Wiley Project 2010 For Dummies
Contents
1. 20 Peak Units 200 100 100 100 100 100 cm gt 4 m gt Ready Z News Tasks Auto Schedules i Figure 1 6 An Unstarted Tasks report D Chapter 1 Project Management What It Is and Why You Should Care 7 4 Auto Schedult Vist locations S days Thu 7 8 11 Wed 7 14 19 2 CEO VP Facilities Realtor 5 Auta Schedule Select location 2 day Tru 7 18 10 Fn 7 16 10 4 VP Faciiities 50 CEO 5t Jato Schedule Financing B days Tru 2935 40 Man 7 26 19 4 CEO UP Facittias Lowe OF to Schedulr Contract days Mon 7 15 10 Man 2 26 10 CLOCSOM P Foctities St 2 Auta Schedule Gosing hes Tuc 7 22 10 Tue 7 27 10 76 CEO VP Facilities Realtor 10 Asto Schedule Iire archsect tims Tue 1 22 10 Mon 82 10 8 VP Facitties Project Mar u i Marvally Sole Determine specifications T days Man 3 2 10 Wed 8 11 10 10 CEO SO 4 Project Manag Planning to keep things on track Projects aren t frozen in amber like some organizational mosquito They go through more changes than a politician s platform in a campaign year That s where Project s capability to make changes to your project data comes in handy After you build all your tasks give them durations and dependencies and assign all your resources and costs you set a baseline A baseline is a snap shot of your project at the moment you feel your plan is final you ve gotten all the required approvals and you re ready to proceed with the project After yo2. dencies among tasks have been established enabling Project to calculate the resulting overall timing of the project One other brief note about the timing of tasks In addition to applying depen dencies to tasks you can apply constraints For example say that you don t want to start shipping your new cake flavor until you get the ad for it in your holiday catalog so you set a dependency between those two events You can also set a constraint that says that you must start producing the cakes no later than November 3 In this case if you don t make the catalog deadline the product will still ship on November 3 that task will not be allowed to slip its constraint because of this dependency relationship 13 14 Part I Setting the Stage for Project PC Figure 1 3 This sched ule includes tasks with both timing and depen dencies PCS New Fimess Center Staffing Micresoft Project ow Ss Project view Format A s amp hark on Track _ Caliorl J0 PRR Manually Auto checule Scnedule ask Task Neme V Duratior Start Oct31 10 a Made sim T wT k E E aay Maan 1 ITM G Determine staffing needs a days Mon1 GG VP Uperations Staff training Manager HR Manager winite Job descriptions Sdays Thuli 2 Staff Training Manager HR Manager HR Assistant b Place ads 1 day friday Ta tttosistont 3 Hold staffing event 2 days Thu 12 TD lh raining Managers Hh bres Hire managers 4
3. Figure 1 12 for example shows incre ments in days 28 Part I Setting the Stage for Project Figure 1 13 The vari ous tabs in this dialog box hold a wealth of information about a single task in your project EE You start building a project by entering tasks Simply click a cell in the Task Name column of the sheet section and then type the name You can enter and edit details of a task by entering information directly into various columns which you can display in many views or by double clicking the task name in the sheet to access the Task Information dialog box see Figure 1 13 I get into more detail about entering task information in Chapter 2 Task Information General Predecessors Resources Advanced Notes Custom Fields Name visit locations Duration Sdays lt Estimated Percent complete 0 gt Priority 500 Schedule Mode Manually Scheduled Inactive Auto Schedule Dates Start Thu 7 8 10 v Finish Wed 7 14 10 X Display on Timeline Help OK Cancel Starting with templates Reinventing the wheel has never been one of my favorite sports so I m grate ful that Microsoft provides some convenient project templates through the online site Office com These include projects by type for example an engi neering project or office move Templates already have many tasks appropri ate to the task type created for you Templates typically contain sample tasks broken into logic
4. Help H Options a l TeS a Download Eg Eit Direct marketing program Engineering project plan External technical eadiness tr ning Saving a Project for Posterity ar Saving Project files works just as saving does in most other software you ve used Here s a reminder To save a Project file that you haven t saved before follow these steps 1 Choose File Save As You can choose Save instead if you created the project from scratch rather than from a template 2 Use the navigation pane at the left Windows 7 and Vista or the Save In list Windows XP to locate the folder where you want to save the file then click to select it 3 In the File Name text box type a name for the project 4 Click the Save button It s good organizational practice to create a folder for your project where you save in one place not only your Project files but also supporting documents e mails and other items You can create a new folder from within the Save As dialog box by clicking the New Folder button Chapter 1 Project Management What It Is and Why You Should Care 3 Getting Help from Project If you can get to work without mishap and turn on your computer you probably know how to use a help system in software too Table 1 1 offers a rundown of the types of help you can find in Project 2010 when you click the Help button just above the right end of the Ribbon or when you press F1 Table 1 1 Help F
5. is a task of zero duration In essence it simply marks a moment in time that must be reflected in your Project outline Typical milestones are the approval of a brochure design and flipping the switch to start up an assembly line Such tasks don t involve any real work or effort but they must be com pleted for the project to move ahead Project doesn t provide magic formulas for duration You assign duration based on your own experience and judgment Does designing a product pack age take three days or three weeks Will obtaining a building permit happen in a day or a month Remember that you re dealing with city hall so think before you answer Project isn t an oracle You have to provide facts figures and educated guesses to build your Project schedule After that information is entered though Project can do some wonderful things to help you maintain your schedule and monitor your progress Task dependencies The final piece in the puzzle of how long your project will take is the concept of dependencies or the timing relationships among tasks If you have a sched ule that includes ten tasks that all begin at the same time your entire project will take as long as the longest task see Figure 1 2 After you define and implement timing relationships among tasks your schedule can stretch over time like a long rubber band For example one task may begin only after another is finished Another task can start halfway through t
