Introduction A Define the Project You can't hit the target if you can't see it So, your first step is to set the project's objective The objective should be measurable, define a definite end to the project; and include any assumptions about and constraints on the project To prevent problems later, be sure everyone affected agrees to your definition of the objective B Build the Plan Once you know where your project is going, you need to figure out the best way to get there To do that, you'll gather project information such as a list of the tasks that need to be done and estimates for how long each task will take Then, you'll enter the information into Microsoft Project As you enter information, Microsoft Project creates a plan for getting your project done C Track and Manage Once your project starts, it's up to your team to execute the plan But you'll need to keep close tabs on their progress, because you'll undoubtedly encounter problems you didn't expect By keeping Microsoft Project up to date, you can see the latest status of the project and identify and resolve problems early on that might affect your project's success D Close the Project Every project is a learning experience No matter how well you planned at the beginning, by the end of your project, you'll find your plan has changed from the original version To make the most of your experience, use the information you've kept in Microsoft Project to compare your original project plan with the way the project actually progressed Microsoft Project 98 – A Beginner’s Guide Page 1 of 20 1 Set a Project Start Date The first steps in creating a project plan are to create a new file, designate the project's start date or finish date, and then enter other general project information If you don't enter a project start date or finish date, Microsoft Project automatically uses the current date as the start date 1 Click New 2 Enter a start date or a finish date  To enter a start date, type the date on which you want to start your project in the Start date box  To enter a finish date, click Project Finish Date in the Schedule from box, and then type a finish date from which to schedule your project in the Finish date box Tip If your plans change, you can change your project information at any time by clicking Project Information on the Project menu For example, if the project start date is postponed because you need to hire a new project manager, you can change the start date You indicate when you first expect tasks to begin by setting the project start date As you enter tasks, Microsoft Project schedules them to start on that date Of course, every task won't start immediately So, as you enter more information about tasks, such as dependencies or constraints, Microsoft Project sets more realistic start dates If your tasks aren’t starting by default when you want them to, you can change the project start date Microsoft Project will reschedule the start date of any task that is not dependent on another task or constrained to a specific date Microsoft Project 98 – A Beginner’s Guide Page 2 of 20 2 Enter Tasks A typical project consists of a series of related tasks, which are the building blocks of your schedule Enter all the tasks that are important to your project, in the approximate order that you expect to do them 1 On the View Bar, click Gantt Chart 2 In the Task Name field, type a task name 3 Press ENTER Tip: It can be difficult to decide how finely to break down your tasks As a general rule, a task should be less than 2 weeks in length It should be large enough to be a significant chunk of work, but small enough that you can track its progress regularly and identify problems early Microsoft Project 98 – A Beginner’s Guide Page 3 of 20 3 Enter Durations When you enter a task, Microsoft Project automatically assigns it a duration of 1 day You can change this duration to more accurately represent how long the task will take On the View Bar, click Gantt Chart 1 In the Duration field of the task you want to change, type the duration you want 1 You can enter durations in minutes, hours, days, or weeks 2 Press ENTER Tip You can schedule your tasks most effectively by entering a duration for each task and letting Microsoft Project calculate the start and finish dates for you Microsoft Project 98 – A Beginner’s Guide Page 4 of 20 4 Assign Resources Most tasks require a resource to do the work A resource can be a person, piece of equipment, building, or any physical item necessary to complete a task 1 On the View Bar, click Gantt Chart 2 In the Task Name field, select the task to which you want to assign a resource 3 Click the Assign Resources icon from the toolbar 4 In the Name field, select the resource you want to assign to the task 1 If the resource isn't already listed, type the name of the resource in the Name field 5 Click Assign A check mark to the left of the Name field indicates that the resource is assigned to the selected task If desired, use the scroll arrows in the Units column to appropriately allocate between resources Tip You can also assign resources part-time or overtime and assign more than one resource Note that a resource's working hours are indicated in the resource's calendar Microsoft Project 98 – A Beginner’s Guide Page 5 of 20 5 Link Tasks Tasks usually happen in sequence: you prepare the walls, then paint them, and then hang pictures To create a sequence, you link dependent tasks and tell Microsoft Project how they are dependent 1 On the View Bar, click Gantt Chart 2 In the Task Name field, select two or more tasks you want to link by highlighting the Task Names 1 To select tasks that are not grouped together: 1 Click on the first task (so that it is highlighted) 2 Hold down the Shift key and click on any other tasks you would like to link with the first 3 Click Link