Wiley Microsoft Project 2007 Bible
Contents
1. verybody does projects Building a tree house is a project so is put ting a man on the moon From the simplest home improvement to the most complex business or scientific venture projects are a part of most of our lives But exactly what is a project and what can you do to manage all its facets Some projects are defined by their randomness Missed deadlines unpleas ant surprises and unexpected problems seem to be as unavoidable as the weekly staff meeting Other projects have few problems Nevertheless the project that goes smoothly from beginning to end is rare Good planning and communication can go a long way toward avoiding disaster And although no amount of planning can prevent all possible problems good project man agement enables you to deal with those inevitable twists and turns in the most efficient manner possible In this chapter you begin exploring tools and acquiring skills that can help you become a more efficient and productive project manager The goal of this chapter is to provide a survey of what a project is what project manage ment is and how Microsoft Project 2007 fits into the picture Understanding Projects IN THIS CHAPTER Understanding projects The life cycle of a project When you look up the word project in the dictionary you see definitions such as plan and concerted effort A project in the truest sense isn t a simple one person endeavor to perform a task By this defi2. By examining your progress on an ongoing basis from various perspectives you can see whether you are likely to meet your goal E Recognize conflicts By identifying time and resource conflicts early you can try out various what if scenarios to resolve them before the project gets out of hand E Make adjustments You can make adjustments to task timing and costs and automati cally update all other tasks in the project to reflect the impact of your changes E Generate professional looking reports You can create reports on the status of your proj ect to help team members prioritize and to help management make informed decisions EF To effectively manage projects with many participants often based in many locations consider using Project 2007 in conjunction with its companion server product Project Server Using Project Server and Project 2007 you can manage projects in a Web based environment simplifying collaboration For more details see Chapters 16 through 21 What s required of you Many people contemplate using project management software with about as much relish as they contemplate having surgery They anticipate hours of data entry time before they can get anything out of the software To some extent that vision is true You have to provide a certain amount of information about your project for any software to estimate schedules and generate reports just as you have to enter numbers for a spreadsheet to calculate a budget
3. is the point at which you begin to enter data in Microsoft Project and see your project take shape Figure 1 6 shows an initial Microsoft Project schedule e e Revising Most of the time you send an initial project schedule to various managers or coworkers for approval or input so that you can refine the schedule based on different factors You can use the reporting features of Microsoft Project to generate several drafts of your plan Chapter 13 explains more about the reports that are available in Project The outline format of a Project schedule clearly shows the various phases of your project Dependencies among tasks have not yet been established every task starts at the same time which isn t always possible E microsoft Project 0106 mpp Wee Type aquadtionforhelp Fx Task Neme Duren Stat Sep 10 06 S 17 05 Sep 24 06 Oct 1 16 Oct 6 95 05 is sim t iwi tir S sS m t felt lr sis im ir wit le s simlt holt le SS m it wir Fis Sim t jwult e Beyn Project Oceys Wed SIA H 12 Product Research Adays Weds2t 3 Interview developers Odeys Wed SA J Antonio Marquez 50 Product Enginesring Manager Rewiew product spec tdey Wed SA g Antonio Marquez Research competion Goeys Wed SIA Ute product overiey 1day Wed S A Brochure Design 4days Weds2t Ute copy iromovery Joeys Wed S A Storyboard design Gonys Wed SA Product Photo Session 1day Wed S A E Ready Photo Design approval Vda Wed S A O Ran Wozniak
4. minutes to five months The length of time needed to complete a task is called the tasks dura tion You should always try to break the long tasks in a project into smaller tasks of shorter duration so that you can track their progress more accurately For example break a five month long task into five one month tasks Checking off the completion of the smaller tasks each month reduces the odds of a serious surprise five months down the road and makes you feel as though you re getting something done Cai Project Management Basics Some tasks called milestones have no 0 duration Milestones are merely points in time that mark the start or completion of some phase of a project For example if your project involves designing a new brochure the approval of the initial design may be considered a milestone You can assign a duration to the process of routing the design to various people for review but assigning a length of time to the moment when you have everyone final approval is probably impossible Therefore this task has a duration of 0 that is approval of the design is a milestone that simply marks a key moment in the project Resource driven schedules and fixed duration tasks Some tasks take the same amount of time no matter how many people or other resources you devote to them Flying from San Francisco to New York is likely to take about five hours regard less of how many pilots or flight attendants you add You can t sp
