8/4/2018
LECTURE 8’
Project Planning with Ms Project
Introduction
Microsoft Project 2016 is a powerful program that
helps you plan and manage a wide range of
projects (or Primavera)
Ms Project is the most widely used project
management software system in the business
environment today
It is powerful, easy to use and available at a very
reasonable price
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MS Project Strengths
Good step-by-step tutorial for beginners
Good searchable keyword help function
Based on data entry – once configured, user enters data
and Project automatically:
• Computes all times and costs
Optimistic, Pessimistic, Likely and PERT- expected
• Identifies Critical Path, computes late & early start dates, slack
• Computes % complete on a task and project level
• Identifies areas of over-tasking of resources
• Draws a wide ranges of charts and graphs specific to the project
• Creates a wide range of reports specific to the project
VERY customizable to meet individual user needs 3
MS Project Strengths
All charts, diagrams, and reports are designed
to help a manager organize and track a project
All come in a standard configuration
• Most typically used information
• Easiest to read format
All are also customizable to show the most
meaningful data
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MS Project Strengths
Flexible and customizable
Designed to enhance communication
• Between manager and workers
• Between managers and stakeholder
• A good tool to manage expectations
Charts, diagrams, tables etc can be saved in
various formats for use:
• On the web, in print, electronically
MS Project Benefits
Much less work for a user compared to
Review
manual/MS Excel project planning
Does most of the required calculations
Wide range of graphs, charts, reports
Very customizable, very flexible
Makes communicating project status easier –
expectation management
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MS Project Hazards
Very Automated – easy to lose touch
Review
No Risk Assessment function
• Must be done in MS Excel/manually
Based on PERT/CPM but also influenced by EVM
• Weighs by project/task costs, not just completion
• Does not consider intangible progress that is common
in Social Sciences projects
Knowledge as part of the process, not just the result
Progress as part of the process not just task completion
Tips for Using MS Project
Know the project goal before beginning
Know the required tasks before beginning
Identify resources before beginning
Identify task relationships before beginning
Refer to the tutorial as often as needed
Refer to help section as often as needed
Keep the configuration as simple as possible
Avoid losing touch with the project
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MS Project
MS Project is only a tool –it does not create or
“own” the project – it reflects the data provided
The simpler the configuration, the easier the
data will be to understand, for all involved
If the plan doesn’t look right, it probably isn’t
• Check resource and task assignments/relationships
• Check constraints and dependencies
• Look for what has changed in a plan and follow the
clues - a small unintentional change can wreak havoc
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Introduction
With a good project management system in place, you
should be able to answer such questions:
1. What tasks must be performed, and in what order, to
produce the deliverable of the project?
2. When should each task be performed, and what is the
final deadline?
3. Who will complete these tasks?
4. How much will it cost?
5. What if some tasks are not completed as scheduled?
6. What’s the best way to communicate project details to
those who have an interest in the project?
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Introduction - Steps
1. Introducing Project
2. Working with Schedule for new project
3. Building a Task List
4. Setting up Resources & Assigning Resources to Tasks
5. Setting up Cost Resources
6. Review Project Information
7. Viewing the Critical Path
8. Tracking Progress on Tasks
9. Leveling Overallocated Resources
10. Viewing and Printing Project Status
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Project Interface
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Project Interface
• Quick Access Tool Bar: Customizable area you can be add favorite
used commands
• Tell me box: Find quickly a project command
• Ribbon: Contains commands you use to perform actions in project
• Groups: Collection of related commands
• Commands: The specific features you use to perform actions in
project
• Status bar: display some important details like schedule mode of
new task
• View Shortcuts: Quickly switch between recently used views and
reports
• Zoom slider: zooms the active view or report in or out
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Working with new schedule
Creating a New Project Plan
1. On the Start menu, point to All Programs, click Microsoft
Office, and then click Microsoft Project 2016
2. Click New to open the new page and click blank project
3. On the Project tab, in the Properties group, click Project
Information Project Information dialog box appears.
4. Set project calendar. On the Project tab, in the Properties
group, click Change Working Time
5. Click OK and Save
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Working with new schedule
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Working with new schedule
Start date of
New project
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Working with new schedule
• Set nonworking days in project calendar
• There is 3 basic calendar in the project. The Standard
Calendar is default
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Working with new schedule
• In the Start Date box, type 1/8/2018, or click
the down arrow to display the calendar and select
Jan 18, 2018.
• Click OK to accept this start date. On the File tab,
click Save.