6. ments to online server locations and ask for team input The Professional version of Project offers the ability to work with Project Server and Project Web App also called Project Web Application formerly known as Project Web Access which enhance workgroup collaboration You can take advantage of an online project center and resource center with areas for discussions progress tracking document exchange and more Part V of this book Working with Enterprise Projects looks at how to take advantage of the enterprise wide features of Project Server and Project Web App 24 Part l Setting the Stage for Project Getting Started ar As Shakespeare said In delay there lies no plenty I don t know about you but I need all the plenty I can get so it s time to jump in and start using Project You have two choices when starting a new project You can build a project from scratch by entering individual task and resource details or you can use a project template that already contains data related to your industry or the type of project you re doing Starting from scratch When you open Project 2010 you see a blank project file on screen You can start building your new project directly in this blank schedule Starting to create a new project usually involves entering some general project informa tion and then adding some task information You can open anew blank project schedule at any time by choosing File
7. 3 2 Hire staff 8 days Moni Q 10 li Interviews Sdys Moni GE Steff training Manager HR Manager E 11 Selections 2days Moni GEE VP Operations Stalf Training Manager HR Manager ay 12 g Training 12 days OE 8 133 i G Winte training scripts 10days Wedi Staff raining Manager H Assistant uli Maneger training session 2days Moni GEED Staff Training Manager 1s i 2 Staff training session tdays Moni GED Steff Training Manager HR Assistant 16 j Write employee handbook 4days Moni GEED HR Manager HR Assistant 17 i 2 Distibute employee handbook 6hrs Monl HR Manager HR Assistant Handbooks 35 Handbooks 18 2 F Test run adys Moni G is 2 Identify test customers 2days Mon1 GD VP Operations Staff Training Manager 20 Test training sessions 3 days Moni GD P Operations Staff Training Manager HR Manager HR Assistant 2 l 2 Evaluations 2 days Mon1 GED VP Uperations Staff training Manager HR Manager 2 j 2 Review meeting hrs Moni HR Manager Staff Training Manager VP Operations HR Assistant v 4i gt m gt Ready B News Tasks Auto Schedulec SSeS Here are some examples of dependencies 1 You can t begin to use a new piece of equipment until you install it 1 You must wait for a freshly poured concrete foundation to dry before you can begin to build on it v You can t start to ship a new drug product until the FDA approves it Figure 1 3 shows a project plan where each task s duration and the depen
8. E External 300 20 00 hr 0 00 hr 0 00 Prorated Standa Pas Plumbers p External 300 350 00 hr 0 00 hr 0 00 Prorated Standa amp 15 Orywallers b External s00 515 00 hr 0 09 r 0 00 Prorated standa 16 Finish Carpenters F External 200 40 00 hr 0 09 hr 0 00 Prorated standa 17 Painters p External 400 15 00 hr 0 00 hr 30 00 Prorated Standa 18 Ledor t External 100 510 00 hr 0 00 r 0 00 Prorated Stenda 19 Permit P Expense Prorated 20 Materials Cost m Expense Prorated 22 Blueprints Materia Blueprint Pages 5 Expense 15 00 0 00 Prorated 4 gt Ready B News Tasks Auto Schedulec OBEE Here s one other important thing you should know about resources They tend to have conflicts No I m not talking about conference room brawls although that happens These conflicts have to do with assigned resources that become overallocated for their available work time For example if you assign one poor soul to three 8 hour tasks that must all happen on the same 16 Part I Setting the Stage for Project _ Figure 1 5 Study resource usage with the graphical Resource Graph view day and in the same eight hours Project has features that do everything but jump up on your desk and set off an alarm to warn you of the conflict Luckily Project also provides tools that help you resolve those conflicts Spreading the news I m one of those people who need instant gratification One of
9. days Mon 1 g 2 Interviews I days Mon 1 T Staff Trait 2 Selections 1day Thu 14 ivea z Hire staff 1Ddas Thu t2 Interviews O days Thu 12 ba Selections 2days Tue 12 2 Training 23 75 days Thu 12 2 inte training scripts Wdays Thu1 z Manager training session 2days Tue ly 2 Staff training session days Thu af Write employee nandbook 4 days Wedl 2 Distibute employee handbook S hrs Tue lf 2 F Test run 75days Tuet 2 Identify test customers 2days Tuel Test training sessions 3 days Thu 1 2 Evaluations 2 days Tue af 2 Review meeting hrs Thu af Y aK m gt Ready B News Tasks Auto Schedulec HABEL You can find out more about constraints in Chapter 4 and about the fine art of managing dependencies in Chapter 6 Lining up your resources When people first use Project some get a bit confused about resources Resources aren t just people A resource can be a piece of equipment you rent a meeting room that you have to pay an hourly fee to use or a box of nails or a software program you have to buy Project allows three kinds of resources work resources material resources and cost resources A work resource is charged by how many hours or days the resource often human works on a task A material resource such as sewing supplies or steel is charged by a per use cost or by a unit of measure ment such as square yards or linear feet or tons A cost resource has a spe cific cost each time you use
