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Table of Contents
Why This Book?
Chapter 1: Project Management Basics
A. Review of PM Concepts
What is a Project?
What does a Project Manager do?
What are Project Constraints?
What are PM Process Groups?
B. Microsoft Project® Exercise: Jumpstart
Find Microsoft Project
Start a New Project
Navigate Software Interface
Chapter 2: Project Initiation
A. Scenario Introduction
Scenario Description
Information Analysis
B. Microsoft Project Exercise: Set-Up
Enter Project Information
Set Project Preference
Set Project Start Date
Chapter 3: Project Planning I
A. Scenario Analysis
B. Microsoft Project Exercise: WBS + Schedule
Enter Project Tasks
Enter Task Duration
Enter Task Relationship
Enter Milestone
Insert Summary Task
Display Network Diagram
Chapter 4: Project Planning II
A. Scenario Analysis
B. Microsoft Project Exercise: Resource + Cost
Adjust Project Zoom Level
Define Project Resources
Assign Resources to Tasks
Enter Fixed Cost
Display Total Cost
Chapter 5: Project Planning III
A. Scenario Analysis
B. Microsoft Project Exercise: Risk Assessment
Display Critical Tasks
View Slack Information
Generate Cash Flow
Chapter 6: Project Executing
A. Scenario Analysis
B. Microsoft Project Exercise: Schedule Update
Set Baseline
Set Status Date
Update Task Progress—Using Shortcut
Update Task Progress—Using Actual Duration
Update Task Progress—Using % Complete
Update Task Progress—Using Actual Dates
Chapter 7: Project Monitoring and Controlling
A. Scenario Analysis
B. Microsoft Project Exercise: Earned-Value
Review Work Progress
Review Cost Expenditure
Review Earned-Value Information
Display Project Overview Report
Chapter 8: Project Closing
A. Scenario Analysis
B. Microsoft Project Exercise: Closeout
Display Progress Line
Set Closeout Date
Complete Project Update
Process Cost Changes
Evaluating Project Performance
Appendix: MS Project “How-To” Cheat Sheets
A. Schedule Set-Up
B. Resource/Cost Loading
C. Progress Tracking
About the Author
Why This Book?
Thank you very much for your interest in this book!
First, please allow me to explain what this book does.
If you
find project management books unbearably boring
have a hard time in visualizing how the project management ideas actually work
need a good review of project management concepts by using computer software
……
or just want to have some good clean fun
Then congratulations on your purchase!
This book will use Microsoft Project® as the primary tool to understand the “essential” project management concepts, covering a project case study from initiation, planning, executing, monitoring/controlling to closing. No prior experience in any industry sector is needed.
Let the fun begin!
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Chapter 1: Project Management Basics
In the first chapter, we will talk about the resources you need,
as well as a review of basic project management concepts,
which include the following:
What is a Project?
What are Project Constraints?
Who is a Project Manager?
What are Project Process Groups?
What is Microsoft Project®?
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A. Review of PM Concepts
What is a Project? By definition, a project is “a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique, product, service, or result”. There are three primary features in this definition.
Temporary: Each project has a definite beginning and end.
Unique: Each project is unique although it might have repetitive elements
Progressively elaboration: Each project will have more and more details as it develops and its requirements are better understood
Other secondary features for a project:
It requires resources
It should have a primary customer or sponsor. A project sponsor usually provides funding for the project.
It involves uncertainty and needs risk management
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What does a Project Manager do?
A Project Manager is responsible for accomplishing the
project objectives.
A Project Manager strives to meet the triple constraint
by balancing project scope, time, and cost goals
A Project Manager is the direct link between the parent
organization and the project team
A Project Manager usually has three skill sets
o Knowledge: Know about project management
o Performance: Able to deliver results
o Personal: Good behavior
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What are Project Constraints?
One of the responsibilities for a Project Manager is to balance
the competing project constraints, which include:
Scope
Schedule/Time
Cost/Budget
Quality
Resources
Risk
The idea is that if any one factor changes, at least another
factor is likely to be affected.
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What are PM Process Groups?
There are five Project Management Process Groups
Initiating: recognizing a project or phase should begin (“START”)
Planning: devising and maintaining a workable plan (“PLAN”)
Executing: coordinating resources to execute the plan (“DO”)
Monitoring and Controlling: ensuring project objectives are met; monitoring, correcting and measuring progress (“CHECK” + “ACT”)
Closing: formalized acceptance (“END”)
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B. Microsoft Project® Exercise: Jumpstart
Microsoft Project® is probably the most common project management software program. It is developed and sold by Microsoft. You can use it to develop a plan, assign resources to tasks, track progress, manage the budget, and analyze workloads. In this book, it will be our primary tool for lab exercises. The cost of Microsoft Project® ranges from a few hundred to a couple of thousand dollars, depending on the version and configuration. Please check with your employer for details. Suppose you already have Microsoft Project® 2013 or 2010 installed on your computer (If you use earlier versions such as Project 2007, please search for my other books on Amazon Kindle). Let’s take a quick “1-2-3” test drive.
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Find Microsoft Project®
If you are using Windows 7 or earlier, click “Start” icon
on the lower left corner of your screen “All Programs” Microsoft Office® Microsoft Project® (either Professional or Standard version is fine)
If you are using Windows 8, press both the Windows
icon and key “Q” on your keyboard to activate Search tool type “Project” to search
After you find it, double click on it to activate the software.
Start a New Project
If the initial start screen shows up, click on “Blank Project”
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Navigate Software Interface
Explore different parts of the following window to get familiar with the interface
Left Side of the screen is “Gantt Spreadsheet”, or Task List. We will do most of the data entry here. Toolbar on the top has menus and commands to help us to do so.
Right Side of the screen is “Gantt Chart”, or Bar Chart. We will see each task will be represented by a horizontal bar, indicating its duration. By default, it will also show the relationship between tasks.
We are going to take a break here before we start the next exciting chapter!
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Chapter 2: Project Initiation
Project Initiation refers to starting a new project or phase by gaining authorization. Usually there are two processes involved:
Develop Project Charter (i.e. write a document that formally authorizes a project or a phase and records initial requirements)
Identify Stakeholders (i.e. find all individuals and organizations impacted by the project)
Three points you also need to know about project initiation:
Project manager is selected during initiation
Business case must be understood during initiation so that everyone knows the answer to “why this project?”