• You customize calendar in the Change Working
Time Dialog Box
• Enter the plan title and other properties: Subject,
Manager, Company, Comments: On the File
tab,Click File Info- Then click File information-
Choose Advanced Properties
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Enter plan title and other properties
click
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Working with new schedule
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Building a Task List
Enter Task Names: Type Identify target consumers,
and then press the Enter key
The indicators in this column
tell you whether a task is
manually or automatically
scheduled
Enter the following task names, pressing Enter after
each task name: Develop draft questionnaire, Pilot test
questionnaire, Review comments, Finalize questionnaire, Prepare
mailing labels, Print questionnaire, Distribute questionnaire, Receive
response , Input response data, Analyze data, Prepare report of
findings and recommendations 21
Building a Task List
Your screen should look similar to the following illustration.
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Entering Durations
• When working in MS. Project, you can use abbreviations for durations
If you enter this abbreviation It appears like this And it means
m Min Minute
h hr Hour
d day day
w wk Week
mo mon Month
• Automatically scheduled tasks always have a duration (one day
by default).
• Manually scheduled tasks, however, do not initially have any
duration
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Creating a Task List
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Switching Task Scheduling from
Manual to Automatic
1. Select the names of tasks 1 through 13
These tasks are currently set to be manually scheduled,
as indicated by the pushpin indicator in the Task Mode
column.
2. On the Task tab, in the Tasks group, click Auto
Schedule.
Project switches these tasks to be automatically
scheduled.
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Linking Tasks
Most projects require tasks to be performed in a specific order
These two tasks have a finish-to-start relationship (also called a
dependency)
Four types of task relationships.
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Switching Task Scheduling from
Manual to Automatic
Indicators in the Task Mode column The formatting of automatically scheduled task
tell you that these tasks are now bars is different from that of manually
automatically scheduled scheduled tasks
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Checking the Plan’s Duration
In the Timeline view, you can see the project start and finish dates
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Checking the Plan’s Duration
On the Project tab, in the Properties group, click Project Information.
The Project Information dialog box appears.
Click Statistics
Duration information in more detail
Plan’s duration
Finish date cannot be edited
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Setting Up Resources
Microsoft Project 2016 supports three types of resources
Work resources: include the people and equipment
needed to complete the tasks in a project.
Cost resources: represent a financial cost
associated with a task that you need to account for.
Ex: categories of expenses like travel, entertainment,
and so on.
Material resources: are consumables that you use
up as the project proceeds. Ex: a construction project
might need to track steel or concrete as it is used
throughout the project.
Effective resource management is one of the
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most powerful advantages of using MS Project
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Setting Up Resources
On the View tab, click Resource Sheet
Enter the initial list of resources When you create a new work
resource, Project assigns it 100%
Max. Units by default
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Enter a note for a resource
On the View tab, click Resource Sheet
On the Resource tab, in the Properties group, click on the Details
botton- On the Format tab, in the Details group, click Notes
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Assigning Work Resources to Tasks
On the Resource tab, click Assign Resources or
Assign directly resources on the task name
Name of resource appears next to the
Gantt bar
A cost value and check mark appear in
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Assign Resources box
Setting Up Cost Resources
You can use a cost resource to represent a financial cost
associated with a task in a project.
The sole purpose of a cost resource is to associate a particular
type of cost with one or more tasks such as travel, entertainment,
or training
• In the Resource Sheet, click the next empty cell in the
Resource Name column.
• Type Travel and press the Tab key.
• In the Type field, click Cost.
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Entering Fixed Costs
Fixed cost is a specific monetary amount budgeted for a task
such as a setup fee, charged in addition to a per-day rental
fee, for a piece of equipment, building permit
Fixed costs should accrue as follows:
● Start: The entire fixed cost is scheduled for the start of the
task.
● End: The entire fixed cost is scheduled for the end of the
task.
● Prorated: The fixed cost is distributed evenly over the
duration of the task. For example, if a task has a $100 fixed
cost and is 75 percent complete, the project has incurred $75
against that task.
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Check the plan after assigning resources
Three questions: Who- How long- How much.
1. On the View tab, in the Task Views group, click Other Views, and
then click Task Sheet. The Task Sheet view appears.
2. On the View tab, in the Data group, click Tables, and then click Cost.
The Cost table appears, replacing the Entry table.
3. In the Fixed Cost field for task 3, type 500, and press the Tab key.
4. In the Fixed Cost Accrual field, select End, and press Tab.
Displaying the Task Sheet view with the Cost table displayed is a good way to see cost
details per task, and rolled up to summary tasks and to the project summary task
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Reviewing Project Information
Project start Project finish
Check the project plan's
essential details like
duration, work
and cost
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Viewing the Project’s Critical Path
A critical path is the series of tasks that will push out
the project’s end date if the tasks are delayed.