5. project throughout its life Exploring project management Project management is a discipline that examines the nature of projects and offers ways to control their progress Project management attempts to organize and systematize the tasks in a project to minimize the number of surprises that you may encounter Project management and project managers concern themselves with the following key areas Scheduling Budgeting Managing resources Tracking and reporting progress To manage these aspects of projects certain tools have evolved over the years Some of these are conceptual such as the critical path others involve specific formats for charting progress such as a Gantt Chart The following sections introduce some key project management concepts and tools Critical path and slack The critical path marks the series of tasks in a project that must be completed on time for the over all project to stay on schedule For example suppose that you are planning a going away party at your office You have three days to plan the party The following table lists some of the tasks that are involved and indicates their time frames The Nature of Projects Task Duration Signing the good bye card Three days Ordering food One day Reserving a room One hour Buying a good bye gift One day The shortest task reserving a room takes only one hour Assuming that plenty of rooms are avail able for holding the party you can delay reserv
6. the foundation of a building before you can build the structure You also have to enclose the building with walls and windows before you lay carpeting In other words project managers anticipate and establish relationships among the tasks in a project These relationships are called dependencies Only after you have created tasks assigned durations to them and established dependencies can you see the overall timing of your project Paraya Chapter 4 I kinds of dependencies ROSS R E apter 4 covers several KINAS Of dependencies Managing projects with project management software Many people manage projects with stacks of outdated to do lists and colorful hand drawn wall charts They scribble notes on calendars in pencil knowing more often than not that dates 11 O Partl Project Management Basics 12 and tasks will change over time They hold numerous meetings to keep everyone in the project informed People have developed these simple organizational tools because projects typically have so many bits and pieces that no one can possibly remember them all To manage a project you need a set of procedures Project management software automates many of these procedures With project management software you can do the following m Plan upfront By preplanning the various elements of your project you can more accu rately estimate the time and resources that are required to complete the project E View your progress
7. 03 mpp JE i Ele got wew Insert Forma Tools projet Repot Cobbyae widow Hep Trpeaquastionforhap F x EMER EAR S OO a Task Neme dun 4 06 1 05 E Jan 25 03 Jul 3 OE Bia smit lt Fos simt w t F S amii lT Fis sia riw FS SATNI simit wTIF sS SMAS 1 Begn Project 69 2 Product Research Ez Interview developers 4 Rewew product spec sheets wal Research competion 6 Vute product overview 7 Brochure Design E Vite copy trom overnew g Storyboard design 10 Product Photo Session 1 Design approval 12 Creste final design 13 Vite Customer Documentation a Press Coverage 15 Vit s press releases 16 Prepare mechs t 17 Press maling 18 Press conference 15 Print Colera 20 Advertising a Present ac campaign to Board iw rami gt lt i gt Reece You can save interim baselines of a schedule at various points during your project This approach helps you see where major shifts occurred and shows how you accommo dated those shifts See Chapter 11 for more information on baselines Learning from your mistakes Learning project management software isn t like learning to use a word processor because project management as a discipline entails conceptual layers that transcend the tools and features of the software Having the experience and wisdom to use these features effectively comes from repeated use You probably won t be a proficient Microsoft Project user right away You have to work through one or more projects b