High-level planning is also done during initiation (e.g. dividing the project into phases)
We will explain all these through a case scenario as well as by completing hands-on computer exercises.
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A. Scenario Introduction
In this book, our fictional project will be based on a “common-sense”, industry-independent case scenario (i.e. no prior experience is needed from you!)
Scenario Description “Adam Ding is driving from New York to Los Angeles in a car, carrying a secret treasure box for CIA. His partner (Agent X) will also fly from NY to LA at some point in a plane, with the password to open the box. The two will meet in front of Chinese Theater at Hollywood to disclose the secret in the treasure box”.
Information Analysis
1. The above scenario is a project because it is a. Temporary: It has a start and a finish b. Unique: Out of so many spy missions out there,
“this one is yours” c. Progressively elaboration: more details will
come later 2. Adam Ding is appointed as the project manager, i.e. if
something goes wrong, then Adam will be responsible for it!
3. The spy boss authorized it to start on July 1st, 2020 with a project charter
4. The stakeholders in this project are: Spy boss, Adam Ding, Agent X, federal government, general public and……all right, you name it.
Let’s set this up in Microsoft Project®.
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B. Microsoft Project® Exercise: Set-Up
Enter Project Information
1. Start Microsoft Project® software (refer to previous
chapter if you need help with this). Click “New Project”
2. Click on “File” at the upper left corner of the toolbar
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3. Ensure “Info” tab is currently selected.
4. Look to the right side, find “Project Information”. Click on the small black arrow next to it. Then click on “Advanced Properties”.
5. Fill out the project information as shown on the next page. Click OK when done.
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Set Project Preference
1. Ensure your window looks like the following screenshot (If not, click “File” on the upper left corner of the toolbar to activate it). This time, click on “Options”.
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2. In the next window, click on “Schedule”
3. Look at the lower right side of this window. Under
“Scheduling options for this project” , change the option for “New tasks created” from “Manually scheduled” to “Auto Scheduled”
4. Click OK when you are done. You will be taken back to the main screen
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Set Project Start Date
1. Click on Project tab.
2. In Properties group, click Project Information
3. In the Start Date box, simply type 7/1/20 (or click the down arrow next to it to display the calendar, scroll to the right until you can select July 1st, 2020).
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4. Click OK. We have successfully initiated our project. Let’s save the file now so that next time we can continue with this.
5. Click on the “Save” button at the upper left corner of the toolbar or simply press both “Ctrl” and “S” key on your keyboard to save the file.
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6. Identify a location you want to save it and give your project a good name. As long as you know where to find the file next time, then you are ready for a break.
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Chapter 3: Project Planning I
Planning Process Group refers to what’s done to define project objectives and develop the course of action to achieve these objectives. The essential task is to establish project management plan and project documents, including plans for scope, time, cost, quality, communications, human resources, risks, procurements, and stakeholder engagement. In this chapter, we will focus on scope and time planning first.
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A. Scenario Analysis Let’s plan for what takes to accomplish our “CIA Box” mission
1. Mobilization stage: e.g. Adam and Agent X need to meet with the spy boss to receive instructions for this mission
2. Delivery stage: e.g. Adam delivers the box to LA
3. Connection stage: e.g. what Adam and Agent X do in
California
The above list is called “WBS” (Work Breakdown Structure), which breaks down the whole project scope (i.e. the work that needs to be done) into three smaller and more manageable components (i.e. Work Package) If we look into the WBS a bit further, this is what we get:
Work Packages Activities Duration
Mobilization Meet with Spy Boss 1 Day
Prepare for Road Trip 2 Days
Delivery Drive to LA 4 Days
Partner Flies to LA 1 Day
Connection Meet in Hollywood 1 Day
Here we further breakdown the “Work Packages” into “Activities” with estimated time. Adding relationships among them, we would have a project schedule. We will set it up in Microsoft Project® again.
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B. Microsoft Project® Exercise: WBS + Schedule
Let’s continue with the MS Project® file you worked on previously. After you find the file, double click to open it up.
Enter Project Tasks
Simply put your cursor under “Task Name” and start typing the first task name “Meet with Spy Boss”. Hit “ENTER” key after you are done to move to the next one. This is what the screen looks like when all task names are entered.
Check: Take a look at “Task Mode” column, ensure your screen looks similar to the above (i.e. automatic scheduling mode). Otherwise, refer to the previous chapter on how to fix that. This is very important, because it will affect what we are going to do next.
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Enter Task Duration
Now move your cursor to “Duration” column and enter task durations. Because the unit is “day” by default, you can simply enter “1” for 1 day, “2” for 2 days and so on. When complete, there should be no more question marks (?) for durations.
Enter Task Relationship
The project duration is not just adding up all task durations (Otherwise you won’t need MS Project® software). For example, in this project you can see that Agent X and Adam are travelling independently, if not concurrently. But some tasks must happen before others, e.g. Adam cannot start to prepare for the trip before meeting with the spy boss to find out what the project is.
1. Look to the right side and move your cursor under the “Predecessors” column.
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2. As “Meet with Spy Boss” is the first task, please do not enter anything for the first line (If you did, hit delete button on keyboard to erase the entry).
3. Move to “Prepare for Road Trip”, type the task ID of the previous (first) task, i.e. “1”. This means “Meeting” before “Preparation” (1 is the predecessor of 2)
4. Do the same thing with the next task “Drive to LA”. Because “Preparation” is before “Driving”, enter “2” this time (task ID of “Preparation”). Note it is not necessary to enter both 1 and 2. Because 1 is before 2 already and if 2 is before 3, then 1 is automatically before 3.
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5. For Agent X, she doesn’t rely on Adam to start her travel. But she also needs to meet spy boss before she starts. So for task 4 “Partner Flies to LA”, this time the predecessor is just “1”.
6. Finally the team connect in Hollywood. But this requires both team members to be there, which means both “3” and “4” to be the predecessor for task “5”. You can enter “3, 4”, two numbers separated by a comma.
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Enter Milestone
Let’s add a milestone for project completion.
