(Frequently Asked Questions)

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1 (Frequently Asked Questions) Aptech Ltd. Version 1.0 Page 1 of 6

2 Table of Contents S# Question 1. Why are the Auto Schedule and Manually Schedule Icons Greyed Out in MS 2. How can you create a Timeline in MS 3. How can you automatically update task dates in MS Is it possible to always open a project in Auto Schedule mode in MS How can you change a task s Start and Finish dates in MS In case it is not known how long a task will take to complete, is it 6. necessary to enter duration? 7. How can you view incomplete tasks? 8. How can you view critical tasks in MS 9. Why MS Project 2010 does not calculate the duration of Summary Tasks? 10. How can you view slipping tasks and track problems? Can you open MS Project 2007 files in MS Project Professional 2010 or ? Can previous versions of the Project desktop co-exist with the new MS 12. Project desktop SKUs? 13. What can you do to keep tasks to Respect Links always? 14. Can you change the background color of an MS Project 2010 Gantt Chart? 15. Why do light blue task bars appear beside tasks? 16. What is the purpose of manually scheduled summary task roll-up bar? 17. How can you identify Late Tasks? 18. How can you schedule tasks by Hour rather than by Day? 19. Why MS Project 2010 does not reschedule tasks? How can you create a high level view of a project that you can show 20. others? Aptech Ltd. Version 1.0 Page 2 of 6

3 Why are the Auto Schedule and Manually Schedule Icons Greyed Out in MS When a Project file is opened from a previous version, MS Project 2010 opens it in Compatibility Mode. In this mode it is not possible to use some of the new Project 2010 features such as Manual Scheduling. For this, you need to convert your file to Project 2010 format and these icons will be enabled. How can you create a Timeline in MS Right-click the tasks that need to be added to the Timeline and then, select Add to Timeline. Click into the Timeline and use the icons on the Format Timeline contextual tab to re-format the timeline as required. How can you automatically update task dates in MS In case of Manual Scheduling, MS Project does not automatically reschedule tasks when you edit predecessor information. If you want MS Project 2010 to do this, change the task mode to Auto Scheduled by using the drop-down menu in the Task Mode column. Alternatively, click the Respect Links icon on the Task tab. This reschedules the task but keeps it manually scheduled. Is it possible to always open a project in Auto Schedule mode in MS Yes, you can open a project in Auto Schedule mode every time. Go to the File tab, select Options and then, select the Schedule category. In the drop-down menu labeled Scheduling options for this project, select All New Projects. In the dropdown labeled New tasks created, select Auto Scheduled. How can you change a task s Start and Finish dates in MS If a Task is Auto Scheduled, MS Project itself calculates the Start and Finish dates. If you attempt to override these calculated dates, MS Project applies a Task Constraint based on the dates entered by yourself. If a task is Manually Scheduled, you can enter the Start and/or Finish dates yourself and MS Project schedules the task accordingly. Aptech Ltd. Version 1.0 Page 3 of 6

4 In case it is not known how long a task will take to complete, is it necessary to enter duration? If a task is Manually Scheduled, you can enter To Be Decided (TBD) or any other text into the duration field. If you also enter a Start Date or you attempt to link a Manually Scheduled task that has no duration, MS Project gives you a Start-Only Placeholder Gantt bar. How can you view incomplete tasks? An incomplete task is where Percentage Completion is less than 100%. Incomplete tasks can be filtered from the View tab and the Filter drop-down menu. How can you view critical tasks in MS To view the critical tasks, ensure that you are in Gantt Chart view. Now, move to the Format tab (under Gantt Chart Tools) and select the Critical Tasks check box in the Bar Styles group. You can also view Slack by checking the Slack check box. Why MS Project 2010 does not calculate the duration of Summary Tasks? In case of Manual Scheduling, Ms Project calculates the duration of Summary Tasks if you do not enter duration yourself. As soon as you enter your own duration, MS Project will no longer calculate this field for you. Instead, MS Project provides a rollup bar under the Summary bar which is the calculated duration. If you want MS Project to calculate the duration of Summary Tasks, set their Task Mode to Auto Scheduled. How can you view slipping tasks and track problems? To view slipping tasks and track problems, ensure that you have set a baseline for your original schedule. Now, in Gantt Chart View, move to the Format Tab and click the Baseline drop-down menu to display your Baseline schedule bars. You can also click the Slippage icon to view how much the tasks have slipped from their baseline dates. Aptech Ltd. Version 1.0 Page 4 of 6

5 Can you open MS Project 2007 files in MS Project Professional 2010 or 2013? Project plans from earlier versions of Project can be used in the new Project providing users all the benefits of new product or service. To avoid compatibility issues when sharing your new Project files with Project 2007 users, save your project as a Project 2007 file format. Note that Project 2013 and 2010 share the same file format. Can previous versions of the Project desktop co-exist with the new MS Project desktop SKUs? The new Project Stock-Keeping Units (SKUs) are designed to run side-by-side with existing Project applications without the need to uninstall previous versions. What can you do to keep tasks to Respect Links always? You can think of a Manually Scheduled task as being constrained by both its Start and Finish dates and therefore, any adjustments to predecessor tasks will have no impact on the way it is scheduled. If you want a manually scheduled task rescheduled according to its links, you must click the Respect Links icon on the Task Tab. If you want your tasks to always be set to Respect Links, change the Task Mode to Auto Schedule. Can you change the background color of an MS Project 2010 Gantt Chart? You cannot change the color of a Gantt Chart background. Only the background color of non-working time and gridlines can be changed. Why do light blue task bars appear beside tasks? In MS Project 2010, for manually scheduled tasks that have Duration but no Start or Finish dates, you get a Placeholder Gantt bar that has a faded, light blue appearance. Aptech Ltd. Version 1.0 Page 5 of 6

6 What is the purpose of manually scheduled summary task roll-up bar? MS Project 2010 supports Top-Down Scheduling. This is where you define the duration of a summary task, rather than MS Project calculating this for you. When you enter a manually scheduled summary task, you can also choose to enter the duration you want this phase to take. If you do this, a small blue bar under the summary task bar appears. This is the roll-up of the duration of the subtasks, providing a visual method of indicating whether you have contingency time for this phase. If you change the durations of the subtasks so they take longer, the subtasks will end up exceeding the original duration of the summary phase. In this case, the roll-up bar will turn red indicating a problem. How can you identify Late Tasks? In MS Project 2010 it is easy to identify Late Tasks. Ensure that you are in Gantt Chart view and move to the Format tab (under Gantt Chart Tools). Click the Late Tasks check box. How can you schedule tasks by Hour rather than by Day? Change the default duration to hours. To do this, go to the File tab, select Options and then the Schedule category. Also, it helps to change the Timescale Units of the Gantt Chart so the Middle Tier shows days and the Bottom Tier shows hours. Double-click the Timescale at the top of the Gantt Chart to do this. Why MS Project 2010 does not reschedule tasks? If you are using Manual Scheduling, MS Project 2010 will not reschedule your tasks if you make changes to predecessor tasks. How can you create a high level view of a project that you can show others? This can be done using the Timeline View. Right-click the tasks and click Add to Timeline. --- End of --- Aptech Ltd. Version 1.0 Page 6 of 6