Tasks icon on the toolbar Microsoft Project creates a finish-to-start task link, where one of the tasks must finish before the next task can start Note: A simple finish-to-start link may not be appropriate You can create other types of task links, such as start-to-start or finish-to-finish links Tip: The Unlink Tasks icon is located next to the Link Tasks icon on the toolbar Microsoft Project 98 – A Beginner’s Guide Page 6 of 20 6 Print the Plan To review your project plan before fine-tuning it, you can print the Gantt Chart view or any view in Microsoft Project You can also customize views and then print them  Click the Print icon on the toolbar Microsoft Project 98 – A Beginner’s Guide Page 7 of 20 7 Fine-Tune the Plan You've created an initial project plan, but it may not meet your goals, yet For example, if you follow the current plan, your project may take too long or cost too much To remedy these and other problems, you'll need to fine- tune your project plan What do you want to do?  Shorten the project schedule  Reduce the costs of tasks  Reduce the costs of resources  Ensure that the resources can do their work in the time available Shorten the project schedule The first step to shortening your schedule is to identify the tasks that are delaying it, called critical path tasks Once you've identified the critical path tasks you can shorten the schedule by adjusting them 1 On the View Bar, click Gantt Chart 2 Click the Gantt Chart Wizard icon from the toolbar 3 Follow the Gantt Chart Wizard instructions to format critical path tasks Once you've identified the critical path tasks, you can adjust them in a variety of ways to shorten the schedule Adjust those task that have the biggest impact on the schedule and that you have the most flexibility to change What do you want to do?  Delete a task  Change a task's duration to reflect a reduction in it's scope  Assign more resources to a task  Assign overtime work to shorten critical path tasks  Check task dependencies to see if the task can start earlier Reduce the costs of tasks View the cost per task If the total project cost does not meet your budget, you may need to examine the total cost of each individual task to see what can be changed 1 On the View Bar, click Gantt Chart 2 On the View menu, point to Table, and then click Cost 3 Drag the divider bar to the right to view the Total Cost field Microsoft Project 98 – A Beginner’s Guide Page 8 of 20 Reduce costs Once you know where you're spending your money, consider ways to reduce the highest costs Generally, you can reduce costs by either:  Eliminating tasks from the project, thereby reducing the scope of tasks so that they take less time and cost less to complete  Using fewer or cheaper resources What do you want to do?  Delete a task  Change a task duration to reflect a reduction in its scope  Remove a costly resource from a task  Assign a cheaper resource to a task Reduce the costs of resources View the cost per resource You can view the total cost per resource to see how the standard, overtime, and per-use costs add up 1 On the View Bar, click Resource Sheet Microsoft Project 98 – A Beginner’s Guide Page 9 of 20 2 On the View menu, point to Table, and then click Cost Tip: To see resource cost totals displayed graphically, click Resource Graph on the View Bar, point to Details on the Format menu, and then click Cost or Cumulative Cost Microsoft Project 98 – A Beginner’s Guide Page 10 of 20 Reduce costs Once you know where you're spending your money, consider ways to reduce the highest costs Generally, you can reduce costs by either:  Eliminating tasks from the project, thereby reducing the scope of tasks so that they take less time and cost less to complete  Using fewer or cheaper resources What do you want to do?  Delete a task  Change a task duration to reflect a reduction in its scope  Remove a costly resource from a task  Assign a cheaper resource to a task Ensure that the resources can do their work in the time available Check resource workload To find out which resources are over allocated or under allocated (not working to capacity), use the Resource Usage view You'll see the total hours each resource is working, the hours each resource is working on each task, and the hours worked per time period Over allocated resources are highlighted and displayed with an icon in the Indicators field 1 On the View Bar, click Resource Usage Tip: If you see pound symbols (##) in the time scale portion of the Resource Usage view, the columns in the time scale are not wide enough to display the information To change the width of the columns, click Time scale on the Format menu, and then increase the value in the Enlarge box Microsoft Project 98 – A Beginner’s Guide Page 11 of 20 Reduce resource over allocations Keep in mind that minor amounts of over allocation, such as less than 1 hour per day, may not be significant enough for you to resolve and may be unavoidable You can use any of several methods to resolve larger over allocations What do you want to do?  Resolve resource over allocations automatically  Assign extra resources to a task, thereby reducing the hours that the over allocated resource must work  Set different working hours and days off for a resource  Decrease the amount of work assigned to the resource Microsoft Project 98 – A Beginner’s Guide Page 12 of 20 8 Set a Baseline Once you complete the initial process of creating a plan, entering tasks, establishing dependencies, assigning resources, and fine-tuning your schedule; you're ready to set a baseline plan By comparing the information in your baseline plan to your updated schedule during the course of the project, you can identify and solve discrepancies After the project ends, you can use the baseline plan to schedule similar, future projects more accurately 1 On the Tools menu, point to Tracking, and then click Save Baseline 2 Click Entire project or Selected tasks to save the portion of the schedule you want Microsoft Project 98 – A Beginner’s Guide Page 13 of 20 9 Enter Actuals You can update your schedule as frequently as you want to monitor progress To update your schedule, evaluate the status of each task and enter the latest, actual information in your schedule You can then determine your progress by using the baseline information you stored to compare your original plan with the current status What do you want to do?  