1. Go to the next new line after last task. Type “Mission Accomplished”
2. This time, type “0” for its duration
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3. Of course you need to connect it with the current project (Enter “5” to specify its predecessor)
Check: If you look to the right side of the screen, on bar chart you will see a date “7/10” is attached to the milestone task (in diamond shape). Remember we started the project on July 1st. The current schedule tells you the project duration is 10 calendar days, or 8 working days plus one weekend.
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Insert Summary Task
Let’s add a summary task for the whole project.
1. Click on “Format” tab.
2. Look at the right side of the toolbar below, find “Show/Hide” group.
3. Ensure the options for both “Project Summary Task” and “Summary Tasks” are checked.
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4. This is what your screen might look like. The new task on top is the “Project Summary Task”.
Check: There are also other ways to insert new summary tasks and even organize the existing tasks into smaller phases. Only a short-cut is shown here. If you are interested in learning more about this topic, refer to the appendix for more information.
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Display Network Diagram
Network Diagram is a way that allows you to see all project task relationship in a visual format.
1. Switch to “VIEW” Tab on top of the toolbar.
2. Find “Task Views” Group, and then click on “Network Diagram”
3. You will see a logic diagram that looks like this
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4. If you have trouble in seeing the details, go to “Zoom” Group Click on Zoom Select “Zoom In”. Repeat this for a few times until you are happy with the view.
5. You will see tasks shown as boxes with start date, finish date, ID and duration information. The lines and arrows mean task relationships. Red color means tasks are “critical”, i.e. tasks that cannot be delayed.
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6. Let’s go back to your previous view. Click “Gantt Chart” button on “Task Views” group
7. Your normal screen should look like this now
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Chapter 4: Project Planning II
In addition to scope and time, there are other essential project management variables, such as cost, quality, human resources, and communications etc. It is important to understand a project manager’s job is to balance these conflicting variables every day.
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A. Scenario Analysis Now let’s look at a list of resources available to finish our “CIA Box” mission
Adam Ding: $15/hour
His Partner (Agent X): $12/Hour
Spy Boss: $200/Hour
Car: $40/Day for rental
Gas: $3.00/Gallon
United Airline: $400 ticket
Limousine: $400 per Day
Resource requirements for each project task:
Start-Up Meeting: Adam Ding, Agent X, Spy Boss
Preparation: Adam Ding
Drive: Adam Ding, Rented Car and 600 gallons of Gas (he will sleep in the car)
Fly: Agent X, United Airline
Hollywood: Adam Ding, Agent X, Limousine PLEASE READ: Here’s project budgeting in a nutshell
Your project needs resources (e.g. Adam Ding) to complete tasks
Resources (e.g. Adam Ding) cost money, which depends on two things
o How much you are willing to pay resources (e.g. Adam at $15/hour)
o How long your task needs resources for (e.g. Adam for 3 days)
There are also some fixed costs that are not associated with resources
Essentially, the project total cost is the summary of all task costs plus other costs
Because we already have a schedule, apparently we need to assign these resources/costs to our project tasks. We will do these in Microsoft Project® again.
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B. MS Project® Exercise: Resource + Cost
Let’s continue with your previous work file.
Adjust Project Zoom Level
1. Click “VIEW” tab on toolbar
2. In “Zoom” group, click on “Entire Project”
3. You now will see the bar chart for the entire project.
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Define Project Resources
1. In “Resource Views” group, click “Resource Sheet”
2. The next screen shows our resource database.
Please Read: Here are some general rules for entering resources (although your company might do it differently)
people or equipment: entered as “work” resources with their pay rates
material or consumables: entered as “material” with the measurement units and unit prices
sellers or vendors: entered for their names but without contract value (to be by cost loading)
3. Under “Resource Name” column, enter the following list of resources by simply typing their names.
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4. Now review the resource type. Click the “Type” field for “Gas” and change it from Work to “Material”.
5. Enter the unit for “Gas” as “Gallon”.
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6. In the “Std. Rate” column, as the default rates are by hour, enter the rate for most resources by typing numbers.
7. For resources that charge by day such as “Car” and
“Limo”, enter “40/d” and “400/d” to make it work.
8. Do not enter anything for “United Airline”. This is what your screen would look like when finished.
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Assign Resources to Tasks
1. Click “Gantt Chart” button to go back to normal view.
2. Let’s assign resources one task a time. Go to the first task “Meet with Spy Boss” (Ensure you are not on project summary task). Double-click your mouse.
3. In the next “Task Information” dialog that pops up, switch from “General” to “Resources” tab.
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4. Under “Resource Name”, pick from the list of resources required for kickoff meeting, i.e. Adam Ding, Agent X and Spy Boss (one row at a time)
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5. When finished, it should look like the following.
6. Click OK to go back. You might notice all three resources you entered are now shown on the bar chart.
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7. Use your cursor to move onto the next task. Because “Prepare Road Trip” only requires one resource (Adam Ding), you can either follow the same procedures above or simply pick it from “Resource Name” drop down list. If you cannot see that column, drag the pane divider between task list and bar chart area.
8. Move the cursor to the next task “Drive to LA” and double click on it. Switch to “Resources” tab.
This is divider
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9. Again let’s pick resources. This time, you need “Adam Ding” (Labor), “Car” (Equipment) and “Gas” (Material).
10. This time you also need to specify the material quantity for Gas. Type 600 in Units column for Gas. Click OK
11. Below is what to do for “Partner Flies to LA”. Note do not put any cost information such as ticket price at this point.
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12. Finally, here’s the list of resources required for the last task “Meet in Hollywood”
13. Note neither the summary task nor the milestone need any resources. So do not allocate any resources to milestone task “Mission Accomplished”.
14. When finished, check your screen with the following list.
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Enter Fixed Cost
Most resources we entered have pay rates per hour or day. When combined with task duration, they should generate dollar values for each task automatically. There’s only one exception: plane ticket, which is set by the airline and does not change with task duration. It’s an example of “fixed cost” (vs. “variable cost”)
1. Look at the far right end of your task list and find “Add New Column”. If this column is not visible, drag the pane divider between the task list and the bar chart area to reveal it.
