a unique product: a tangible item or service. Customers usually have some

expectations about the features and functions of products they consider purchasing. Product

scope describes the intended quality, features, and functions of the product — often in minute

detail. Documents that outline this information are sometimes called product specifications. A

service or event usually has some expected features as well. We all have expectations about what

we’ll do or see at a party, concert, or sporting event.

Project scope, on the other hand, describes the work required to deliver a product or service with

the intended product scope. Project scope is usually measured in tasks and phases.

The following are examples of scope constraints:

Your organization won a contract to develop an automotive product that has exact

requirements — for example, physical dimensions measured to 0.01 mm. This is a

product scope constraint that will influence project scope plans. You are constructing

a building on a lot that has a height restriction of 50 feet. You can use only internal

services to develop part of your product, and those services follow a product

development methodology that is different from what you had planned.

Product scope and project scope are closely related. The project manager who manages project

scope well must also understand product scope or must know how to communicate with those

who do.
Managing Project Constraints.

Project management gets most interesting when you must balance the time, cost, and scope

constraints of your projects. The project triangle illustrates the process of balancing constraints

because the three sides of the triangle are connected, and changing one side of a triangle affects

at least one other side.

The following are examples of constraint balance:

If the duration (time) of your project schedule decreases, you might need to increase

budget (cost) because you must hire more resources to do the same work in less time.

If you cannot increase the budget, you might need to reduce the scope because the

resources you have cannot complete all of the planned work in less time.

If you must decrease a project’s duration, make sure that overall project quality is not

unintentionally lowered. For example, testing and quality control often occur last in a

software development project; if project duration is decreased late in the project,

those tasks might be the ones to suffer with cutbacks. You must weigh the benefits of

decreasing the project duration against the potential downside of a deliverable with

poorer quality.

If the budget (cost) of your project decreases, you might need more time because you

cannot pay for as many resources or for resources of the same efficiency. If you

cannot increase the time, you might need to reduce project scope because fewer

resources cannot complete all of the planned work in the time remaining. If you must

decrease a project’s budget, you could look at the grades of material resources for

which you had budgeted. For example, did you plan to shoot a film in 35 mm when
 cheaper digital video would do? A lower-grade material is not necessarily a lower-

quality material. As long as the grade of material is appropriate for its intended use, it

might still be of high quality. As another example, fast food and gourmet are two

grades of restaurant food, but you may find high-quality and low-quality examples of

each.

You should also look at the costs of the human and equipment resources you have

planned to use. Can you hire less experienced people for less money to carry out

simpler tasks? Reducing project costs can lead to a poorer-quality deliverable,

however. As a project manager, you must consider (or, more likely, communicate to

the decision makers) the benefits versus the risks of reducing costs.

If your project scope increases, you might need more time or resources (cost) to

complete the additional work. When project scope increases after the project has

started, it’s called scope creep. Changing project scope midway through a project is

not necessarily a bad thing; for example, the environment in which your project

deliverable will operate may have changed or become clearer since beginning the

project. Changing project scope is a bad thing only if the project manager doesn’t

recognize and plan for the new requirements — that is, when other constraints (cost,

time) are not correspondingly examined and, if necessary, adjusted. Time, cost, and

scope are the three essential elements of any project. To succeed as a project

manager, you should know quite a bit about how all three of these constraints apply to

your projects.

Here is our final word about the project triangle model. Like all simple models of complex

subjects, this model is a useful learning tool but not always a reflection of the real world. If real

projects always performed as the project triangle suggests they should, you might see projects

delivered late but at planned cost or with expected scope. Or, projects might be completed on
time and with expected scope but at higher cost. In other words, you’d expect to see at least one

element of the project triangle come in as planned. But the sad truth is that many projects, even

with rigorous project management oversight, are delivered late, over budget, and with far less

than expected scope of functionality. You’ve probably participated in a few such projects

yourself. As you well know, project management is just plain difficult. Success in project

management requires a rare mix of skills and knowledge about schedule practices and tools, as

well as skill in the domain or industry in which a project is executed.

