Microsoft Project – Tutorial 4Leveling Overallocations

In some cases, a resource could be assigned more work in a given time period than it has working hours

leveling means correcting such overallocations

open LAN-4-3save as usualchange Your Name to your namefilter for Overallocated Resources

Microsoft Project – Tutorial 4Leveling Overallocations

notice the yellow overallocation markers (!)View > Toolbars > Resource Managementclick the Resource Allocation View on the toolbar

(first button)filter for Overallocated ResourcesProject > Sort > by nameexpand Gabriel Mitchellreduce his tasks Test Software (4h), Test Hardware

(2h) and Test Security (2h)notice the changes

Microsoft Project – Tutorial 4Leveling Overallocations

switch to the Task Entry View on the Resource Management toolbar

click the go to next task overallocation button several times until you reach task 16

notice that you are scheduled to do other tasks that day too

increase the General Labour hours to 16 and decrease your own to zero

you are no longer overallocated for this task

Microsoft Project – Tutorial 4Leveling Overallocations

go to task 26notice that the same resources are assigned to tasks

26 and 27 on overlapping daysdouble click Contract Trainer to open Resource infonotice that 200% units are indicatedthis means that two contact trainers were to be hiredhowever, only one was availablereduce the units to 100%go back to the Resource Allocation View and notice

that the Contract Trainer is now overallocated

Microsoft Project – Tutorial 4The Leveling Tool

Project includes a sophisticated leveling tookit levels work resources, though not material

resourcesdoes not adjust task durations, work entries or

resource assignmentslevels by delaying or splitting tasks so that work can

be completed by the assigned resource during available working time

Microsoft Project – Tutorial 4The Leveling Tool

splits tasks so that they are interruptedwork starts and stops on the task so that there is a

period of time when no work is being done on the task

introduces delays to a projectdelay is the amount of time between the scheduled

start of a task and the time when work actually begins on the task

usually extends the project’s length as it moves tasks into time periods when a resource is available

Microsoft Project – Tutorial 4Material Costs

so far we have entered work resources into our project

open LAN-4-3-YourInitials from last week (or the one I have put in the common directory LAN-4-3-sample)

note the seven work resources entered thereenter the five material resources on the screen at the

front of the classdon’t forget to change the Type to Material instead of

Worknotice that some of these will be paid for at the end of

the project, while others will be prorated

Microsoft Project – Tutorial 4Assigning Material Resources to Tasks

select the Gantt Chart viewgo to Window>Split right-click the bottom form and change it to Resource Costselect task 11 (install cabling)click the second cell in the Resource cost formselect Cabling from the list arrow type 250 units and then click okay the cost is calculated and the Gantt chart reflects the

assignmentclick Next to go to Install Hardwareassign six computers, three printers and one file server to this

tasksave your work

Microsoft Project – Tutorial 4Assigning Fixed Costs

remove the Split Window right click the Select All button and click costas there is a fixed room rental, add a fixed cost of $500 to

tasks 26 and 27 (Train Management and Train Users)Save your work

Microsoft Project – Tutorial 4Viewing Project Properties

Project Properties present summary cost and date statistics for the entire project

File > Properties and click the Contents tabview the other tabs for additional information about the

project

Microsoft Project – Tutorial 5Working with a Baseline

a baseline is a record of the scheduled dates and costs of each task of a project at a particular point in time

as a project progresses, baseline data and actual data will differ

this difference is called variance

Microsoft Project – Tutorial 5Working with a Baseline

open LAN-5 and save it with your initialsgo to Resource Sheet viewchange Your Name to your name and YN to your

initialsProject>Project Informationclick the Statistics button; note that baseline data is

zero or N/A because a baseline has not yet been saved

close the dialog box

Microsoft Project – Tutorial 5Working with a Baseline

Tools > Tracking > Set Baselineclick okay to save the current data as a BaselineIn the Gantt Chart view, right-click on the Select All

button and choose Variancenote the column headings towards the end of the

sheet view

Microsoft Project – Tutorial 5Tracking and Updating Progress

in order to track progress, you must enter a project Status Date

we want to update progress as of 17/08/07Project > Project Informationchange the current date to 20/08/07change the Status date to 17/08/07click okay

Microsoft Project – Tutorial 5Tracking Progress with the Tracking Toolbar

open the tracking toolbar (right-click or from the menu)

Tools > Optionsclick the View tab and Show the Project Summary

Barchange the name of the Summary bar to LAN

Installation

Microsoft Project – Tutorial 5Tracking Progress with the Tracking ToolbarProject Statistics

click the Project Statistics button on the left side of the Tracking Toolbar

note that there is no variance because no changes have been made as no progress has been tracked yet

Microsoft Project – Tutorial 5Updating the Tracking Table

Variance=Current (date) – Baseline (date)Projects that are ahead of schedule have a negative

varianceProjects that are behind schedule have a positive

varianceProject Managers will enter actual information such

as actual start and finish dates for tasks into the tracking table

Microsoft Project will then automatically update other information and statistics

Microsoft Project – Tutorial 5Updating the Tracking Table

right-click Select All and choose Trackinghere you can update actual task information manuallychange the remaining duration for task 2 (Document

Current Environment) from 4 to 2 daysnote that the Remaining Duration for the whole

project updates automaticallyhowever, it is better to use the Tracking Toolbar

whenever possible

Microsoft Project – Tutorial 5Updating tasks that are on schedule

select task 2 (Document Current Environment) click the Update as Scheduled button on the Tracking

toolbarnote the changes that occurselect tasks 3 through 6 and update them as

schedulednote the changessome of the tasks are not changed because they

have not started as of the Status Date

Microsoft Project – Tutorial 5Updating tasks that are ahead of schedule

if a task is being worked on ahead of schedule, you can update it even if its scheduled for the future

you can enter the progress dates manually or use the tracking toolbar

select task 7 (gather vendor bids) and then click the 25% complete button on the Tracking Toolbar

change the % Comp. cell for tasks 6 and 8 (Build Request for Proposal and Choose Vendors) to 10%

make task 3 100% completedrag the Fill Handle to copy this completion to task 4

Microsoft Project – Tutorial 5Updating tasks that are behind schedule

open Project Information and change the Current Date to 24/09/07 and the Status Date to 21/09/07

make task 12 (Install Hardware) 25% completedouble click task 12 to view Task Information and

click the General tabnotice that the scheduled Finish Date is 21/09/07this task is behind schedule

Microsoft Project – Tutorial 5Rescheduling tasks that are behind schedule

you can reschedule tasks using the Tracking Toolbarselect task 12 and click the Reschedule Work button

on the Tracking Toolbarthe task is split and rescheduled to begin on the

current date other tasks that have relationships to this task will

also be rescheduled as necessary