Update actual start and finish dates for a task  Update progress on a task as a percentage  Determine if tasks are starting and finishing according to plan  Determine if tasks cost more or less than budgeted Update actual start and finish dates for a task It's important to track whether tasks start and finish on time Tasks that start or finish late can throw an entire project off schedule by delaying the start or finish dates of related tasks Tasks that start or finish early can free resources to work on other tasks that are behind schedule However, be sure to check the availability of resources assigned to tasks that can start early because the resources may be assigned to other tasks at that time 1 In the Task Name field, select the task you want to update 2 On the Tools menu, point to Tracking, and then click Update Tasks 3 Under Actual, type the dates in the Start and Finish boxes Note: Entering an actual start date or actual finish date for a task changes the corresponding scheduled date for that task Baseline dates, however, are not affected by changes you make to the actual or scheduled dates Tip: If a number of tasks started and finished on time, you can set the actual start and actual finish information for all of those tasks at once In the Task Name field, select the tasks that started and finished on time On the Tools menu, point to Tracking, click Update Project, and then click Selected tasks Update progress on a task as a percentage You can indicate how much progress has been made on a task by entering the percentage of the task duration that is complete For tasks that are relatively short in duration, it may not be worthwhile to track progress in such detail; but for tasks of an extended duration, indicating the percentage of the task that is complete helps you track actual progress against the baseline plan A task is zero percent complete when it has not yet begun, and it is 100 percent complete when it is finished By default, Microsoft Project indicates the percentage of the task that is complete on the Gantt Chart as a thin, black line drawn horizontally through the middle of each task bar 1 Select the task for which you want to update progress 2 On the Project menu, click on Task Information, and then click the General tab 3 In the Percent complete box, type a whole number between 0 and 100 Microsoft Project 98 – A Beginner’s Guide Page 14 of 20 Notes Microsoft Project calculates the percentage of a summary task that is complete based on the progress of  its subtasks You can also manually enter the percent complete on a summary task  Microsoft Project displays a check mark in the Indicators field for a completed task  When you enter the percent complete on a task, Microsoft Project updates the actual work values for the appropriate assigned resources on the task To prevent this from happening, you can turn off the automatic update of resource status Tips To indicate progress on a recurring task, add the % Complete field to your Gantt Chart and type the  number in that field On the View Bar, click Gantt Chart, and then click Column on the Insert menu  Click % Complete in the Field name box, and then enter the percentage in the % Complete field for the  recurring task You can use the mouse to enter the approximate percentage of a task that is complete on the chart portion of the Gantt Chart view Move the pointer to the left side of the task bar until it changes to a percent sign Drag to the right to reach the percentage complete you want You can use the buttons on the Tracking toolbar to update progress on a task and to perform other tracking activities On the View menu, point to Toolbars, and then click Tracking Determine if tasks are starting and finishing according to plan To keep your project on schedule, you need to make sure that tasks start and finish on time as much as possible Of course, there will always be tasks that do not start on time or run behind schedule It is important to find tasks that vary from the baseline plan as soon as possible, so you can adjust task dependencies, reassign resources, or delete some tasks to meet your deadlines 1 On the View Bar, click Tracking Gantt 2 On the View menu, point to Table, and then click Variance 3 Drag the divider bar to the right to view the variance fields Note: You must have saved a baseline in order to have variance information Determine if tasks cost more or less than budgeted Microsoft Project 98 – A Beginner’s Guide Page 15 of 20 If you're managing costs in your project, either by assigning fixed costs to tasks or by assigning wages to resources, you're probably interested in tasks that are accruing more cost than budgeted By closely tracking your project costs, you can catch cost overruns early and adjust either your schedule or your budget accordingly After you enter costs for tasks and resources and assign resources to tasks, Microsoft Project calculates the cost of each resource's work, the total cost for each task and resource, and the total project cost All of these costs are considered scheduled or projected costs Scheduled costs reflect the latest cost picture as the project progresses Microsoft Project also calculates remaining costs The remaining cost is the scheduled cost