Project Management With Project 2007

The best project management tool in the world can never replace your good judgment. However,

the right tool can and should help you accomplish the following:

Track all of the information you gather about the work, duration, and resource

requirements for your project.

Visualize your project plan in standard, well-defined formats.

Schedule tasks and resources consistently and effectively.

Exchange project information with stakeholders over networks and the Internet using

standard file formats.

Communicate with resources and other stakeholders while leaving ultimate control in

the hands of the project manager.

Armed with the information about project management contained in this work and the rich

functionality of Project 2007 to be discussed in this book, you are off to a great start with Project

2007.
 PART TWO

MICROSOFT OFFICE PROJECT 2007

Getting the Software:

MS Project (2003, 2007 & 2010) software is an application in the MS Office Suite and can be

gotten from Microsoft Online Store or any other online store like Amazon Store. It can also be

gotten via offline software shops but unfortunately, most of the software are pirated making it

difficult to get the copyrighted copy. Alternatively, you can get it from someone who already

has the installer CD. I think this makes it simpler.

Installing the Software:

The MS Project consumes a space of almost 3GB on your system HDD. It is advisable you

create a space of this magnitude to allow the installation run fast. For the fact that we have the

software in different versions of cracked, un-cracked and trial, it is advisable you follow the

installation instruction provided by the software provider. For those that have attended our

practical sessions on project management and MS Project, the software had been given to you.

As a reminder, when you open up the package, it shows you different MS Office applications’

folders, click on Set-Up, choose” Microsoft Project Professional” click on “continue”. A window

will open up requesting for key. Go back to the window that contains all the folder application,

double-click or open “pass”. Choose any of the key, copy and paste in the section that is

requesting for key then click on “proceed”. It will take some minutes to install. When completed,

a window with the display “your installation was successful”. Then, you can close the window

and proceed to opening your application.

Opening the Application

Simply go to your start menu, click on “All Programs”, select “Microsoft Office”, locate

“Microsoft Office Project 2007” and click on it and allow it to load. Something like this;

Click on “All Programs” to get something like this;

Click on “Microsoft Office” to get something like this;
Then click on “Microsoft Office Project 2007” to open the window as this;
Congratulation for the successful installation and welcome to MS Project 2007.

Let’s Walk Around

On the default window, you will see features like i, task name, duration, start, finish,

predecessors and resources. The section containing these elements, I refer to as activity-

resource area while the other area with calendar is called Gantt area. The combination of both is

called Gantt chart.

Let’s have this in our mind

Duration is the total time required to do a task. It is calculated by looking at the working time

spanned by all the resource assignments on the task.

Work is the person-hours or effort needed to complete a task or assignment. The total work for a

task is the sum of the work for all of its assignments.

Assignment Units represent the percentage of a resource's time assigned to a task. To assign

multiple resources such as '3 carpenters', you can set the assignment units to '300%'.

The Columns and what they serve for:

I – column (task information): this is an indicator; it describes the “activity attribute”. When

you double-click on it, it pops up a window that provides the information about the

corresponding phase or task. It also allows for further manipulation on the project tasks showing

you how to fix or adjust the general information to the project or tasks, assigned resources, see

predecessors and make notes.

To display a note for the project, phase or task, click on “Notes” and a pop up like what is below

will come up; allowing you to put up description about the project’s phase or task.

Here, you can write all you want to about the project or task after which you click ok and a note

symbol will display in line with the corresponding task.

Task Name

Allows you to type and make a full list of all the tasks in your project tasks. i.e. Work

Breakdown Structure (WBS).

Duration
This allows you to fix the total number of time required of the task.

Start
Allows you to fix the project’s or task’s start date.

Finish
Allows you to fix the project’s or task’s finish date. It can be manual or automatic depending on

you.

Predecessors

Displays the number of prior tasks. Number one task has no predecessor and the last task has no
successor.