8. Creste final design Joes Wed S A ED Comhined Graphics Vite Customer Document 8 25 days Wed SIA CG Margo Pheips Press Coverage 6days Wed 920 o Vit s press raewses loeps Wed S A gt Prepare mecha i B deys Wed SIA Qa Press maling OS cays Wed SVA 2 Press conference Ooms Wed SIA 920 Print Colateras 11 days Wed SA CD Advertising 1day Wed 920 y Prevent sd campain I cay Wed SA 2 x gt su fl Reade 16 The Nature of Projects Be prepared to revise your plan after everyone has a chance to review it You may want to create and save multiple Project files to generate what if scenarios based on the input that you receive Seeing your plans from various perspectives is a great way to take advantage of Project s power Finding resolutions to conflicts in timing and resource allocation is another aspect of planning and revising Project helps you pinpoint these conflicts which may include the following F EF Find out more about what if analysis in Chapter 6 CRO E A team member or resource that is booked on several projects at one time E Atask that begins before another task that must precede it E An unusually high use of expensive equipment in one phase that is upsetting your budget i This book contains many tips and techniques for resolving conflicts In particular Chapters 9 and 10 focus on using Microsoft Project features to resolve scheduling and resource problems When your project plan seems soli
9. Print Colstera Wears Thu 5 20 Advertising 1day Mon 62 a Present ad campaign gt 1oy Mongi iw ee Kam gt slu gt Reade You can purchase an add on product WBS Chart Pro to create a WBS chart from a Microsoft Project file The CD ROM that is included with this book features a sample of the program Before people used computers to manage their projects managers drew these charts by hand Any self respecting project war room had a 10 foot network diagram WBS or Gantt Chart tacked to the wall By the end of the project this chart was as marked up and out of date as last year s appointment calendar Thankfully project management software makes these charts easier to gen erate update and customize A Gantt Chart represents the tasks in a project with bars that reflect the duration of individual tasks Milestones are shown as diamond shaped objects Cai Project Management Basics The network diagram resembles a flow chart for work in a project E Microsoft Project 0101 mpp Wee HE Ele Eek wew Inset Format Toos projet Repot Cobbwae window Heb Tpeaqustinfo hdo x MNA M EE E E Me EEE E E EA E be h cm o chow Bo S A Tass pares Design approval a Brochure Design Write copy from overview Storyboard design l jos Start S 14j03 1D 8 Start 5 19 03 ID 9 Fresh 903 IA Dur deys Rasi Mik Chan Res Combined Graphics Product Photo Session Press Covera
10. d you can take a picture of it called a baseline against which you can track actual progress REF Chapter 11 explains how to set and if necessary clear baselines Tracking You should try to solidify your tracking methods before your project begins Ask yourself the fol lowing questions E Do you want to track your progress once a week or once a month E Do project participants track their own work or merely report their progress to you E Do you want to roll those smaller reports into a single less detailed report for management F The answers to these questions can also help you determine whether you need to use ASSESS Project Standard Project Professional or Project Server See Chapter 2 for more infor mation on choosing the Project product that best suits your needs Knowing how you are going to track your project s progress and who needs to know what and when helps your team establish efficient tracking mechanisms from the outset this reduces frustration The Microsoft Project schedule shown in Figure 1 7 uses the Tracking Gantt view to show the origi nal baseline the bottom bar of each task tracked against actual progress the top bar of each task 17 aai Project Management Basics GRE 7 ccc The darker portion of each upper taskbar and the percentage figure to the right of each upper taskbar indi cate the percentage of each task that is complete Microsoft Project 0107 20
11. e The Special Projects Office of the U S Navy devised this method for tracking the flow of tasks in a project when it was designing the Polaris submarine in the late 1950s The U S defense establishment uses the WBS as its primary tool for managing projects and describes the WBS in Military Standard MIL STD 881B 25 Mar 93 as follows A work break down structure is a product oriented family tree composed of hardware software services data and facilities It displays and defines the product s to be developed and or produced and relates the elements of work to be accomplished to each other and to the end product s MIL STD 881B was superseded by MIL HDBK 881A 30 July 2005 The foreword of the newer documents states that there were no substantive changes in work breakdown structure definition The full text is available on many DOD sites for example http dcare pae osd mil 881handbook 881a pdf 7 Project doesn t contain a PERT chart view However on the enclosed CD ROM you can ata find a sample version of PERT Chart EXPERT a program that converts the information in any Project file to a PERT view Dependencies The final project management concept that you should understand is dependencies The overall timing of a project isn t simply the sum of the durations of all tasks because all tasks in a project don t usually happen simultaneously For example in a construction project you must pour