2. Click on the column heading, scroll down and pick “Fixed Cost” from the list
This is divider
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3. Enter 400 for task “Partner flies to LA”, which is ticket price of $400, the only fixed cost in our entire project.
4. Check your screen with this
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Display Total Cost
1. Now let’s display the total dollar value for each task. Look at the right end of your task list again and find another “Add New Column”.
2. Click on it. This time, just pick “Cost” for the heading.
3. You can see this new list of values is the total cost for each task, considering resources charges by duration (labor, material and equipment) and also resources charges by contract (fixed vendor cost).
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4. Check your screen with this
Let’s take a deep breath and save our file for next chapter.
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Chapter 5: Project Planning III
Successfully finishing a project often means completing the scope requirements, using the limited resources, within time deadline, beating cost budget while meeting quality criteria. Of course, this is not easy. Therefore as part of the planning process, we usually will conduct a careful assessment of risks inherent in the project, evaluating both their probabilities (of happening) and impacts (if it ever happens).
In addition, the remaining aspects of planning process also include procurement and stakeholder management.
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A. Scenario Analysis In our “CIA Box” project, we want to focus on two types of major risks
Time: Could the team finish the project on time?
Cost: Would the project cost exceed the budget allocated?
Usually project scope (and also associated quality) is defined by requirement documentation. If the client has clear expectations about deadline and budget, then time and money will almost always be two variables for a project manager to control on a daily basis. To assess these two risks, we will perform the following:
Critical path analysis: What determines project duration? Which tasks are more important than others? Can we have delays? What’s the impact of delays?
Cash flow projection: How much money does the project need in the beginning? In the middle of project execution? Towards the end of project completion?
Again, we will do all of these in Microsoft Project®.
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B. Microsoft Project® Exercise: Risk Assessment
We will continue with the MS Project® file from previous.
Display Critical Tasks
1. Click “VIEW” tab Find “Highlight” on “Data” group
2. Click the drop-down list besides “Highlight”, pick “Critical”
3. You will see most tasks are highlighted on screen. The only exception is “Partner Flies to LA”
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4. Intepretation: If you look at the sketch below (tasks with their duration in days), you will see why this project is 8 days (i.e. the longer route: MeetPrepareDriveLink) , not 3 days (i.e. the shorter route: MeetFlyLink). The longest route that determines the project duration is called “critical path”. Activities on this path can not be delayed.
5. Click on the drop-down list for “Highlight” option again and this time change it from “Critical” back to “No Highlight”.
Meet
(1)
Prep
(2)
Drive
(4)
Fly
(1)
Link
(1)
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View Slack Information
1. Now let’s see how long each task can be delayed without affecting the whole project. In “Data” group, find “Tables”
2. Click on “Tables” to reveal the drop-down list. Switch from
the current “Entry” table to “Schedule” table.
3. Now, you will see a few new columns. We will go over
them one by one to understand their significance.
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Late Start and Late Finish: These are the latest dates you can start or finish each task without affecting the project completion. Because most of our tasks are on critical path, their values are same as the original early “Start” and early “Finish”. The only exception is “Flight”: note it can start as late as July 9, instead of July 2.
Free Slack: The delay you can have on a certain task without affecting its successor (i.e. the task immediately after it). Again, we can see no task in this project can be delayed other than “Flight”
Total Slack: The delay you can have on a certain task without affecting the whole project. Zero value means any delay on the task will make the project longer. Although “Flight” has 5 days for both Free Slack and Total Slack, they have different meanings.
Comments: Having too many tasks on critical path usually means higher risks. In our case, the only task we can have some leeway is just “Flight”. However, having Adam Ding as the project manager controlling critical path himself means he is personally responsible for completing this project on time.
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Generate Cash Flow
1. Let’s evaluate how much money the project is expected to spend every day if everything goes according to the current schedule. Click “REPORT” tab on toolbar.
2. In “Export” group, find and click on “Visual Reports” button.
3. In the dialog box that follows, you need to do two things
Pick “Cash Flow Report”
Set “select level of usage data to include in the report” to “Days”
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4. Click “View” button to activate Microsoft Excel® Template. It will take a few seconds.
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5. When finished, this is what it will look like (You are now in Microsoft Excel®).
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6. In Microsoft Excel®, switch to “Task Usage” tab at the bottom left of the screen
7. Now on the new sheet, under Quarter, click on the “+” sign besides “Q3” to expand and reveal two weeks inside.
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8. Under Week column, click on the “+” sign besides each week to reveal days.
9. Please confirm your screen looks like this.
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10. Now at the bottom left of your screen, switch back to “Chart 1” tab.
11. You will certainly notice the difference!
12. Interpretation: This prediction of cash flow is based on “Early Start” schedule we have, which means starting every task as soon as possible.
The vertical columns on the chart shows how much money is expected to be spent for each day, while the line diagram is the “cumulative value” for the cost running total. We can see there’s quite high expenditure on first day, no activity for the weekend and the 2nd week is mostly even from day to day.
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If you compare the cash flow diagram with our schedule, you will see there are a couple problems here for Agent X’s flight:
o She’s flying to LA in the first week, which is
unnecessarily too early. She could delay the flight for 5 days without even affecting the project completion.
o In addition, her accommodation cost in LA to wait for Adam Ding to arrive in the next week is not accounted for.
To reduce the risks to blow the budget for this project, Agent X’s flight should have been rescheduled to sometime in the 2nd week. However, to keep the exercise simple, for now we will leave the schedule as it is.
Let’s save a copy of what we did so far before proceeding to the next chapter.
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Chapter 6: Project Executing
Executing Process Group refers to actually doing the project
work. The activities will be performed in accordance with the
project management plan.
In this process group, product deliverables are produced. It
also involves building and managing project team,
coordinating resources, managing stakeholder expectations,
and processing changes.
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A. Scenario Analysis In our 8-day “CIA Box” project, let’s pick July 8, 2020 (A week
after the project was supposed to start) to review how much
work has been done so far.
Here’s the project progress information as of July 8, 2020:
Meeting with spy boss did happen as planned and was
complete.
It actually took Adam 3 days (instead of 2 days as
planned) to finish his preparation for road trip.
