Lecture 5: Introduction to MS Project Project Management

Lecture 5: Introduction to MS Project - tasks

MS Project makes managing projects easier as the different tasks can be inputted and tracked throughout the
project lifetime. MS Project also creates schedules and work plans that can include the entire project, or be
tailored to a specific person or resource. MS Project as well as tracking the progress performs cost analysis, so
reports on the project process and comparisons to targets can be quickly generated. MS Project, therefore, is
useful for communicating responsibility and for giving the project team visibility of the project progress.

MS Project Opening Screen

MS Project looks like a combination of a spreadsheet on the left and a drawing program on the right. The
spreadsheet side lists the tasks and their durations (more information will need to be added by clicking on the
task, e.g. resources, dependencies etc.). The diagram side automatically creates a Gantt chart. The key
benefit of MS Project over using a spreadsheet, is that you when enter and/or modify data all the diagrams are
automatically created.

Tasks are
entered here A Gantt chart
(double-click to will be
add detail) automatically
created here.

Before entering the tasks into MS Project, you need to enter the overall project information, by going to
Project/Project Information.
In project information, the first decision to make is whether you are setting a finish date and thus scheduling
back from this date or a start date and scheduling forward.
• If you select a finish date, MS Project will work out the start date by calculating back based on the
durations you set, the latest start time and give a project start date.
• If you select a start date, MS Project will calculate forward based on the durations you set and give
you a finish date.
 Lecture 5: Introduction to MS Project Project Management

Calendar also needs to be set, give the broadest calendar across resources as you will later set up calendars for
resources.

The Project Information Dialog Box (Project/Project Information)

Decide on whether to Set the calendar

schedule from the start
or from the finish date

Entering Tasks into MS Project

As in Excel you simply type in the task name and then select the duration, e.g. one of the tasks in the brochure
is to “Create the brochure”. This task is made up of many different tasks, e.g., etc. These tasks also can be
added to the task list. In order to indicate that these are sub-tasks of “Create the brochure”, you need to

indent the tasks, using the indenting toolbar:

The main task “Create the brochure”, now appears in bold, and the sub-tasks are indented. You can just show
the main task or all tasks by clicking on the – or + buttons respectively.
 Lecture 5: Introduction to MS Project Project Management

Main task in
Click on the + to bold, sub tasks
show all tasks indented.
or the – to just
show the main
task

In order to create a meaningful Gantt chart, network diagram or to be able to track resources etc more
information will need to be added. Double-clicking on the task, opens up the Task Information dialog box.

Task information Dialog box

General – The duration is by default in days, to enter other time increments, use the following: m for minutes;
h for hours; d for days; w for weeks; and mo for months.

Predecessors – List here the dependencies, e.g. Finish-to-start is for tasks that must be completed before this
task can commence. You can also set a lag (if there is to be a delay after the task or if the task can start a while
before its predecessor finishes).

Resources – You state which resources will be needed on the task – more on this next week.

Advanced options – You can set further constraints etc. and the task type.
Lecture 5: Introduction to MS Project Project Management

Milestones - To set up a milestone, simply set task duration of 0.

Recurring tasks - Some tasks will be recurring, e.g. you may wish to enter a weekly project meeting
in, so that it appears in everyone’s calendar.

Changing the calendar to suit the overall project

You can change the calendar for the whole project (and for individual resources). To change the calendar, go
to File/Options and then click at Schedule, here you can set the starting times of the working day, etc. If you
need to set more information than this, e.g. if you company works a longer day than 8 hours or if you have a
half-day on
Friday, you should set up a new calendar. Go to Project/Changing Working Time and click on Create New
Calendar…, you can base your calendar on any of the 3 calendars, give it a name you will remember and then
you can edit the working times.
Lecture 5: Introduction to MS Project Project Management

Wessex Water 1: Project Planning

You have been assigned as the planning engineer on a small reservoir construction project. The project manager briefs you as follows:

"There will be eleven tasks and three milestones on the project. We will start the project with Feasibility which should take no
more than 10 days. Concept Design (3 weeks) can start 1 week before the end of Feasibility.

Detailed Design (4 weeks) will follow, and once complete, work can start on Tender Preparation. This should take no more
than two weeks and will be followed by the Issue of ITT (Invitation to Tender) which is a milestone.

Bidders will have 4 weeks to submit their tender documents and the project can then commence Tender Evaluation (15 days).
This will be followed by Contract Award (a milestone).

Ten days after contract award the first three construction activities can begin on site – Reservoir Construction (16 weeks),
Pumping Services (7 weeks) and Site Facilities (8 weeks). These can run in parallel.

When all of these are complete, Integration Work can proceed and should take no more than 20 days. A week of Site Testing
can follow, which will then be followed by Commissioning scheduled to take three weeks. Project Completion (the final
milestone) will follow commissioning.”

All days quoted are actual working days and do not include weekends (so 5 days = 1 week). Similarly a week implies 5 working days.
Bank holidays will not be worked by any staff (During 2013 these will be 29th March – Good Friday, 1st Apr – Easter Monday, 6th May –
Early May Bank Holiday, 27th May – Spring Bank Holiday and 26th August – Summer Bank Holiday). Ignore the possibility of any other
holidays.

1.a) Using Microsoft Project create a Gantt chart for this project (commencing 07.01.13).

Hint 1: To add lag (e.g. negative lag of 10 days between Feasibility and Concept Design) enter the link, then double-click on it and adjust the lag (+ or –
as required) [Before holidays added the scheduled finish date should be 01/11]

Hint 2: To enter holidays (non-working days), click on Project, Change Working Time. Set up the exception time (holidays) and play around with the
calendar options e.g. Details option for each holiday date. [The scheduled finish date should be 08/11 when holidays taken into account]

1.b) The project is actually required to finish by Friday 12 December 2013. Adjust your project plan to meet this target, and
determine the latest date it should commence.

Hint 3: You can either keep adjusting the start date of the first task (Feasibility) until the finish date is correct OR click Project, Project Information and
change the parameters there. Once the start date is calculated and set return the project parameters to normal (Schedule From: Project
Start Date) [The planned start date should be 08/02 to give a finish date of 12/12]

1.c) Identify all Tasks on the Critical Path. What, exactly, is the practical point in doing this?

Critical path is the series of tasks that directly affect the finish date of the project. The tasks that lie on the critical path cannot be delayed without
delaying the project. Any delay in the critical path delays the whole project. Note that if we wish to finish the project sooner, it is necessary to reduce
the total time required for the activities in the critical path.
In MS Project 2010 you can use free slack (the amount of time an activity can be delayed without delaying the early start of any immediately following
activities) and total slack (the time of an activity can be delayed without impact on the finish date of the project) to help review project’s critical path.
Insert/ column/free slack or total slack

The critical path can be identified by determining the following parameters for each task:
• Earliest Start Time (ES): the earliest time at which the task can start, given that any predecessor tasks must be completed first.
• Earliest Finish Time (EF): the earliest start time for the task plus the time required to complete the task.
• Latest Finish Time (LF): the latest time at which the task can be completed without delaying the project.
• Latest Start Time (LS): the latest finish time minus the time required to complete the task.

Hint 4: You can use the Tracking Gantt (View/Gantt Chart/Tracking Gantt) to view the impact that your tracking information has upon the project
schedule. It behaves much like the Result Gantt except it shows the percent completed for each task.