MS Project Lab1

8/9/2019 MS Project Lab1

1/17

Using Microsoft Project for Project management

Project Management

Information systems projects are known to be late and/or over budget primarily because

of poor project management. Project management requires that we identify all the

activities of the project, the start/end of each activity and the resources allocated to theactivity. Because of the large number of activities, and the dependencies among them,

we typically use a specialized project management software package, such as Microsoft

Project.Project management covers the processes of: initiating, executing, controlling, and

closing the project. The first step in project management is to define all the tasks that we

need to complete in order to achieve the project goal. For each task we define theduration that is how long it takes to complete the task.Two diagrams are created in MS Project. The Gantt Chart (named for Henry Gantt, a

pioneer of project management techniques) provides a graphical presentation of the

project. It displays each task as a horizontal bar with the length corresponding to the

duration of the task.The Network Diagram graphically highlights the interdependencies of the tasks. Each

task is displayed as a box containing the start, finish, duration and % completion of thetask. The tasks are linked together through link lines, thus creating a picture of how the

tasks are sequenced. The Network Diagram highlights the critical path of the project.

The critical path is the series of tasks that determines the finish date of the project.

After you enter the tasks into MS Project, you can view the Gantt chart or Network

Diagram by selecting the view options.

Using Microsoft Project:

1) Click on Start/Programs/Microsoft Project.2) The following screen shows up (Figure 1.1)


2/17

Fig 1.1 Blank Project screen

3) Next, we enter the tasks that we have identified for our project.

Suppose, that for the initial phase of Project Planning we identified 5 tasks:1. Defining the problem,

2. Producing Product schedule,3. Confirming project feasibility Schedule

4. Staffing the project , and

5. Launching the project.We next, defined the subtasks for each of the 5 tasks. Note that it is easier to

estimate the start/end times for the smaller subtasks. The tasks, subtasks and the

duration in days, are as follows:1. Defining the problem;

1.1) Meeting with the users. 2 days

1.2) Defining scope. 1 day.1.3) Writing business benefits. 1 day.1.4) Writing statement of needs. 1 day.

1.5) Defining system capabilities. 1 day.

1.6) Defining context diagram. 1 day.

2. Producing Product Schedule:

2.1) Developing work breakdown structure. 1 day.


3/17

2.2) Estimate resources duration. 1 day.

2.3) Developing Pert chart. 2 days.

3. Confirming project feasibility:3.1) Identifying intangible cost. 1 day.

3.2) Estimate tangible cost. 1 day.

3.4) Do cost/benefit analysis. 2 days.3.5) Evaluate organization feasibility. 1 day.

3.6) Evaluate technical feasibility. 2 days.

3.7) Evaluate schedule feasibility. 1 day.3.8) Evaluate resource availability. 1 day.

4. Staffing the project:

4.1) Develop a project resource plan. 1 day.

4.2) Identify and request tech staff. 1 day.4.3) Meet with users, identify staff. 1 day.

4.4) Organize project team. 1 day.

4.5) Conduct team-building exercises. 3 days.

5. Launching the project:5.1) Prepare presentation material. 1 day.

5.2) Make executive presentation. 1 day.5.3) Set up project facilities. 3 days.

5.4) Conduct official kick-off meeting. 1 day.

4) Next, we enter the tasks into the blank Project Window. Enter 1. Projectplanning Phase in the Task Name column. Note that the duration of a task is

defaulted to 1 day (followed by a ?), and the Start and finish fields are filled up

accordingly, as shown in figure 1.2. You may change the duration as necessary.

The total time to complete the entire project will be calculated by MS Project as

you enter all the tasks.


4/17

Figure 1.2 Filling the task

5) The following are definitions of the fields:Duration: tells you how long it takes to complete a particular task.

Start: the date you want to start that particular task.

Finish: the date you will finish that particular task.The Start and finish dates are automatically filled in once you specify the

duration of the task.Predecessors: the tasks that must be completed before you can start a particular

task.

