Critical Path Calculations
Purpose: Use this job aid as a reference to the calculations used in the critical path method.
One-to-one dependency between tasks
One-to-one dependency between tasks
Forward pass
Early start date + Duration - 1 = Early finish date
The early start date of an activity should fall on the next working day after the early finish date of
the previous activity.
Backward pass
Late finish date - Duration + 1 = Late start date
The late finish date of an activity should fall on the working day before the late start date of the
following activity.
One-to-many dependency between tasks
One-to-many dependency between tasks
Forward pass
Early start date + Duration - 1 = Early finish date
The early start date of the dependent activities should fall on the next working day after the early
finish date of the previous activity.
Backward pass
Late finish date - Duration + 1 = Late start date
The late finish date of the previous activity should fall on the working day before the smaller late
start date of the succeeding activity – that is, the working day before the late start date of the
critical path activity.
Many-to-one dependency between tasks
Many-to-one dependency between tasks
Forward pass
Early start date + Duration - 1 = Early finish date
The early start date of the dependent activity will be the working day after the larger early finish
date of the previous activities.
Backward pass
Late finish date - Duration + 1 = Late start date
The late finish date of the preceding activities will be the working day before the late start date
of the dependent activity.
Course: Developing and Controlling the Project Schedule
Topic: Critical Path Method
Critical Path Method
Introduction
Once you have the network diagrams for the activities, as well as the activity duration estimates,
you can begin scheduling the project. The critical path method (CPM) is one of the key
techniques for developing a project schedule.
In a schedule network diagram, the critical path is the longest full path linking activities that must
be performed in sequence. It's important to identify this path, because if one of its activities is
delayed, the end date of your project is delayed too.
CPM provides a way to calculate four time boundaries:
the early start date, which is the earliest possible start date for each activity to
begin
the early finish date, which is the earliest date each activity can end
the latest start date, which is the latest possible time for each activity to begin
the latest finish date, which is the latest date each activity can end
CPM involves completing three steps:
1. performing a forward pass through the network diagram
2. performing a backward pass to check your initial results
3. calculating the float for each activity to determine the critical path
The forward pass
The first step in CPM is performing a forward pass through the schedule network diagram so
you can establish the early start and finish dates for each activity. This is done so that
resources, such as project team members and equipment, can be allocated as soon as
possible. Allocating resources assists in determining project expenditure and therefore
establishing the project budget.
When performing a forward pass, you begin with the first activity in the network diagram and
move forward. You
1. record the earliest date the first activity can start
2. add the duration of this activity to the early start date
3. subtract one day from the result
Some project managers find it useful to record activities' start and finish times in the network
diagram. The early start is usually filled in on the top left corner of each activity block, with the
early finish date shown in the right corner.
The backward pass
The second step in determining the critical path for a project is to perform a backward pass
through the schedule network diagram.
You perform the backward pass to establish the latest start and finish dates for the project to
remain on schedule.
In a backward pass, you start at the end of the project and work back, subtracting the estimated
duration of each preceding activity.
To begin the backward pass, the late finish date will either be a hard date that's been set or the
early finish date of the last activity in the project. An example of a hard date may be a deadline
that determines the project's end date.
To calculate the late start date, you
1. subtract the duration of the last activity from its late finish date
2. add one day because the last day of the project is included as a working day
As you work backward through the schedule network diagram, the late finish date will fall on the
working day preceding the late start date of the last activity.
When activities occur in parallel, the smaller of the late start values of the activities is used to
calculate the late finish date for the preceding activity.
The late start date should usually be the same as the early start date for the first activity in a
schedule network diagram. Any other result may indicate that you've made an error, unless
there is a hard end date and you're starting the project in advance to give yourself an extra
buffer.
Calculating the float
When there's a difference between the early finish date of an activity and the early start date of
an activity that immediately follows it, the difference is called slack time, or float. It's the amount
of time that an earlier activity can be delayed without affecting the completion time of the
project.
The final step in the CPM is to find the activities that lie on the project's critical path by
calculating their float. The critical path is sometimes defined as the longest path through the
network diagram and contains no float.
The easiest way to find the critical path is to find the activities where the early start date is the
same as the late start date. If the two dates are the same, there's no float available for that
activity, and it must lie on the critical path.
You can also calculate the float for each activity by subtracting the early start date from the late
start date, or by subtracting the early finish date from the late finish date.
If any of the activities on the critical path aren't completed on time, all of the activities that follow
it will run late too. So it's important to prevent this, for example by ensuring enough resources
are allocated for completing critical activities.
The critical path is one of the techniques for developing a project schedule. It identifies the
shortest period of time in which the project can be completed. The critical path method involves
completing three steps. You perform a forward pass through the network diagram, perform a
backward pass to check your initial results, and then calculate the float for each activity to
determine the critical path.
Course: Developing and Controlling the Project Schedule
Topic: Critical Path Method
Setting Project Baselines
Learning Objective
After completing this topic, you should be able to
set a baseline in Project 2013
1. Meet your instructor
Narrator: I'm Susan Domina and I've been teaching Microsoft Project
for over 20 years. In this course we're going to explore many of the
tools that Project 2013 offers that help you track your project's
performance, such as baselines and how to enter progress information
for your project tasks.
Narrator: We're also going to explore how to use tools in Microsoft
Project 2013 to analyze your project, such as how to display critical
path information and use the Task Inspector tool to identify any
potential issues such as task deadline misses.
2. Demo: Saving project baselines
Once our project is underway, we'll want to be able to compare how the project is progressing to
how far along we thought we would be by now, when we initially planned the project. The good
news is that the Project comes with tools to capture a project's baseline. A baseline represents
a snapshot of the work, cost, and schedule information at the time you save it. The best time to
capture an initial baseline is when the plan is complete but before actual project work begins.
Then you can save additional baselines called interim plans at different times throughout the
project lifecycle to capture progress. The purpose of capturing these later baselines is to be able
to compare the progress of our project to the initial plan. Let's pretend that we think we're done
with the planning and we want to save a project baseline. On the PROJECT tab, in the
Schedule group, I'll click on Set Baseline andSet Baseline. That opens up the Set Baseline
dialog box and we're going to leave it at the Set Baseline: Baseline – an entire project –
because we don't want to just save some of the tasks, we want to save the information for all of
the tasks. And I'll click OK.
Graphic
By default, the Microsoft Project 2013 interface consists of a Quick Access Toolbar of
frequently-use commands, and a ribbon with tabs such as, TASK, RESOURCE, and
PROJECT. The project plan is displayed below these elements.
In this example, a project plan is open in Gantt Chart view and on the ribbon, the
PROJECT tab is selected.
The PROJECT tab includes the Insert, Apps, Properties, and Schedule groups. The
Schedule group contains the options: Calculate Project, Set Baseline, and Move Project.
