07 Fine-tuning Task Details

Editor's Notes

• #2: If you do include cost details in your project plan and this is considered sensitive information, consider requiring a password to open such project plans. To set a password, click the File tab, and then click Save As. In the Save As dialog box, click Tools and then click General Options.
• #3: In this chapter, you examine and use a variety of advanced features in Microsoft Project 2010. These features focus on fine-tuning task details prior to saving a baseline, as well as commencing work on the project with the goal of developing the most accurate schedule representation of the tasks you anticipate for the plan.
• #4: You might recall from Chapter 2, “Creating a Task List,” that there are four types of task dependencies, or relationships:
• #6: The Task Inspector pane appears. This pane succinctly reveals the scheduling factors that affect the selected task, such as predecessor task relationships, resource calendars, and/or task calendars. You can click any item in the Task Inspector that appears in blue to get more details.
• #7: Scheduled to start at the 25 percent remaining point of the duration of above task
• #8: Scheduled to start at the 25 percent remaining point of the duration of above task
• #9: Scheduled to start at the 25 percent remaining point of the duration of above task Task 17 is now scheduled to start at the 25 percent remaining point of the duration of task 16.
• #10: Every task that you enter into Project has some type of constraint applied to it. A constraint controls the start or finish date of a task and the degree to which that task can be rescheduled. There are three categories of constraints:
• #11: Every task that you enter into Project has some type of constraint applied to it. A constraint controls the start or finish date of a task and the degree to which that task can be rescheduled. There are three categories of constraints:
• #17: You cannot change the constraint type or set a constraint date for a manually scheduled task. For more information about manually scheduled tasks versus automatically scheduled tasks.
• #18: constraint to a task.
• #19: You cannot set constraints on manually scheduled tasks. The following issues apply only to automatically scheduled tasks. For more information about manually versus automatically scheduled tasks
• #24: Move (but don’t click) the mouse pointer over the Gantt bar of selected task until the start date of task date, appears in the ScreenTip
• #25: Move (but don’t click) the mouse pointer over the Gantt bar of selected task until the start date of task date, appears in the ScreenTip
• #26: Make sure that the Make a copy of option is selected and that Standard is selected in the drop-down menu.
• #27: Make sure that the Name value [Default] in Row 1 is selected, and then click Details. In the Select day(s) box, select Thursday and Friday
• #28: Now that you’ve created the Monday-Wednesday calendar, you’re ready to apply it to a task.
• #30: A task has duration amount and work amount, which may not always be equivalent values.
• #33: Project also keeps track of the highest peak units value per assignment. This value is stored in the Peak field, which you’ll work with in the sidebar
• #34: Project also keeps track of the highest peak units value per assignment. This value is stored in the Peak field, which you’ll work with in the sidebar
• #37: To view the task type of the selected task, on the Task tab, in the Properties group, click Information. Then, in the Task Information dialog box, click the Advanced tab. You can also view the task type in the Task Form. (When in the Gantt Chart view, you can display the Task Form by clicking Details on the View tab, in the Split View group.) You can change a task type at any time
• #38: After you create a task, but before you assign a resource to it, the task has duration but no work associated with it. Why no work? Work represents the amount of effort a resource or resources will spend to complete a task. For example, if you have one person working full time, the amount of time measured as work is the same as the amount of time measured as duration. In general, the amount of work will match the duration unless you assign more than one resource to a task or the one resource you assign is not working full time. To view the task type of the selected task , clicking Details on the View tab, in the Split View group
• #39: You cannot change the task type of a manually scheduled task, and the effect of the task type on the scheduling of a task as described here applies only to automatically scheduled tasks.
• #40: Add two columns to the Task Usage view so that you can see the assignment units (the third variable of the scheduling formula) and the peak values.