minus the actual cost 1 On the View Bar, click Gantt Chart 2 On the View menu, point to Table, and then click Cost 3 Drag the divider bar to the right to view the Total Cost and Baseline fields 4 Compare the values in the Total Cost and Baseline fields For the cost variance, look at the value in the Variance field Tips You can compare the baseline total cost of your project to the actual total cost On the Project menu,   click Project Information, and then click Statistics In the Cost column, compare the values in the Baseline and Actual fields  You can check the resources assigned to a task and the resource costs related to that task On the View Bar, click Task Usage On the View menu, point to Table, and then click Cost Drag the divider bar to the right and compare the values in the Total Cost, Baseline, Actual, and Remaining fields for the resources assigned to that task You can view when your actual costs are differing from your baseline costs Microsoft Project 98 – A Beginner’s Guide Page 16 of 20 10 Adjust the Plan As you update your project plan, you may uncover problems, some of which may threaten your project's success For example, if a critical path task finished late, the schedule may show that the project will finish late You’ll need to adjust the plan to solve the problems that arise What do you want to do?  Shorten the project schedule  Reduce the costs of tasks  Reduce the costs of resources  Ensure that the resources can do their work in the time available  Reschedule the remaining work on a task to continue at a later time Shorten the project schedule View the critical path The first step to shortening your schedule is to identify the tasks that are delaying it, called critical path tasks Once you've identified the critical path tasks you can shorten the schedule by adjusting them 1 On the View Bar, click Gantt Chart 2 Click GanttChartWizard 3 Follow the GanttChartWizard instructions to format critical path tasks Shorten the schedule Once you've identified the critical path tasks, you can adjust them in a variety of ways to shorten the schedule Adjust those task that have the biggest impact on the schedule and that you have the most flexibility to change What do you want to do?  Delete a task  Change a task duration to reflect a reduction in its scope  Assign more resources to a task  Assign overtime work to shorten critical path tasks  Check task dependencies to see if the task can start earlier Delete a task 1 On the View Bar, click Gantt Chart 2 In the Task Name field, select the task you want to delete 3 On the Edit menu, click Delete Task Tip: You can restore a deleted task immediately after deleting it by clicking Undo Note: If you delete a summary task, all of its subtasks are deleted too After you delete a task, Microsoft Project automatically renumbers the remaining tasks Change a task duration to reflect a reduction in its scope When you enter a task, Microsoft Project automatically assigns it a duration of 1 day You can change the duration for a task to represent more accurately how long it will take 1 On the View Bar, click Gantt Chart 2 In the Duration field of the task you want to change, type the duration you want 1 You can enter durations in minutes, hours, days, or weeks 3 Press ENTER Tip: You can schedule your tasks most effectively by entering a duration for each task and letting Microsoft Project calculate the start and finish dates for you Note: Constraints may prevent your tasks from being rescheduled when you automatically level your project You can enter a start and finish date and have Microsoft Project calculate the duration of the task automatically for you, but then a Start No Earlier Than or Finish No Earlier Than constraint will be applied to the task For more information about setting the length of a task, click Microsoft Project 98 – A Beginner’s Guide Page 17 of 20 Assign more resources to a task 1 On the View Bar, click Gantt Chart 2 3 In the Task Name field, select the task to which you want to assign a resource, and then click Assign Resources 4 In the Name field, select the resource you want to assign to the task or click Address to select a resource from your e-mail address book 1 To assign a resource part-time, type a percentage less than 100 in the Units field to represent the percentage of working time you want the resource to spend on the task 2 To assign several different resources, select them 3 To assign more than one of the same resource (such as two carpenters), type a percentage amount greater than 100 in the Units field 4 If necessary, type the name of a new resource in the Name field Click Assign A check mark to the left of the Name field indicates that the resource is assigned to the selected task Note: As you assign additional resources to a task, the duration will be reduced to reflect the addition of the resources (if the task is set as effort driven) For more information about effort-driven scheduling, click Tips As your schedule changes, you'll probably need to replace assigned resources with others Rather than  removing the assigned resource and then assigning another resource, you can replace one resource with  another In the Resource Assignment dialog box, select the assigned resource you want to replace, and then click Replace Select one or more resources to assign to the task, and then click OK If you want to assign resources as you complete other work on your schedule, you can continue to display the Resource Assignment dialog box while you work with the Gantt Chart and other Microsoft Project views Assign overtime work to shorten critical path tasks You can decrease the duration of tasks on the critical path and shorten the schedule by assigning overtime work for resources By default, Microsoft Project calculates a task duration based on the amount of