10. of project management because frankly projects are chock full of risk You run the risk that your resources won t perform that materials will arrive late that your cus tomer will change all the parameters of the project halfway through well you get the picture Risk management is the art of anticipating risks ranking them from most to least likely and determining strategies to prevent the most likely ones from occurring Project helps you with risk management by allowing you to try out what if scenarios You can change the start date or length of a task or phase of tasks for example and see just what that change does to your schedule such as the delays cost overruns and resource conflicts that might occur in such a scenario down to the last hour and penny Having this kind of information at your fingertips makes risk man agement easier and almost painless 1 Resource management consists of using resources wisely A good project w New Fimess Cente manager finds the right resource for the job assigns that person a reason able workload stays alert for shifts in the schedule that cause that resource to be overbooked and during the life of the project makes adjustments that keep all resources most productive In Project tools are available such as a resource graph traditionally called a histogram and the resource usage chart shown in Figure 1 9 which reflects resource workload R id cation PR P
11. see you could spend a year just working your way through all the help topics in Project Don t worry they re there when you need them 32 Part I Setting the Stage for Project
12. the first things I ask about learning how to use any new software product is What s in it for me Until now I ve told you about the type of information you have to put into Project information about tasks task dependencies and resources But isn t it about time you got something back from Project Of course it is You finally reached one of the big payoffs for entering all that information reporting After you enter your information Project offers a wealth of viewing and reporting options to help you review your project and communicate your progress to your project team clients and management You can generate predesigned reports based on information in your sched ule or simply print any of the views you can display in Project Project 2010 offers a set of basic reports and visual reports Figures 1 5 and 1 6 show you just two of the reporting options available in Project OCRA om fie _ Tesk Resource Project View Format e ag3 i Seen ee Mron BB P inspect U aa 4 PERER m J Gantt ast B u 4 F it to Move Task Int oll chart 7 gt AFAR L t edule f Mod E view Clipbosrd Font Schedule Tasks Insert Properties Editing at 8 7 10 sun 8 22 10 a ct Start S EE irish E Thu 7 1410 FJA Aug 8 10 Aug 5 10 YN KE AD EES EAN TN p 5 E s 7 M E JY PET ET ER LEN ja Fe 200 VP Facilities Overallocated ME Allocated 80 50 t0
13. As command on the File tab to save the file as a regular Project file the correct type will be selected automatically with a new name From there you can delete tasks move tasks around or add tasks as necessary for your project After opening a template be sure to check its project information choose Project Project Information to make sure that the Start Date and Calendar options are set as you want If you modify a file and think that you might use that set of tasks again for future projects consider saving the file as a custom template Just choose File Save As and then select Project Template in the Save as Type list Note that after you download a template you can select it without download ing it again To do so choose File New click My Templates at the top of the Available Templates screen and then double click the template in the Personal Templates tab of the New dialog box 29 30 Part I Setting the Stage for Project Figure 1 15 The Backstage view pre views the selected template EEE Pil zi Project Microsoft Project O w File Task Rezource Project view Format fd See Availahle Templates Annual report preparation BL Seve As lownlosd size STKE gt Plans gt Busi By open 4 Home Plans Business ing AAAA 1Vote gt c Office com Templates rch Of forter ti Close info Recent 3 Print Annual report preparation Customer feedback 7 s monitoring Save amp Send a
14. Chapter 1 Project Management What It Is and Why You Should Care In This Chapter Discovering how traditional project management makes the move to software Understanding what elements of a project are managed in Project Understanding the project manager s role Exploring the role of the Internet in project management Using a template to start a new project Saving a project file Finding help in Project M o to the world of computerized project management with Microsoft Project If you ve never used project management software you re entering a brave new world It s like walking from the office of 25 years ago with no fax voicemail or e mail into the office of today with its wealth of high tech devices Everything you used to do with handwritten to do lists word processors and spreadsheets all magically comes together in Project However this transi tion won t come in a moment and you need a basic understanding of what project management software can do to get you up to speed If you ve used previous versions of Project this little overview can help you refresh your memory as well as ease you into a few of the new features of Project 2010 So even if you re a seasoned project manager take a minute to review this chapter It provides the foundation for how you ll work with Project from here on 0 Part I Setting the Stage for Project The ABCs of Project Management You probably handle projects