Today (July 8, 2020) Adam just arrived in Chicago,
which is about 20% of the whole trip
Agent X flew to LA on yesterday (July 7, 2020)
To reflect the progress above, we will update our schedule in
Microsoft Project®
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B. Microsoft Project® Exercise: Schedule Update
For this exercise, we will just use the Microsoft Project® file from previous. In real life, you should always save a copy of the project file before and after an update is performed (You can do this by going to File Save As.) This is to prevent mistakes being carried over from one update to another.
Set Baseline
1. Before we update the schedule, a baseline has to be set so that a comparison between actual and planned progresses is possible. Click “PROJECT” tab on toolbar Find “Set Baseline” in “Schedule” group.
2. Click on it to reveal options Click on “Set Baseline”
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3. In the next screen that follows, simply click OK.
4. Although you might feel nothing has happened, it is very
important to complete this step before going to the next.
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Set Status Date
1. The second thing we always need to do is to put in a “Status Date”, i.e. the date when the update is done to the project. Click “PROJECT” tab on toolbar Find “Status Date” in “Status” group Click where it says “N/A”.
2. Our update is apparently done on July 8, 2020. In the
dialog that follows, type or select “7/8/20”
3. Verify your status date has been changed. We will quickly see why this step is so important for you to complete.
Change or Select
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Update Task Progress—Using Shortcut
1. Click VIEW tab. Find Tables in Data group.
2. Click further on “Tables” to reveal the drop-down list. Switch to “Entry” table to go back to your normal view.
3. To update progress, let’s start with the first task “Meet with Spy Boss”. Ensure your cursor is on it.
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4. The meeting went on as scheduled without any issue. Click “TASK” tab on toolbar, and you will see a bunch of percentage (%) numbers in “Schedule” group. Yes, the task is complete by now. So click on 100%
5. You will notice a couple of changes as a result of this.
A check mark appeared before this task to indicate it’s all complete.
There’s also a full-length progress bar drawn on the task at the right side of screen, i.e. bar chart area
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Update Task Progress—Using Actual Duration
1. Now move your cursor to the next task “Prepare for Road Trip”
2. The road trip actually took 3 days to complete.
However, do NOT directly change the duration info! (2 days were only meant for “planned”) Instead, go to TASK tab In the Schedule group, find the small downward arrow to the right side of “Mark on Track” button. Also, please do NOT click on ““Mark on Track” button, either!
3. Click further on that small down arrow to bring up two
options. Pick “Update Tasks”
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4. You will be presented with this window.
5. PLEASE READ: This is where most task updates are
done. You have three ways to do so:
a. Enter “% complete” info
b. Enter actual duration
c. Enter actual start and finish dates
However, keep in mind that for one task, you only need to and should only complete one of the above three options! If you decide to do more than one entry, the software will automatically coordinate these changes and the final result will not necessarily be what you want. 6. For this task, change actual duration to 3 days by
typing “3d” (or just 3 is fine)
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7. Click OK. You will notice how this simple entry affects
the whole project schedule. Yes, by receiving your actual duration info, the software automatically considers this task is 100% complete! (Note the duration now reflects “actual”)
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Update Task Progress—Using % Complete 1. Move your cursor to the next task “Drive to LA”
2. The task progress is 20% (Adam just reached Chicago). You cannot use % shortcut button this time, but if you want to, you can still follow the same procedure as above to bring up the “Update Tasks” dialog and enter 20 for “% Complete”.
3. However, let’s do this in a different way to learn some new features. Click on “VIEW” tab on toolbar Find “Details” in “Split View” group.
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4. Check the box besides “Details”
5. You will see a screen pops up at the bottom half of the screen. Ensure the current task is “Drive to LA” and check the “% Complete” info on the right side.
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6. If “% Complete” for this task is still 0, then change it to “20%” by simply typing 20. Click OK.
7. Now uncheck the box besides “Details” to dismiss the task form.
8. Note in addition to “% complete”, the task form tool can also be used to enter other information such as predecessor and resource etc.
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Update Task Progress—Using Actual Dates
1. Now move cursor to the next task “Partner Flies to LA”
2. Go to TASK tab In the Schedule group, find the small
downward arrow next to “Mark on Track” button.
3. Click on that small down arrow. Then pick “Update
Tasks” option.
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4. You will be presented with this familiar window.
5. Under “Actual”, type “7/7/20” (or pick from the calendar tool) for both “Start” and “Finish” fields. Do NOT do anything else. Click OK.
Let’s save our work to be ready for the next chapter.
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Chapter 7: Project Monitoring and Controlling
Monitoring and Controlling Process Group refers to what is done to track the project progress and initiate any changes if necessary. The key process is to measure project performance against the project management plan and baseline metrics to determine variances. This continuous monitoring provides an insight into the health of the project and identifies any problems requiring additional attention. Corrective or preventive actions are recommended to bring the project back on track.
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A. Scenario Analysis In our 8-day “CIA Box” project, we updated the schedule on July 8, 2020 to reflect project progress. Here’s the summary of what we did last time:
Activities Progress
Meet with Spy Boss Complete as scheduled
Prepare for Road Trip Took 1 extra day to complete
Drive to LA 20% Complete
Partner flies to LA Complete (finished early)
Yet how do we measure this against the original baseline? Are there any variances? For example, the following are examples of common problems for a task progress:
Its progress might be behind the schedule (i.e. lagging behind) or
Its cost might be over budget (i.e. spending too much) or
A combination of both
In case we do have a variance, would any corrective actions be required? There is an important technique called “Earned Value Analysis” (EVA) to help you understand these concepts. We will see how that works in Microsoft Project®.
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B. Microsoft Project® Exercise: Earned-Value
Everything we do in this exercise will just be based on the update from last chapter. To keep it simple, we are not even putting any new progress information this time.
Review Work Progress 1. Let’s first review the big-picture. With the current
progress, now the project is estimated to take 9 days to complete, instead of 8 days originally.
2. Now let’s also evaluate the progress on the task level. Click “VIEW” tab on toolbar Find “Tables” in “Data” group
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3. Click on “Tables” to reveal the drop-down list. Switch from the current “Entry” view to “Variance”.
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4. Progress for Each Task Note in the above table, the first two columns (“Start” and “Finish”) are actual progress dates. They are compared with the planned “Baseline Start” and “Baseline Finish” values to determine the variances.
