Getting started with MS Project 2010

Getting started with Microsoft Project 2010
Madou, 07th of March 2014

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Commission
Contents
 Introduction
 The MS Project interface
 Basic steps to create a
project
 Let's practice!
 Recommendations

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Commission
MS Project overview: Strengths
 Microsoft Project is a project management software program,
developed and sold by Microsoft, which is designed to assist a
project manager in developing a plan, assigning resources to tasks,
tracking progress, managing the budget, and analysing workloads.
 The first commercial version of Project was released for DOS in
1984
 The most widely used PM program because:
 It is fairly generic in its approach
 Highly automated once configured. Requires relatively low amount of user
manipulation
 Scalable – can be used for small to enormous projects
 Balances visual approach (charts, graphs, etc) with logical structured approach
(task and resources lists)

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Initiating
• Set the project goal
• Identify the necessary start or finish date limitations
• Identify the project manager
• Identify budget and quality considerations
• Enter project tasks, duration and relationships
• Identify project milestones
• Define available resources and costs
• Assign resources to tasks
• Producing work results
• Requesting changes
• Recommending improvements
• Creating project records, reports, and presentations
• Updating project
• Managing resources and tasks
• Meet management timing, resource, and cost objectives
• Identify budget and quality considerations
• Review and analyze performance of the project
• Create a Closure Report
• Archive records
Planning
Executing
Controlling
Closing
Project
Management:
process of initiating,
planning, executing,
controlling, and
closing a project
MS Project overview: PM steps

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The MS Project interface
The Quick Access Toolbar (File, Task, Resource,
Project, View, Developer, Format)
The Ribbon (tabs, buttons and drop-down list)
Main Screen components
 Indicators column with message icons
 Status bar with messages
 Screen divider, to separate spreadsheet from timescale
 View buttons
 Zoom slider

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Single view versus combination view (example)

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Change the timescale in a view 1. In the View
group select
Timescale
2. In the
Timescale
dialog box,
click the Top
Tier, Middle
Tier, or
Bottom Tier
tab.
3. In the Units box,
select the time unit that
you want to use. (e.g.
Years)
4. In the Label list, select
the label format that
you want to use to
display the time unit.
5. In the Count box,
type or select a
number to specify the
frequency of unit
labels on the
timescale tier.
To focus on a specific time period or group of tasks, use the zoom slider in the
status bar at the bottom of the screen.

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Create a project: basic steps
Start a new project from a Start or Finish date
Add tasks, recurring tasks and milestones
Creating WBS with Summary Tasks
Create dependencies
Assign resources
Find critical path
Close Project

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Commission
Create a project: basic steps
Start a new project from a Start or Finish date
Add tasks, recurring tasks and milestones
Creating WBS with Summary Tasks
Create dependencies
Assign resources
Close Project
Find critical path

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Commission
Start a new project: Start or Finish date
 By default, the new project file is scheduled from a
Project Start Date
 All tasks are scheduled to begin as soon as possible
 Project 2010 calculates the project’s Finish date based on Tasks,
Durations,Dependencies.
 When a project is scheduled from a Finish date, such as
a conference, all tasks are scheduled to begin as late as
possible
 To schedule from a Finish Date, apply this setting as soon as the
project is created

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Start a new project: from a Start date
1. Click on Project
Information
button
2. Enter the start
date of your
project
This is a description
of the costraint on
this project
This allows you to
choose between
forward scheduling
(Project Start date)
and backward
scheduling (Project
Finish date)

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Start a new project: from a Finish date

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Create a project: Customize standard calendar
 By default, the entire project, each task, and each resource is
scheduled according to the Standard calendar.
 The Standard calendar specifies that Monday through Friday
are working days with 8 hours of work completed each
day. Saturday and Sunday are designated as nonworking
days.
 The Calendar can be modified to identify holidays or other
nonworking days or times in which work should not be
scheduled.
 You can also create unique calendars for tasks and resources
that do not follow the working and nonworking times specified
by the Standard calendar.

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Create a project: Customize standard calendar
Select
Exceptions Tab
Add Holiday as
exceptions
Nonworking holiday
will be showed on
the Calendar
To customize the standard calendar click on Change
Working Time on the Ribbon Project.

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Create a project: Entering tasks and durations
 Entering tasks and durations is probably the single
most important effort in developing a useful project file.
 If tasks are omitted or durations underestimated, the
value of the project’s scheduling and cost information is
compromised.
 Often you will need to change an existing task or insert,
delete, split or move a task. Project 2010 offers a
variety of tools that you can use to accomplish these
common tasks.

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Create a project: insert, delete, inactivate tasks
Right‐click
shortcut
menus task

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Create a project: entering recurring tasks
 A recurring task is a task that repeats at a regular
interval (i.e. status meeting )
 In Project 2010, you can define a recurring task one
time using the Recurring Task Information dialog box
from the task menu.
 Project 2010 then handles the details of scheduling
the task at specified interval for the entire project or
for the time period you specify.

