Basic MS Project training

A View in Microsoft Project is a way to display data from the project plan’s database. There are views specific to the task tables and resource tables. There are also views that can display assignment information associated with either task or resources.

• Sheet: Displays information in rows and columns.
• Chart or Graph: Displays information graphically, such as Gantt Chart, Calendar, Network Diagram, or Resource Graph.
• Forms: Displays information in a form and can only shows data pertaining to one task or resource at a time.

All views use a predefined set of data and all views have at least one filter that define or limit the information displayed. Sheet views and some Chart views start out using a predefined table Continue Reading »

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To discuss different task types go to Microsoft Project Help. Open the Index section, type Change Links. Click the Map tab at the top of the help window then click the number 5 – Link Types. Go to the How hyper link and then click the Task Link hyper link to see information about the different types of linkage.

1. Select Tasks 1 - 15

2. Link the tasks with standard Finish to Start relationship using the Link Tasks button. What is the project end date? Answer 17 Feb. Will this be acceptable to management? Continue Reading »

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You now realize that you will have to add some additional tasks that you had not thought of at first.

Add the following:

1. Insert task Print Advertising at Task 4
2. Insert task Print Research at Task 5

Now you can begin to add the duration of each task and add any other tasks that you think you might require.

1. Open file BREADROL if it is closed

2. Change the durations in the task list as follows Continue Reading »

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Click the Start button, choose the All Programs command. Choose Microsoft Office and click Microsoft Office Project 2003, you should be able to see the same thing as below:

Working with Menus

The menu bar is used to select menus and commands to perform actions in Microsoft Project. You can add, delete, and modify the menus on the menu bar and the commands on the menus. You can also create your own menu bars and display them. The menu bar appears below the title bar in the Microsoft Project window

• Selecting a menu name on the menu bar displays a menu containing a list of related commands.
• To select a menu name on the menu bar, click the menu name or press ALT+ the underscored letter in the name.
• The commands that appear on menus may change depending on the view you’re in and the actions you have taken in Microsoft Project.
• Command names followed by an ellipsis display a dialog box.
• Command names followed by an arrow display a cascading menu containing a list of related commands.
• Some command names are followed by a keyboard combination that you can use to quickly carry out the command.
• To look for a command that doesn’t appear, click the arrows at the bottom of the menu or double-click the menu name. The menu expands to show more commands.

Working with Toolbars

Toolbars are sets of buttons that are shortcuts to commands. Microsoft Project includes a number of toolbars that you can display. By default, the Standard and Formatting toolbars appear below the menu bar at the top of your screen.

Standard Toolbar

The Standard toolbar provides the most frequently used tools, which you can use to accomplish a wide range of common project management tasks.

Formatting Toolbar

The Formatting toolbar provides tools for changing the appearance of text in views.

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1. Create a new project entitled BREADROL

2. Create a Start date of 18 October and Schedule from Start Date

3. Set up a new Calendar for King’s Mill with a shut down period between and including 20 December and 03 January

4. Set the project to use the new King’s Mill calendar

5. Add in the task list as follows

1. Start new product launch 1d

2. Plan advertising 1d

3. Plan research 1d

4. Distribute advertising 1d

5. Distribute new product 1d

6. Research - field 1d

7. Research - focus group 1d

8. Analyse research 1d

9. Report to Board 1d

6. Open and examine the Statistics window for the project.

7. Open the File Properties and add in appropriate keywords and author information to allow your colleagues to find your project easily. If you are on a network follow your tutors instructions to find each others projects by keyword.

8. Discuss the difference between Save and Save As. Save the project with the name BREADROL and leave open if continuing to the next exercise section.

Continue to phase 2…….

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You are a junior marketing manager in a huge bakery company called King’s Mill in California. You are given a job to work out with a project plan for market testing a new launching product. You will have to make sure all the phases of the project works together and you have to report and present your plan to the management during the kick off meeting.

Start the planning now!

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Managing a project requires a very varies sets of skills and involves employing many different management and coordinating activities to master Microsoft Project effectively, you need to master some basic Project concepts and skills.

We will now identify and define the basic terms and concepts that will be used in project management and project planning process.

