How to Effectively Build a Project Schedule in MS-Project

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2 Tactical Project Management Presents How to Effectively Build a Project Schedule in MS-Project Written By Andrew Makar, PMP Edited by Richard Weller, PMP Page 2

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4 1 The Tactical Approach Each year project managers across the world apply for the Project Management Professional certification as the rite of passage into the project management profession. The industry recognizes PMI certification as the standard to identify project managers with a solid project management competency. A quick search for project management on any of the job boards will reveal the demand for PMPs. Nearly every project management posting lists the PMP certification as a required or desired characteristic. According to the Standish Group s 2004 Chaos report, only 29% of all projects surveyed were successful. 18% were outright failures and 53% were challenged with late delivery, cost overruns and failed to deliver the required features and functions. If so many project managers are pursuing project management certification, why are these projects continuing to fail? Certification in project theory is an excellent first step to validate a project manager s competency. However, it doesn t effectively develop a project manager s proficiency. Instead of focusing on how many project managers are PMP certified or have university sponsored project management certificates, organizations need to focus on how many project managers effectively apply the project management body of knowledge. A growing number of PMPs are left having passed the test, but lack the proficiency to effectively implement project management processes using repeatable techniques. Take a quick survey of schedule development in your organization. Look at their project schedules and you ll notice each one has a different format. You will find some of the schedules lack a project baseline, lack project actuals, lack dependencies and resource assignments. Some project managers treat a project schedule as a glorified task list. Other PMs are effectively developing and building project schedules to encompass the project management processes. Consequently even PMP certified project managers could use a little help turning project management theory into practice. In order to achieve predictable results, organizations need to adopt common, repeatable processes. Common, repeatable processes are supported with standard techniques and tools. The Tactical Approach provides easy to implement techniques that produce repeatable results. The Tactical Project Management staff heard the question project managers often ask I passed the test. Now what? Tactical Project Management provides simple, easy to implement techniques based on fundamental project management processes. Instead of inundating an organization with binders full of methodology, the Tactical Project Management provides focused, useful techniques for the primary project management processes using real-world tools. Adopting the Tactical Approach enables project managers to transform project management theory into practical application. Plan. Execute. Go Tactical. Page 4

5 1.1 Introduction How to Effectively Build a Project Schedule in Microsoft Project A fundamental tool for any project is the project schedule. A variety of tools in the marketplace support schedule development ranging from a simple task list in a spreadsheet to enterprise level schedule management systems. Microsoft Project emerges as the leading project schedule management tool in both usability and functionality. MS-Project is an exceptionally powerful tool that supports schedule management, cost management, resource management and forecasting capabilities for budget and time estimation. Given MS-Project s capabilities, the learning curve to effectively use the tool is manageable if the project manager invests a moderate amount of time. Understanding MS-Project s capabilities help project managers leverage the tool better to meet their project s needs. However, instead of writing 500 pages of every feature and hoping PMs will glean a few useful nuggets, the Tactical Approach focuses on the critical path to teach new and experienced project managers best practices and lessons learned with MS-Project. The How to Effectively Build a Project Schedule in MS-Project: Fundamentals provides a simple, repeatable method to develop a duration based project schedule. The manuscript is intended for new project managers but experienced project managers will also discover useful and tactical approaches to schedule development. The version used in this approach is MS-Project 2007, however, previous versions can apply the same structured technique. The book is also aligned with the PMI s Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) 2000 edition. The Tactical Approach focuses on streamlined approaches that deliver results. However, these approaches are designed to align with project management standards and frameworks. Aligning with these frameworks also keeps your PMO and process quality assurance groups happy! Page 5

6 1.2 Set MS-Project Properties and Options MS-Project has an overwhelming number of options. With each version more flexibility and options are added to tweak, configure, and improve schedule management. The following options are the recommended tactical options to improve the project management process. Open MS-Project and let s look at a few options. Enter Project Title and Comments The project properties dialog box is used to update the project metadata (Figure 2). Figure 2: Project Properties To update the project properties: 1. Select File Properties. 2. Click on the Summary Tab. 3. Enter the project title, author, company, and relevant comments. 4. Click Ok. Page 6

7 Show the Project Summary Task Enabling the project summary tasks adds a project level summary task that rolls up the project data into a summary level. It is a useful option to view the overall project start and end date. If the option is not enabled, the project manager will need to insert a summary task and treat all the tasks as subtasks. Enabling the project summary task makes it easier. To show the project summary task: Figure 3: Show Project Summary Task Page 7