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Create a project: entering recurring tasks

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Create a project: entering milestones
 A milestone is a task that marks a significant point in
time or a progress checkpoint.
 It has a zero duration and is therefore a symbolic task
that is used mainly to communicate progress or to
mark the end of a significant phase of the project.
Examples include the signing of a contract or the
announcement of a new product.
 Milestones can also be used to motivate project
participants by recognizing accomplishments.

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Create a project: entering milestones

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Create a project: attaching documents to tasks
1. Double click on the
task name to open the
Task Information
Dialog Box
2. In the Notes tab, click
on Insert Object
button
3. Select Create from
File, then Browse and
locate your file and
Insert
4. Turn on Link check box, if you want
that the icon will be linked to the file. In
this way changes to the attached file
will be reflected in your project.

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Create a project: display information about tasks
2. Select
Indicators
1. Click on Add
New Column
3. Drag the
column to a
new location
Useful information and alerts related to tasks and resources can be displayed
showing the Indicators Column.

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Create a project: display information about tasks
4. Indicators column displays:
• Miscellaneous indicators
• Constraint indicators
• Task type indicators
• Dependency indicators

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Create a project: add a deadline
Task Information
Dialog Box
2. In the Advanced tab,
click on Deadline
Menu and define date
If you know that your task has a deadline one common mistake is to put inflexible
constraint -> must finish on Why? Because you are telling MS PROJECT that this
task MUST finish on that date and NOT BEFORE!

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Create a project: WBS with Summary Tasks
 A very important strategy for managing projects well is
to organize the work that needs to be done in a logical
manner, a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) can be
an example.
 In order to use a WBS in Project 2010, you must
organize tasks into Summary tasks (groups of tasks
that logically belong together).

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 When developing a new, large project, some project
managers prefer to start with broad groupings of summary
tasks and then break them down into smaller tasks. This is
called the top‐down method of creating a WBS.
 Other project managers prefer to list all of the individual
tasks, and then collect them into logical groupings using
the bottom‐up method.
 Once you have identified your summary tasks, you use
Outdenting and Indenting in Project 2010 to create the
summary tasks.

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Create a project: entering tasks dependencies
 Create relationships between tasks: task dependencies.
Four task dependencies define the relationships
between tasks in MS Project.

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Task Information
Dialog Box
2. Click on the
Predecessors tab
3. Chose the
Predecessor and the
Constrain type
4. In the Lag field, type
the Lag time (positive
or negative)
Lag time is a delay between two tasks that are linked by a dependency.

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Create task dependencies using the predecessors column.
2. Select
Predecessors
1. Click on Add
New Column
3. Digit the ID of the
task you want to
link.

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Assign resources to tasks
 One of the most important but often overlooked parts of the
project management process is allocating resources properly.
 In 4 steps you can allocate resources in Microsoft Project and
keep you in control of your project from start to finish.
1. Consider resource availability when estimating task
duration.
2. Create and organize a resource pool for the project
3. Assign each work task to a resource
4. Check the resource allocation in the resource graph view

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1. Consider resource availability when estimating
task duration
 This step is crucial but often overlooked. Resources
must be considered during the construction of the
schedule, not just afterwards.
 Pay special attention to concurrent tasks (those that
happen at the same time) that use the same
resources
 Focus on man-hours rather than total workdays, to
take into account how many resources will be needed

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2. Create and organize a resource pool for the project
 On the View menu, click Resource
Sheet
 On the Resource menu, click Add
Resources
 Define which kind of resource you
need:
• "Work" resources are the most
useful, and should be used to
categorize
• "Material" resources should refer
to materials that get used up
during work,
• "Cost" resources are time
independent resources (like
Airplane tickets)

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3. Assign a resource to each work task
 Find the task's line in the left panel, and click the cell in the
"Resource" column. A drop-down menu will appear listing all the
resources you have created. Select the appropriate resource.

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4. Check the resource allocation in the resource
graph view
 After creating your schedule and assigning resources, you
can check for over-allocation (click on "View" and select
"Resource Graph")
 Any point at which a resource exceeds 100 percent usage
represents an over-allocation (meaning the resource can't
possibly perform all the tasks assigned to it in the given
time). Over-allocation is represented in red.
 To remedy this, increase the task durations, assign more
resources to the tasks, or shift concurrent tasks to create
less overlap.

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4. Check the resource allocation in the resource
graph view
 On the contrary, any point at which the resource is being used
very little may point to inefficient under-allocation. Consider
decreasing the task durations or using fewer total resources.
 The Resource Graph shows
allocation over time, resource
by resource.
 When the vertical bar is higher
than the horizontal line and
part of the bar is bright red, the
resource is overallocated.