Resource Names
Shows the name of assigned resources to handle the corresponding tasks.
Gantt Area:
Shows the graphical representation of the inputs in the activity-resource area. Tasks with
durations greater than zero are seen as period milestones and when equal to zero, they appear as
point milestones.

Let’s Look at a Template as a Guide:

Before we proceed, it is very important that we have in mind where we are going so that when

we get there, we will be sure we are there. Below is a typical work on MS Project 2007 on Office

Management. The template shows the project phases/milestones and the activities/tasks under

them. Still on the gantt chart, it shows the resources that had been assigned on each task. Also

notice that some tasks are represented with black while others are blue. They are respectively

called milestones/phases/subprojects and tasks/activities respectively.

Setting out the Microsoft Project 2007:

Your first experience in MS Project 2007 might not be that good because you may be trying to

understand the software just as it will also be trying to understand you. To set a good pace, “turn-

on project guide”.

The Project Task Wizard/Project Guide:

The project wizard guides you through the steps required to develop a real time project plan.

Whether you are a learner or advanced user, it is advisable you always turn-on this wizard. To

turn it on, click on “view” then click on “Turn-On Project Guide”. If it is off, turn it on but if it is

on and it is not displaying, then turn it off and turn it on again.

If you turn it on, the task wizard will appear on the left hand side of the window. Then you can

follow the steps to develop your project plan.

Also notice that a bar bearing show/hide project guide, tasks, resources, track and report appears

just above your Gantt chart.

 PART THREE

SCHEDULE DEVELOPMENT

The first assignment in developing a schedule is to define the project. Schedule development is

an iterative process and it involves;

- Defining activities

- Creating WBS; detailing each individual work package.

- Sequencing Activities; creating milestones and task dependencies

- Estimating Activity Duration

- Estimating Activity Resources

- Controlling schedule

A well-prepared and integrated schedule has all and every other detail about other plans. With

the schedule, resourcing (budgeting), tracking (monitoring and controlling) and reporting

(communication plan) are all made possible.

Defining activities

With the help of “Project Guide”, the project activities can be defined thus helping to pre-set the

start date and allowing the application to fix finish dates depending on pre-selected time-

dependencies. So you click on “Define the project” in the task wizard section and a window

pops up, requesting for project start date. Click on the button at the start date box to open a

calendar, then choose your start date. The start date can always be changed but when agreed on,

it determines the start and finish dates of the tasks in the project depending on the dependencies.
After fixing your start date, click on continue to step 2 just below the calendar, if prompted to

connect to server, select NO and click on continue to step 3 and then save and finish.

Define general working condition.

Choose your general working condition which is simply your organizational work calendar. This

you will do by clicking on “Define general working times” on the project guide. With this, you

fix the number of work days, hours per day and days per month. This, in turn guides you to

develop a salary payment scheme for your resources and helps the application to calculate your

cost on labour.

After clicking, you will get a view like the one below. On the task wizard, you can select the type

of calendar you want. Be it standard, 24-hr or shift. All calendars are adjustable to suit your own

need and specification. You can adjust the time and days. After you are done, you click on

continue to step 2 then to 3 where you can actually do days and hours adjustment. Just as shown

below;
On step 3, the software will further allow you to adjust your calendar. For instance, fixing

holidays, off-periods, birthdays, workers’ day and any other. When you want to do this, you click

on “Change working time” then a window like the one below will pop up. When the calendar

pops up, you click on the calendar date then type what exception or condition you are giving to

it. Note: You have to click on the date in the calendar first, then click in the editable cell to type

in what that day will be. After you are done, click ok.
According to the standard calendar, work duration per day is 8hrs, 40hrs per week and 20days

per month. With MS Project 2007, you can adjust this time may be greater than or less than 8hrs,

40hrs or 20days. Just as what is below.