8 1. Select Tools Options View tab. 2. Check the Show Project Summary Task checkbox. 3. Click Ok. The project summary task will be entered into the Gantt Chart view. The project summary task can be changed by modifying the title field in the project properties. Set Recently Used Files List When developing project schedules, it will be useful to switch between previous versions. Depending on the project, multiple versions of the project schedule will be drafted to review with project stakeholders. The recently used file list stores the history in the File menu (Figure 4). Figure 4: Recently Used File List Page 8

9 To change the number of files in the recently used file list: 1. Select Tools Options. 2. Select the General tab. 3. Change the number of files in the Recently Used File List. 4. Click OK. Disable Effort Driven Tasks and Use Fixed Duration The Fundamental Project Schedule approach assumes the tasks in MS-Project will not be driven by effort but simply by duration. Adding additional resources to a non-effort driven task will simply add additional work to the task instead of redistributing the work across assigned resources. The duration will stay the same because the task type is set to a fixed duration. Effort driven tasks and the different types of tasks are covered in the advanced technique. Page 9

10 Figure 5: Disable Effort Driven Tasks To disable the effort driven task option: 1. Select Tools Options. 2. Select the Schedule Tab. 3. Uncheck New Tasks are Effort Driven. 4. Change the Default Task Type to Fixed Duration. 5. Click OK. Page 10

11 Set Hours per day The default option in MS-Project is a 40 hour work week with 8 hours per day. Validate the number of hours the organization will work each week and change the hours accordingly. Some organizations run shifts 7 days a week or work 10 hour days. The Tactical recommendation is to leave the hours per day to 8 hours for the fundamental tutorial. As you walk through the tutorial, maintaining an 8 hour per day schedule will be easier to understand the calculations. Once you ve completed the fundamentals tutorial and if the organization runs an alternate schedule, you can make modifications on this tab. Figure 6: Adjust Hours per Day / Week 1. To modify the hours per day or hours per week: 2. Select Tools Options. 3. Click on the Calendar Tab. 4. Adjust the Hours per day and Hours per week. 5. Click OK. Page 11

12 Set the Project Start Date How to Effectively Build a Project Schedule in Microsoft Project MS-Project assumes the default start date is equivalent to the system date when the file was created unless the project manager sets the true project start date. Using the current options, all new tasks entered in the plan will default to the project start date until the date is changed. To modify the project start date: 1. Select Project Project Information. 2. Click on Start Date. 3. Select the project start date. 4. Click Ok. Figure 7: Project Information Page 12

13 Set Company Holidays How to Effectively Build a Project Schedule in Microsoft Project Novice project managers forget to incorporate company holidays and other non-work days into the project schedule. Schedule variances unintentionally occur when company holidays, team work schedules, and other non-work days (company picnic, off-sites, and all-day employee meetings) are not incorporated into the project schedule. It is a common planning error that can be easily overlooked. Before identifying project tasks, identify all the planned company holidays and any other non-work days and enter them into the project calendar (Figure 8). Figure 8: Project Calendar Page 13

14 To modify the Project Calendar: How to Effectively Build a Project Schedule in Microsoft Project 1. Select Tools Change Working Time. 2. The Project Calendar dialog box is displayed. 3. Select the Standard project calendar from the drop down box. 4. Click on a date or multiple dates in the active calendar. 5. Select the non-working time radio button. 6. Click OK. Enable useful menus and toolbars Navigating in MS-Project can be tricky with all the different views and tables. MS-Project 2003 provides a Project Guide window that displays helpful tips and directions on related tasks, resources, tracking and reporting activities. To add/remove the Project Guide: 1. Select View Toolbars. 2. Check / Uncheck Project Guide. MS-Project provides a view bar to quickly switch between common views. Previous versions in MS-Project included the View Bar by default. The 2003 version doesn t display the View Bar by default and needs to be enabled: To display the view bar: 1. Select View View bar. 2. The view menu will be displayed on the left hand side. Enable the Resource Management Toolbar During schedule development, resources will be assigned to project tasks. The resource management toolbar assists project managers in assigning resources, finding over allocations, and switching between task and resource management views. To Enable the Resource Management Toolbar: 1. Select View Toolbars. 2. Select the Resource Management toolbar. 1.3 Author s Note I hope this introduction to How to EFFECTIVELY Build a Project Schedule with Microsoft Project has been helpful. Setting up Microsoft Project for success is just the first step in creating an effective project schedule. As you can tell from this Sneak Peek, I go into significant detail using a step-by-step process to create an effective project schedule. Order How to EFFECTIVELY Build a Project Schedule with Microsoft Project NOW! Page 14