Microsoft Project has a Gantt Chart View which is a Visual Tool to
Help Plan, Manage and track a project or projects.
Planning a Project
·
Define Goals
·
Develop Tasks
·
Establish Time frames
·
Resource Availability?
·
Organize
Managing and Tracking a Project
·
Track Progress
-Are the tasks being completed on time?
-Is the Progress going to stay within the budget?
Using MS Project
1. Define the Project
2. Build the Plan
·
Set a Start Date
·
Enter tasks/durations
·
Assign Resources
·
Link Tasks
·
Fine Tune the plan
3. Track and Manage
·
Set a baseline
·
Enter Casuals
·
Adjust Plan
4. Close Project
1.
Defining the Project
·
The Objective of the Project should be defined
by the person/group that is going to manage the project.
·
Tasks, Start times, and deadlines should be
clearly established.
2.
Build the Plan
Setting a Start
Date
When Opening a new Microsoft Project File, the user is automatically
prompted for a start date, setting an accurate start date will make
future entries more convenient.
Entering Tasks and Durations
·
Tasks are entered in the "Task Name"
column.
·
Sub-tasks are created by indenting a task.
·
Durations may be entered in a number of working
days or start and Finish dates may be used.
Standard Markers
Normal Task
- Designates ordinary task Duration
Summary
Bar -Designates the duration of a group of sub-tasks
Special Markers
Milestones -
A reference point marking a major event
in a project and used to monitor the project's progress.
To create a milestone, enter "0", in the duration field.
Changing Marker Styles
Double Click on the marker you want to change and format accordingly
Assigning Resources
·
A Resource Can be a single person, a piece of
equipment, or it can represent a group , such as planners.
·
Information on Resources include availability,
costs and working Time
·
Resources are very important in accurate
Scheduling
-Select the task to which you want to
assign the resource
-Click the Assign
Resource button on the toolbar
If Resources are not already setup, double click on the name box
Enter Pertinent Information and click ok.
When Resource has been selected, Click Assign
Linking Tasks
-Some tasks require that another task to be completed before it begin .
These Tasks must be linked.
-Tasks and Subtasks are linked by assigning predecessors.
Predecessor
-A Task that must Start or Finish before another task can start or Finish.
Successor
- A Task that cannot start or finish until another task starts or finishes
-A Task is entered in the Predecessor Column
Fine Tune the Plan
-When all resources have been assigned and appropriate tasks are
linked, the original Gannt Chart will be complete.
-Check to make sure tasks have been linked correctly and task durations are
correct
-The Project is now ready to begin.
Set a Baseline
- A Baseline compares your original plan for the project with the actual
course of the project
-You can see which tasks started earlier or later than planned ,exceeded
their original budget, took longer than planned , and so on.
-Create a baseline after you've polished it and just before you actually
start work on the project
-To Track Costs, be sure to enter cost information before you create the
baseline
-Updates can easily be made to the baseline if information is missing.
The Baseline Plan includes:
·
Tasks (start and finish dates, duration, work,
cost, splits, time phased work, and time phased cost)
·
Resources (work, cost, time phased work, and
time phased cost)
·
Assignments (start and finish dates, work, cost,
time phased work, and time phased cost)The tasks
To set a baseline:
·
Point to Tracking on the Tools menu
·
Click Save Baseline
Entering Progress
Update actual start and
finish dates for a task.
·
On
the Tools menu, point to Tracking and then click Update Task
·
Under
Actual, type Start and Finish dates
Update progress on a task
·
Double-click
on the task to be updated
·
Enter
a percentage
·
On
the Gantt chart, a progress bar appears in the task bar
Tracking Gantt chart
·
Tracks
the progress of the project
·
Shows
what tasks are overdue and what has been completed on time
·
Click
on the Tracking Gantt icon to view
3. Tracking Progress
Determining if tasks are
starting and finishing according to plan:
– In the Tracking Gantt, point to Table
(View menu) and click Variance
– Drag the Divider bar to the
right to view variance
–
Variance
is shown in Days
Determine if tasks cost
more or less than budgeted
– In the Tracking Gantt, point to Table
(View menu) and click Cost
– Drag the Divider bar to the
right to view Total Cost and Baseline fields
PERT Chart
•
Shows
a flowchart of the project.
•
Each
box represents a task in the project.
•
Connecting
arrows show dependencies between tasks.
•
To
view, click the PERT chart icon
Calendar View
•
Keeps
tabs on when tasks occur.
•
Quickly
see how long tasks take, when they start and finish, and how they occur in
relation to other tasks.
•
To
view, click the Calendar icon
Task Usage View
•
Work
with task and resource information side by side.
•
Easily
create useful reports about when a resource is scheduled to work on a task.
•
To view,
click the Task Usage icon
Resource Graph View
•
See
whether resources are over allocated, what capacity they're working at, and how
much they cost in a timescale graph
•
To
view, click the Resource Graph icon
More Views
•
Resource
Sheet View
–
Easy
way to review, add, edit data about resources
•
Resource Usage View
–
Work
with resource and task information side by side
4.
The Project is Now Complete!!
•
MS
Project is a very powerful tool if it is used correctly
•
This
program can save a lot of time for engineers who are interested in time, cost,
etc.
•
Automatically
keeps your project organized.