Creating WBS/Tasks

All these that had been done, you will notice that no change had appeared on the Gantt chart. It is

still very neat. Now, it time to fix in the tasks. So you click on the cells under the task name

column and begin to break down your project. Just like what we have below. In creating WBS,

remember we have project broken down into phases then phases into tasks. When project is

broken down into phases, it’s referred to as top-down planning while for work packages, it’s

referred to as bottom-up planning. So we have to integrate this phenomenon of hierarchal order

of projects to phases to tasks. Project phases and tasks can be created in MS Project either by

importing already typed tasks and phases in MS Excel or it can be typed in manually. To import

from MS Excel, ensure the tasks had already been typed and saved in your computer. To type in

manually, simply click on the cell(s) in the column bearing “Task Name” and type in the tasks.

Start with the project name as the first followed by the tasks. For instance, if the project is

Learning MS Project 2007, the start with it before laying out the phases and tasks involved.
Organizing Tasks into Phases

Before you start inputting your activities into the task name column, it is important you use a pen

and paper and articulate all the activities; determining in each level the milestones and the

activities under them. Assuming there exist a project with milestones A, B, C and D with

activities as a1 – a5, b1 – b3, c1 – c4 and d1 – d3, it can be structured to have phases and tasks

where the capital alphabets represent the milestones or phases while the alphanumeric codes

represent the tasks or activities in the project.

To group your tasks into phases or milestone, choose all activities you want to perform under the

milestone and indent. For example, since A is a milestone, we will highlight from a1 – a5 then

indent to group the tasks under A. To indent, locate this icon on the toolbar, and then

indent.
 Indent

If you had performed the task well, you will notice a small box behind each milestone that is

bearing either a “+” sign or a “-”. Clicking on the “-” sign rolls up the activities under a

milestone while “+” rolls down as shown below.

Notice that all the milestone are bearing black period lines in the Gantt area. The activities under

a milestone make (sum) up the milestone’s duration so you do not have to insert duration in a

milestone because it is calculated based on the individual durations of the activities under the

milestone; except a point milestone that has 0duration.

Sequencing Milestones and Tasks

Sequencing tasks is simply based on the time - dependencies i.e.

Start – to – Start (SS): the second task and the first task starts the same time. This does not

mean that they’d end the same time.

Start – to – Finish (SF): the second task finishes as the first task starts. This is always a rare

situation.

Finish – to – Start (FS): the second task only start when the first task had finished.
Finish – to – Finish (FF): the second task and the first task finish the same time. This does not

mean that they must start the same time.

To use the task wizard, click on “schedule tasks”. It immediately opens up your dependencies

from where you can select your dependencies just as below;

It is often advisable to fix your milestones first then your tasks. So we start with the milestones;

to fix a dependency. Two tasks will be highlighted and the right dependency will be clicked on.

This can either be done either by clicking on the first task then holding the “ctrl key”, click on

the second tasks. Then, choose the right time dependency by clicking on the right dependency

box in the project guide.

After fixing the milestones, you can now roll down the tasks and fix their dependencies just like

this;
Notice that in the beginning while defining our project, we only inputted the start-date but after

fixing our dependencies, the finish-date for each milestone and task is established thus creating

the finish date for the project.

After fixing your dependency, you can click “done” so as to return to home page.

Link to or attach more task information:

With this, you can create your notes and hyperlink. To create a note, click on “Add Note”, an

editable window opens, then you can do all you notes there after which, you click ok.
To add a hyperlink, you click on the task you wish to hyperlink, then click on “Add a hyperlink”,

a box opens up your document, select the document you wish to hyperlink then click ok. For

example, assuming you have typed your business or project plan in MS Word and you wish to

hyperlink it to the schedule you are developing, all you need do is click on the project title, then

click ”Add a hyperlink”, choose the business plan from the document that opens up and then

click ok. A hyperlink icon will appear on the task with hyperlink and it takes you to the

hyperlinked document upon clicking the icon.

Add columns of custom information

Custom columns can help determine schedule characteristics faster. Helping you to track,

monitor and review your project. To add custom column, simply click on the add custom

column, select the column you wish to add and click on “insert this field”. The inserted column

appears on your chart. There are two custom fields you can choose from; default custom fields

and custom field. Choose according to your need. When you are done with the selection and

fixation, click done and return back to the home page.