The Set Baseline drop-down menu has two options: Set Baseline and Clear Baseline.
The Set Baseline dialog box contains the Set baseline and Set interim plan radio buttons.
The Set baseline radio button has an associated drop-down list box, set to Baseline by
default.
There are also radio buttons for applying settings to the entire project or selected tasks.
Now if something minor changes in the project plan before the actual work begins, you may
want to save over your initial baseline once you've updated the appropriate information. And by
minor changes I mean maybe a few task start dates have changed or a task was added or
removed. Let me show you how to save over a previous initial baseline. Again on the PROJECT
tab, in the Schedule group, I'll click on Set Baseline – Set Baseline. And you can see that it
tells us the date of the initial baseline and we don't need to change anything because we want
to set the baseline for the entire project and overwrite this initial one. And so I'll click OK and it
does tell us, "Baseline has already been used..." on what date and it asks us if we're sure we
want to overwrite this baseline –Yes. Project notes the last saved date in the Set Baseline
dialog box. However, once work on the project has started and you want to save additional
baselines for comparison, do not save over the initial baseline, but rather select another from
the Set Baseline drop-down list.
Graphic
The instructor reopens the Set Baseline dialog box. Under the Set baseline radio button
option, the drop-down list box reads: Baseline (last saved 6/7/13).
When the instructor clicks OK, a Microsoft Project dialog box opens and reads: Baseline
has already been used on 6/7/13. Are you sure you want to overwrite the data in this
baseline? The instructor clicks Yes.
So for that you would go up to project Set Baseline–Set Baseline and you would drop-down
this list and choose next Baseline 1, then Baseline 2 etc. You may not use them all but it has
an extra ten for you. And I'll just Cancel out here. So now you know to save an initial baseline
after all the planning but before the project work starts, and then you can save later baselines to
compare to the original one.
Graphic
The instructor reopens the Set Baseline dialog box. She opens the drop-down list under
the Set baseline radio button. It contains options for setting different baselines, numbered
from Baseline 1 to Baseline 10.
3. Demo: Viewing project baselines
Now that we've saved a baseline, I want to show you what information was saved. So I want to
apply the table that will show it best to our Gantt Chart view. So I'm going to go up to this upper
left-hand corner, what we call the Select All cell or 00, and I'll right-click and right now its in
the Entry table, there are whole slew of tables, the one I'm interested in isn't listed here, but we
can go to More Tables. And here the complete list of all the tables is listed. And we want
the Baseline table which is a task table and click Apply. So when we saved the baseline,
Microsoft Project saved for each task, data for Task Name, Baseline Duration, Baseline Start,
Baseline Finish, Baseline Work, and Baseline Cost. So when you save a baseline, now you
know what information Project is saving whether you display this table or not.
Graphic
The Select All shortcut menu includes options such as Calculate Project, Cost, Entry,
Hyperlink, Schedule, Variance, Work, and More Tables. A check mark is visible next to the
Entry option.
Clicking More Tables opens the More Tables dialog box, which radio buttons to select task
or resource tables. A list box displays the available tables for each option. There are also
buttons for New, Edit, Copy, and Organizer.
The instructor selects the Baseline table and clicks Apply.
There might occasionally be a need to clear the initial baseline for a project so we can start
again. Here's an example: suppose we completed our plan and it is in the customer review
phase and actual work has not yet started, then something big changes in the project plan, such
as whole new deliverables are added and/or other deliverables are removed; we need to redo
our plan and capture the updated initial baseline before beginning project work. Another
example of when an initial baseline might need to be cleared is if you're assigned to do another
project that is similar to this one. Rather than starting from scratch, you'll copy this file and the
dates and such will be different, so you'll update those for the new project. And then you save
the current file with a new name and you clear the baseline. To clear baseline, first we go up to
the PROJECT tab of the ribbon and in the Schedule group I'll click on Set Baseline, and from
the list I'll choose Clear Baseline.
Graphic
Selecting Clear Baseline opens the Clear Baseline dialog box. It contains two radio
buttons: Clear baseline plan and Clear interim plan, which each have corresponding drop-
down list boxes. The dialog box also contains radio button options enabling the settings for
an entire project or for selected tasks.
And we do want to clear the baseline for the entire project. And we only have this first one
saved so that's the one we want to clear and OK. So now in the Baseline table, see how all of
the baseline values have been cleared and all these were filled in. Typically when we clear a
baseline we want to then update any information as necessary and then reset the project
baseline, and save the project file. So if you do have a need to clear the baseline you now know
when it's appropriate and how to do it.
Graphic
In this case, Clear baseline plan is selected, and the associated baseline you want to clear
was last saved on 6/7/13. The Entire project radio button is also selected.
Updating Project Progress
Learning Objective
After completing this topic, you should be able to
update the progress of a task in Project 2013
1. Demo: Updating completion percentages
Capturing the progress of a project is crucial to producing accurate and useful status reports.
The simplest method of tracking progress is by inputting estimates of the percentage of work
that is complete on each task. First, I prefer to enter actuals in the Gantt Chart view with the
tracking table applied. So we're already in a Gantt Chart view and if I right-click up in this Select
All area – upper left of the table – I see it's now currently on the Entry table, and I'm going to
choose Tracking. And if we want to see more columns, we can drag the divider bar farther to
the right. And when I'm close to where I want to have it positioned, I can then double-click and it
will scoot over to the divider line between that column and the next. And we can see the Gantt
bars. If not, we could have scrolled or used the Shift+Ctrl+F5 to get there quickly.
Graphic
By default, the Microsoft Project 2013 interface consists of a Quick Access Toolbar of
frequently-use commands, and a ribbon with tabs such as, TASK, RESOURCE, and
PROJECT. The project plan is displayed below these elements.
In this example, a project plan is open in Gantt Chart view and on the ribbon, the VIEW tab
is selected.
The Select All shortcut menu includes the options: Calculate Project, Cost, Entry,
Hyperlink, and More Tables.
The Tracking table is displayed and the columns Actual Start, Actual Finish, Percentage
Complete, Physical Percent Complete, Actual Duration, Remaining Duration, Actual Cost,
and Actual Work Hours are visible. The divider bar is separating the Tracking table and the
Gantt chart.
Two more adjustments I want to make. One is that you can change the column width of any of
these columns by simply placing your mouse pointer between that column and the next column
up in the column header. When you get this vertical bar with double-headed horizontal arrows,
you can drag either left or right. And the final change I want to make, to adjust it the way I want
it, is I want to move Percent Complete to between Actual Start and Actual Finish. And so I'm
going to click on the column header for Percent Complete and then I let go of my mouse button
and I press and hold again, and drag it to where I want it. You can see the vertical insertion line
between Actual Start and Actual Finish and that's where I'm going to drop it. And now we'll enter
the Actual Start date of a few of the tasks that have started and their estimated percent
complete. This first one started on January 6th and I'll press Tab to move over to the right and
it's complete so I'll type in 100%.
