MS Project Tutorial 2013
MS Project Tutorial 2013
Introduction
Getting Started
1. Click the Start button in the lower-right-hand corner of your windows taskbar,
then point to All Programs, then Microsoft Office 2013 and finally click Project
2013.
2. To create a new project file, select Blank Project. The new project screen
exhibits below:
4. To specify a start date, click the Project tab, then click the Project Information
button. The Project Information dialog box appears, as exhibited below. In the
Project Information window, enter the project start date; otherwise, by default
today’s date is taken. You can schedule a project from either its start date or its
finish date, but not both. The Schedule from: box is where you can specify
whether you want the project scheduled from the start date or from the
completion date. In the former case, tasks begin as soon as possible. In the
latter case, tasks begin as late as possible. Click on the drop-down arrow
associated with the Schedule from: box and select the second of the two
alternatives and then select the first again. Note how the comment underneath
changes. Now, click OK at the bottom of the pane.
You are placed in the Gantt view of the project. This is really a combination of
two views in one. On the left, you have a table that you can change. On the
right, you have the typical Gantt chart. You can move the partition between two
simply by attaching the cursor to the partition edge and dragging it to the left or to
the right. Dragging it to the right reveals more of the table, but lessens the
amount of the Gantt chart that is in view. Dragging it to the left does just the
opposite.
Entering Tasks
1. Click the View tab, then click the Gantt Chart button, and select Gantt Chart
from a drop-down list. In most cases, this was the view you were placed in to
begin with so nothing changes.
2. In the Task Name column, type in several task names, one to a line. Use the
down arrow to move to the line below or press Enter after typing a task name.
3. In order to insert a task in the list, between two tasks, position the cursor on the
task above the point in which the insertion is to be made, right click and select
Insert Task. Microsoft Project will insert a task row that you can enter the task
name.
Specify Subordination
This is basically grouping tasks into phase, which makes it easier to track a project
and also makes it easier to read the task list. Grouping is done by indenting tasks.
A task can also be removed from a group and that is called out-denting. Tasks that
are subordinate to a higher level task on the work breakdown structure are so
indicated by subordination.
1. In the Task Name column, select the task you want to indent or out-dent by
boxing it as you would in any spreadsheet. Boxing is done by simply clicking on
the cell in which the task resides.
2. On the Task tab, in the Schedule group, click the Indent Task button to
indent the task or Out-dent Task button to out-dent the task. You can also
highlight a number of tasks and then click on the Indent Task or Out-dent Task
button to indent or out-dent the entire collection of tasks at once.
Note: Microsoft Project assigns numbers to the task to indicate the level of
the task. These are called outline numbers. If you indent three tasks under a
particular task say task no. 1 then the three tasks are numbered as 1.1, 1.2 and1.3.
To display the outline numbers in the Task Name column, click the Format tab, in
the Show/Hide group, check Outline Number box. Alternatively, you can show the
outline numbers as WBS codes in the WBS column. To display the WBS column,
select the Task Name column, then right click and select Insert Column from the
list. The new column is inserted to the left of the Task Name column. From the list
in the new column, scroll down and select WBS. The default of the outline numbers
is shown in the WBS column. The outline numbers can be customized as needed by
selecting the Project tab and clicking on WBS button in the Properties group.
Under WBS, select Define Code to customize the outline numbers for your project.
Microsoft Project sets default duration of one day for each task that you entered or
inserted above. You will obviously have to change many of these. You can do so by
entering the duration in the Duration column. After you enter the duration, you may
press the Down Arrow key or hit Enter.
You will not need to enter the durations of tasks which have subtasks
subordinated below them. These tasks have their durations calculated as the sum of
all the demoted task durations. Think of tasks that have subtasks as a summary of
all the subtask information that is subordinate to them. Consider the following list of
tasks:
Note that, in the list above, Analysis duration is exactly as long as necessary
to accommodate all of its subtasks and sub-subtasks. Microsoft Project will figure
this out automatically. Thus, once all the subtask and sub-subtask durations are
entered, Microsoft Project will compute the duration automatically of the associated
task. It is not possible for the user to change this. The same can be said for
subtasks when they have sub-subtasks. Again, Microsoft Project will not allow you
to change the duration of a task that has subtasks.
Microsoft Project has its own built-in understanding of time and it is making a
lot assumptions about the way in which you work. For example, it is assuming 8-
hour work days, five-day work weeks and that you do not work on Saturday or
Sunday. To see this, view the project in the Calendar view by clicking the View tab
then clicking the Calendar button in the Task Views group; notice the duration of the
tasks and how they fall across weekends as necessary to fill up the required number
of weekdays. You can change the default working time (8-hour work days, five day
work weeks) by selecting the Project tab and clicking on the Change Working Time
button.
You can insert columns within any table in the Gantt view. Make certain that your
first task is a summary task under which all other tasks are subordinated. Include a
Cost column in the entry table next to the Duration column. You can also include
“major function,” “output,” and “input” columns within the entry table. To insert a new
column, select one column where you want your new column to locate (to the left of
the selected column) then right click and select Insert Column. A new column is
inserted to the left of the selected column along with a list of columns you may
choose to insert.
