Getting started with MS Project 2010
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This document provides instructions for getting started with Microsoft Project 2010. It covers the basic steps to create a project including starting a new project, adding tasks, milestones, and dependencies, creating a work breakdown structure using summary tasks, assigning resources, and finding the critical path. The document also describes the MS Project interface and provides screenshots to illustrate how to customize calendars, enter recurring tasks, and view resource allocation.
Getting started with MS Project 2010
- 1. Getting started with Microsoft Project 2010 Madou, 07th of March 2014
- 2. European Commission Contents Introduction The MS Project interface Basic steps to create a project Let's practice! Recommendations Getting started with Microsoft Project 2010
- 3. European 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) Getting started with Microsoft Project 2010
- 4. European Commission 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 Getting started with Microsoft Project 2010
- 5. European Commission Contents Introduction The MS Project interface Basic steps to create a project Let's practice! Recommendations Getting started with Microsoft Project 2010
- 6. European Commission 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 Getting started with Microsoft Project 2010
- 7. European Commission The MS Project interface Getting started with Microsoft Project 2010
- 8. European Commission The MS Project interface Getting started with Microsoft Project 2010 Single view versus combination view (example)
- 9. European Commission The MS Project interface Getting started with Microsoft Project 2010 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.
- 10. European Commission Contents Introduction The MS Project interface Basic steps to create a project Let's practice! Recommendations Getting started with Microsoft Project 2010
- 11. European 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 Find critical path Close Project Getting started with Microsoft Project 2010
- 12. European 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 Getting started with Microsoft Project 2010
- 13. European 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 Getting started with Microsoft Project 2010
- 14. European Commission Start a new project: from a Start date Getting started with Microsoft Project 2010 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)
- 15. European Commission Start a new project: from a Finish date Getting started with Microsoft Project 2010
- 16. European Commission 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. Getting started with Microsoft Project 2010
- 17. European Commission Create a project: Customize standard calendar Getting started with Microsoft Project 2010 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.
- 18. European 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 Getting started with Microsoft Project 2010
- 19. European Commission 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. Getting started with Microsoft Project 2010
- 20. European Commission Create a project: insert, delete, inactivate tasks Getting started with Microsoft Project 2010 Right‐click shortcut menus task
- 21. European Commission 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. Getting started with Microsoft Project 2010
- 22. European Commission Create a project: entering recurring tasks Getting started with Microsoft Project 2010
- 23. European Commission 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. Getting started with Microsoft Project 2010
- 24. European Commission Create a project: entering milestones Getting started with Microsoft Project 2010
- 25. European Commission Create a project: attaching documents to tasks Getting started with Microsoft Project 2010 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.
- 26. European Commission Create a project: display information about tasks Getting started with Microsoft Project 2010 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.
- 27. European Commission Create a project: display information about tasks Getting started with Microsoft Project 2010 4. Indicators column displays: • Miscellaneous indicators • Constraint indicators • Task type indicators • Dependency indicators
- 28. European Commission Create a project: add a deadline Getting started with Microsoft Project 2010 1. Double click on the task name to open the 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!
- 29. European 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 Getting started with Microsoft Project 2010
- 30. European Commission 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). Getting started with Microsoft Project 2010
- 31. European Commission Create a project: WBS with Summary Tasks 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. Getting started with Microsoft Project 2010
- 32. European Commission Create a project: WBS with Summary Tasks Getting started with Microsoft Project 2010
- 33. European 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 Getting started with Microsoft Project 2010
- 34. European Commission Create a project: entering tasks dependencies Create relationships between tasks: task dependencies. Four task dependencies define the relationships between tasks in MS Project. Getting started with Microsoft Project 2010
- 35. European Commission Create a project: entering tasks dependencies Getting started with Microsoft Project 2010 1. Double click on the task name to open the 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.
- 36. European Commission Create a project: entering tasks dependencies Getting started with Microsoft Project 2010 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.
- 37. European 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 Getting started with Microsoft Project 2010
- 38. European Commission 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 Getting started with Microsoft Project 2010
- 39. European Commission 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 Getting started with Microsoft Project 2010
- 40. European Commission 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) Getting started with Microsoft Project 2010
- 41. European Commission 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. Getting started with Microsoft Project 2010
- 42. European Commission 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. Getting started with Microsoft Project 2010
- 43. European Commission 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. Getting started with Microsoft Project 2010
- 44. European 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 Getting started with Microsoft Project 2010
- 45. European Commission 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. Getting started with Microsoft Project 2010
- 46. European Commission 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. Getting started with Microsoft Project 2010
- 47. European Commission 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. Getting started with Microsoft Project 2010
- 48. European 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 Getting started with Microsoft Project 2010
- 49. European Commission 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 Getting started with Microsoft Project 2010
- 50. European Commission Close a project: Print a view Getting started with Microsoft Project 2010
- 51. European Commission Contents Introduction The MS Project interface Basic steps to create a project Let's practise! Recommendations Getting started with Microsoft Project 2010
- 52. European Commission 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!) Getting started with Microsoft Project 2010 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.
- 53. European Commission 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 Getting started with Microsoft Project 2010
- 54. European Commission Contents Introduction The MS Project interface Basic steps to create a project Let's practice! Recommendations Getting started with Microsoft Project 2010
- 55. European Commission 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 Getting started with Microsoft Project 2010
- 56. European Commission 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 Getting started with Microsoft Project 2010
- 57. European Commission 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 Microsoft Project 2010
- 58. Monica Di Bratto