Set deadlines and constrain tasks

Under this section, you can set and adjust your leads and lags. Remember, your leads come up

when there is no time left enough for the project and lags is when there is still time. Under lag,

you can still have time to play, joke or laugh around but not same with lead. Most often, most

project managers can fast track their jobs while still on lag because if you miss that period, you

will be forced to crash the job. No matter what be the case, whether lead or lag, fast tracking or

crashing, remember that your priority is to meet up with customer expectation.

To set deadlines, click on the task in the right-side and set the date on the task wizard. An arrow

will appear on the chart when you are done with each task.
 Deadlines

With this, it shows you lag or lead without altering your start or finish date which had been set

and predetermined respectively.

Also notice that the kind of constraint you choose can change the entire schedule so you have to

be careful in choosing constraint type. Else, I will advice you leave it at default until you’ve

really understood how to manipulate it.

Estimating Activity Duration

Activity duration is simply the length of time required to perform a task, phase or project. This
can be entered manually by inputting the length in the “duration” column. By default, the
duration is set in days but it can be adjusted to other time currencies like min, hr, wk, mth and yr.
To change the time currency, click on “Tools” on the menu bar, then on “options” then on
“schedule”. Then in “Duration is entered in”, choose the time currency. Same is applicable other
parameters in this window.
After fixing your duration, on print preview, you get a figure like this;
Project Resourcing: Estimating Project Resources.

Resourcing is simply identifying, acquiring and integrating your resources so as to execute the

project successfully. These resources will include all human and non-human resources needed

for the successful completion of the project. The human resources will include your team,

sponsors, partners, supporters, contractors, suppliers, and vendors among others while non-

human resources will include all materials, equipment, machineries among others that you will

need.

Resource Database/Resource Sheet.

In resourcing, the first assignment is to create your resource database. To do so, click on “view”

on your menu bar, select “resource sheet” then fill out the resource sheet accordingly.
The resource sheet contains elements like resource name, type, material labels through to codes.

The resource name allows you to input the name of your resource.

Type allows you to choose the type of resource whether work, material or cost. These are

grouped majorly into fixed and variable costs. Work resources are used for people and

equipment while material resources are for consumable resources. Cost resources are financial

obligations to your project. Examples of cost resources include travel expenses, asset costs, or

other fixed task costs.

When you set up a cost resource, you set the accrue at value which is prorated by default. When

you assign a cost resource to a task, you specify the cost value for the assignment. You cannot

set any work values; instead you will want to enter the time phased cost values if what Project

has calculated for you is incorrect for your specific accrual needs.
To enter a cost resource:

1. In the view on the right, select the Email Address column, by clicking on the column

header.

2. On the Insert menu, click Column.

3. In the Field name box, select Type, and then click OK.

4. Repeat steps 1, 2 and 3, to insert the Accrue at field.

5. In the Resource name field of the sheet, type the name of the cost resource.

6. In the Type field, select Cost.

7. In the Accrue at field, choose a value that supports your needs (Start, Prorated, End).

Initials allows you to abbreviate the name of the resource.

Material Label allows for insertion of the unit of measurement for the material. For example kg,

ton, cm, m etc.

Group shows which department a particular resource is functional. For example, having a

resource name as quality supervisor bearing qs as initial will be placed in the QAQC department.

Maximum Units allows you to set the limit of usage for a particular resource. It is at 100%

default but assuming you have a resource you will use half-way to the project, you will adjust it

to 50%. If not, the resource may be over-allocated which is more cost. Also, determining the

usage wrongly can also lead to under-allocation thus making the work slow.

Standard Rate is the amount of money a resource will consume per hour.

Overtime Rate is the amount of money a resource will consume upon exceeding the standard

time.
Cost/Use allows you to estimate the amount of money you are to pay a particular resource per

usage in the project. For example, if you fix per usage for a particular resource N100 and the

resource performs five different tasks the same day, he gets N500. But assuming, he does the

same task, he gets only N100.

