Project Scheduling Using OpenProj. Project Portfolio Management PPM – Project Portfolio Management Every company executes a set of tasks, that can be.

Project Scheduling

Using OpenProj

Project Portfolio Management• PPM – Project Portfolio Management• Every company executes a set of tasks, that can be

grouped together, utilizing a group of human resources and machinery/hardware – this is termed as project

• In every project, we need to track resources, time and cost

• In every project we need to plan, track and analyze the status

• Usually a team reports to a project manager• OpenProj by Serena Software, helps to track projects• The competing tools for OpenProj are Microsoft Project

Plan, Open Workbench etc.

Tasks

• Tasks are the building blocks of project management

• A task must have a definitive start date and definitive end date

• A task can be assigned to one or more people• A task can have a predecessor and/or

successor. This creates a dependency between tasks

• We can have a detailed notes for every task

Resources

• A resource can be a human resource or machinery

• Resources will be associated with regular time rate and overtime rate

• Resources will be tied to the tasks for tracking purposes

• Resources are not shared between projects. Each project is treated as a separate entity

Project Calendar• For scheduling a project, a base calendar is

required• In the calendar we specify the regular work time,

holidays, etc• We can use 24 hour calendar or a regular time

calendar• If required, we can also specify any

unconventional work times• Number of hours per day, number of days per

week, number of days per month can be configured

Task Tracking• Gantt chart is used to see a pictorial view of the

task dependencies• Gantt chart uses timeline as X axis and tasks on

the Y axis, one below the other• To create subtasks, use indentation feature• We can define a task as milestone task as well

to indicate a logical end point• We can specify the percentage completion for

every task• When percentage completion is 100%, the task

will be indicated with a tick mark

Baselines• When tracking the tasks and the progress, it is

imperative to save a baseline• Baseline is a snapshot of the plan at a given point of

time. • After many updations to the plan, during the tracking

phase, we can compare that with baseline dates• This will tell us whether we are in line with or deviating

from the original plans• 11 baselines can be stored for every project• Usually we suggest to have a weekly baseline of the

plans• If more baselines are required, we can clear some of the

previously defined baselines

Task View• The task grid can have many more columns• We can hide an existing column or add a new

column.• There are many predefined columns such as

priority etc.• We can add our own text, number and date

columns and rename them as well, as required• Any column can be resized and the order of the

columns can be rearranged• When you double click on a task, you can see

details of that particular task

Constraints

• The tasks do have dependencies as Finish to start, Finish to finish, Start to start, Start to finish.

• Depending on predecessors start and finish dates, and the dependency, the next task will be scheduled

• Apart from this we can specify constraints like, Start no earlier than, must start on, must end on etc.

• These constraints put additional stress on ensuring the tracking is done correctly

Work and Cost

• When we include the work column, based on the number of hours configured per day, the effort is calculated

• We can use the work part to calculate the planned and the actual efforts

• When we associate cost to resources and tasks to resources, the cost of the resources are used to calculate the cost of the task.

• The cost calculation is based on the work hours