The document provides an overview of working with MS Project. It discusses setting up the project plan by entering project information, tasks, milestones, dependencies, resources and assigning them to tasks. It emphasizes that the project manager owns the single version of the project plan and to avoid entering dates manually and instead have dates determined by task dependencies. The document also covers baselining the project plan to protect the schedule and using earned value metrics to measure project performance.

1. Working with MSProject
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2. Owners of the Plan
Project Management is a culture not a process
 Who owns the project plan?
 You do! (why? - See AMEX)
 There is only one version of the project plan
and you have it.
 Case Study #2
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3. MS Project Cheat Sheet
Project Management is a culture not a process
 Enter project information (such as the start date, Project Name, Turn on Summary Task
 Set up your resources in Resource Sheet
 Set up your work calendar.
 Create tasks, choosing the scheduling method and task type settings and entering
information about durations.
 Create milestones (tasks with zero duration) in your project.
 Organize your tasks into phases, using Project's outline structure.
 Establish dependencies among tasks, adding constraints if appropriate.
 Create resources, assigning cost/rate and resource calendar information.
 Assign resources to tasks.
 Resolve resource conflicts.
 Review the total duration and cost of the project, making adjustments if necessary.
 After plan is approved - Lock the baseline
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4. MS Project Cheat Sheet
Project Management is a culture not a process
 Enter project information (such as the start date, Project Name, Turn on Summary Task
(Where and how?) File/Options/Advanced
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5. F/S, S/S, F/F
Project Management is a culture not a process
 All tasks CAN BE linear or
 Some tasks can be linear or
 Both
 Some tasks can be:
– Finish/Start
– Start/Start
– Finish/Finish
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6. F/S, S/S, FF
Project Management is a culture not a process
Finish/Start
Work package 2 starts
after 1 ends.
Start/Start
The work packages
START at the same
Time.
Finish/Finish
The work packages
FINISH at the same time.
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7. F/S, S/S, FF and lags
Project Management is a culture not a process
Finish/Start (FS+1W)
Work package 2 starts
after 1 ends + 1 week
Start/Start (SS+1D)
The work packages
START at the same
Time + 1 DAY
Finish/Finish(FF+1H)
The work packages
FINISH at the same time
+ 1 hour or maybe -1hr.
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8. Fast Tracking and Lags
Project Management is a culture not a process
 Starting one task before the predecessor is
Finished is Fast Tracking
 A Lag is:
– F/S – 1day
– S/S + 1 hour
– F/F + 1 hour
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9. Dates
Project Management is a culture not a process
 Only “1” date should be entered in a project
plan (Project Start Date)*
 NEVER – NEVER – NEVER enter any other
date !!!
 All other dates should be a result of
Predecessors and successor dependencies
 * Exception (e.g. training, hardware delivery, 3rd party products)
 Entered dates are called CONSTRAINT
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10. Dates (this is important)
Project Management is a culture not a process
 MS Project uses three sets of dates and they
are LINKED – CONNECTED TO EACH OTHER!
1. Start (aka) Scheduled Start & Finish (aka) Scheduled Finish
2. Actual Start & Finish
3. Baseline Start and Finish
 Also linked to these dates is % Complete
 NEVER NEVER NEVER enter a date manually (constraint date)
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11. Dates
Project Management is a culture not a process
 All project dates should be a result of previous tasks.
 Tasks need to be linked and rely on F/S, S/S, F/F.
 Using Lags +/-
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12. Sample plan
Project Management is a culture not a process
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13. Sample plan
Project Management is a culture not a process
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14. Dates
Project Management is a culture not a process
 All project dates should
be a result of previous
tasks.
 Tasks need to be linked
and rely on F/S, S/S,
F/F.
 Using Lags +/-
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15. Working with Dates in MSProject
Project Management is a culture not a process
 Start/Finish (Scheduled Start/Finish)  Actual Start/Finish
 % Complete  Baseline1 Start/Finish
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16. Resources
Project Management is a culture not a process
 Resources need $
 Resources need Units
 The Project Manager needs to manage the
Working Calendar (Time Off, Holidays,
Vacations, etc) It affects deliverables. (a 9
hour task for Friday will take until Monday)
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17. Assigning Resources
Project Management is a culture not a process
 Available project hours
 To Summary Tasks (NOT) ????
 Resource Leveling
 Resource Usage/Resource Graphs
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18. Customizing MSProject
Project Management is a culture not a process
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19. Baselining, Locking the Baseline
Project Management is a culture not a process
 Setting the Baseline protects the Project
Manager
 Resetting the Baseline should never be done
unilaterally by the Project Manager. Should
only be done with stakeholder and
customer’s approval
 The Baseline dates is your protection
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20. Metrics
Project Management is a culture not a process
 Not possible w/o locking baseline
 SV
 CPI
 EV
 BCWS
 ACWP
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21. Surprise!
Project Management is a culture not a process
 NO SURPRISES!!!!
 Everyone talks to everyone else.
 Your team communicates with you and you
communicate with them.
 You communicate with your customer
 Everyone knows everything
 NO SURPRISES!!!!
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22. Discussion
Project Management is a culture not a process
• What is the most important part of a project?
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23. My Grandson’s swing set
Project Management is a culture not a process
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24. Recommended reading
Project Management is a culture not a process
• Delivering Project Excellence with the Statement of Work,
Michael G. Martin
• Earned Value Project Management, Fleming & Hoppelman
• The Mythical Man-month, Frederick Brooks, Jr
• Applied Software Measurement, Capers Jones
• Assessment and Control of Software Risks, Capers Jones
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25. Feedback
Project Management is a culture not a process
• Improvement process, please email me Joel@JSaren.com
class comments.
• What did we do that you wish we spent more time on?
• What did we do that you think we spent too much time on?
• What didn’t we do that you wish we did do?
• What did we do good?
• What did we not do good?
• Would you recommend this class to others?
• Are there any other project management classes you would
like to take?
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26. Wrap up
Project Management is a culture not a process
• Thank you all for being great participants.
• I am humbled and honored to be allowed to come
to this part of the world and work with you.
• I am open to hearing from you. Joel@JSaren.com
• Other resources:
• WWW.PMI.ORG
• WWW.ASAPM.ORG
• WWW.PMBOULEVARD.COM
• WWW.PMLINK.ORG
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27. Questions?
Project Management is a culture not a process
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