Graphic
The instructor types 1/6/14 in the Actual Start column for the "Identify resource
requirements" task. She then types 100 in the Percent Complete column.
And so notice it puts in an Actual Finish date because it knew the Actual Duration because it
assumes the estimate of the Actual Duration. If it's incorrect then you would type an Actual
Finish date and it would recalculate the Actual Duration. Now over on the Gantt chart, when I
put in 100% complete, notice the darker blue line appeared and it's in that first bar but not in any
of these other ones yet. And I'll click in the second one, 1/13/14. This one though is only 75%
complete so I'll type 75, Enter. So it doesn't put in an Actual Finish date because it's not done
yet. And again we can look at the Gantt bar with the darker line 75% of the way across. And
finally the last one that I'm going to enter for now: it started on January 20th and it is complete.
Graphic
The Actual Finish, Actual Duration, and Actual Work columns are automatically propagated
with the information 1/23/14, 5 days, and 40 hours, respectively.
The instructor types 1/13/14 in the Actual Start column for the "Advertise position to
internal and external candidates" task. She then types 75 into the Percent Complete
column for the same task. When she presses Enter the Actual Duration, Remaining
Duration and Actual Work columns are automatically propagated with the information 3.75
days, 1.25 days, and 30 hours respectively.
The instructor then types 1/20/14 into the Actual Start column for the "Select candidates to
interview" task.
And again you can see Microsoft Project populate some of these other fields. So if we enter
100% complete and there is a task duration for a task, rather than an estimated task duration,
the Actual Finish date will auto-populate based on the task duration information. So this is one
limitation of the Percent Complete method for updating project progress. That Project assumes
that whatever duration was initially planned for the task is the actual duration, but like I said, we
can overcome this by then typing an actual finish date. And so quick and easy method of
updating project progress is to enter the start date and the percent complete.
Graphic
When she types 100 in the Percent Complete column and presses Enter, the Actual Finish,
Actual Duration, and Actual Work columns are automatically propagated with the
information 1/21/14, 2 days, and 16 hours respectively.
2. Demo: Updating actual and remaining work
Another method of updating project progress is to enter actual work and remaining work
information. This method, unlike just updating Percent Complete, allows us to see date slippage
based on any increased remaining work estimates. Before we enter actual work and remaining
work information, let's set up how we want things displayed for what we're going to do. We
already have the Gantt Chart view with the Tracking table applied. To check, I could just rightclick here and see tracking. And I want the Actual Work column to be between the Actual Start
and Actual Finish columns. So here's the Actual Work column, I click at the top in the column
header to select it and I'll press and hold and drag it over to where I want it. I'm going to do the
same with moving Percent Complete out of the way – for the moment – and I also want
Remaining Work. Now we don't have Remaining Work as one of our columns but one thing you
can do is right-click on a column header and choose Insert Column and you get all the columns
for a task table.
Graphic
The instructor positions the Actual Work column between the Actual Start and Actual Finish
columns. She then positions the Percent Complete column between the Actual Finish and
Physical Percent Complete columns.
To add the Remaining Work column, she right-clicks the Actual Finish column header
selects Insert Column from the shortcut menu. Other options in the menu include: Hide
Column, Text Styles, Field Settings, and Custom Fields.
A new column is inserted next to the Actual Finish column, and a list menu with different
column options opens.
And if I want to get quickly to the R's, I'll type in an "R" and there is Remaining Work. And
again I can adjust any column widths as necessary by placing my mouse pointer between two
column headers and dragging. That'll change the one on the left. When we enter a value in the
Actual Work column, the value in the Remaining Work column is going to be automatically
updated to reflect the estimated work hours left on a task. If we disagree with how many hours
are left we can type in our Remaining Work estimate and the Percent Complete column also
auto-populates. Actual Work and Remaining Work values are typically in hours units based on
the standard calendar. Let me update a few tasks to show you. First, "Prepare interview
questions." I'll click on the Start Date, it started on January 8th. I'll enter that and as far as
actual work completed so far, I'll type in a 4.
Graphic
The Remaining Work column is added between Actual Work and Actual Finish.
So it's subtracted 4 from the 56 that used to be here in Remaining Work and leaves 52. And
again if I estimate that that is different, that the Remaining Work is different than 52 hours, I
would click here and type whatever number of hours we thought. And we think it's just 36 hours
left. And for "Conduct interview(s)," we started that task on January 22nd and as for Actual
Work, 10 hours of work has been done on that so far, again I don't have to type the "H" because
the default is hours. And if we think that 46 hours is remaining then we'll go with what Microsoft
Project calculated, the original 56 minus 10 is 46. And for "Select final candidates based on
interview results," I'll type in the actual start date 1/15 and so far the Actual Work on this task is
24 hours.
Graphic
When the Actual Start and Actual Work values are specified for the task, the values in the
Remaining Work column is automatically updated to 52 hours.
The instructor types 1/22/14 in the Actual Start column and 10 in the Actual Work column
for the "Conduct interview(s)" task.
The Remaining Work, Percentage Complete, Actual Duration and Remaining Duration
columns are automatically populated with values.
The instructor then types 1/15/14 in the Actual Start column and 24 in the Actual Work
column for the "Select final candidates based on interview results" task.
And that leaves none left and that's fine. So as I'm updating these things on the left-hand side,
the right-hand side is updating as well. So the Gantt bars for things that are partially done are
showing a progress bar and you can scroll around to see the different progress bars. So when
you enter the actual work and estimate the remaining work, you can use this method of entering
project progress.
3. Demo: Rescheduling incomplete work
Based on the Percent Complete or Actual Work and Remaining Work information, there may be
times when we have to reschedule incomplete work on tasks, in order to update our project
schedule accordingly. One example would be if we're not able to assign a resource to a
particular task that requires a specific skill; we want to reschedule the incomplete work for a
later time when a particular resource with that skill is available to finish it. Another example
would be if the equipment or material needed is not going to be available when originally
planned, so we'll reschedule the work for a later date when the equipment or material is
available or delivered. Let me show you how to reschedule incomplete work on a task. Let's say
we need to reschedule the Remaining Work of task 4 to start again after January 19th. First we
select the row with the task with incomplete work, that's "Prepare interview questions," and then
on the PROJECT tab in the Status group, I'll click on Update Project.
Graphic
A project is open in Gantt Chart view and the TASK tab is selected.
The PROJECT tab includes the Status group, with the Update Project option. There is also
a Status Date option set to NA.
Clicking Update Project opens the Update Project dialog box.