12. e press reewses 2days Thu Sit 16 Prepare mecha t Boss Mon Ge 7j Press maling 0 5 days Tue MC 18 Press conference Oces Tue GHC 18 Print Colsteras cays Thu 5 20 Advertising 1day Mon 6a EJ Presan sd campain 1oy Mon 6c lx d ram gt slu fal Peace The Nature of Projects When you apply the appropriate filter only the tasks that can t afford delay appear in your schedule Microsoft Project 0101 mpp Wee HE Ele Edt wew Inset Format Tods projet Repot Collaborate window Heb Type aquastionforhap 8 x MF NEET E EE A EEE NT M EEA E je a t m o shos Ala 2 alB J US BJ otra re Ae Bagin Project Tas Neme Dureen Stat G May 03 Mey 11 0s Way 18 03 Way 25 0S 1 03 ans pir Fis sim t fl tle s sim t wit Fis salt iw t le s s m t lt le ls silt w T FSS 1 Beyn Project 0 deys 5 2 Product Research Aadays 3 Interview developers 0 deys g Antonio Marquez 50 Product Engineering Manager 4 Rewew product spec 1 day Antonio Marquez 6 Uke product everviey 1 day Zip Margo Pheips 7 Brochure Design 11 days 8 Vite copy trom overw 3 deys Mick Chen s Storyboard design 4 darys 2 Combines Graphiga 1 Design approval 1 day SS Ron wazmiok 12 Creste final design J darys amhined Graphies 19 Pant Calmera 11 days lx p gilu gt su gt Ready Durations and milestones Most tasks in a project take a specific amount of time to accomplish Tasks can take anywhere from five
13. e reports Project pro vides you can easily use Project data to prepare reports in Visio and Excel providing you with additional analytical capabilities E Consolidate projects You can break projects into smaller pieces that team members can use to enter and track progress By tracking with this method no individual person has 13 Cai Project Management Basics 14 to enter an overwhelming amount of data Also team members feel more accountable and involved in the project 7 See Part V of this book Working in Groups for detailed information about working in groups in Project 2007 alone or in conjunction with Project Server E Macros You can take advantage of Microsoft Visual Basic to build macros that automate repetitive tasks such as generating weekly reports x See Chapter 23 for more information about using macros to speed your work The Life Cycle of a Project Projects typically consist of several phases Understanding the nature of each phase can help you relate the features of Microsoft Project to your own projects Identifying your goal and the project s scope Before you can begin to plan a project you have to identify the goal which isn t always as obvious as it sounds Various participants may define a projects goal differently In fact many projects fail because the team members are unwittingly working toward different goals For example is the team s goal to perform a productivit
14. ed key data such as deliver ables timing and budget and that you and your team agree on the focus of everyone s efforts These activities are likely to occur before you ever open a Microsoft Project file Planning When you understand the goal and scope of a project you can begin to work backward to deter mine the steps that you need to take to reach the goal Look for major phases first and then break each phase into a logical sequence of steps Planning for resources is one aspect of planning the entire project Resources can include equip ment of limited availability materials individual workers and groups of workers Don t forget to take into account various schedules issues such as overtime vacations and resources that are shared among projects Time money and resources are closely related You may be able to save time with more resources but resources typically cost money You need to understand the order of priority among time quality and money 15 Cai Project Management Basics There s truth to the old joke Time budget or quality pick two Devoting resources which usually become costs to a project schedule can decrease the time but can also cause loss of quality control Extending the time can improve quality but usually causes resource con flicts and added costs Microsoft Project helps you see the trade offs among these three important cri teria throughout the life of your project Planning
15. eed up a test on a mixture of two solvents that must sit for six hours to react by adding more solvent or by hiring more scientists to work in the laboratory These tasks have a fixed duration meaning that their timing is set by the nature of the task On the other hand the number of available resources can affect the duration of some tasks For example if one person needs two hours to dig a ditch adding a second person will likely cut the time in half The project still requires two hours of effort but two resources can perform the task simultaneously Tasks whose durations are affected by the addition or subtraction of resources are called resource driven tasks In real world projects this calculation is seldom so exact Because people have different skill levels and perform work at different speeds two people don t always cut the time of a task exactly in half In addition the more people you add to a task the more communication cooperation and training may be involved Microsoft Project handles additional assignments of resources strictly as a mathematical calculation but you can still use your judgment of the resources that are involved to modify this calculation see Chapter 10 Diagrams that aid project management Gantt Charts network diagrams and work breakdown structures WBSs are tools of project man agement that have evolved over many years These tools are simply charts that you can use to track different aspects