“Meet with Spy Boss” was started and completed on schedule. Zero value for both “Start Variance” and “Finish Variance”.
“Prepare for Road Trip” has a “Finish Variance” of 1 day because it took 3 days to complete vs. 2 days planned.
“Drive to LA” has a “Start Variance” and “Finish Variance” of 1 day each because the delay of its predecessor (i.e. the task before it)
“Partner flies to LA” has a “Start Variance” and “Finish Variance” of 3 days each because it could have started as early as July 2, although flying on July 7 will not affect project completion. It should also be noted that this task was not critical and initially even had 5 days of slack to spare.
The last two tasks are also expected to have “Variance”, although they haven’t started. This is because they are on critical path.
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Review Cost Expenditure
1. Click on “Tables” to reveal the drop-down list again.
Switch from the current “Variance” view to “Cost”.
2. You will see a table listing different types of costs.
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3. Interpretation for Each Column
The only “Fixed Cost” was the $400 flight ticket for Agent X, which already occurred.
“Total Cost” reflects the current total cost for each task. Although we don’t have actual cost information, by default Microsoft Project® will recalculate “Total Cost” based on required resources, resource pay rates and task actual duration from progress.
“Baseline” reflects the initial budget we started with for each task. Remember we did set a baseline before updating the schedule?
“Variance” is the difference of “Total Cost” and “Baseline”. “Prepare for Road Trip” has a $120 Variance, because it took 3 days to complete vs. 2 days planned (remember each day it will cost resources!)
“Actual” is the actual cost expenditure on the task at this moment, whether it is complete or not. “Drive to LA” was 20% complete. Unless there was actual cost reported, it is assumed to be 20% of “Baseline” cost (20% x $2440= $488).
“Remaining” is the money needed to finish the task, which usually is the difference between “Total Cost” and “Actual”. For example, the remaining cost for “Drive to LA” is $2440- $488 =$1952 based on the progress, while the remaining cost for “Meet in Hollywood” is $616, because no progress or expenditure was reported.
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Review Earned-Value Information
1. It’s time to review both the work progress and the cost expenditure all together. Click on “Tables” to reveal the drop-down list again. This time, go to the very bottom of this list and pick “More Tables”.
2. Pick “Earned Value” from the list. Then click “Apply”
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3. You will see a table with many acronyms. Because all
columns are very important, we will take a few minutes to explain them one by one.
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4. Explanations for First 3 columns
a. Planned Value (PV): Essentially it means: As of today (July 8, status date for our update), what is the “ESTIMATED” value for the work “PLANNED to be done”? For example, of course “Meet with Spy Boss” was planned to be finished long before July 8, so for its 100% completion, the budget value was $1816
b. Earned Value (EV): Essentially it means: As of today (July 8, status date for our update), what is the “ESTIMATED” value for the work “ACTUALLY done”? For example, “Drive to LA” was 20% complete. Thus for this progress, the allocated budget value would be 20% x $2440= $488)
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c. Actual Cost (AC): Essentially it means: As of today (July 8, status date for our update), what is the “ACTUAL” cost for the work “ACTUALLY done”? This one is much easier to understand. For example, “Prepare for Road Trip” was done. But it took 3 days. So its Actual Cost is $360, although its Earned Value was only $240.
Here’s PV, EV and AC in one chart.
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5. Explanations for Next 2 columns
a. Schedule Variance (SV): The difference of
Earned Value and Planned Value. Formula is: SV = EV- PV. We can see “Drive to LA” has a negative SV value, which means it’s behind schedule.
b. Cost Variance (CV): The difference of Earned
Value and Actual Cost. Formula is: CV = EV- AC. We can see “Prepare for Road Trip” has a negative CV value, which means it’s over budget.
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6. Explanations for Last 3 columns
For simplicity, we will focus on the project level (i.e. summary task) for these three.
a. EAC (Estimate at Completion): the predicted cost the project will finish at, based on the current trend of both work progress and cost expenditure. Our project is now estimated to finish at $5829.38. (If you want to know how to calculate this, press “F1” on your keyboard and search for EAC)
b. BAC (Budget at Completion): our original budget value in our baseline schedule, i.e. $5,608.
c. VAC (Variance at Completion): the difference between initial budget and current prediction of final project cost. The formula is
VAC = BAC-EAC It seems like our project is going to have a cost overrun (at least $221.38) unless something is done.
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Display Project Overview Report
1. Let’s see how the project is progressing overall. Click “REPORT” tab on toolbar Find “Dashboards” on “View Reports” group.
2. Click on the small arrow below “Dashboards”. Pick “Project Overview”
3. It seems the project is roughly about 58% complete.
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Let’s save our work for the next chapter.
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Chapter 8: Project Closing
Closing Process Group refers to what is done to formally finish the project. The project manager should confirm the work is done to the requirements and gain the final acceptance of the product from customers. Lessons learned are also recorded during project closing. It should be pointed out for projects that are terminated early or even cancelled, the proper closing process is still required (i.e. “premature closure”).
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A. Scenario Analysis
In our “CIA Box” project, the first update was done on July 8,
2020. At that time, the project was running behind the
schedule and over budget.
Let’s say today is July 10th (The planned original project
completion date). So what has happened since the last
update? Here’s new progress information:
Adam completed road trip today, by driving a bit faster
(note: speeding is not encouraged in real life!)
As Agent X was already in LA, the team meeting also
happened today. But she also incurred $900 extra for
her accommodation here.
It seems at least the project is now complete! In this chapter,
we will use Microsoft Project® to close it properly, while
reviewing both cost and schedule performance information
against the original baseline.
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B. Microsoft Project® Exercise: Closeout
Let’s finish the MS Project® file you have been working on.
Display Progress Line
1. First click “VIEW” tab on toolbar In “Task Views” group, click on “Gantt Chart” button to go back to your normal view.