• #41: add two columns to the Task Usage view so that you can see the assignment units (the third variable of the scheduling formula) and the peak values. You don’t need to modify this view every time you want to use it, but for our purposes here, this is a good way to illustrate the effect of changing task types and scheduling formula values
• #42: Project changes the duration of task 8 to 20 days and increases the work to 320 hours. Note that the change highlighting applied to the Work and Duration values. You increased the duration and wanted the total work to remain the same (it didn’t), so you will use the Action button to adjust the results of the new task duration.
• #44: Because task 8’s task type is fixed units (the default task type), the Action’s default selection is to increase work as the duration increases. However, you’d like to keep the work value the same and decrease assignment units for the task’s new duration
• #46: Project changes the duration of task 8 to 20 days and increases the work to 320 hours. Note that the change highlighting applied to the Work and Duration values. You increased the duration and wanted the total work to remain the same (it didn’t), so you will use the Action button to adjust the results of the new task duration.
• #47: Project changes the duration of task 8 to 20 days and increases the work to 320 hours. Note that the change highlighting applied to the Work and Duration values. You increased the duration and wanted the total work to remain the same (it didn’t), so you will use the Action button to adjust the results of the new task duration.
• #48: Task Types and Effort-Driven Scheduling Many people misunderstand task types and effort-driven scheduling and conclude that these two issues are more closely related than they really are. Both settings can affect your schedule. Whereas the effect of a task type applies whenever you edit a task’s work, duration, or unit values, effort-driven scheduling affects your schedule only when you’re assigning or removing resources from tasks.
• #50: Entering a deadline date has no effect on the scheduling of a summary or subtask. However, a deadline date will cause Project to alert you if the scheduled completion of a task exceeds its deadline date
• #51: Entering a deadline date has no effect on the scheduling of a summary or subtask. However, a deadline date will cause Project to alert you if the scheduled completion of a task exceeds its deadline date
• #52: Entering a deadline date has no effect on the scheduling of a summary or subtask. However, a deadline date will cause Project to alert you if the scheduled completion of a task exceeds its deadline date
• #54: Project will now schedule a $500 cost against the task Generate proofs at the task’s end date, and the project will incur this cost when the task ends. This cost is independent of the task’s duration and of any costs of resources that could be assigned to it.
• #55: Entering a deadline date has no effect on the scheduling of a summary or subtask. However, a deadline date will cause Project to alert you if the scheduled completion of a task exceeds its deadline date
• #62: On the View tab, in the Task Views group, click the down arrow below the Gantt Chart button and then click More Views. 2. In the More Views dialog box, select Detail Gantt, and then click Apply. The project appears in the Detail Gantt view. 3. On the View tab, in the Zoom group, click Entire Project.
• #64: Setting a manual duration for a summary task is a good way to apply a top-down focus to a project plan. You can, for example, introduce some slack or buffer to a phase of work by entering a manual duration for the summary task that is longer than its calculated duration
• #65: Note that the minus signs next to the summary task names changed to plus signs, indicating that the subtasks are hidden.
• #66: Project records your manually entered duration and makes some adjustments to the schedule: ❍ The summary task is switched from automatically scheduled (the default for summary tasks) to manually scheduled. Note the pin icon in the Task Mode column that reflects the task’s scheduling status. ❍ Project drew a two-part Gantt bar for the summary task. The upper portion of the bar represents the manual duration, and the lower portion represents the automatically scheduled duration. ❍ Project draws a red squiggly line under the new finish date to flag this as a potential scheduling conflict. ❍ Project rescheduled the successor tasks throughout the schedule based on task 20’s manually entered duration.
• #67: Looking at the updated schedule, you decide you’d like to allow a bit more time for the color prep and printing. In the Duration field for the summary task 42, Color prep and printing, type 50d and press Enter.
• #68: Looking at the updated schedule, you decide you’d like to allow a bit more time for the color prep and printing. In the Duration field for the summary task 42, Color prep and printing, type 50d and press Enter.
• #69: Inactivate or release The original task information is still visible, but now it has no impact on the overall project plan. Later, should you decide to include these tasks in the project plan, you could reactivate them by clicking Inactivate again.