Note: We shall look more into std rate, ovt rate and cost/use while dealing with raising budget.

Accrue At allows you to determine when to make payment either in the beginning, in-between

progress or at the end.

Calendar base allows you to choose your calendar.

Code allows you to set codes for the resources.

Let’s work on our resource sheet now; let’s assume our resources to P,Q,R,X,Y,Z and let X, Y

be work resources, Z, P as material resources and Q, R as cost. Notice that for work resources X,

Y, material label is not editable because work resources are not material resources. Also notice

that Z, P that are material resources, max. units and ovt rate are not editable and finally, notice

that cost resources, Q, R, do not have any cost to it. This should guide us further on how to

choose our resource type.

To further butter-mint your resource sheet, you have to go back to your task wizard. Click on

Specify people and equipment for the project then fill out the form accordingly.
Click on Specify the booking types for resources to fix whether the resource is proposed or

committed. Only committed resources are to be paid for. To fix whether a resource is proposed

or committed, click on the resource name and click on either proposed or committed on the task

wizard column. Or, you can click on the booking type cell corresponding to the resource name

and select the type in the scroll.

In case you choose to redefine your working calendar, you can proceed to Define working times

for resources else, proceed to Assign people and equipment to tasks . Upon clicking on it, a

dialogue box pops up. Click on the task in the task name and click on the resource name in the

dialogue box you wish to assign to the task, then click assign. Repeat until all resources are

assigned, then click on close. Immediately you are done, you will notice that the tasks now have

resources to take care of them.

 PART FOUR:

ADVANCED

Budgeting

Tracking

Reporting

Budgeting

One of the most useful aspect of MS Project is raising budget. It is a very delicate work to do

with this tool. If you fix your resource types wrongly, you will have a wrong budget. To make

sure you do not make mistake in your budget, make sure you use the resource sheet variables or

elements right. Ok, let’s re-visit our resource sheet.

Standard rate calculates cost per hour. Overtime rate calculates the money on additional time,

cost/use calculates cost per usage. Proposed resources are resources planned for but are not yet

in use. They are not calculated for payment. Committed resources are resources that are being

spent in the project execution; they calculated for payment.

For example,

i. If you fix N100 as std rate for day for a work resource, the resource would have

consumed N100*8hrs per day which is N800. If the resource is committed for one

week (40hrs), the resource will be budgeted for N100*40 which is N4, 000. The

same applies when it is committed for one month, one year and any other. But if

proposed, the cost will not be calculated for pay. Assuming there is overtime, the

ovt rate will also be calculated based on the job calendar work-hour that had been

predetermined. On the other side, you can decide to budget on the basis of

cost/use. If the resource is committed for one week, the resource can only be paid
 for when it is used. If the resource is only used for 1hr and the cost/use is N100,

then the resource gets N100. If it is used for 1 day, it is N100. But assuming you

use the resource for three different tasks, he gets N100 for each, and so, the

cumulative will be N300.

ii. If it is for a material resource, there will be no ovt rate. It is only std rate and

cost/use.

iii. For cost resources, no rate is given.

I guess with the explanation above, you can fix your cost appropriately. We shall look at the

report of our budget when we get to project report.

Tracking Your Project

Tracking simply means monitoring and controlling project performance using variables as

planned, earned and actual.

Alright, back to your wizard. Follow the steps.

Save a baseline plan to compare with later versions

Simply save the project baseline to serve as a guide to monitor performance.

Prepare to track the progress of your project

Choose NO if you are working offline. Continue to step2 where you can choose your tracking

system.

Always track by entering the Percent of Work Complete

Always track by entering the Actual Work Done and Work Remaining

Always track by entering the hours of work done per time period

The three systems above are for you to choose from.

Assuming you choose percent of work complete, a column will be created for it to help you

manipulate your plan. Same applies to actual work done and work remaining and the other.

i. For Always track by entering the Percent of Work Complete, you have a view like

this;
ii. For Always track by entering the Actual Work Done and Work Remaining
iii. For Always track by entering the hours of work done per time period

All systems are good for tracking. It is left for you to choose one that is conversant to you.

