Session 6

Microsoft Project
Emanuele Della Valle
http://home.dei.polimi.it/dellavalle
Lecturer: Dario Cerizza
Credits 2

This slides are largely based on CEFRIEL’s slides for

PMI Certification and Prof. John Musser class notes on
“P i i l off S
“Principles Software
ft P
Project
j tM Management”
t”
Original slides are available at
htt //
http://www.projectreference.com/
j t f /
Reuse and republish permission was granted

Planning and Managing Software Projects – Emanuele Della Valle

Today agenda 3

Session 5 Review
Microsoft Project Fundamentals
Activities Organization
R
Resources D
Definition
fi iti and
d All
Allocation
ti
Resource Leveling
Project Control
• Covered in Lesson 9 – Project Control

Planning and Managing Software Projects – Emanuele Della Valle

Session 5 Review 4

Scheduling Fundamentals
Scheduling Techniques
• Network Diagrams
• Bar Charts
Schedule Optimization Techniques
Mythical Man
Man-Month
Month

Planning and Managing Software Projects – Emanuele Della Valle

Today agenda 5

Session 5 Review
Microsoft Project Fundamentals
Activities Organization
R
Resources D
Definition
fi iti and
d All
Allocation
ti
Resource Leveling
Project Progress Update

Planning and Managing Software Projects – Emanuele Della Valle

Introduction to Microsoft Project 6

Current version: Microsoft Project 2007

• Very similar to 2003 version
• 2010 version is expected by summer 2010
Similar characteristics to other Microsoft Office
Programs
• Word, Excel, Powerpoint
It’s a project management tool
• It is not useful if Project Manager doesn’t have a
sufficient Project Management knowledge!
60-days Trial version
htt // 20 t
http://us20.trymicrosoftoffice.com/product.aspx?sku=3745553
i ft ffi / d t ? k 3745553
A Quick Reference
http://www.customguide.com/pdf/project-quick-reference-2007.pdf

Planning and Managing Software Projects – Emanuele Della Valle

 Creating a new project 7
1. File (from menu)
2. New

Planning and Managing Software Projects – Emanuele Della Valle

Saving a project 8
1. File (from menu)
2. Save
• The current project will be
saved as a .mpp file

Planning and Managing Software Projects – Emanuele Della Valle

New Project left-side Menu 9

Planning and Managing Software Projects – Emanuele Della Valle

Project Templates 10
1. File
2. New
3
3. On My Computer
4. Project Templates
5. Select a template

Planning and Managing Software Projects – Emanuele Della Valle

 Gantt Chart View 11
1. View -> Gantt Chart (if Gantt chart is not shown)
2. Drag right the vertical slide to show all the columns

Note: by default,
default the tables show only some columns.
columns To add
more columns: Right-click on a column and select insert column

Planning and Managing Software Projects – Emanuele Della Valle

Task Information form 12
1.
1 From the Gantt view (or the Network Diagram view)
2. Double click on a task

Planning and Managing Software Projects – Emanuele Della Valle

Network Diagram View 13
1. View
2. Network Diagram

Planning and Managing Software Projects – Emanuele Della Valle

 Resource Sheet View 14

1. View
2. Resource Sheet

Planning and Managing Software Projects – Emanuele Della Valle

 Resource Usage View 15
1
1. Vi
View
2. Resource Usage

Planning and Managing Software Projects – Emanuele Della Valle

Resources Graph View 16
1. View
2. More Views
3. Resources Graph
4. Apply

Planning and Managing Software Projects – Emanuele Della Valle

Project Information form 17

1. Project (from menu)

2. Project Information

Il you open an old project (e.g. a template),

pay attention
tt ti tto the
th currentt time:
ti you may
not see anything in some views

Planning and Managing Software Projects – Emanuele Della Valle

Microsoft Project Options 18

1. Tools (from menu)

2. Options

Planning and Managing Software Projects – Emanuele Della Valle

Today agenda 19

Session 5 Review
Microsoft Project Fundamentals
Activities Organization
R
Resources D
Definition
fi iti and
d All
Allocation
ti
Resource Leveling
Project Progress Update