2. Let’s focus on the right side of the screen because the bar chart is more visual. Still under “VIEW” tab In “ZOOM” group, click on “Entire Project”
3. Your bar chart should look like this
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4. In the bar chart area, right click your mousepick “Progress Lines”
5. In the next dialog box that pops up, do both of the following two changes:
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a. In the upper left area, under “Current progress line”, check “Display” option
b. In the lower right area, under “Display progress lines in relation to”, change option from “Actual plan” to “Baseline plan”
6. Now you will see your screen looks like this:
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7. Note the last project update was done on July 8th, which is the starting point of the progress line at the top. From the two zigzags, we can clearly see both “Drive to LA” task and the entire project were behind schedule (otherwise, the line would have been straight through)
This is July 8th
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Set Closeout Date
1. Now with the new progress info, we are going to close the project. Closeout essentially is another (last) project update. Click “PROJECT” tab on toolbar In “Status” group, find “Status Date” Click on where it says “7/8/20”.
4. In the dialog that follows, type or select “7/10/20”
5. Note the progress line changes with the new status date.
Change
This is July 10
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Complete Project Update 1. Move your cursor to “Drive to LA”.
2. Adam was scheduled to finish travel on July 10, and he did make it on that day. So just click on “TASK” tab on toolbar, click the “100%” button in “Schedule” group.
3. Visually, you can see “Drive to LA” task is complete.
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4. Move your cursor to the other task “Meet in Hollywood”
5. For this one, you cannot use the same approach to update it, because it was finished ahead of time compared with the current bar chart. Let’s go to TASK tab In Schedule group, find the small downward arrow to the right side of “Mark on Track” button.
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6. Click on the arrow to bring up “Update Tasks”
7. Type in or select the date of “7/10/20” for both “Start” and “Finish” under “Actual” to reflect the meeting happened on July 10, 2020
8. Now from the bar chart area, you can see most tasks are complete.
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Process Cost Changes 1. You also need to incorporate the extra expenditure for
Agent X’s stay in LA. Click “VIEW” tab on toolbar In “Data” Group, find “Tables”
2. Click on “Tables” to reveal the drop-down list and switch to “Cost”.
3. You need to determine where to process the $900 for
Agent X. Let’s put it under “Meet in Hollywood”. Type 900 under column “Fixed Cost”.
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4. Remember “Variance” column reflects the difference between “Total Cost” and “Baseline”. You will see there are two tasks over budget: “Prepare for Road Trip” and “Meet in Hollywood”.
5. For “Remaining” column, you only see zeros by now, because almost all tasks are done and there’s no additional cost expenditure expected.
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Evaluating Project Performance
1. Let’s see if there’s anything else that needs to be done. Click “Tables” again to reveal the drop-down list. Switch it back to “Entry” table.
2. You need to show the last milestone task “Mission Accomplished” as complete, i.e. there has to be a check mark for this line.
3. Click “TASK” tab on toolbar In “Schedule” group, simply click the “100%” button”
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4. Now you will see everything has been truly done to the 100%!
5. To evaluate overall project performance, click “REPORT” tab on toolbar In “View Reports” group, find “Dashboards”
6. Click on the small arrow below “Dashboards”. Pick “Cost Overview” option.
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7. Your new window should show the following info.
8. In this window, there are two sections called “Cost
Status” (in both tabular and chart format), which shows the actual cost expenditure for each task compared with baseline budget.
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9. To see the work completion, again switch to “REPORT” tab on toolbarIn “View Reports” group, find “Dashboards” This time pick “Work Overview”.
10. Although the project was finished on time, you can see the actual work time spent was 152 hours vs. 144
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hours in baseline (because 1 extra day was spent on road trip preparation)
Congratulations! You are now done with this project. Wish you enjoyed the whole journey by going through a number of MS Project exercises while reading learning some PM basics at the same time.
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Appendix: MS Project® “How-To” Cheat Sheets
The next few pages include some quick answers on how to do
certain things in Microsoft Project®, which you might find
handy (This book already covered most of the contents
anyway). They are organized in three sections
Set up a schedule
Load resources and costs
Track work progress
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A. Schedule Set-Up Software Skills
Change from Manual Schedule to Auto Schedule
FILE OPTIONSSCHEDULESCHEDULING OPTIONS
FOR THIS PROJECT: SET “NEW TASKS CREATED” TO
“AUTO SCHEDULED”
Set project start date/holidays
“PROJECT” TAB “PROPERTIES” GROUP PROJECT
INFO
TO SET SPECIAL HOLIDAYS, “PROJECT” RIBBON
“PROPERTIES” TAB CHANGE WORKING TIME
Enter tasks or milestone
JUST TYPE. MILESTONE IS AN ACTIVITY WITH “0”
DURATION
Enter task durations
TYPE D, W, MO FOR DAYS, WEEKS AND MONTHS (M
IS FOR MINUTES)
Zoom to see the entire project
VIEW TAB “ZOOM” GROUP ENTIRE PROJECT
Adjust the time scale to more or less
VIEW TAB “ZOOM” GROUP TIMESCALE DROP
DOWN BOX
IF A MORE CUSTOMIZED OPTION IS DESIRED, PICK
“TIMESCALE” AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS DROP-DOWN
LIST
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Switch to Network Diagram view
VIEW TAB “TASK VIEWS” GROUP NETWORK
DIAGRAM
Define relationship among activities
TYPE TASK ID IN “PREDECESSORS” COLUMN, OR
DRAG AND POINT IN NETWORK DIAGRAM VIEW
Enter recurring tasks
SELECT THE FIRST TASK, GO TO TASK TAB
“INSERT” GROUP
CLICK THE SMALL ARROW BELOW “TASK”
RECURRING TASKS
Display the critical path
VIEW TAB “DATA” GROUP HIGHLIGHT SET TO
“CRITICAL”
OR GO TO VIEW TAB “TASK VIEWS” GROUP
CLICK THE SMALL ARROW NEAR “GANTT
CHART”PICK “TRACKING GANTT”
Identify the project duration
GO TO PROJECT TAB PROPERTIES
GROUPPROJECT INFORMATION STATISTICS AT
THE BOTTOM
Display Activity Descriptions on the Bar Chart
GO TO FORMAT TAB “BAR STYLES” GROUP
CLICK THE SMALL ARROW NEAR “FORMAT” PICK
“BAR STYLES”
o IN THE TOP HALF OF THE DIALOG, PICK “TASK”
o AT THE BOTTOM HALF OF THE DIALOG,
SWITCH TO “ TEXT” TAB FOR “LEFT” PICK
“NAME”
o REPEAT THE SAME FOR “MILESTONE” TASKS
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B. Resource/Cost Loading Software Skills
Delete/insert/copy tasks
PUT THE CURSOR WHERE NEEDED, RIGHT CLICK AND
PICK OPTIONS
Check task information
DOUBLE-CLICK ON A TASK
Display free slack and total slack for each activity
VIEW TABDATA GROUP TABLES PICK SCHEDULE
Enter a list of resources
VIEW TABRESOURCE VIEWS GROUP RESOURCE
SHEET
Enter resource types (“work” vs. “material”)
IN “RESOURCE SHEET”: LABOR, EQUIPMENT AND
VENDORS USUALLY ARE ENTERED AS “WORK”.