15. New clicking the Blank Project icon under Available Templates and then clicking Create The File tab is located in the upper left corner of the Project screen You need to enter much more information in addition to general project infor mation and tasks to build a complete project as you discover in the next few chapters Entering general project information and task information is your usual starting point however Tell Project about your project With a blank project open a logical first step is to enter some general project information such as the project start date To do so click the Project tab on the Ribbon and click Project Information in the Properties group You find out more about the Ribbon in the next chapter The Project Information dialog box appears as shown in Figure 1 10 Here s what you can do in this dialog box Set the start date for the project Good project managers always plan in advance If you re not sure when the project will start set the start date about a month from today Then after you build some tasks and have a better handle on the entire length of your project you can come back and set a real start date Project automatically recalculates dates for all tasks with dependencies when you do ESE Figure 1 10 Use the Project Information dialog box for some basic proj ect settings A Chapter 1 Project Management What It Is and Why You Should Care 25 Project Information for Pr
16. al phases with task durations and dependencies in place The templates from Microsoft often include resources but you can create your own resources as well as use edit or delete the ones provided You can open a template from the Backstage view a new location in Project 2010 where you create and manage Project files To do so follow these steps 1 Choose File gt New The Available Templates screen appears as shown in Figure 1 14 2 Click the a category icon in the Office com Templates section then click a category icon if necessary Or click More Templates and then click a category The templates in that category appear Figure 1 14 Opena template from the Available Templates screen in the Backstage Ear Chapter 1 Project Management What It Is and Why You Should Care Pil zi Project Microsoft Project o w File Task Resoui Project Format id Seve Available Templates Blank project BA Save a Home BF Open taf Close C Info D Recent Blank project Recent My tem lates templates Print Save amp Send Help H Options Ej Eit Office com Templates m fox ter Pians Planners Schedules More 3 Click a template to display a preview As shown in Figure 1 15 a preview of the selected template appears at the far right 4 When you find the template you want to use click Download The template opens in Project template format MPT You can then use the Save
17. cal business project such as commercial construction an engineering project a new product roll out software development or an office move See the section Starting with templates later in this chapter for more about this time saving feature You likely do similar types of projects all the time After you create one project you use it as a template for future projects vy You can create resources for your project according to information you already created in your Outlook Address Book You can even create one set of company resources and give access to every project manager in the company see Chapters 18 and 19 for how to set up centralized enterprise resources 1 A number of tools in Project use complex algorithms that you couldn t even begin to figure out to do such tasks as level resource assignments to solve resource conflicts filter tasks by various criteria model what if scenarios and calculate in dollars the value of work performed to date Collaborating with your project team online You can take advantage of all the Internet has to offer by using Project features to collaborate with others In fact Project is part of the world of Enterprise Project Management EPM where easily sharing ideas informa tion and documents across your enterprise becomes possible For example Project allows you to e mail a project plan to team members and others either as a Project file or as PDF document You can post docu
18. canvas on which you create your Project plan Chapter 1 Project Management What It Is and Why You Should Care 2 7 File tab Ribbon and Timeline Project Microsoft Project so 20e FP ak onti D1 m A F3 Respect Links er gt cal a a es K ws rfomation saan G if jit j Finish t i Jen 10 10 Jeri 17 20 Jen 24 20 Jen 31 s iM TiwiTlF S s Mit wl tl F s s Mit witlF S Ml 3 6 G De Figure 1 12 Begin with a new Project schedule m EE Reacy a Mew Tasks Manually Screculed Saeac A Sheet Chart area In Figure 1 12 you see Gantt Chart view You discover more about various views in Chapter 2 For now note the following 1 File tab Ribbon and Timeline These tools are part of the new inter face for Project 2010 You find out more about using them in Chapter 2 v Sheet The left side of the view is the sheet or sheet pane You can use this spreadsheet interface to enter edit and view information about your project YY Chart area The chart area on the right reflects your task information graphically as soon as you begin to add tasks e Gantt bars in this area indicate the duration and timing of tasks in addition to the progress you record on them e The timescale the indications of time increments across the top of the chart area helps you interpret the timing of each task bar You can adjust the increments to show your project in larger or smaller increments of time
19. day in and day out Some are obvious because your boss named them so that any fool would know that they re projects the Acme Drilling Project or the Network Expansion IT Project for exam ple Others are less obvious such as that speech thing you have to do on Saturday for your professional association or washing the dog If you need to organize a company holiday party it s a project If you were handed a three year Earth exploration initiative to find oil in Iowa coordinate subcontractors and government permits and work with a team of 300 people that s definitely a project Yes even that speech you have to present is a project because it has certain characteristics Understanding what your projects large or small have in common is the basis of understanding what Project can do for you All projects have An overall goal and unique deliverables 1 A project manager 1 Individual tasks to be performed between a specific starting point and ending point Timing for those tasks to be completed such as three hours three days or three months 1 Timing relationships between those tasks for example you can t put a new manufacturing process in place until you train people in how to use the process 1 Resources people equipment facilities and supplies for example to accomplish the work v A budget the costs associated with those people equipment facilities and supplies Project management is simply the pr