Definition of a project

A project is a well-defined sequence of event with a beginning and an end, directed towards achieving a clear goal. It is conducted by people within such established parameters as time, cost, resources and quality. Example, a dinner party can be a project where the tasks are preparing the guest list, sending invitations, deciding on the menu, selecting and booking the restaurant etc.

Objective

This is the result that the project must achieve at the end of the day. This result must be specific and formally stated. The success or failure of any project is measured by how well performance satisfies the specifications stated in the goal. Let’s take the previous example the objective could be that everybody must enjoy the food.

Project Tasks

These are steps which need to be done in order to achieve the stated objective. The sequence, order and duration of the tasks are important and need to be specified explicitly. For example; preparing the guest list – one day, sending invitations – 3 days etc.

Milestones

A milestone is an event which marks the completion of one phase in a project. It tells you how far you have progressed and how much further that you have to go in order to complete the project. For example the task Guest list prepared could be a task of zero (0) duration that marks the end of your first phase.

Resources

These are the actual units that are used to execute the tasks; resources can be people like program managers, clerks etc. things such as machinery and equipment etc. In the previous example your resources could be the cook, the event manager, the restaurant etc.

Duration

This is your estimate of how long each task will take and is quoted in weeks, hours, days or minutes. The weeks, hours days or minutes stated above are in normal working hours.

Top Down Planning

This is a way of planning projects such that every project is first broken down into its major components. Each major component is further broken down into its major tasks. Each major tasks is further broken up into its subtasks and so on until it comes down to the level of detail that is required for easy management of the project.

Bottom up Planning

In this system of project planning all the detail tasks are first determined and these low level tasks are further aggregated into related groupings which may be further aggregated depending on the level of consolidation required.

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Project management is composed of several different types of activities such as:

• Analysis & design of objectives and events
• Planning the work according to the objectives
• Assessing and controlling risk (or Risk Management)
• Estimating resources
• Allocation of resources
• Organizing the work
• Acquiring human and material resources
• Assigning tasks
• Directing activities
• Controlling project execution
• Tracking and reporting progress (Management information system)
• Analyzing the results based on the facts achieved
• Defining the products of the project
• Forecasting future trends in the project
• Quality Management
• Issues management
• Issue solving
• Defect prevention
• Identifying, managing & controlling changes
• Project closure (and project debrief)
• Communicating to stakeholders
• Increasing/ decreasing a company’s workers

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Like any human undertaking, projects need to be performed and delivered under certain constraints. Traditionally, these constraints have been listed as scope, time, and cost. These are also referred to as the Project Management Triangle, where each side represents a constraint. One side of the triangle cannot be changed without impacting the others. A further refinement of the constraints separates product ‘quality’ or ‘performance’ from scope, and turns quality into a fourth constraint.

The time constraint refers to the amount of time available to complete a project. The cost constraint refers to the budgeted amount available for the project. The scope constraint refers to what must be done to produce the project’s end result. These three constraints are often competing constraints: increased scope typically means increased time and increased cost, a tight time constraint could mean increased costs and reduced scope, and a tight budget could mean increased time and reduced scope.

The discipline of project management is about providing the tools and techniques that enable the project team (not just the project manager) to organize their work to meet these constraints.

Another approach to project management is to consider the three constraints as finance, time and human resources. If you need to finish a job in a shorter time, you can throw more people at the problem, which in turn will raise the cost of the project, unless by doing this task quicker we will reduce costs elsewhere in the project by an equal amount.

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Project management is quite often the province and responsibility of an individual project manager. This individual seldom participates directly in the activities that produce the end result, but rather strives to maintain the progress and productive mutual interaction of various parties in such a way that overall risk of failure is reduced.

A project manager is often a client representative and has to determine and implement the exact needs of the client, based on knowledge of the firm they are representing. The ability to adapt to the various internal procedures of the contracting party, and to form close links with the nominated representatives, is essential in ensuring that the key issues of cost, time, quality, and above all, client satisfaction, can be realized.

In whatever field, a successful project manager must be able to envision the entire project from start to finish and to have the ability to ensure that this vision is realized.

Any type of product or service —buildings, vehicles, electronics, computer software, financial services, etc.— may have its implementation overseen by a project manager and its operations by a product manager.

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