And that opens up the Update Project dialog box. We want this choice, the Reschedule
uncompleted work to start after. And I'm going to type in January 19th, year 14, and we just
want to do the selected tasks. We don't want to do this for the entire project. So click OK. And if
I scroll you can see the task started earlier and there is a dotted line and then it's rescheduled
for after January 19th. So we have a Split Gantt bar for "Prepare interview questions" with that
dotted line in between. That's how Project shows that part of the work was done earlier and then
the Remaining Work was rescheduled. We can select multiple tasks to reschedule, to start after
a certain date, or we can also select to reschedule the entire project through the Update Project
dialog box.
Graphic
The Update Project dialog box contains the Update work as complete through radio button,
with two secondary options: Set 0% – 100% complete and Set 0% or 100% complete only.
There is also a Reschedule uncompleted work to start after radio button, with an
associated drop-down list box. You can also select whether the changes should be made
to the entire project or selected tasks.
The instructor selects the Reschedule uncompleted work to start after radio button, with the
corresponding date reading: 6/7/13. She alters the date to 1/19/14.
In the Gantt chart, the changes to the schedule are reflected.
So we would do that in the same way if we're going to select multiple tasks. We would select
them on the PROJECT tab in the Status group; we'd go to Update Project. I'm not going to
actually do it but we could go with our multiple selected tasks, or we could go with the entire
project. Again I'm just going to Cancel. Sometimes we might want to use the Update
Tasks button rather than the Update Project button, because we might not need to update the
entire project timeline but only the timeline for specific tasks. To update a task – and I'm going
to select task 9, "Create offer letter," we're going to go to the TASK tab of the ribbon and in the
Schedule group, I'll click on the drop-down arrow forMark on Track, and I'll choose Update
Tasks. So that opens up the Update Tasks dialog box. And what we're going to do in here is put
in an Actual Start date of January 6th and a Finish date of January 7th.
Graphic
The TASK tab contains the Schedule group with options such as, Mark on Track, Respect
Links, and Inactivate. The Mark on Track drop-down menu has the options Mark on Track
and Update Tasks. She selects Update Tasks and the Update Tasks dialog box opens.
The dialog box contains options for setting task parameters regarding the name of the task,
the percentage complete, and a range of other task-specific options. There is a Name text
box, a Duration text box, % Complete, Actual duration, and Remaining duration spin boxes,
and Actual and Current section, which each have Start and Finish fields.
The instructor types 1/6/14 for the Actual Start date and 1/7/14 for the Actual Finish date.
And so we're a little different than our currently scheduled and I'll click OK. And again if I use
theCtrl+Shift+F5 to quickly get my right-hand Gantt bars to where they're showing the task that
I'm selecting; I can see that it was supposed to just take this one day January 6th – they took us
two days to finish it and that's okay. So that's how Project shows rescheduling work and also
using the Update Tasks dialog box, as well as the Update Project dialog box. So when
circumstances call for you to reschedule incomplete work or update one or more tasks, now you
know how to do so.
Graphic
When she clicks OK, the changes are implemented to the project and the correct values
are automatically propagated within the columns corresponding to task 9.
4. Demo: Moving project deadlines
Another way to update a project is to move the whole project deadline at once using the Project
Information dialog box. Let's see how to do that. First of all it doesn't matter what tasks we
select because we'll be working with the project as a whole, in the Project Information dialog
box. So we'll go up to the PROJECT tab and in the Properties group, I'll click on Project
Information. And that opens up the Project Information dialog box for, specifically, this project.
And right now we have it set to be scheduled from the Project Start Date and we had initially
given it the Start Date. So now we're going to drop-down the list where it says Schedule from
and choose Project Finish Date. And now we no longer have access to change the project
Start date up here but we do have the ability to change the Finish date. So I'm going to change
the Finish date to March 7th of the same year and I'll click OK. So when the best way to update
the project is to move the project deadline, you know how to do it in the Project Information
dialog box.
Graphic
A project is open in Gantt Chart view and the PROJECT tab is selected.
The Properties group contains the options: Project Information, Custom Fields, Links
Between Projects, WBS, and Change Working Time.
The Project Information a dialog box contains the options: Start date, Finish date, Schedule
from, Current date, Status date, Calendar, and Priority. There is an Enterprise Customer
Fields section.
The Schedule from drop-down list has two options: Project Start Date and Project Finish
Date.
Activity: Perform End-of-phase Progress
Updates
Learning Objective
After completing this topic, you should be able to
update progress and set the baseline at the end of a phase in Project 2013
Exercise overview
Now we have a few questions.
Supplement
Selecting the link title opens the resource in a new browser window.
Job Aid
Access the job aid Updating Progress Information to review ways to update the progress
information for a project in Project 2013.
In this exercise, you're required to recognize how to update a project in Project 2013.
This involves the following tasks:
updating progress information for the project and
setting and viewing a project baseline
Updating progress
Question
You want to update the progress information for two tasks in a project.
What is the most efficient way to do this?
Options:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Enter the estimated percentage complete for the tasks
Reschedule incomplete work
Create a new project baseline
Modify the actual work and remaining work values for the tasks
Answer
Option 1: Correct. If you specify the percentage of work complete for the relevant tasks,
Project 2013 automatically updates other entries, including actual and remaining work, for
those tasks.
Option 2: Incorrect. Rescheduling incomplete work on a task moves the task start date,
decreasing the record of progress made as a result.
Option 3: Incorrect. Creating a new project baseline simply saves the existing project and
task information. It doesn't alter or update the details of individual tasks.
Option 4: Incorrect. Modifying the actual work and remaining work values is more timeconsuming than simply entering the estimated percentage complete for each task. When
you specify the estimated percentage of completed work, Project 2013 automatically
updates the actual and remaining work values.
Correct answer(s):
1. Enter the estimated percentage complete for the tasks
Question
You need to update the progress information for two tasks.
Task 3 is fully complete, and task 4 is half complete. How do you update the task details?
Options:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Type 100 in the % Complete cell for task 3
Type 50 in the % Complete cell for task 4
Mark task 3 as fully complete
Enter the start date and finish dates for task 4
Mark task 4 as half complete
Enter the start date and finish dates for task 3
Answer
Correct answer(s):
1. Type 100 in the % Complete cell for task 3
2. Type 50 in the % Complete cell for task 4
Question
You want to update the actual and remaining work values for a set of tasks, without having
Project automatically update any other values.
How do you do this?
Options:
1. Manually enter the actual work and remaining work information for the tasks
2. Access and alter information at the project level
3. Reschedule incomplete work on the tasks
Answer
Option 1: Correct. Manually entering work values in the Actual Work and Remaining Work
columns for specific tasks updates only those values.
Option 2: Incorrect. You can use the Project Information dialog box to make changes to
the details for an entire project, but not to alter progress information for specific tasks.
Option 3: Incorrect. Rescheduling incomplete work on tasks moves their start dates but
doesn't change their actual and remaining work values.
Correct answer(s):
1. Manually enter the actual work and remaining work information for the tasks
Setting a baseline
Question
You've completed a project phase and want to save the current project information as a
baseline.