20. ds A few of these are worth noting 1 The Gantt chart shown in Gantt Chart view of Figure 1 7 which is the main view of Project shows you a spreadsheet with columns of data along with a graphical representation of the tasks in the project arranged along a horizontal timeline By reviewing the data in the columns such as task name start date finish date and resources assigned to tasks you can understand the parameters of each task and see its timing in the graphical area Being able to view all this information on one page helps you under stand what s happening in your project in terms of time and costs YY The Network Diagram also called a logic diagram shown in Figure 1 8 is essentially the Microsoft version of a PERT chart PERT Program Evaluation and Review Technique was developed during the construc tion of the Polaris submarine in the 1950s This mostly graphical represen tation of the tasks in your project reflects the flow of work in your project rather than the literal timing of tasks This view helps you to see how one task flows into another and to get a sense of where you are not so much in time but rather in terms of the work you have to accomplish Part I Setting the Stage for Project Figure 1 7 The Gantt chart method of project schedul ing as it appears in Microsoft Project ay Figure 1 8 A kissin cousin to the original PERT chart the Network Diagram focuses on work not on t
21. eature Project Help Features How to Use It Browse Project Help The main part of the Project Help window displays a list of overall help categories Click a category and then browse to a subcategory if needed before clicking the topic to view Back Forward Stop and Refresh buttons These buttons on the Project Help window toolbar enable you to move between screens and stop and refresh downloaded help as needed Home button Redisplays the initial Help contents Print button Prints the current document Change Font Size button Enables you to change the size of the text in the Project Help window Show Hide Table of Contents button Enables you to display or hide a Table of Contents pane at the left so you can drill down a tree of help contents Keep On Top Not On Top Enables you to specify whether or not the Project button Help window should stay open in front of other windows Search Enter a term or phrase to search for in the text box and then click the magnifying glass to perform the search To control what locations are searched click the arrow at the right side of the word Search and click a selection Offline Connected to Office com button Click this button in the lower right corner of the Project Help window and then click a choice in the menu to control whether you are viewing help installed on your computer or the online help from Office com As you can
22. he preceding task The second task cannot start until a week after the first task is finished Only after you start to assign these relationships can you begin to see a project s timing as related to not just each task s duration but also the specific ways in which the tasks relate to each other Ce Figure 1 2 This sched ule includes tasks with timing but no depen dencies PCS Chapter 1 Project Management What It Is and Why You Should Care New Fimess Center Staffing Microsoft Project o mw amp Resource Project view Format aQ e nz amp s inmet m Ve ae ari n egge e o gt ae a Sis gl Mowe 2 ae Biz u gt a Manually Auto Task ae 4 checule Schedule 2 Mode ok Bl7 Tesk TaskNeme v Duratior Start Oct31 10 z ov 7 20 Nov 14 6 Rov 22 20 Mode sim t wit leis s m tlwit rls is mi tiw t rls s mit witless 1 k 8 days Mani zli 2 Determine staffing needs 3days Moni GED VP Operations Staff Training Manager HR Manager SE bres write Job descriptions 5 days moni SD Staff Training Manager HR Manager HR Assistant a j k Place ads 1 day Mon1 HRAssistant E i 3 Hold staffing event 2days Moni GEED stafi Training Manager HR Manager HR Assistant 6 bs Hire managers 3 days Moni yp br Interviews 3 days Moni G Staff Training Manager HR Manager aij Selections 1day Moni E VP Operations HR Manager Staff Training Manager
23. ime PCS i Hire general contractor 4 cays 3 Secure permits 2 days i 2 Perform demolition 3days Order materials 2 days New Fitiess Center Location Remodel Plan Micrasoft Project o F g Resource Projet view Format e as3 oy e R2R88 SF hark on Track gt La Givvect gg 7 rm S x r Ga TP Respect Links SG Move Ld ejz u amp 22 Smacnate NT nodes O ty Fen A Schedule Insert Froperties Editing y t E Tesk Task Neme Duretior Start pao Jul 4 10 Jul 15 10 Jul 25 Made Twit FIs sIm wr FIs mit pit le s s im New Fitness Center 66 25 Thu7 1 10 Location Build Plan days Location Selection 18 25 days thu 7 1 40 Hire realtor 2days Thu 1 10 P Facilities Review listings Sdays Mon 7 5 10 g a CEO VP Facilities Realtor Mait locations 5days Thu 7 8 10 SD CEO VP dlities Realtor Select location 2days Thu 15 10 EP Fics 50 CEO ISOM Contract 6 cays Mon 7 19 10 T Financing Beas Thu7 15 10 COOU Cosine 2hrs Tue 7 27 10 i i Building Design 30 25 days Tue 7 27 10 Hire architect 4 days Tue 7 27 10 i Determine 7days Mon 8 2 10 specifications i 2 Determine budget 5 days Mon 8 2 10 i 3 Design 2wks Wed 8 11 10 Design review 7 days Wed 8 25 10 2 Blueprints 2 days Fri 9 3 10 2 Designtinalicston 2brs Tue 9 7 10 Construction 39days Mon 8 9 10 faon 8 3 10 Fri 3 13 10 Tue 0 17 10 Fri 3 20 10 ews Ta