16. efore you really know the most effective way to enter information about your project You can expect to develop efficient tracking methods over time Don t worry it took you time to learn all you know about managing projects If you pay attention to what goes on during your projects when you first implement Microsoft Project schedules you can learn from your mistakes 18 The Nature of Projects ao Microsoft Project enables you to review your projects and to clearly see where you estimated incor rectly made adjustments too slowly or didn t break phases into manageable chunks Project keeps your original schedules baseline in a single file along with interim baselines and your final tracked schedule When planning future projects you can use these older baselines to help gauge the dura tion of tasks and the cost of certain items and to know how many resources are enough resources In the end you ll be a more successful and efficient project manager You can easily show your boss the specific actions that you ve taken to avoid problems and provide solutions In addition you ll have the tools that you need to help you and your manager understand the issues that you face and to get the support that you need Summary This chapter presented a survey of the discipline known as project management and explained the role that project management software can play to help you manage projects The following topics were covered Pr
17. ge 7 Stor S lajos 1D Jo py Star Sioa 1D 14 H Firish 5 15 05 Dur 1 day fi Fish 6 10 09 Dur 8 5 days f Ras Ready Photo f Comp 0 Fi Print Collateral St 3 WD 19 i Dur 11 d ys x Vitrite Coctnmar Narumantat lt gt Reade The work breakdown structure chart reminds you of a typical company s organization chart Project Summary Design Phase Programming Phase Testing Phase t Program Task 1 t Test Task 1 First Design Phase Second Design Phase Program Task 2 ff lestlask2 End Program Milestone Test Task 3 Start Milestone t Design Task 2 End Milestone Design Task 1 Design Task 3 Design Task 4 10 End Design Milestone The Nature of Projects You can find out more about the various elements of the Gantt Chart in Chapter 2 For 5 this chapter s purposes you simply need to know that a Gantt Chart enables you to visualize and track the timing of a project Network diagrams on the other hand don t accurately detail the timing of a project Instead a network diagram shows the flow of tasks in a project and the relationships of tasks to each other Each task is contained in a box called a node and lines that flow among the nodes indicate the flow of tasks In Project 98 and prior versions of Project network diagrams were called PERT charts PERT stands for Program Evaluation and Review Techniqu
18. he preceding example the one hour long task reserving a room has slack This task can slip a few hours even a couple of days and the party will still happen on time However if you wait until the last half hour of the third day to reserve a room that task will have used up its slack and it then moves onto the critical path Part I Project Management Basics EOT O Tasks with slack displayed alongside those on the critical path microsoft Project 0101 mpp maz i Ele got wew Insert Forma Tools projet Repot Cobbyae whdow Hep Trea quastionforhel x gt wo hai Tas Nome Durten Stat B TMy 4 05 Mey 11 05 May 18 03 Maiy 25 0S W1 03 an wit lFis s m thw t e s s ult pire is sielt wT FS S elt lt ir ss mt wt FS 1 Gegn Project O deys Mon SH 542 2 Product Research Adays Mon 47 3 Interview developers Goeys Mon SA2 gh Antonio Marquez 50 Product Engineering Manager 4 Rewew product spec 1osy Mon SA2 Tp Antonio Marquez Ea Research competion 4deys Man SA2 EE Alice Hon EHI Vate product overview 1day Tue S42 aul Brochure Design 11days Wed 5r es ERI Vate copy tromowery Jdays Wed Ste Empe Chen E Storyboard design days Mon SHS ZEEE Combines Graphita 10 Product Photo Session 1day Wed SMe fonemen T Design approved today Fn Siz SE Ron venzpiok 12 Creste final design Jows Man SA 13 Vite Customer Document 8 25 days Wed 5H 4 Press Coverage 65days Thus 1s Vut