You've already clicked the PROJECT tab, what do you do next?
Options:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Click Set Baseline
Select Baseline
Select Baseline 1
Select Baseline 2
Answer
Correct answer(s):
1. Click Set Baseline
Progress information for tasks has been updated and a new baseline has been created and
viewed in Project 2013.
Comparing Progress against a Baseline
Learning Objective
After completing this topic, you should be able to
identify performance variances using a Gantt chart in Project 2013
1. Demo: Viewing variances
Variance is the difference between planned values and actual values, such as cost or time it
takes to complete tasks. Variance is a major concern for every project manager because many
projects have an inflexible project finish date. It's important to be able to identify slippage,
whether it would be date slippage or effort slippage, so we can have an accurate assessment of
the situation. Then we as project managers can either reschedule tasks, assign more resources,
or re-prioritize project deliverables to ensure the project still finishes on time overall. Let's see
how to view date variance. On the VIEW tab I want to get to Gantt chart, so I'll
click Gantt Chart. And I don't want to see these columns, I want to see the table
called Variance, so I'll right-click in this upper left-hand corner, instead of the Entry table, I'll
click Variance.
Graphic
By default, the Microsoft Project 2013 interface consists of a Quick Access Toolbar of
frequently-use commands, and a ribbon with tabs such as, TASK, RESOURCE, and
PROJECT. The project plan is displayed below these elements.
In this example, a project plan is open in Resource Sheet view and on the ribbon, the
VIEW tab is selected.
The VIEW tab includes the Task View group with the options Gantt Chart and Task Usage.
In Gantt Chart view, the instructor right-clicks the
Select All cell and two actions are implemented simultaneously. The cells in the table are
selected and a menu opens with the options: Calculate Project, Cost, Entry, Hyperlink,
Schedule, Summary, Tracking, Usage, Variance, Work, and More Tables.
So you can see the different columns we're seeing now and as an example, "Identify resource
requirements." We thought it was going to start on the 17th of January, we actually started nine
workdays earlier than that on January 6th. So we have a negative nine days for the Start
Variance and so a negative number means something happened early. Looking at the Finish,
we finished the same date that we thought we would finish according to the baseline, so it has a
zero days of variance for the Finish. And another example is "Conduct interview(s)." We
originally thought we were going to start conducting the interviews on January 9th here in the
Baseline Start column. We didn't actually start them until January 22nd, so that's nine workdays
later. So a positive nine in Start Variance is nine days late. And likewise we finished nine days
late as well. So on any project that is in progress you'll want to be watching the variances to see
how much tasks are slipping in time and this is a nice place to do that.
Graphic
The Variance table lists columns such as, Start, Finish, Baseline Start, Baseline Finish,
Start Variance, and Finish Variance.
The "Identify resource requirements" task has a Start Variance of minus 9 days and a
Finish Variance of 0 days. The corresponding Start and Finish dates are 1/6/14 and
1/23/14 respectively; and the Baseline Start and Baseline Finish dates are 1/17/14 and
1/23/14 days respectively.
The "Conduct interview(s)" task has a Start Variance of 9 days and a Finish Variance of the
same. The corresponding Start and Finish dates are 1/22/14 and 1/30/14 respectively; and
the Baseline Start and Baseline Finish dates are 1/9/14 and 1/17/14 respectively.
Work variance will show you any differences between the original planned hours to complete a
task and the actual hours it took to complete it. Let me show you how to view work variance.
First we'll go up to the VIEW tab of the ribbon and I'll choose Gantt Chart and in this Gantt
chart, if you look across the column headers, we're seeing things about Start and Finish dates,
Baseline Start and Finish dates, and then the variance for the Start and Finish dates, and that's
not what we want to see at the moment. So in the upper left-hand corner, I'm going to right-click
in that Select All area and instead of seeing the Variance table I'd like to see the Work table.
So now we're seeing Work, Baseline Work, and Variance for work, among other columns.
Graphic
The instructor opens the Variance table in Gantt Chart view. She then changes to the Work
table.
When the Work table is implemented, the column headers are modified to read: Work,
Baseline, Variance, Actual, Remaining, and Percent Work Complete.
I'd like to focus on one example. Here we have "Select final candidates based on interview
results." The baseline for this task was 16 hours meaning that we estimated it would take 16
hours to do it. However, the actual work was 24 hours so it took longer than we thought it would.
Thus the variance is 8 hours – the difference between 24 and 16. Since the hours of work on a
project is one of the things that directly impacts the cost of the project, paying attention not just
to date slippage but also to work variance can be valuable information as we proceed through
our project, so we can try to keep costs under control.
Graphic
The instructor selects task number 6, "Select final candidates based on interview results".
The values for the task according to the column headers Work, Baseline, Variance, Actual,
Remaining, and Percentage Work Complete read: 24 hours, 16 hours, 8 hours, 24 hours, 0
hours, and 100% respectively.
We view cost variance if we want to see changes in the project cost from the original planned
cost, for either tasks or the project as a whole. To view cost variance we'll go to a Gantt chart.
Up to the VIEW tab of the ribbon, click on the Gantt Chart and right now if I right-click in the
upper left-hand corner to see what table I'm looking at, it's the Work table but we want
the Cost table. So I'll choose that and you can see the columns across. Let's use "Identify
sponsors and stakeholders" as our example.
Graphic
In this example, the instructor view a project in Gantt Chart view, and then used the Select
All shortcut menu to change to the Cost table.
We originally thought this task was going to cost $5,000, we can see that here in the Baseline
column. It actually ended up costing $6,400 and so that is a variance of $1,400 if you subtract.
And it's the only one with the variance at this point. So the variance of this task is also the same
as the variance of the summary tasks above. As project managers we need to be able to find
the information in which we are interested among all the data that's stored in a project file. So
when you're trying to understand how you're doing with costs in your project, you'll want to know
how to view the Cost table to see the Cost Variances.
Graphic
The Cost table contains the columns: Fixed Cost, Fixed Cost Accrual, Total Cost, Baseline,
Variance, and Actual.
For the selected task, the Baseline column reflects $5000 and the Fixed Cost and Total
Cost columns read $6,400. The Variance column reads $5,000.
The instructor pronounces the dollar amounts as 64 hundred or 14 hundred; not six
thousand-four hundred or a thousand-four hundred.
Displaying Critical Path Information
Learning Objective
After completing this topic, you should be able to
view a critical path in Project 2013
1. Demo: Viewing critical paths
A project's critical path is the series of sequential tasks that must be completed on schedule for
a project to finish on time. We might want to view the critical path information for our project
when we need to keep track of how late tasks can start and how late they can finish, before they
will affect the end date of the project. Or when we need to know how much slippage we can
afford in our project. We're already on a Gantt chart here, where we see blue bars, representing
the tasks, some have a thinner black bar in the middle representing progress either for tasks
that are all done or partially done. And we have the black diamonds for milestones and the black
bars for summary tasks and they're hovering over there tasks that they summarize. When we
ask Project to display critical tasks, they'll be represented by red bars and blue bars will
represent non-critical tasks.