This is done to show the time-sequential relationship between two tasks. To show
that a particular task can begin only when the predecessor task has completed, the
two tasks must be linked. After you decide the task sequence, you can link the
tasks, as follows.
1. In the Task Name column, select two or more tasks that you want to link. To
select more than one task, use the Ctrl button in conjunction with the left-click
button on the mouse for every task selected after the first. To avoid confusion, it
is best to select only a pair of tasks at a time. The first task you click on will be
assumed to be the precedent task and the second task that you click on will be
assumed to be the subsequent task.
2. On the Task tab, in the Schedule group, click the Link Tasks button.
Microsoft Project generally links tasks as Finish-to-Start tasks, i.e., the second
task begins only when the preceding task has completed. Several precedent tasks
can be linked into single subsequent task, but this has to be done in pairs in which
each precedent task is clicked on first, followed by a click on the subsequent task.
1. In the Task Name column, double click the task you want to link. The Task
Information dialog box appears.
2. Click the Predecessors tab.
3. In the ID column, type the ID number of the predecessor task (this is the number
on the far left column). The Type box should show the default Finish-to-Start
(FS) relationship.
4. Click in the Type box and then click the drop-down arrow to see the four types of
dependency relationships that can be established. As indicated, the default link
type is a Finish-to-Start link, that is, a link in which the succeeding task is not
allowed to start until the preceding task is complete. However, Start-to-Start links
and Finish-to-Finish links are also possible. In these latter cases, the analyst
wants tasks to start together or finish together.
To unlink tasks, use the Unlink Tasks button on the Task tab in the
Schedule group after highlighting the associated task names.
It is possible to set hard start dates, stop dates for tasks in Microsoft Project. To do
so, begin in the Gantt view with the entry table visible. Slide the partition to the right
to expose as much of the entry table as possible. You should see two side-by-side
columns—the start column and the finish column. By changing any of the dates in
these columns, you are setting a hard date constraint. If you do so, an indicator will
appear in the first column of the entry table, the column labeled for information. If
you rest the cursor on that indicator, a message appears that informs you of the hard
date constraint that has been applied to the task. Only one hard date constraint can
be set per task—at the start date or at the stop date, but not both.
Assigning Resources
You can:
- assign individual resources
- assign resources part time
- assign several resources
- remove resources from a task
- replace one resource with another.
1. In the Task Name column, select the task to which you have to assign a
resource.
2. On the Resource tab, in the Assignments group, click the Assign
Resources button.
3. The Assign Resources dialog box appears. In the Resource Name column,
type in the name of the resource and click on Assign.
Note: By default Microsoft Project assigns 100 of the resource to the task.
To change this, assign it, say part time, type a percentage less than 100% in the
Units column.
1. In the Task Name column, select the task to which you have to remove a
resource.
2. On the Resource tab, in the Assignments group, click the Assign
Resources button.
3. The Assign Resources dialog box appears. In the Resource Name column,
select the resource you want to remove, then click Remove.
Estimating costs and assigning them to tasks and resources helps you to develop a
project budget. It also helps you to determine how closely the final project cost
matches its estimated cost and helps in planning for the future.
Microsoft Project helps us to assign hourly or fixed rates to resources. For hourly
rates, you can assign a standard rate (Std. Rate), which is the rate you pay a
resource during normal working hours. Overtime rate (Ovt. Rate) is the amount
you will pay the resource for any overtime that it does. To resources that charge
a flat amount to do a job, you can assign a fixed cost per use (Cost/Use).
1. On the Resource tab, click on the Team Planner button, then select
Resource Sheet from the drop-down list.
2. In the Std. Rate, Ovt. Rate and Cost/Use columns for the resource, type the
rates that apply and press Enter.
1. On the View tab, click the Gantt Chart button in the Task Views group.
2. On the View tab, click the Tables button in the Data group, and select Cost
from the list.
3. In the Fixed Cost column for the task, type in the cost and press Enter.
The sum of individual task costs make up most if not all of the total project
cost. To view the total cost of each task:
1. On the View tab, click the Gantt Chart button in the Task Views group.
2. On the View tab, click the Tables button in the Data group, and select
Cost from the list.
3. Scroll the table on the left to view the Total Cost column.
This helps you to know the total cost of that resource for all the tasks the
resource is assigned to.
1. On the Resource tab, click on the Team Planner button, then select
Resource Sheet from the drop-down list.
2. On the View tab, click the Tables button in the Data group, and select
Cost from the list.
1. On the Project tab, click the Project Information button in the Properties
group.
2. Click Statistics.
In every project there are tasks that can delay a project if they are not completed on
time and tasks that can be completed after their original finish time without affecting
the project finish date. Tasks that can delay a project are called critical tasks and the
ones that do not delay are called non-critical tasks.
Critical tasks make up a special path known as the critical path. The critical
path is the sequence of tasks that ends on the latest finish date, i.e., the finish date
of the last task in the critical path is the project finish date. The critical path is the
longest path through the network and the path that determines the duration of the
total project. When you shorten the schedule, the critical path has to be shortened.