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Find critical path
 Critical path: the series of critical tasks that dictates the
calculated finish date of the project in Project path.
 Critical tasks: the tasks that cannot be delayed without
affecting the project finish date. A task becomes critical
when it meets any one of the following conditions:
 It has no slack.
 It has a Must Start On (MSO) or Must Finish On (MFO) date
constraint.
 It has an As Late As Possible (ALAP) constraint in a project
scheduled from a start date.
 It has an As Soon As Possible (ASAP) constraint in a project
scheduled from a finish date.

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Find critical path: viewing the slack
 Inserting the columns Total Slack, Free Slack and Critical you'll be able to see the
reason why a task is considered critical or not.
 The critical path calculation is also being influenced by relationships, constraints,
deadlines, resource assignments, and task, resource and project calendars.
Only you can determine if the critical path is correct!!
Total Slack
The amount of time a task's finish
date can be delayed without
delaying the project's finish date.
Free Slack
The amount of time than a task
can be delayed without delaying
any successor tasks.
If the task has no successors Free
Slack is the amount of time a task
can be delayed without delaying
the entire project's finish date.
Critical
When you apply the Critical
filter this column shows tasks
on critical path.

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Find critical path: crash your project
 If you want to bring in the project finish date, you need to bring in the
dates of your critical path tasks. This is also known as crashing a
project.
 Crash: To decrease a project's overall duration without changing
task relationships. Crashing a project typically requires assigning
additional resources to tasks.
To crash a project you can:
 Shorten the duration or work on a task on the critical path.
 Change a task constraint to allow for more scheduling flexibility.
 Break a critical task into smaller tasks that can be worked on simultaneously by different
resources.
 Revise task dependencies to allow more scheduling flexibility.
 Set lead time between dependent tasks where applicable.
 Schedule overtime.
 Assign additional resources to work on critical path tasks.

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Close a project: key elements
Identify
Lesson learnt
• The end of a project is a great time to sit back and reflect on achievements and identify and
prepare to share what’s been learnt. Adopting an aura of constructive feedback, this can be
done in a ‘lessons learnt session’ with resources, stakeholders and management involved.
Review the
project
• There are several elements of the project that can be reviewed, but at least a Project
Closure Report should be created. This report will provide confirmation that the project has
met success criteria and can be used to request a sign-off from the sponsor to close the
project.
Archive project
records
• At least the following records should be archived:
 Project Plan
 Management Control Documents (Correspondence, Relevant meeting notes, Status reports)
 Technical documents
 Project Closure Report

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Close a project: Print a view

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Contents
 Introduction
 The MS Project interface
 Basic steps to create a
project
 Let's practise!
 Recommendations

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Excercise 1/2
1. DRAFTING NEW REGULATION
1. 1 Assess new regulation
1.1.1 Create questionnaires
1.1.2 Send questionnaires (task starts when 1.1.1 finish)
1.1.3 Receive feedbacks (task starts when 1.1.2 finish)
1.1.4 Analyse questionnaires (task starts when 1.1.3 finish)
1.2 Verify impacts of new regulation (task starts when 1.1 finish)
1.3 Analyse impacts (task starts when 1.2 finish)
1.4 Create Report (task starts when 1.3 finish)
1.5 Propose Report to Parliament and Council (Task starts when 1.4
finish, and finishes 1/04/2016. Set as a deadline!)
 Create a project starting the 1st of February 2014 and ending on
the 1st of April 2016
 Add "Commission Easter holidays" to the Calendar (17th and 18th
of April)
 Create the following tasks and subtasks. Add dependencies.

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 Add a "Weekly Team meeting"
recurring every Wednesday
until the end of the project
 Attach a document to the first
meeting
 Create a resource pool with
your names
 Assign resources to tasks
 Set the timescale to view the
entire project in the Gantt
Chart
Excercise 2/2

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Recommendations
 Know the project goal before beginning
 Know the required tasks before beginning
 Identify resources before beginning
 Identify task relationships before beginning
 Refer to the tutorial as often as needed
 Refer to help section as often as needed
 Keep the configuration as simple as possible
 Avoid losing touch with the project

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Recommendations
 MS Project is only a tool – it does not create or
“own” the project – it reflects the data provided
 The simpler the configuration, the easier the
data will be to understand, for all involved
 If the plan doesn’t look right, it probably isn’t!
 Check resource and task assignments/relationships
 Check constraints and dependencies
 Look for what has changed in the plan and follow the clues -
a small unintentional change can compromise the entire
project

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Useful links
 Getting started with Project 2010
(Microsoft Office online training
video)
 Support on Project 2010
(Microsoft Office Support page)
 Finding answers, sharing ideas
and solving problems related to
Project 2010 (Microsoft
Community)
 Microsoft Project 2010 – 1
(Course material from Georgia
Technology Authority)

Getting started with MS Project 2010

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