Planning and Managing Software Projects – Emanuele Della Valle

Create an Empty Project 20

Planning and Managing Software Projects – Emanuele Della Valle

Insert Activities/Tasks 21

1. Insert the names of activities/tasks of the WBS in the Task

Name column

• “Activity” vs. “Task”: Microsoft Project adopts “Task”

Planning and Managing Software Projects – Emanuele Della Valle

Group Tasks in Phases 22

1. Select tasks to be grouped under the same phase (Summary Tasks)

2. Click on the right green arrow

• Multiple grouping level support

• Left green arrow means “ungroup” to previous level

Planning and Managing Software Projects – Emanuele Della Valle

Insert Task Durations 23

• Insert task duration in the duration column

• Finish date will be automatically updated
Alternatively
• Insert finish date
• The d
Th duration
ti will
ill b
be automatically
t ti ll
updated

Planning and Managing Software Projects – Emanuele Della Valle

Insert Task Dependency Relationships 24
1. Double click on a task
2. Go to the Predecessor tab
3. Click on the first empty cell in Task Name column
4. Select the dependent task from the list
5. Click on the respective cell in the Type column
6. Select the type from the list

Dependency
p y
Relationships

Planning and Managing Software Projects – Emanuele Della Valle

Lag & Lead Time 25

A FS + lag
B

time

A FS - lead
B

time

Planning and Managing Software Projects – Emanuele Della Valle

Lag & Lead Time 26

1. Double click on a task

2. Go to the Predecessor tab
3
3. Insert the task predecessor ID
4. Select the type from the list
5. Enter the value in the Lag column

Lags (positive)
Lead (negative)

Planning and Managing Software Projects – Emanuele Della Valle

Lag & Lead Time 27

Predecessors and lag times can be set

directly in the Predecessor column 2 days
y Lag
g
3 days Lag

Planning and Managing Software Projects – Emanuele Della Valle

Milestones 28

They are useful to measure if the project respect the

schedule
Milestones have duration equal to ZERO and so they
don’t influence scheduling of other tasks
When define a Milestone
• Meaningful Releases or Deliverables
• Important Events
– Example: a payment
• External Inputs

Planning and Managing Software Projects – Emanuele Della Valle

Milestones 29

1. Insert a new task

2. Insert the task name
3
3. I
Insert adduration
i =0

Planning and Managing Software Projects – Emanuele Della Valle

Additional Task Contraints 30

1. Double click on a task

2. Go to the “Advanced” tab

Planning and Managing Software Projects – Emanuele Della Valle

Critical Path 31

The specific set of sequential tasks upon which the

project completion date depends
• The sequence of tasks that determines the duration of
the project

If the Total Slack time of task is 0 then it is on the

critical path
• A delay in the ending date negatively affect the
downstream activity and the end of the total project

Planning and Managing Software Projects – Emanuele Della Valle

Critical Path and Slack Times 32

• To show Critical Path

1. Right Click on the white background of the Gantt chart
2. Gantt Chart Wizard
3. Click Next, Select Critical Path and Click Finish
• To show Free and Total Slack
1. Right
g Click on a column
2. Select Insert Column
3. Choose Free Slack
4. (Repeat 1 1-2
2 and then choose Total Slack)

Critical Path

Slack Times

Planning and Managing Software Projects – Emanuele Della Valle

Do it yourself (1) 33

Open a template and try the different views

Start from scratch a new project
• Define tasks (about 20)
• Organize tasks
• Define durations
• Define relationships (precedences, concorrences and
lag/lead times)
• Add milestones and constraints
• Analyze
y the critical p
path and the slack times
Look at a realistic example (similar to the maximum
we can expect from your homework)
http://emanueledellavalle.org/slides/P&MSP2010_06_SoftwareDevelop
mentTemplate.mpp

Planning and Managing Software Projects – Emanuele Della Valle

Today agenda 34

Session 5 Review
Microsoft Project Fundamentals
Activities Organization
R
Resources D
Definition
fi iti and
d All
Allocation
ti
Resource Leveling
Project Progress Update