Resource Names: the names of people who would perform that particular task.

6) Now, enter the first sub-task of the task you just entered, i.e. 1.1 define theproblem. To indicate that it is a subtask, we indent it to the right by clicking on

the right green arrow on the menu bar as shown in the figure below.


5/17

Figure 1.3 Entering the tasks

7) Next, we enter Resource Names (i.e. the names of people who will perform the

task.) There are two ways to enter resources; double click on the particular fieldof Resource names and select Resource tab (as shown in Fig 1.3), or right click on

a particular field, select Task Information and click on Resources tab (as shown in

Fig 1.4 and Fig 1.5):


6/17

Fig 1.3: Double clicking on the particular field and selecting the Resources tab.


7/17

Fig 1.4: Right clicking on the particular field, and selecting Task Information.


8/17

Fig 1.5: Selecting Resource tab

8) We enter in this window two fields: Resource Name and Units. Resource Name

identifies the resource, (for example, it can be name of a person or machine). TheUnits field identifies the percentage of the resource being used to accomplish this

task. Ex., in Fig 1.6 we enter Mary as the resource name, and the 100% indicates

that Mary will spend 100% of her time performing the task. Click the OK tabonce you entered the data.


9/17

Fig 1.6: Entering the data in Resource name and Units fields before clicking OK button.


10/17

Fig 1.7: Screen display after entering the Resources Names

9) We continue populating the Tasks, duration, Resources Names and Predecessors

Fields in the project as shown in the Figure below. We have to ensure that each

sub-task is indented (to the right) of the related task (by using the green rightarrow on the menu bar). To indent the task to the left, use the green left arrow on

the menu bar.

10) Next we update the Predecessors Field. A predecessor task is the task that must

be completed before starting a particular task. The predecessor is identified by the

Predecessor ID that is entered in the ID field. The ID is the row number of thetask in the main window. To enter predecessors, we either double click on the

particular field of Predecessors and select the Predecessors tab (as shown in Fig

1.8) or right click on that particular field and select Predecessors tab (as shown inFig 1.9):


11/17

Fig 1.8: Double clicking on the particular field and selecting the Predecessors tab.


12/17

Fig 1.9: Right clicking on the particular field ,select Task Information


13/17

Fig 2.0: Clicking on the Predecessors tab

10a) In our example, the predecessor of ID 1.1.2 Define the scope field is the task 1.1.1

Meet with users. Its ID is 3 as entered in Fig 2.0. Notice that as soon as we tab to goto the next field, all the information (Task Name) of that ID is displayed

automatically as in Figure 2.1.


14/17

Fig 2.1: Predecessor Data entered


15/17

Fig 2.2 Numbering subtasks

11) Notice that we can have multiple predecessors for a particular task. We enter them

one by one likewise. Also notice that the duration for the tasks are automatically

calculated according to the subtasks assigned to it. For example, in Fig 2.2 we havetwo subtasks (1.1.1 with 2 days and 1.1.2 with 1 day) for a task (1.1). Then the

duration of task 1.1 is automatically calculated as 3 days. Similarly, 1.1 Define theproblem is the only subtask of 1.Project planning phase. So, 1. Project planning

phase has the same duration as 1.1 Define the problem.

12) Populate the remaining fields as shown in Fig 2.3


16/17

Fig 2.3 The completed tasks

13) Notice that a Gantt chart is drawn as you enter the tasks (on the right hand side of

your project). You can view other diagrams such as: Netwroks (PERT),

Resources, etc, using the View menu on the tool bar.A Gantt chart from the options on the left hand corner of the project as shown in

Fig 2.4


17/17

Fig 2.4: Gantt chart for the tasks

14) Similarly we can view the various graphs: Pert Chart, Task Usage, Resource Graph,

and Resource Usage by selecting them from the option on the left corner. Microsoft

Project has provided this additional functionality so that you can view your task scheduleand the resources being used for their maximum utilization.

PRINT & SUBMIT Figure 2.4

MS Project Lab1

Documents