24. it That may vary from task to task For example a professional conference pass for one event may be 250 and a pass for the next conference may be 500 This cost doesn t vary by how much time you spend at the conference but it may vary depending on other external factors So you can create a resource named Conference Pass and assign it to differ ent tasks at different amounts ar PC Figure 1 4 Resources charged at a rate per hour are the basis of how Project tal lies costs Ce ar 15 Chapter 1 Project Management What It Is and Why You Should Care Some resources such as people perform their work according to a working calendar If a person works an 8 hour day and you assign him to a task that takes 24 hours to complete that person has to put in three workdays to com plete the task In comparison someone with a 12 hour workday takes only two days to complete the same task In addition you can set working and nonworking days for your human resources which accommodates variations such as 4 day weeks or shift work You can set different rates for resources such as a standard hourly rate Project applies the appropriate rate based on each resource s calendar and work assigned For more about resources and costs see Chapter 7 Several views in Project let you see information about resources and how their assignments to tasks have an effect on project costs Figure 1 4 shows you the Resource sheet which has co
25. ividual calendars for each resource you create You can then more easily accommodate both shift workers and nine to fivers in the same schedule See Chapter 3 for more about resource calendars Assign a priority to your project Assigning a priority such as 500 for high priority or 100 for a lower priority can be especially useful if you use the same resources across several projects With your priori ties set on all projects Project tools can then automatically reallocate resources You can also create custom project information fields for your organization in the Enterprise Custom Fields section of this dialog box For example you may want a field that explains which department in the company is running the project Clicking the Statistics button in this dialog box presents an overview of your project as shown in Figure 1 11 Project Statistics for New Fitness Center Location Remodel Plan Finish Thu 7 1 10 Fri 10 1 10 SS bua PEILG Fe I OA Variance Duration Work Cost 279 990 00 279 990 00 279 990 00 Current Remaining Percent complete Duration 0 Work 0 cool Perusing the project schedule After you choose settings in the Project Information dialog box and then click the OK button you re faced with a blank Project schedule as shown in Figure 1 12 As a writer I can tell you that nothing is as daunting or as inspiring as facing a blank page It s the
26. lan Mirasoft Preject o R Fie Task Ri Project View armat Og 4 7 Ta osa SP Mar on Track re a a a K1 Respect E chart y PH 2 A a w E view Clipbesrd P diting p j tart J Fir G F Resource Name e Work AddNewColumn Details Feb 27 11 M T Ww T F M Unassigned 0hrs work Campaign launch Ons Work 1 WP Marketing Shrs work ork Yor work work t 2 Work v ork work Mork 8 wore gt Work g Hork i A 3 York 13h lik l a0 ews Tasks Auto Schedules This icon indicates a resource that needs help 21 22 Part I Setting the Stage for Project ar Figure 1 9 also shows an exclamation point icon indicator that tells you that one resource needs help which might involve using resource level ing a calculation that automatically reschedules resources to resolve overbooking Resource leveling can enable you to manage resources much more effectively You can see how overbooked the PR Manager is on two dates You can use codes for resources that designate skill levels or abilities so that finding the right resource for each job is as simple as performing a search From To Do List to Hard Drive If you re reading from start to finish in this chapter you re probably shaking your head and saying Boy handwritten to do lists look pretty good right now Beats creating hundreds of tasks assigning them durations establishing dependencies among them creating resources e
27. lumns of information about resources and their costs New Fitness Center Location Remodel Plan Micrasoft Project ow g Project Fom s0 e T Resource Usage l sot BA fpo Highligh Timescale F Timeline Timeline Reson Sheet Y Pio Filter Detmils a ntt Task Team Nees Macros pane Usset RA eA T s alytaples gt 3 pio Group Padte e hee views Resource Wi Dat Zoon Split Views Winder Aacro p 3 tart fi Finish 0 Fri Resource Name v Type h v Initals 7 Ma 7 Std Rate Ort Rate Y Cost Use Y AccrueAt Beset 1 cEO mork 100 100 00 hr 0 00 hr 0 00 Prorated standa 2 VP Facilities Work v 100 85 00 hr 0 00 hr 0 00 Prorated Standa 3 Project Manager 4 Work p 100 70 00 h 0 00 r 0 00 Prorated Standa 4 e Project Manager 2 Viork P Internal 100 70 00 hr 0 00 hr 0 00 Prorated Standa 5 Project Assistant 1 Work P Interne 100 35 00 hr 0 00 hr 30 00 Prorated Stenda 6 Project Assistant 2 Work p Internal 100 35 00 hr 0 00 r 0 00 Prorated Standa Realtor Cost R External Prorated a Loan Officer Work t External 100 30 00 hr 0 00 hr 30 00 Prorated Stenda 9 Architect Work A External 100 100 00 hr 0 00 hr 0 00 Prorated standa 10 General Contractor Viork G External 100 0 00 hr Sa 00 hr SO 00 Prorated Standa a1 Site Manager s External 100 40 00 he 0 00 hr 0 00 Prorated Standa 12 Framers F External 100 520 00 hr 0 00 hr 0 00 Prorated standa B 13 Electricians
28. ness Databases Assembling Company Annual Reports and Reviewing Competitive Product Lines Adding tasks to a Project file doesn t cost you a thing except a nanobit of memory so a project can have as many tasks and as many phases as you like You simply use the outlining structure in Project to indent various levels of tasks The more deeply indented in an outline a task is the more detailed the task 11 12 Part I Setting the Stage for Project ar MBER KV amp One handy thing about this outlining structure is that you can roll up all the timing and cost data from the subtasks within your phases into summary level tasks Three sequential subtasks that take a day each to complete and cost you 200 apiece result in a summary task that spans three days and costs 600 You can view your project at various levels of detail or get auto matic tallies of timing and costs if you prefer to simply view the summary level of tasks For more about defining and creating tasks check out Chapter 4 All in the timing They say that timing is everything Rome wasn t built in a day a stitch in time saves nine and don t even ask me about how long it takes to get to retire ment The importance of timing applies to Project tasks too Almost all tasks have timing referred to as duration which is the amount of time needed to complete the task The only tasks without duration are milestones A milestone in most cases