Planning and Managing Software Projects – Emanuele Della Valle

Resources Definition and Allocation 35

Resources allocation involves determining which type

of resources (persons, equipment, or materiel), how
many resources willill be
b usedd and
d when
h eachh
resources will be available to perform project activities
This process iis closely
Thi l l coordinated
di t d with
ith th
the C
Costs
t
Estimating process
The objective is optimizing resources in order to have
a continuous and consistent use of the minimum
number of resources
Three Resource Types:
• Limited availability:
y Work
• Unlimited availability: Material
• Financial: Cost

Planning and Managing Software Projects – Emanuele Della Valle

Resource Type
Limited availability resources: Work 36

Resources whose availability is limited

• E.g. Humans (team, partners, customers, …), pay-per-
use SW licenses
l or HW equipment

They are described by two main factors:

• Standard Cost (e.g. 50€/hour)
• Max daily allocation level (e.g. 50%)
– 100%: full availability
– between 0 and 100%: partial availability
– > 100%: there are more than one resource but they
cannot be distinguished
• (optionally) Overrate cost (e
(e.g.
g 80€/hour)

Needs to be leveled to avoid over-allocation

Planning and Managing Software Projects – Emanuele Della Valle

Resource Type
Unlimited availability resources: Material 37

Resources that can be allocated on a task without limit

• More consume of the resource implies more cost
• E.g. CDs or DVDs necessary to distributed a SW releases
are assumed to be unlimited, as more are consumed as
more is the total cost

They are described by one main factor:

• Standard cost per unit (e.g. 1€/CD)

Does not need to be leveled

Planning and Managing Software Projects – Emanuele Della Valle

Resource Type
Financial Resources: Costs 38

Quantified costs associated to a specific task

• E.g.: travel costs, HW/SW purchase costs
They are described by the cost defined when the
resource is assigned to a task

Planning and Managing Software Projects – Emanuele Della Valle

Resources Definition 39
1.
1 View->Resource
Vi R sheet
h
2. Per each row:
1. Insert Resource Name
2
2. Select the type of resource (Work,
(Work Material,
Material Cost)
3. Insert detailed data (Max units, Std. Rate, Ovt. Rate, Calendar)
4. Double click the corresponding row to open the resource information form

Planning and Managing Software Projects – Emanuele Della Valle

Allocation Techniques 40

Unit
• Allocation is expressed by the time of the resource
d d
dedicatedd to the
h specific
f task
k
• i.e.: Mark is allocated the 30% of his time on Task1
W k
Work
• Allocation is expressed by total time that the resources
will dedicate to a task
• i.e.: Mark will work 40 hours on Task2

Planning and Managing Software Projects – Emanuele Della Valle

 Assign Resources to tasks (Unit %) 41

1. From the Gantt view

2. Double click on a task
3. Go to the Resources tab
4. Select resource
5. Define units
6. OK

Costs
C t are calculated
l l t d automatically
t ti ll
based on the std cost defined

Planning and Managing Software Projects – Emanuele Della Valle

Assign Resources to tasks (Work)
Task Details in double view 42

1. Windows -> Split

2. Select second window
3. View ->
> More Views
4. Select Task Details Form and Apply

Both Units and

Work can be
specified

Planning and Managing Software Projects – Emanuele Della Valle

 Task Types
Duration, Units and Work 43

1. Double Click on a task

2. Go to the Advanced tab
3
3. Select Task Type

Work [t]

Work[t ]
Units[%] *100
Duration[t ]
Units [%] Duration [t]

Planning and Managing Software Projects – Emanuele Della Valle

Task Types
Fixed Duration, Fixed Units, Fixed Work 44

If you revise If you revise If you revise

In a
Duration Units Work
Fixed Duration Work is Work is Units are
task recalculated recalculated recalculated
Fixed Units Work is Duration is Duration is
task recalculated recalculated recalculated
Fixed
Fi dWWork
k Units
U i are Duration
D i iis Duration
D i iis
task recalculated recalculated recalculated

Cases on the diagonal are not trivial:

• Microsoft
Mi ft P
Project
j t recalculates
l l t D Duration
ti
• If duration is fixed, Microsoft Project recalculates Work

Planning and Managing Software Projects – Emanuele Della Valle

Task Types
Effort Driven 45

1. Double Click on a task

2. Go to the Advanced tab
3
3. Check or uncheck Effort
Driven

• If Effort Driven is selected (default)

• Adding or removing resources to the task does not affect the total work
associated to the task (duration and units change depending of the task
type)
• If Effort Driven is not selected
• Adding or removing resources to the task affects the total work

Planning and Managing Software Projects – Emanuele Della Valle

 How much does each task cost? 46

1.
1 From Gantt Chart view
2. Right click on any column
3. Insert Column
4
4. C t
Cost

1. View
2. Table
3
3. Costs

Planning and Managing Software Projects – Emanuele Della Valle

How much does each resource cost? 47

1. From Resource Usage view, Right click on any column, Insert

Column and Select Cost
2. Right
h Click
l k on the
h right
h panell and
d Select
l Cost

Planning and Managing Software Projects – Emanuele Della Valle

Task Types
Customizing the Gantt view 48

1. Right click on the Start Column

2. Insert Column
3
3. Select Type
4. Right click on the Start Column
5. Insert Column
6
6. S l t Eff
Select Effortt D
Driven
i

Planning and Managing Software Projects – Emanuele Della Valle

Do it yourself (2) 49

Define resources (about 5)

• Humans, materials and costs
Allocate resources to tasks
Inspect costs
Refine the project changing duration, work, units and
effort driven

Planning and Managing Software Projects – Emanuele Della Valle

Today agenda 50

Session 5 Review
Microsoft Project Fundamentals
Activities Organization
R
Resources D
Definition
fi iti and
d All
Allocation
ti
Resource Leveling
Project Progress Update

Planning and Managing Software Projects – Emanuele Della Valle

Leveling Methods 51

What to do when resource are unrealistically over-allocated

Resource Leveling

Basically there are 2 set of not-exclusive solutions:

1. Add resources
2 Delay tasks
2.

Planning and Managing Software Projects – Emanuele Della Valle

Leveling Methods
1) Add resources 52

Two options:
1. Optimizing available resources
– Make under-allocated resources working to a task to
support over-allocated resources
– Pay
y attention to increased communication costs within that
task

2 Adding a new resource to the project

2.
– Pay greater attention to increased communication costs!

Planning and Managing Software Projects – Emanuele Della Valle

Leveling Methods
2) Delay tasks 53

Two main options:

1. Take advantages of Slacks (Free and Total)
2. Delay tasks with lesser priority

Three sub-options for each main options

1. Move a task ahead/aback to avoid overlapping
2 Split a task to avoid overlapping
2.
3. Increase a task duration to reduce unit[%]

Planning and Managing Software Projects – Emanuele Della Valle

Leveling Methods
2) Delay tasks: Increase duration using Slack 54

Planning and Managing Software Projects – Emanuele Della Valle

Leveling Methods
2) Delay tasks: Split a task to avoid overlapping 55

Activity A is divided into 2 sub-activities to avoid

overlapping
Total duration of A is increased causing a delay

Activity A Activity A

Delay

Activity B Activity B

To split a task
1. Select the blue task in the Gantt view
2. Right Click -> Split Task
3
3. Drag and Drop to split the task

Planning and Managing Software Projects – Emanuele Della Valle

Leveling in Microsoft Project 56

1. Tools Level Resources By default, Microsoft Project

doesn’t do automatic levelling while
you work on the project

We can explicitly ask Microsoft

P j t to
Project t do
d llevelling
lli b
based
d on
various options

Planning and Managing Software Projects – Emanuele Della Valle

Leveling in Microsoft Project 57

1. Tools Level Resources

Automatic leveling acts in

background meanwhile we add
resources to tasks
This may make you don’t
understand why tasks are re-
scheduled or split!

Planning and Managing Software Projects – Emanuele Della Valle

Questions? 58

Planning and Managing Software Projects – Emanuele Della Valle