MATERIAL IS “MATERIAL”
MATERIAL MEASUREMENT UNIT IS ENTERED UNDER
“MATERIAL LABEL”
NUMBER OF OF LABOR/UNIT IS ENTERED IN “MAX”
COLUMN AS %. (FIVE PEOPLE ARE ENTERED AS
500%). HALF TIME IS 50%
Enter pay rates for resources
“STD RATE” CAN BE USED FOR EITHER LABOR
HOURLY RATE OR MATERIAL UNIT PRICE. “OVT RATE”
IS FOR LABOR OVERTIME RATE.
FOR VENDORS: ENTER THEM AS RESOURCES, BUT
NO PAY RATE
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Evaluate resource availability and change if necessary
DOUBLE CLICK ON A RESOURCE AND CHANGE
AVAILABLE TIME
Assign resources to the tasks in the schedule
DOUBLE CLICK ON A TASK, THEN CLICK RESOURCE
TAB. NOTE “UNITS” CAN BE USED TO SPECIFY THE
NUMBER OF RESOURCES
Cost-load the schedule through resources assignment
o FOR LABOR, MATERIAL AND EQUIPMENT, COST
LOADING IS AUTOMATICALLY DONE THROUGH
RESOURCE ASSIGNMENT.
o FOR VENDORS: ASSIGN THE RESOURCE TO
TASK FIRST, THEN ADD ANOTHER COLUMN
“FIXED COST” TO ENTER $$$
Evaluate resource assignment to see any conflicts
o VIEW TAB “RESOURCE VIEWS”
GROUPCLICK THE SMALL ARROW NEXT TO
“OTHER VIEWS”CLICK “RESOURCE GRAPH”
TO SEE THE ALLOCATION OF EACH RESOURCE
o VIEW TAB “RESOURCE VIEWS” GROUP
CLICK “RESOURCE USAGE” TO SEE THE
RESOURCE ALLOCATION TO EACH TASK
o
Resource leveling to resolve conflicts (if any)
RESOURCE “LEVEL” GROUP “LEVEL RESOURCE”
Identify the total costs loaded in the project
DISPLAY ANOTHER COLUMN “COST” FOR EACH
TASK. THIS MEANS L+ M+ E+ S. YOU WILL SEE IT
MORE CLEARLY IF YOU HAVE “FIXED COST” ALONG
WITH IT, SIDE BY SIDE.
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C. Progress Tracking Software Skills
Copy a previous schedule as back-up
FILE SAVE AS. ENSURE YOU HAVE APPRORIATE FILE
NAME & DATE
Save a baseline schedule
PROJECT TAB “SCHEDULE” GROUPSET BASELINE
Set Project Status Date
PROJECT TAB “STATUS” GROUPSTATUS DATE.
Update task progress in the schedule
TASK TAB “SCHEDULE” GROUP CLICK THE SMALL
ARROW NEAR “MARK ON TRACK”PICK “UPDATE
TASKS”
IN THE NEXT WINDOW, YOU HAVE 3 OPTIONS
1. ENTER ACTUAL START/FINISH
2. ENTER % COMPLETE
3. ENTER ACTUAL DURATION
REMEMBER PLS ONLY DO ONE OF THREE OPTIONS!
Show progress lines on Gantt Chart
RIGHT CLICK ON BAR CHART AREA PICK
“PROGRESS LINES”
IN THE NEXT WINDOW
o UPPER LEFT CORNER:CHECK “DISPLAY” UNDER
“CURRENT PROGRESS LINE”
o LOWER RIGHT CORNER: PICK “BASELINE PLAN”
UNDER “DISPLAY PROGRESS LINES IN
RELATION TO”
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Track cost expenditure
VIEW TAB “DATA” GROUPTABLES COST
REVIEW EACH COLUMN AND ENTER ACTUAL COST IF
NECESSARY, NOTE THIS TABLE IS INTERACTIVE.
Basic Schedule Report in Calendar Format
VIEW TAB “TASK VIEWS” GROUPCALENDAR
Project Report for Work Progress and Cost
Expenditure etc
“REPORTS” TAB “VIEW REPORTS” GROUP PICK
WHAT YOU WANT
o “DASHBOARDS”: OVERVIEW FOR PROJECT,
WORK AND COST
o “RESOURCES”: OVERVIEW FOR RESOURCES
AND CONFLICTS
o “COSTS”: CASH FLOW, COST OVERRUN AND
EARNED VALUE
o “IN PROGRESS”: CRITICAL, LATE AND
MILESTONE TASKS
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About the Author
Adam Ding, MSc, PQS, GSC, PMP, CC, LEED AP (BD+C), is a
construction professional with extensive experience in
managing hundreds of commercial, institutional, residential,
and sustainable infrastructure projects. He holds a Master's
degree in Building Construction from Auburn University, a
Project Management Professional Certificate from Project
Management Institute, a LEED Accredited Professional
Certificate in Building Design and Construction from Green
Building Certification Institute, a Professional Quantity
Surveying diploma from Canadian Institute of Quantity
Surveyors, and a Gold Seal Certificate from Canadian
Construction Association. Adam has had a successful career
in construction industry, working at all stages of project
development cycle from planning, design management,
estimating, project coordination to operation and
maintenance. He is the author of many popular books,
covering project management, cost estimating, information
technology, and green/sustainability issues (available from:
www.amazon.com/author/adamding). If you have any
questions, Adam can be directly reached via email:
adamding76@yahoo.com
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