19. ing the room until the last hour of the third day Delaying this task doesn t cause any delay in holding the party as long as you accomplish this task by the end of the longest task which is getting everyone to sign the good bye card Therefore the task of reserving a room isn t on the critical path However you can t delay the task of signing the good bye card which is projected to take three days to accomplish without delaying the party Therefore the card signing task is on the critical path Of course this example is very simple typ ically a whole series of tasks that can t afford delay form an entire critical path The following points further define and clarify these concepts E The critical path changes as the project progresses Remember that a critical path is a means of identifying tasks that have no leeway in their timing to ensure that they don t run late and affect your overall schedule Knowing where your critical path tasks are at any point during the project is crucial to staying on track Figures 1 1 and 1 2 show the same schedule first with all tasks displayed and then filtered to show only the tasks that are on the critical path SSOREF See Chapter 7 to find out how to filter for only critical tasks and to see more informa SASS tion about changing the view of your project Slack also called float is the amount of time that you can delay a task before that task moves onto the critical path In t
20. liverables The Nature of Projects The following are some sample goal and scope statements Project A E Goal To locate a facility for our warehouse E Scope By October 15 to find a modern warehouse facility of approximately 5 200 square feet with a lease cost of no more than 3 000 per month in a location that is con venient to our main office Project B E Goal To launch a new cleaning product E Scope Includes test marketing the product designing packaging and creating and launching an advertising campaign The launch must be completed before the end of the third quarter of 2007 and can cost no more than 750 000 Notice that the second scope statement designates major phases of the project conducting test marketing designing packaging and creating an ad campaign This statement provides a starting point for planning the tasks in the project In fact you may eventually decide to break this project into smaller projects of conducting test marketing designing packaging and launching an adver tising campaign Writing the scope of the project may encourage you to redefine both the goal and the scope to make the project more manageable Keep your goal and scope statements brief If you can t explain your goal or scope in a sentence or two your project may be overly ambitious and complex Consider breaking the project into smaller projects Writing a simple goal and scope statement ensures that you ve gather
21. nition getting yourself dressed difficult though that task may seem on a Monday morning isn t a project O Partl Project Management Basics A project is a series of steps that are typically performed by more than one person In addition a project has the following characteristics E A project has a specific and measurable goal You know you have finished the project when you have successfully met your project goal E Projects have a specific time frame The success of a project is often measured by how successfully the project has been completed within the amount of time allotted to it E Projects use resources Resources aren t just people resources can include money machinery materials and more How well these resources are allocated and orchestrated is another key measure of a projects success or failure E All projects consist of interdependent yet individual steps called tasks No piece of a project exists in a vacuum If one task runs late or over budget it typically affects other tasks the overall schedule and the total cost of the project Projects can last for months or even years By their nature projects are dynamic they tend to grow change and behave in ways that you can t always predict Consequently you as a project manager have to remain alert to the progress and vagaries of your projects or you will never reach your goals Documentation and communication are your two key tools for staying on top of a
22. of your project Figure 1 3 shows a Microsoft Project Gantt Chart and Figure 1 4 shows a Microsoft Project network diagram Figure 1 5 shows a typical WBS although Microsoft Project does not include a WBS chart as one of its standard views The Nature of Projects C3 The Gantt Chart bars represent timing of the tasks in a project E Wicrosoft Project 0101ampp 7 Gey i Ele gdt wew Insert Format Tools projet Repot Colhovate widow Hep Type aquastionforhap F x EE Hene Ko Group je d h m o show Aaria a 2 B A 0 S SS Altasts zl Bagin Project O Tas Nome Duren Sat G Thy 0S aS Way 16 03 Wey 25 08 nt 03 ana ot pir Fis Sim t fw t le s s a t wit Fis sialt iwi tle s s mlt tlt ie ls silt iwi ties SIK 1 Degn Project Qoeys Mon SN 52 i BEN Product Research Aadays Monsnz EA Interview developers Qoeys Mon SA2 g Antonio Marquez s0 Product Engineering Manager ra Rewew product spec cay Monshi EA Research competion Gceys Mon S42 ar Vate product everiey 1oay Tue SA2 rok Brochure Design 11days Wed one HAI Ute copy iromovery Joeys Wed SH j Storyboard design Ades Man SMS 10 Product Photo Session tomy Wed SM 1 Design approval Toy Fr Siz 12 Create final design Soeys Mon Sia 13 Vit s Customer Document 8 25 days Wed SH 14 Press Coverage bdays Thu se 15 Vit s press raewses 2osys Thu Si 16 Prepare mecha i Bays Mon Gt 17 Press malina 0 5 dwys Tue GHC 16 Press conference Doers Tue GHC 15