Graphic
By default, the Microsoft Project 2013 interface consists of a Quick Access Toolbar of
frequently-use commands, and a ribbon with tabs such as, TASK, RESOURCE, and
PROJECT. The project plan is displayed below these elements.
In this example, a project plan is open in Gantt Chart view and on the ribbon, the TASK tab
is selected.
The Gantt chart the instructor is referring to contains blue horizontal bars of different
lengths that indicate the tasks, a black line inside the task line indicate task progress, black
diamonds to indicate project milestones, and thick black bars to indicate summary tasks.
So let's view the critical path. We'll go up to the GANTT CHART TOOLS contextual tab,
FORMAT, and in the Bar Styles group I'll click on the checkbox for Critical Tasks. And so we
can see that of the tasks that are not yet complete, Project displays the critical tasks on the
critical path as red bars. Some with progress bars because they have started but not yet
finished. And for instance, "Identify sponsors and stakeholders" task has a progress bar in it and
so does "Define 'best of breed' training processes." And the rest of the red critical tasks are
without progress bars because they have not yet started. The tasks that are done are no longer
considered critical so they're not red. So being able to view the critical path of a project and
understand what it shows, is essential to being able to manage a project effectively.
Graphic
The GANTT CHART TOOLS - FORMAT contextual tab includes groups such as, Columns,
Bar Styles, and Gantt Chart Style. The Bar Style group contains the options: Format,
Critical Tasks, Slack, Late Tasks, Task Path, Baseline, and Slippage.
The instructor selects the Critical Tasks checkbox and the Gantt chart is modified so that
critical tasks are now indicated by horizontal, red bars.
Slack is the amount of time a task can slip without delaying the project finish date. To view
slack, we're already on a Gantt chart and let's go to the GANTT CHART TOOLS contextual tab,
FORMAT, on the ribbon and in the Bar Styles group let's check the box called Slack and a thin
dark stripe to the right of the Gantt bar represents the amount of total slack for that task. For
example, after the "Determined project scope" task we see that thin dark bar. And it rolls up to
the summary bar as well. By default, tasks on the critical path have a default value of No Slack.
Since they are critical tasks, they must be completed on time in order for the project to finish on
time. So you'll never see a thin black bar after any red task because they're critical. So one thing
you'll want to do while you're planning and managing your project is to view the total slack time
to know which tasks could slip, and how much, before they impact the finish date of the project.
Graphic
The instructor selects the Slack checkbox and the Gantt chart is modified so that thin dark
lines extend from the bas of certain tasks.
Viewing Potential Schedule Performance
Problems
Learning Objective
After completing this topic, you should be able to
use tools to view schedule issues in Project 2013
1. Demo: Using the Task Inspector
Project has a built-in feature called Task Inspector. It identifies any issues that may impact your
project schedule. To use the Task Inspector, we're already on a Gantt Chart view, and we'll go
to the TASK tab of the ribbon. And in the Tasks group the first of these three buttons that are
one above the other says, "Inspect" when you point to it. And I could just click on the square
part of the button or I can drop-down the list and choose Inspect Task. And the Task Inspector
opens a new pane to the left. With the Task Inspector pane open, we can select a task and we'll
see any issues that need to be addressed displayed in the left pane. For example I'll click
on Conduct interview(s) and you can see in the Task Inspector pane on the left it identifies the
task, it tells us that resources are over-allocated due to work on other tasks.
Graphic
By default, the Microsoft Project 2013 interface consists of a Quick Access Toolbar of
frequently-use commands, and a ribbon with tabs such as, TASK, RESOURCE, and
PROJECT. The project plan is displayed below these elements.
In this example, a project plan is open in Gantt Chart view and on the ribbon, the VIEW tab
is selected.
The TASK tab includes the Tasks group with the options: Manually Schedule, Auto
Schedule, Inspect, Move Task, and Schedule Mode.
The Inspect drop-down contains the options: Inspect Task, Show Warnings, Show
Suggestions, and Show Ignored Problems. Clicking Inspect Task opens the Task Inspector
pane.
The pane displays the name of the selected task, any identified issues, and suggested
solutions, for example.
So this Alex is working on more than just this one task. And beside some other information
about the schedule at the bottom, it also is nice enough to give us the suggestions. So we could
move the task to our resource's next available time – Alex's next available time – to reschedule
that task so it's not overallocated. Or another avenue is we could view overallocated resources
in the Team Planner. And then once we find what we find in the Team Planner, like what other
tasks are during that same time period, then we can take action from there. So the Task
Inspector not only helps you know what issues exist, it offers suggestions for how to address the
issue. So as a project manager you would want to know of any issues impacting your projects.
So now you know that the Task Inspector can provide you with this very useful information.
Graphic
The Task Inspector pane also provides information such as the task's start and finish
dates.
Project includes a useful tool to visually identify any tasks that are late in the schedule. Right
now we're seeing a regular Gantt chart where the bars representing tasks are blue. It does not
distinguish between late ones and ones that are either on time or ahead. I'll show you how to
see late tasks displayed differently. We're on the Gantt chart. We'll go to the GANTT CHART
TOOLS contextual tab called FORMAT on the ribbon, and in the Bar Styles group, I'll click
on Late Tasks. And so now in the Gantt chart, Project is displaying the late tasks as gray bars.
For instance, this "Identify sponsors and stakeholders" task, we're partway done on it but not far
enough to be considered on time. So we're late with that. Another one, "Define 'best of breed'
training processes" – again we're partway done with that. We're in progress but not far enough
along to be considered on time or ahead. So as you are managing a project, when you would
like to see which tasks are late for where you are in time right now, ask Project to show you the
late tasks.
Graphic
A project is open in Gantt Chart view and the TASK tab is selected.
The GANTT CHART TOOLS - FORMAT tab includes the Bar Styles group, with the
options: Format, Critical Tasks, Slack, Late Tasks, Task Path, Baseline, and Slippage.
Activity: Analyze Project Progress
Learning Objective
After completing this topic, you should be able to
use tools for identifying and assessing schedule issues in Project 2013
Exercise overview
Now we have a few questions.
Supplement
Selecting the link title opens the resource in a new browser window.
Job Aid
Access the job aid Analyzing Project Progress to review options for analyzing project
progress in Project 2013.
In this exercise, you're required to analyze project progress in Project 2013.
This involves the following tasks:
identifying project performance variances and
inspecting a task for any issues
Identifying variances
Question
You want to check whether any project tasks are running behind schedule.
You've clicked the VIEW tab, what do you do next?