Immediately you choose your tracking system, click on “save and finish”.

Check the progress of the project

The view will be like the one above. A status indicator column appears on the chart showing

you the tasks that had been completed. It is left for you to fix this numbers based on your

perception of performance. You can fix 50%, 60%, 99% or any other percentage of performance

you perceive. The tasks that have 100% are ticked good showing that they are completed.

Make changes to the project

If you want to make further changes to your working time, then click here and effect the

changes.
See what is driving the start date of a task

It simply shows you the elements that drive your project. When you click on it, then click on a

task to view the drivers.

Project Reporting

Now that we are done with creating our WBS, resourced and tracked, it’s time to view our

report. Still use your task wizard and follow the steps.

Select a view or report

Display or analyze project information with a view

Create a project report

Two models are available here. You choose either the latter or the former.

If you choose “Display or analyze project information with a view”, you get a view like;
From the wizard end, choose the kind of view you wish to view. For instance, you can choose

Network Diagram Relationship to view your precedence diagramme.

If you preview this chart, you have a view like this;

With this view, you determine whether your dependencies were right else, you will have to run

an iteration to be sure that your sequencing is ok.

For Resource Graph, you get the view like this.

Create a Project Report.

You can generate reports to display task, resource, assignment or cost information. To select and

print one of the reports offered by Project, click the link below:

Display Visual Reports...

Display Reports...
If you choose Display Visual Reports--, there is a pop up that shows all the view you have to

view.

This view integrates MS Excel to the program which provides charts and graphs for proper

analysis.

For instance, if you choose to view a report like budget work report, you click on it then click on

view to direct you to the excel representation.

You can also view the tabular interpretation;
Display Reports

If you choose this option, you get a window like this

You can choose the report from the pop up window by double clicking on the report folder you

wish to view. For example, assuming I want to view my budget elements, I double-click on

costs and it opens up, then I choose the element I want to report on.
With this, you can view and print as many reports as possible. You need not to re-type. All you

need do is to be sure that the report is according to what you have done but in a case where the

report tend to be wrong before you, it means you have to re-iterate your plan. Identify the errors

and re-work your plan.

Finally, you may have to experience issues where you have to change the currency symbol to fit

your own currency or perhaps you want general manipulation over the schedule. Simply click on

“Tools” then select “options”. A window will come up like this;

For currency symbol, click on view, then change the symbol to your choice. For those in Nigeria,

you can simply type in capital N to denote Naira

Exceptional Cases;

Most of the operations in MS Project 2007 require that you create and connect to a server
account where you can integrate your project. Some of these cases are;

Identify risks to the project

Add documents to the project

Publish project information to the Web

You will have to connect to the internet to make good use of them.
 PART FIVE:

SUMMARY

With what we’ve done so far, one of the best things that can happen to a project manager no

matter the level you operate is to understand the workability of Microsoft Office Project thus

acquiring the skill. In project management introduction, we always talk about the related

endeavors of project management which include program and portfolio management. They tend

to be a compounding of different individual projects thus presenting them as real time big

project. Well, no matter the bigness of the project, do not be scared because all can be scheduled,

resourced and tracked using the MS Project.

To further maximize this opportunity, you have to do the following;

Get the MS Project Software as described in this book or you can order by sending a

message to us at bntconsortium@[Link].

Install the software.

Practice

Practice

Practice.

This is the only way you can become proficient in MS Project.

I believe you would make an amazing project manager.

Wishing You All The Best.

See you at the top.

Eburuche, O. C. Banito
References

Microsoft Office project,(2007); Microsoft Office Project Help.

Norman, R. Howes (2001). Modern Project Management. Succcessfully Integrating Project

Management Areas and Processes. AMACOM.

Project Management Institute (2008). A Guide To Project Management Book of Knowledge

(PMBOK Guide). Fourth Edition. Project Management Institute [Link].