work required to complete the task, the number of resource units assigned to it, and the working times and work assigned to those resources 1 On the View Bar, click Gantt Chart 2 On the Window menu, click Split 3 Click the Task Form view in the bottom pane 4 On the Format menu, point to Details, and then click Resource Work 5 In the top pane, select the critical path task for which you want to assign overtime work 6 In the bottom pane, type the number of overtime hours for each resource in the Ovt Work field Check task dependencies to see if the task can start earlier A task dependency describes how a task is related to the start or finish of another task Microsoft Project provides four task dependencies you can use to connect a series of tasks in a schedule By using these dependencies effectively, you can modify the critical path and shorten your project schedule 1 On the View Bar, click Gantt Chart 2 Double-click the link line of the tasks you want to check 3 In the Type box, check the task dependency Tips The appearance of the link itself will identify the task dependency type For example, a link line drawn   from the beginning of one Gantt bar to the beginning of another denotes a start-to-start dependency If you have tasks that can be worked on at the same time, you can shorten the critical path most by  changing the task dependency For example, if two tasks can be started at the same time, you can change the task dependency to start-to-start If two tasks can finish at the same time, you can change the task dependency to finish-to-finish You can add lead or lag time to tasks to make their start or finish dates overlap each other Microsoft Project 98 – A Beginner’s Guide Page 18 of 20 Reduce the costs of tasks View the cost per task If the total project cost does not meet your budget, you may need to examine the total cost of each individual task to see what can be changed 1 On the View Bar, click Gantt Chart 2 On the View menu, point to Table, and then click Cost 3 Drag the divider bar to the right to view the Total Cost field Reduce costs Once you know where you're spending your money, consider ways to reduce the highest costs Generally, you can reduce costs by either:  Eliminating tasks from the project, thereby reducing the scope of tasks so that they take less time and cost less to complete  Using fewer or cheaper resources Reduce the costs of resources View the cost per resource You can view the total cost per resource to see how the standard, overtime, and per-use costs add up 1 On the View Bar, click Resource Sheet 2 On the View menu, point to Table, and then click Cost Tip: To see resource cost totals displayed graphically, click Resource Graph on the View Bar, point to Details on the Format menu, and then click Cost or Cumulative Cost Ensure that the resources can do their work in the time available Check resource workload Once you've assigned resources to specific tasks, you may want to find out which resources are over allocated or under allocated, as well as which tasks have no resource assigned yet and which resources have no work assigned to them On the View Bar, click Resource Usage Notes For each resource, the Resource Usage view shows the total hours the resource is working, the hours  the resource is working on each task, and the hours worked per time period on the time scale Over  allocated resources are highlighted and are displayed with an indicator  Resources with no tasks yet assigned do not have any tasks listed underneath their names Tasks with no resources assigned are located under Unassigned in the Resource Name field Tips If you see pound symbols (##) in the time scale portion of the Resource Usage view, the columns in the  time scale are not wide enough to display the information To change the width of the columns, click  Time scale on the Format menu, and then increase the value in the Enlarge box You can see how much of a resource's work is allocated toward particular tasks and per time period On the Format menu, click Detail Styles In the Available fields list, click Percent Allocation, and then click Show Reschedule the remaining work on a task to continue at a later time Microsoft Project inserts an automatic split between the actual work and the remaining work on a task The split is invisible on the Gantt Chart, by default, because there is no gap between the actual work and remaining work If you have resources that are interrupting work on a task, and you need to reschedule the remaining work to a later date, you can create a gap between the actual work and remaining work on a task by moving the remaining portion of a task Microsoft Project 98 – A Beginner’s Guide Page 19 of 20 1 On the View Bar, click Gantt Chart 2 In the chart portion of the view, position the pointer over the incomplete part of the task you want to split 3 Drag the task bar to the right to split the task and have a portion of it start later Notes If you drag the finished portion of the task, you will move the entire task  If the resources assigned to the task are at different levels of completion, the task split may not occur at  the point on the task bar indicated by the progress line Microsoft Project 98 – A Beginner’s Guide Page 20 of 20 ... you automatically level your project You can enter a start and finish date and have Microsoft Project calculate the duration of the task automatically for you, but then a Start No Earlier Than... compare your original plan with the current status What you want to do?  Update actual start and finish dates for a task  Update progress on a task as a percentage  Determine if tasks are... Entering an actual start date or actual finish date for a task changes the corresponding scheduled date for that task Baseline dates, however, are not affected by changes you make to the actual or