MPA Best Practices – The Healthy Project ScheduleJune 7, 2006

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Client List

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Today’s Forum

• This is a best practices discussion.• We will talk about general best practices and “how-to” in MS Project.• There may be many alternatives to the best practices presented today.• Please share what works for you!

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What is a Healthy Project Schedule?

A healthy project schedule enables critical path analysis, early identification of problems and resource allocation analysis.

It can be a proactive management tool for controlling scope, improving efficiencies and communicating with stakeholders.

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Characteristics of a Healthy Project Schedule

• All work is represented in the schedule• There is a complete network of dependencies• The schedule has as few constraints as possible• Task durations are manageable• All work is assigned to resources• Time estimates are as accurate as possible• Resource workload is reasonably balanced• The schedule is up to date

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All Work is Represented in the Schedule

Best Practice:• All required effort should be identified in order to constantly evaluate the

progress of the project overall. • A Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) should be defined. This is an

iterative process – more art than science.• Capture what you know – use information from your project proposal.

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All Work is Represented in the Schedule

Common Cause for Project Failure: “Incomplete or vague project workplan

Your work plan (schedule) is the roadmap that describes how you are going to complete the work. You'll have problems if your work plan is at too high a level, incomplete or not up-to-date. You may get away with it on a small project, but it will be fatal on a larger effort.”

-Tom Mochal, PMP, TechRepublic’s resident project management mentor

From his article “Avoid these common causes for project failure”

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All Work is Represented in the Schedule

How-to:• Use an enterprise template, if available. If there is not a template that

fits or none at all – copy from a schedule for a similar project.• You may want to create tasks for larger “chunks” of work and then split

those into sub-tasks later when more detail is known.• Capture whatever level of detail is known when you know it.

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All Work is Represented in the Schedule

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There is a Complete Network of Dependencies

Best Practice:• Dependencies between tasks make up the logic of a dynamic schedule.• As you make adjustments to tasks, the schedule will adjust accordingly.• Tasks should be scheduled based on related tasks, not on arbitrary dates.How-to in:• Use a filter to see tasks that do not have predecessors.• View all the predecessors and successors for each task by splitting the screen and

selecting Predecessors and Successors on the bottom half of the screen.

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There is a Complete Network of Dependencies

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The Schedule has as Few Constraints as Possible

Best Practice:• A date constraint is a restriction or limitation that is set on the start or finish date

of a task.• Date constraints can prevent the dependency network from driving the dates in

the schedule.• Date constraints should be used only when an activity is explicitly tied to a date,

such as a scheduled event for which invitations have already been sent.• Schedules with a lot of date constraints are more difficult to maintain

because a date change does not “ripple through” the schedule and each constrained date has to be updated manually.

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The Schedule has as Few Constraints as Possible

How-to:• Date constraints can be unintentionally applied when start and finish

dates are typed into a schedule.• When a task has a date constraint, a calendar icon will appear in the

indicator column, like this: • Use a filter to show tasks that have date constraints.

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The Schedule has as Few Constraints as Possible

How-to:• To remove an unintended date constraint, go to the Advanced tab on the Task

Information dialog and change the Constraint type to “As Soon As Possible”.• Use deadlines instead of date constraints (also on the Advanced tab on the Task

Information dialog) for key tasks with deadlines.• When a task passes its deadline, a red icon will appear in the indicator column. • Use the a filter to see tasks that are slipping past their deadlines.

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The Schedule has as Few Constraints as Possible

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Discussion

• Questions?• What works for you?

– How do you build your WBS?

– Do you use dependencies and date constraints?

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Task Durations are Manageable

Best Practice:• Tasks that are too short are too detailed and not worth the effort to

maintain.• Tasks that are too long are difficult to status accurately.

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Task Durations are Manageable

How-to:• One guideline is that a task should be 1% to 10% of the total duration of

the project.• Another guideline is that a task should be 1 to 10 days, if using a weekly

update cycle.• These guidelines apply to tasks in the immediate future, say the next 20

work days.• Use a filter to see tasks that are too short or too long.

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All Work is Assigned to Resources

Best Practice:• Every detailed task should have a resource assigned to it and work estimated.• If some tasks are not assigned to resources, resource requirements will not be

accurately reflected in the schedule.How-to:• If the named resource is not known, use a generic resource • Use a filter to find tasks without resource assignments.

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Time Estimates are as Accurate as Possible

Best Practice:• The project schedule is used as a tool to communicate progress,

upcoming tasks and overall project approach with project stakeholders, including management, sponsors and team members.

• As the project progresses, the project leader and team members should continue to validate work and duration estimates.

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Time Estimates are as Accurate as Possible

How-to:• Work = Duration * Units

• Estimate two of these and Project will calculate the third. • If you estimate duration and assign a resource without estimating work or units,

the resource will be assigned at 100% units.40%50%60%70%80%90%100%

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Discussion

• Questions?• What works for you?

– How do you decide the right level of detail for your schedule?

– How do you validate your estimates?

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Resource Workload is Reasonably Balanced

Best Practice:• Resource workload should be analyzed on an ongoing basis (once or

twice monthly, for example) because as dates move and durations expand and compress, resource workload will change.

• Even if a team is working against a deadline, it is not a good idea to plan overtime.

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Resource Workload is Reasonably Balanced

How-to :• Use the Resource Usage view to see hours per time period by resource. You

may want to change the timescale from days to weeks.• A resource will show up in red if they are over-allocated during any time period,

for example, nine hours in one day.• Define an acceptable threshold of hours for each resource.• If you are using Project Server, you will see other projects’ work represented in a

single line item for each resource/project. If an over-allocation is caused by a combination of your project and someone else’s, you should work with the other project manager to resolve it.

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Resource Workload is Reasonably Balanced

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Resource Workload is Reasonably Balanced

How-to:

Resolve over-allocations by:

• Adding more resources

• Reassigning resources

• Re-estimating work

• Rescheduling work

• Redistributing work over time* If you decide to type into cells on Resource Usage, be sure to pay close attention to

task types and effort-driven flag.

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Discussion

• Questions?• What works for you?

– What techniques do you use to balance your resource workload?

– How do you define the threshold of hours for each resource?

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The Schedule is Up to Date

Best Practice:• Now that you have planned the work, you must work the plan!• You will need to update the schedule with progress and make

appropriate adjustments on a regular basis (weekly, for example).

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The Schedule is Up to Date

How-to:• Enter actual start and finish dates if they are different from what was planned.

You can use the Update Tasks button on the Tracking toolbar.• When a start date is pushed out, the finish date will also be pushed out. Reduce

the duration if you want the finish date to remain the same.• Be sure to verify the resources are not over-allocated as a result of compressing

the duration.• Do not delete a task that already has actual work. Set the remaining work to 0.

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The Schedule is Up to Date

Best Practice:• After you have updated the schedule, there should not be any remaining work in

the past.How-to:• Use a filter to find tasks where:

– Start Date is in the past, but % work complete = 0OR

– Finish Date is in the past, but % work complete < 100

• Tools, Tracking, Update Project can be used to Reschedule uncompleted work to start after the status date. Use this option only if you are entering actual work and are comfortable with dates shifting.

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Discussion

• Questions?• What works for you?

– How do you get status updates for your schedule?

– How often do you update your schedule?