There are several ways to get Microsoft Project to exhibit the critical path in
red. For one, you can right click anywhere in the Gantt chart, select Show/Hide Bar
Styles, and click Critical Tasks from the list of options that it gives you. Another
Free slack is the amount of time a task can be delayed without delaying the finish
date of another task.
1. On the View tab, select the Gantt Chart button in the Task Views group, then
select More Views from a drop-down list.
2. When the More Views dialog box appears, select Detail Gantt and click Apply.
Slack on a task appears graphically as thin slack bars adjoining the regular Gantt
bars.
3. You can also view the Free Slack and Total Slack from the schedule table. To
view the schedule table, on the View tab, click the Table button in the Data
group, and select More Tables from the drop-down list provided. When the More
Tables dialog box appears, select Schedule, and then click Apply.
The most effective way to shorten your schedule is to adjust tasks that lie on the
critical path. Adjusting non-critical tasks will not shorten the schedule. The actions
you can take to shorten your schedule fall into two categories.
1. On the View tab, select the Gantt Chart button in the Task Views group, then
select More Views from a drop-down list.
2. When the More Views dialog box appears, select Detail Gantt and click Apply.
3. In the Task Name column, select a single task on the critical path that could be
completed in several steps.
4. On the Task tab, click the Unlink Tasks button in the Schedule group.
5. Remove the resources assigned to the task.
6. Select the task beneath the task you want to change, and then right click and
select Insert Task.
7. Repeat step 6 for each subtask you want to add.
8. For each new task, type a name in the Task Name column and duration in the
Duration column.
9. In the Task Name column, select all the new tasks, and then click the Indent
Task button to make them subtasks of the original task. The original task
becomes the summary task. One subtask will be on the critical path.
To view the Network or PERT chart, click the View tab, then select the Network
Diagram button in the Task Views group. The Network diagram of the above
exercise is displayed below. You can adjust the display size of the diagram by left
clicking anywhere in the network diagram and selecting Zoom, then adjusting the
percentage as appropriate.
Microsoft Project provides many views of the project that can be printed out. As a
minimum, they are the Gantt view, the Task Usage view, the Tracking Gantt view,
the Network Diagram view and the Calendar view. To print the required view, select
the view from the View tab, then on the File tab, select Print. Adjust your printer
properties as appropriate.
Analyzing a Project
The most important part of the plan is the schedule. By adjusting the schedule, you
can schedule a task to start and finish sooner, bring in the project finish date, shrink
task durations and distribute the workload more evenly. Before you analyze and
adjust a task’s schedule, you need to know what factors affect its schedule. The
Other factors that affect how a task is scheduled are the project start date, the
day of the week on which it starts and whether you split a task into portions, with an
interruption between each portion.
In this exercise you are going to enter the following tasks along with each task’s
duration (in days) and the predecessor tasks into Microsoft Project.
You will only be entering the data in the Task Name, Duration and
Predecessors columns. The numbers to the left will appear automatically if you add
the WBS column. Be sure to add the WBS and Cost columns to the entry table that
is shown in the Gantt chart view. The numbers shown in the WBS column above are
there to indicate subordination. However, Microsoft Project will do the work
breakdown structure numbers you see above if you do the subordination
(indentation) correctly. Interviews, Anal Existing Doc, Synthesis, Functional Spec,
Re-estimate Plan, Development Prop and Presentation are all subtasks within
Analysis. This is precisely what the 1.2.x is intended to designate. Likewise, 1.2.1.1
Determine the total time and total budget required to complete this project.
Printout the entry table with the WBS and Cost columns added and its associated
Gantt chart. Explain why (in writing) it makes sense to include a Project task at the
very beginning of your list of tasks. Explain why summary tasks have no stated
duration in the table above. Explain why the first subordinated task immediately
below a summary task has no predecessor.
The end result of all of these tasks and assignment entries is the following:
Task Duration
1. Define the business case 60 days
2. Specify requirements 10 days
3. Select an installer/system integrator 10 days
4. Select an ERP vendor 10 days
5. Install the system
6. Install phase 1 10 days
7. Install phase 2 10 days
8. Install phase 3 12 days
9. Perform parameterization
10. Parameterize phase 1 22 days
11. Parameterize phase 2 15 days
12. Parameterize phase 3 14 days
13. Perform testing
14. Test phase 1 of the system 20 days
15. Test phase 2 of the system 20 days
16. Test phase 3 of the system 30 days
17. Conduct overall testing 5 days
18. Conduct acceptance test 2 days
19. Perform training
20. Train for phase 1 cut-over 10 days
21. Train for phase 2 cut-over 10 days
22. Train for phase 3 cut-over 12 days
23. Perform cut-over
24. Perform phase 1 cut-over 2 days
25. Perform phase 2 cut-over 3 days
26. Perform phase 3 cut-over 4 days
27. Assess performance in relation to specs 2 days
28. Closeout 2 days
Determine the critical path. Describe some ways to get it completed sooner, without
adding resources. Turn in the hardcopy of the Gantt view of your project with the
entry table shown and a cost column included in that table.