29. ntering resource calendar and rate information assigning resources and costs to tasks entering activity performed on tasks and so on Well you re right and wrong about that You do have to enter a lot of infor mation into Project to get the benefit of its features But you can also get a lot out of Project Getting up to speed with Project Take a moment to look at some of the wonderful things Project can do for you This list describes why you or your company bought it and why you re investing your time to read this book With Project you enjoy the following benefits 1 Project automatically calculates costs and timing for you based on your input You can quickly recalculate what if scenarios to solve resource conflicts get your costs within budget or meet your final deadline 1 Project offers views and reports that with the click of a button make a wealth of information available to you and those you report to You no longer have to manually build a report on total costs to date to meet a last minute request from your boss If she wants to know total costs to date you can just print your Tracking Gantt view with the Cost table dis played or print the Budget report See Chapter 16 for information about reporting ar ay Chapter 1 Project Management What It Is and Why You Should Care 23 1 You can use built in templates to get a head start on your project Project templates are prebuilt plans for a typi
30. ocess of managing all the elements of a project whether that project is large or small The three Ts Tasks timing and dependencies well two Ts and a D As Lewis Carroll said If you don t know where you re going any road will get you there So first things first You have to understand the goal of your project so that you can begin to build the tasks that have to be performed to get you there SEE Figure 1 1 You ll prob ably spend most of your time in Project in outline like Gantt Chart view a EMBER S Chapter 1 Project Management What It Is and Why You Should Care A task is simply one of those items you used to scribble on your handwritten to do lists such as Write final report or Apply for permits Tasks are typically organized into phases appropriate stages in Project arranged in an outline like structure as you can see in the project shown in Figure 1 1 Because timing is essential in any project Project helps you set up and view the timing relationships among tasks R id lt New F Center Location PR Plan Microseft Prejed ae Tesk Resource Project View Format A lcm Jp SRP Se Troma a a a gt oe e 3 gt chat y Er u 2 A ee Schedule modes i lipb 4 F k r p F tarti Gi sh E i e ask Task Name Durstor Start om Feb 6 12 Feb 13 12 Feb 20 11 Feba Mode MT wF STMT wT IF sis IMr wit el ss M
31. oject4 Ee Start date Fri 9 11 09 Current date Fri 9 11 09 m Finish date Wed 10 7 09 Status date NA X Schedule from Project Start Date X Calendar Standard X All tasks begin as soon as possible Priority 500 Enterprise Custom Fields Department Custom Field Name Value Help Statistics Cancel 1 Set the finish date for the project Especially if you have a drop dead date an attention getting term beyond which the project cannot wander and still reach on time completion you can set the finish date In such a case be sure to look at the next setting in this list and change it accordingly YY Schedule from the start or finish of the project Most projects work forward from the start date However if you have an absolute drop dead date for the end of your project for example if you re organizing a sports event that must occur on New Year s Day next year you may want to set the finish date and then work backward to fit all your tasks into the allotted length of time Because under certain circumstances this method schedules tasks as late as possible it can be tricky to use it and get an accurate schedule If you change this setting to Project Finish Date the Finish Date field becomes available 1 Set the current date Project can fill in the current date according to your computer calendar Or you can choose another date if you like but that usually doesn t make much sense unless you
32. re in a different time zone from where the project will occur Set a status date By default no status date is set for the project You use a status date when you re tracking the progress of your project at regular intervals If you set a status date your computer assumes that any activity you record in your project is being tracked as of this date This is particularly important to ensure Project accurately calculates some values such as the ultra wonky earned value a statistic I explain to you in Chapter 14 You can find out more about this feature in Chapters 12 13 and 14 26 Part I Setting the Stage for Project NING ar Figure 1 11 You can view a sum mary of calculations about the project 1 Set the working calendar for your project You have three default choices Standard Night Shift and 24 Hours Base your choice on the working habits of your organization For example if your company uses resources in three shifts per day a total of 24 hours of straight work ing time and all those shifts would contribute work to your project choose 24 Hours If you use a day shift and a night shift choose Night Shift If you work a standard 8 hour day choose Standard Most proj ects use a standard calendar with a typical 8 hour workday Calendars can get a little confusing A project calendar that you set in this dialog box indicates what the usual workday is like in your com pany but you can set up ind
33. roject s status to everyone who has a legitimate stake in its success stakeholders is a key responsibility Chapter 1 Project Management What It Is and Why You Should Care 9 lt MBER S Although a project manager may work for a project sponsor the project often also has a customer for whom the end product is produced That customer can be outside the project manager s own company or within Understanding the dreaded triple constraint You ve seen the signs at the copy store or the auto repair place You can have it fast cheap or done well pick two That my friend is the triple con straint of project management in a nutshell In a project you have timing resources which are essentially costs and quality of the product or service produced at the end of the project Microsoft Project helps you manage the resources and timing of your project The quality of your project is often affected directly by how well you manage them If you add time costs increase because resources are working longer hours at a certain wage If you take away resources you save money but this can affect quality and so on Coming to a logical balance of time money and quality is at the core of what a good project manager does throughout the life of a project Applying tried and true methodologies Microsoft Project incorporates some scheduling and tracking tools that are the result of many years of developing project management metho