The project finish date is of great importance in most
projects, If you want to shorten the duration of a project
you must crashing the critical path.
One way to see the critical path is to switch to the Detail
Gantt view
• On the View tab, in the Task Views group, click the
down arrow below the Gantt Chart button and then
click More Views.
• In the More Views dialog box, select Detail Gantt,
and then click [Link] project appears in the
Detail Gantt view.
• On the View tab,click Entire Project.
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Viewing the Project’s Critical Path
The Gantt bars of tasks on the critical path are formatted in red
Checking the project’s critical path and, when necessary, shortening the
overall project duration are important project management skills.
Critical task
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Non-Critical task
Tracking Progress on Tasks
Tracking: Tracking project performance and comparing it with the
original plan means recording project details such as who did
what work, when the work was done, and at what cost
The project manager must know how well the project team is
performing and when to take corrective action
Before begin tracking progress, the level of detail should be
determined:
• Record project work as scheduled. This level works best if
everything in the project occurs exactly as planned.
• Record each task’s percentage of completion: 25, 50, 75, or
100 percent.
• Record the actual start, actual finish, actual work, and actual
and remaining duration for each task or assignment.
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Tracking a Project as Scheduled
The simplest approach to tracking progress is to report that the actual
work is proceeding exactly as planned
On the Project tab, in the Status group, click Update Project. The
Update Project dialog box appears.
Make sure the Update work as complete through option is selected.
In the adjacent date box, type or select 5/16/18. Click OK.
Project records the completion percentage for the tasks that were
scheduled to start before May 16
Task’s completion percentage
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Entering a Task’s Completion Percentage
After work has begun on a task, you can quickly record its progress as a
percentage; 0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100%
In the Task Name column, select the name of task 3, Pilot test
questionnaire. On the Task tab, in the Schedule group, click 100%
Complete.
In the Task Name column, select the name of task 2. On the Task tab,
in the Schedule group, click 80% Complete
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Leveling Overallocated Resources
Resource leveling is the process of delaying or splitting
resource’s work on a task to resolve an overallocation.
Resource leveling is a powerful tool, but it accomplishes only
a few basic things: it delays tasks, splits tasks, and delays
resource assignments. Steps:
• On the View tab, in the Resource Views Report group,
click Resources Usage. Note that any resources names
appear in red that is overallocated
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Leveling Overallocated Resources
Hung is overallocated 44
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Leveling Overallocated Resources
On the View tab, in the Resource Views Report group, click
Resources Allocation and choose more views to display Resource
Allocation view. Then click Apply
On the Report tab, in the Views Report group, click Resources, and
then click Overallocated Resources (manually)
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Leveling Overallocated Resources
To display the Leveling Gantt view
On the View tab, in the Task Views group, click the Gantt Chart arrow, and
then click More Views.
In the More Views dialog box, click Leveling Gantt, and then click Apply.
Project switches to the Leveling Gantt view.
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Leveling Overallocated Resources
Resource leveling: The process of delaying or splitting a
resource’s work on a task to resolve an overallocation
Resource leveling is a powerful tool, but it accomplishes
only delaying tasks, splitting tasks, and delaying
resource assignments
it cannot replace your good judgment about resource
availability, task durations, relationships, and constraints
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Leveling Overallocated Resources
On the Resource tab, In the Level group, Click on the
Leveling Options
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Leveling Overallocated Resources
The finish date of the project is changed
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Viewing and Printing Project Status
Formatting a Network Diagram View
In traditional project management, the Network Diagram is a
standard way of representing project activities and their
relationships.
Tasks are represented as boxes, or nodes, and the
relationships between tasks are drawn as lines connecting
the nodes
This is useful if more focus on the relationships between
activities rather than on their durations.
• In the Task name column, click the name of task 5,
Prepare mailing labels.
• On the View tab, in the Task Views group, click Network
Diagram.
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Network Diagram View
Relationships between tasks
are represented as arrows
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Printing Project Status
On the File tab, click Print
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View Project Status
On the Report tab, in the View Reports group. The Reports dialog
box appears, displaying the broad categories of reports available in
Project.
Project overview: in the Report Tab, click Dashboards.
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Printing Resource Overview
In the View Report, and then click Resources, then Resources Overview
In the File tab, Click Print
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Printing Cost Overview
In the View Report, and then click Cost, then click Resource Cost Overview
In the File tab, Click Print
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Printing Project Cashflow
In the View Report, and then click Cost, then CashFlow
In the File tab, Click Print
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Questions?
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