23. ojects involve a stated goal a specific time frame and multiple resources which can include people equipment and materials E Project management seeks to control issues of time quality and money E Critical path slack task durations milestones fixed tasks resource driven tasks and dependencies are project management elements that help you build and monitor a project E Project management software can assist you in planning tracking and communicating with team members and in reporting on projects with tools such as Gantt Charts and net work diagrams E Although using Project takes some effort on your part this effort pays off in increased productivity and efficiency E Projects typically have five activities Setting the goal and defining the scope planning revising tracking and reviewing to learn from your mistakes Chapter 2 takes a closer look at the Project environment and provides information about some of the tools that you can use to manage a project 19
24. or a loan payback schedule On the other hand after you enter your basic project information into Microsoft Project the ongoing maintenance of that data is far easier than generating handwritten to do lists that become obsolete almost immediately In addition the accuracy and professionalism of reports that you generate with Project can make the difference between a poorly managed project and a successful one As with a quarterly budget that you create with spreadsheet software after you enter the data Project performs its calculations automatically And using Project makes it easy for you to quickly spot potential prob lems and to test alternative solutions So exactly what do you have to do to manage your project with Microsoft Project To create a schedule in Microsoft Project you must enter the following information about your tasks m Individual task names E Task durations E Task dependencies The Nature of Projects To track the costs of these tasks you add certain information about resources including the following E The list of human and material resources and their costs for both standard and overtime hours E The assignment of resources to specific tasks To track a project over its lifetime you need to enter the following information Progress on tasks Changes in task timing or dependencies Changes in resources that is resources that are added to or removed from the project Changes in resource time commi
25. tments and costs What Microsoft Project can do to help Even though you still must enter a great deal of information into your project schedule Microsoft Project has ways to make the job easier E Project templates If you often do similar types of projects you can create project tem plates with typical project tasks already in place you can then modify the templates for individual projects Project comes with templates to help you get started t You can take advantage of sample project templates which can be found on this book s companion CD ROM These templates represent a cross section of typical industries and project types E Automate repeated tasks If you have tasks that repeat throughout the life of a project such as weekly meetings or regular reviews you can create a single repeating task and Project duplicates it for you E Import existing task lists You can create projects from tasks that you ve set up in Outlook or you can use Excel to start your project and then easily import the spread sheet into Project E Exchange task information with Outlook You can download project tasks into Outlook from Project Web Access work on them record the work in Outlook and then upload the updated information to Project Web Access f See Chapter 25 for more information about starting projects in Outlook and Excel and then moving them into Project 2007 E Advanced reporting and analytical capabilities In addition to th
26. y study or to actually improve productivity Is the outcome for your project to agree on the final building design or is it to complete the actual construction of the building As you analyze your goal and factor in the perspectives of other team members make sure that your project isn t just one step in a series of projects to reach a larger longer term goal To identify your goal you can communicate in various ways such as meetings e mail and confer ence calls Most important you should conduct a dialogue at various levels from management through front line personnel that gets ideas on the table and answers questions Take the time to write a goal statement and circulate it among the team members to make sure that everyone under stands the common focus of the project 7 Be careful not to set a long range goal that is likely to change before the project ends Smaller projects or projects that have been broken into various phases are more man ageable and more flexible EF See Chapter 16 for tips on avoiding pitfalls during project planning After you understand your goal you should also gather the information that you need to define the projects scope This endeavor may take some research on your part The scope of a project is a statement of more specific parameters or constraints for its completion The constraints of a proj ect usually fall within the areas of time quality and cost and they often relate directly to project de
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