Options:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Click Gantt Chart
Click Task Usage
Click Team Planner
Select Tracking Gantt
Select Variance
Answer
Correct answer(s):
1. Click Gantt Chart
Question
Which task or set of tasks has a variance of 0.25 days in its Start date?
The Northglenn_new_center_progress_activity file is open in the Project 2013 window. The
TASK tab is open with the View, Clipboard, Font, Schedule, Tasks, Insert, Properties, and
Editing sections visible. The current project view is the Gantt Chart, with the Variance table
applied. The first six tasks are visible in the variance table with starting variances totalling
0, 0.25, 0.25, 0, 0.25, 0.25, and 0.25 respectively.
Options:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Task 6
Tasks 1, 2, and 6
All the listed tasks except task 3
Task 3
Answer
Option 1: Correct. The Start Variance column indicates a 0.25 variance in the start date for
task 6. So the actual start date for the task is a quarter of a day out from the planned start
date.
Option 2: Incorrect. Tasks 1 and 2 have a 0.25 variance in their finish dates, rather than in
their start dates.
Option 3: Incorrect. Tasks 1, 2, and 4 have a variance of 0.25 days in their finish dates
only. There's no variance in their start dates.
Option 4: Incorrect. There's no variance in the start or finish date for task 3.
Correct answer(s):
1. Task 6
Question
You want to check that tasks with a finish variance aren't on the critical path, and
determine what slack is available.
Which tab on the ribbon contains the options you use to do this?
The TASK tab is open on the ribbon. Among the other tabs are the GANTT CHART
TOOLS - FORMAT contextual tab, the PROJECT tab, and the VIEW tab.
Options:
1.
2.
3.
4.
GANTT CHART TOOLS - FORMAT
VIEW
PROJECT
REPORT
Answer
Correct answer(s):
1. GANTT CHART TOOLS - FORMAT
Inspecting a task
Question
You want to check whether any resource or scheduling issues affect the first task in a
project.
You've already clicked row header 1 to select the task, what do you do next?
Options:
1. Open the Task Inspector
2. Move the task
3. Change the schedule mode
Answer
Option 1: Correct. The Task Inspector shows this type of information, and can be
accessed from the Tasks group on the TASK tab.
Option 2: Incorrect. Moving the task will change the task order, but doesn't provide
information about resource and scheduling issues.
Option 3: Incorrect. Although you can switch between manually scheduling tasks and
making them automatically scheduled, this doesn't provide information about resource and
scheduling issues.
Correct answer(s):
1. Open the Task Inspector
Task variances have been identified and a specific task has been inspected for any issues in
Project 2013.
Updating Progress Information
Purpose: Use this job aid to review ways to update the progress information for a project in
Project 2013.
Updating progress on a project
Method
Effect
Enter the estimated percentage
complete for relevant tasks
Project automatically alters the actual and remaining work
values for the tasks, based on the new percentage
complete values
Reschedule incomplete work on a
task
Project automatically adjusts the start date for the task to
provide an updated record of progress on the task
Create a new project baseline
Saves the current details, including progress information,
for the project so they can be recovered or compared to
later versions of the project information
Manually enter actual work and
remaining work information for
specific tasks
Updates only the values you enter for the tasks
Open the Project Information dialog Enables you to make changes to the entire project, rather
than just to individual tasks
box and make changes to the
project details there
Course: Tools for Tracking Project Performance in Project 2013
Topic: Activity: Perform End-of-phase Progress Updates
Analyzing Project Progress
Purpose: Use this job aid to review options for analyzing project progress in Project 2013.
Accessing the Gantt Chart and Tracking Gantt views
Options for viewing critical tasks, slack, and late tasks
Course: Tools for Tracking Project Performance in Project 2013
Topic: Activity: Analyze Project Progress
Microsoft® Project Painting Exercise
Microsoft® Project
Microsoft® Project (also called “MS-Project”) is one of the most popular tools for project planning
projects today. It is relatively easy to use and makes it easier to manage projects.
Microsoft® Project Exercise: The Painting Project
This is a simple exercise in Microsoft® Project. These instructions are brief and only cover the basics.
The objective of this exercise is to prepare you for Week 3 Learning Team assignment. This exercise
only covers how to log into Microsoft® Project, set up a simple schedule, and log out. The exercise is
not concerned with monitoring or controlling the execution of a plan.
Start Microsoft® Project
To start Microsoft® Project; click through “Start > Programs > Microsoft Office 2013 > Microsoft Project”
Microsoft® Project should start up, with a blank “Gantt chart” view of a new project.
Saving Microsoft® Project
It is recommended that you save your project immediately. So please Save your project now using the
following format ‘Last Name_Paint_Project’. If you last name is Allen, your Microsoft® Project file name
will be ‘Allen_Paint_Project’.
If you are prompted to save the project with a baseline, click Yes. You may continue to work on the
baseline until you have completed the exercise and turned it in as the final baseline.
Microsoft® Project Settings
Before getting into the details of a the Painting Project, it is beneficial to enter a few Microsoft® Project
settings. These settings are:
Duration Unit of Measure. The normal default for duration is the day (day) which consist of 8 hours.
There are other unit of measures that you may decide to use. The most popular are minute (min),
hour (hr), and week (wk). For this exercise we will use the default setting.
The working calendar. There is a default Standard Calendar which consists of a 5-day work week
(Monday through Friday) with Saturday and Sunday set as non-working days. A day is made up of 8
hours. It is recommended for this exercise that you leave Microsoft® Project set to the Standard
Calendar. If you want to explore other calendars or how to set up your own calendar, click as follows
“Project > Project Information”. The following pop up menu will appear with Calendar showing as
‘Standard’.
Available resources. It is beneficial to set up your known resources pool at the start of the project.
Note. You may change the resources in the pool at any time, as resources are added to and
subtracted from the project. To set up the resource pool click as follows “Resource> Resource
Sheet”. You’ll get a table in which you can define the names of resources that you wish to be
available.
Simply type a name in the “Name” field, and use a new line for each different resource. For the
Painting Project, the following are the resources.
Jackie Smith – Standard Rate $25.00; Overtime Rate $37.00
Tom Busch – Standard Rate $20.00; Overtime Rate $30.00
Alan Jacobs – Standard Rate $15.00; Overtime Rate $22.00
Suzie Smith – Standard Rate $15.00; Overtime Rate $22.00
Paint – One time cost of $700
Paint Supplies (paint brushes and tape, drop cloth, etc.) – One time cost of $450
Enter these in your resource sheet.
Project start or end date. When you first start developing a schedule for a project it is useful to set
up the project start or end date. To enter this date, click as follows “Project > Project Information”. At
work you may have a project that will start in a few weeks so you would use a project start date. If this
is the case you will select ‘Project Start Date’ in the ‘Schedule from:’ field and enter the projected
project start date in the ‘Start date’ field as follows:
If you are doing a project for a wedding or an event, the project would have an end date; the date the
event will occur. If this is the case you will select ‘Project End Date’ in the ‘Schedule from:’ field and
enter the desired project end date in the ‘Finish date’ field as follows:
For the Paint Project, select Project Start Date and enter June 21, 2014.