34. sks Auto Schedules is New Fitness Center Location PR Plan Microsoft Project o w g B o o eoue projet view Format aQ ax i 4 z R2 Ppee SSP hark on Track gt Sirvvet p E m a gt TS Respect Links d Sg Move E G te p Biu h A D F S i acwate ue nally Enea Mode Task Information mF c al a view Clipbosrd Font Schedule Teska Insert Properties Editing Tue 2 3 33 Campaign bunch Start Thu 2 3 11 ID 4 Finish Thu 2 3 11 Dur 0 days Ales a sar Sezer sh F 1 Shoot footage Start Thu 2 3 11 10 6 Finish Tue 2 8 11 Dur 3 days Video Vendor PR Manager Editing and review Start Tue 2 9 11 ID 7 Finish Tue 2 18 1 Dur 5 days PR Manager Video Vendor Res Res Writing Start Thu 2 3 11 1D 23 Finish Mon 2 7 1 Dur 2 days PR Assistant 1 Editing and review Start Mon 2 9 11 ID 14 Finish Wed 2 9 12 Dur 2 5 days PR Assistant 1 PR Assistant 2 Res Res Creat new location web page Start Thu 2 3 11 1D 19 Finish Thu 2 20 2 Dur 5 days Establish online profiles Start Thu 2 10 11 1D 20 Finish Fn 2 11 21 Dur 1 day Res PR Assistant 2 Web Designer Res Layout fues tasks Auto Scheduled C Figure 1 9 A resource usage chart helps you spot resource scheduling problems A Chapter 1 Project Management What It Is and Why You Should Care 1 Risk management is a central part
35. t wFs sT a o New Fitness Center P days Tue2 if i1 Location PR Plan 1 4 Preparation 2Sdays Tue 2 1 48 L a d 2 Planning meeting 4hrs Tue 2 1 11 E Director PPR Assistant 2 PR Manager VP Marketing 3 Budget development 2 days i Director PR PR Manager 4 4 Carmpaiza launch O days 2 3 11 2 3 5 2 video 12 00 days Thu 2 39 11 6 Shoot footage S days 2 3 21 1 Video Vendor PR Manager 7 a Editing and review 5 days 2 ei PR Manager video vendor a Agpraval O cays zns 3 3 Duping 2days GD Video Vendor 0V 0130 DVD 10 3 Distribution 1 day Thu 2 17 11 b PR Assistant 2 5 11 Follow up Qeays Fri 2 18 11 EP Assistant 2975 i2 a Media Release 13 a writing TER PRAssistant 1 14 2 Editing and review PR Assistant 1 PR Assistant 2 15 Agproval 2 9 16 2 Distribution 1 day Wed PR Assistant 2 Ma ling S 100 00 17 ba Follove up 2days Thu dem Pr Assistant 2 18 4 Social Modia 12 63 days Thu 2 3 11 19 2 Creat new location web 5 days Thu 2 3 21 Web Designer i me 20 Establish online 1 day Thu 2 10 11 PRAssistant 1 ay profiles v om aK gt Ready 2 tees Tasks Auto Schedulec eS el E8 Becoming a task master A task can be as broad or as detailed as you like For example you can create a single task to research your competition or you can create a project phase that consists of a summary task and subtasks below it For example the sum mary task may be Competitive Research with the subtasks Researching Online Busi
36. u see the initials PMP beside someone s name that person has achieved the Project Management Professional certification from the Project Management Institute the leading global organization establishing project management standards and creden tials and offering educational and other resources in the field What exactly does a project manager do A project manager isn t always the highest authority in a project often that role belongs to whomever manages the project manager up to and including members of senior management Rather the project manager is the person on the front lines who makes sure that the parts of the project come together and assumes hands on responsibility for successes as well as failures In project management parlance the person who champions and has the ulti mate responsibility for a project is the project sponsor A project manager manages these essential pieces of a project The project plan or schedule This is what you create with Microsoft Project It includes the estimated steps and associated timing and costs involved in reaching the project goal 1 Resources Managing resources involves resolving resource conflicts and building consensus as well as assigning resources and tracking their activities on the project This part of the job also involves managing nonhuman resources such as materials and equipment Communication with the project team management and customers Communicating the p
37. u set a baseline you record some activity on your tasks Then you can compare that actual activity with your baseline because Project saves both sets of data in your schedule Tracking activity in your project involves recording the actual timing of tasks and recording the time that your resources have spent on those tasks as well as recording actual costs You can then display Project views that show you how far off you are at any time compared with your baseline in terms of the actual timing of tasks and the cost of your project 18 Part I Setting the Stage for Project Whether you have good news or bad you can use reports to show your boss how things are going compared with how you thought they would go Then after you peel your boss off the ceiling you can use many more Project tools to make adjustments to get everything back on track The Role of the Project Manager avr ar Although understanding the role let alone the usefulness of some manag ers isn t always easy it s always easy to spot the value of a project manager This person creates the master plan for a project and tries to ensure that it gets implemented successfully Along the way this key person uses skills and methods that have evolved over time always seeking to manage how things get done and generally keeping schedules on track A real pro project manager may have a degree in project management or a professional certification For example if yo
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