Creating Tasks (aka activities). When you start Microsoft® Project, by default you’ll see a blank Gantt
chart. The first three columns (on the left) are headed “
”, “Task Mode”, “Task Name” and “Task
Duration”. To enter the tasks, work down the third column, entering Task Name and pressing the
Down Arrow key (↓) at the end of each entry.
Note. Microsoft® Project assigns each task a Task ID or line # and inserted a default duration of 1 day
for each task. Do not worry about this duration at this point in time.
Creating work packages and subtasks. Just like outlining a report in Microsoft® Word, or a
presentation in Microsoft® PowerPoint®, you can outline a project’s tasks. There are several ways of
doing this, but here’s just one.
o
First (outside of the software), write down your tasks, grouped under headings that describe their
intended effect. These headings are called “Work packages”. For example, the Paint Project
consist of several work packages:
Painting bedroom and bathroom
o
Purchase paint and materials
Prep rooms for painting
Paint rooms
Clean up paint items
These work packages are then expressed in detail as sets of subtasks, as follows:
Painting bedroom and bathroom
Purchase paint and materials
Prep rooms for painting
Remove any furniture that is in the way
Tape off any fixtures that will not be removed; covering so paint does not get on them
Place drop cloths in appropriate areas
Inspect to make sure all surfaces not requiring paint are covered adequately
Prep rooms for painting complete
Paint rooms
Drive to paint store
Select paint and materials
Purchase paint and materials
Drive back and put paint and materials at house
Purchase of paint materials complete
Paint bedroom
Paint bathroom
Let paint dry
Paint room complete
Clean up paint items
Pick up drop cloths and dispose of them
Remove tape form any fixtures and dispose of tape
Place furniture back where required
Clean up items complete
o
To achieve this effect in Microsoft® Project, enter all the tasks, grouping them together under their
work package. Then use the “Indent” function (the
icon) to make the subtasks part of the work
package by moving them to the right. Note how the task immediately above the indented one
changes to work package, or summary tasks, with a bold font. When you indent a task, it
becomes a subtask of the next “un-indented” task (work package) above it. You may also
“outdent” using the
icon.
This indenting to form work packages is extremely useful to control how projects are displayed. By
expanding and collapsing a Work package, you can show or hide subtasks to show just the level of
detail you want.
You can select multiple tasks (shift-click) before indenting.
o
Enter the Paint Project Work Packages and Subtasks. Once you have entered these items it is
recommend that you set Microsoft Project to Auto-Schedule which allows Microsoft Project to
calculate the task start and end dates for you. To set each work package and subtask to auto
schedule highlight each and then click on Auto Schedule.
When done your Gantt Chart should look as follows:
Linking Tasks
You should understand the concept of linkage or precedence—which some activities need to finish before
others can start (like putting on socks before putting on shoes before tying laces). It is easy to create the
commonest type of linkage—FS, or Finish-to-Start—between them. Simply:
With the left mouse button, select the earlier activity.
Hold down the ‘Control’ (or ‘Ctrl’) key
Select the later activity and release the left mouse button and control key
Click the ‘Link tasks’ icon (it looks like a chain
).
You should see the later activity’s duration bar get pushed to the right, and its left end will align with the
right end of the earlier one. An arrow will appear showing the link.
General rule
Never link work packages themselves—always expand both work packages first and specify linkages
between specific activities.
Link the tasks as they could occur, regardless of resources, in the Paint Project. When complete, your file
should look as follows:
Note. Removing any furniture that is in the way does not have to wait for delivery of paint and paint
supplies, but Taping off any fixtures or placing drop cloths does have to wait, so those tasks are linked to
a purchase of paint and material task.
Assigning Resources to Tasks
Now it is time to use the resources that you set up. To assign a resource to a task, go to the Gantt Chart
and, on the task line item. click on the resource name column. A pop up menu should appear with the list
of the resources in your resource pool.
Simply select the correct resource and move to the next sub task. Work packages are not assigned
resources. For the Paint Project, the following resource are to be assigned to each subtask.
Task Name
Drive to paint store
Select paint and materials
Purchase paint and material
Drive back and put paint and materials at house
Remove any furniture that is in the way
Tape off any fixtures that will not be removed
Place drop cloths in appropriate areas
Inspect to make sure all surfaces are covered
adequately
Paint bedroom
Paint bathroom
Pick up drop cloths and dispose of them
Remove tape from any fixtures and dispose of
tape
Place furniture back where required
Task Resource(s) to be assigned
Alan Jacobs
Alan Jacobs
Alan Jacobs; Paint; Paint supplies
Alan Jacobs
Tom Busch
Suzie Smith
Suzie Smith
Suzie Smith
Jackie Smith
Jackie Smith
Suzie Smith
Suzie Smith
Tom Busch
Assigning Task Duration
Now you can work with our resources to determine the duration of each of their assigned tasks. Once
durations have been agreed to you will input that into Microsoft Project. To input the durations, click in the
“Duration” box for each task and specify its duration and time unit (min, hr, day or wk). The agreed to
durations for the Paint Project are as follows:
Task Name
Drive to paint store
Select paint and materials
Purchase paint and material
Drive back and put paint and materials at house
Purchase paint and materials complete
Remove any furniture that is in the way
Tape off any fixtures that will not be removed
Place drop cloths in appropriate areas
Inspect to make sure all surfaces are covered
adequately
Prep rooms for painting complete
Paint bedroom
Paint bathroom
Let paint dry
Paint rooms complete
Pick up drop cloths and dispose of them
Remove tape from any fixtures and dispose of
tape
Place furniture back where required
Task Agreed to Duration
1 hr
6 hr
45 min
1 hr
0 day
2 hr
6 hr
1 hr
1 hr
0 day
1 day
4 hr
1 day
0 day
1 hr
4 hr
1 hr
Clean up paint items complete
0 day
Upon entering these durations, you should see Jackie Smith as an over-allocated resource.
If Jackie is the only painter available then the resource must be leveled so that Jackie is not working a 12
hour day and getting paid overtime. To level resources in Microsoft® Project go to ‘Resource’ tab and click
on Level Resource. Then select Jackie Smith and click on level now.
Scheduling a project – determining duration and the critical path
By default, the Gantt chart shows what is happening in the project. With the Gantt Chart open, click the
Format tab and notice the Critical Tasks checkbox.
If you check the box, Microsoft® Project will show you the Critical Path highlighted in red as follows.
At this point you have completed the Paint Project Exercise. Save the file and submit in the Assessments
Tab.
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attachment