IntroductionWelcome| 00:04 | Hi, I am Bonnie Biafore and welcome
to Project 2010 Essential Training.
| | 00:09 | Project Management is an important part
of doing business, more than ever before.
| | 00:14 | Workers have to do more with less to be
more efficient with their time and more
| | 00:18 | effective getting results.
| | 00:20 | Microsoft Project is one of the
most widely used project management
| | 00:24 | applications, and I will show you how to
get the most out of this powerful program.
| | 00:28 | I will explain how to set up different
kinds of tasks, like work tasks, summary
| | 00:33 | tasks, milestones and recurring tasks.
| | 00:37 | We will explore the different
types of resources you use on projects.
| | 00:42 | I will demonstrate how you link tasks
together and assign resources to tasks to
| | 00:46 | build a realistic project schedule.
| | 00:48 | I will walk you through using
different project views to look at your project
| | 00:52 | from different angles, so you can check
upon where things stand, how much things
| | 00:56 | cost, or where the project
might be getting into trouble.
| | 00:59 | We will examine other Project
features that help you evaluate your schedule
| | 01:03 | and resource workloads to make sure you are
bringing your project in on time and within budget.
| | 01:09 | By mastering the tools available in
Project 2010, you can manage projects more
| | 01:14 | successfully and help your
company achieve its business objectives.
| | 01:18 | So there is no time to waste.
| | 01:20 | Let's get right into
Project 2010 Essential Training.
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| Choosing the right Project edition| 00:00 | Project Professional 2010 has all the
bells and whistles Project has to offer.
| | 00:05 | However, if you want to save a few
hundred dollars and can do without a few
| | 00:08 | features, Project
Standard 2010 may fill the bill.
| | 00:12 | Project Professional is more expensive,
but it includes every feature that
| | 00:16 | Project Standard has.
| | 00:17 | So your decision boils down to whether
its additional features are worth the
| | 00:21 | difference in price.
| | 00:22 | To download the Edition Comparison
pdf document, on the Microsoft Project
| | 00:27 | Product Comparison page, click
the addition comparison link.
| | 00:32 | You can also see some of the
differences right on this page.
| | 00:36 | Here are a few editions that Project
Professional offers, which you will learn
| | 00:40 | about in more detail in later movies.
| | 00:43 | The Team Planner view makes it easy to
see tasks that aren't assigned to anyone,
| | 00:48 | or aren't scheduled yet.
| | 00:50 | It also helps identify when and
where resources are overallocated.
| | 00:55 | Inactivating tasks is a new way to
play what-if games, or to keep track of
| | 00:59 | work that's optional, or simply hasn't been
approved yet, like pending change requests.
| | 01:04 | When you inactivate tasks, you still
see them in the schedule, and they still
| | 01:09 | contain all their values, but those
values don't affect your schedule or
| | 01:13 | resources availability.
| | 01:15 | Project Professional certainly can do
the job, but you can use Project Standard
| | 01:19 | when your needs are simpler and
you want to spend a little less.
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| Using the exercise files| 00:00 | If you are a premium member of the
lynda.com Online Training Library, or if you
| | 00:04 | are watching this tutorial on a disk,
you have access to the exercise files used
| | 00:09 | throughout this course.
| | 00:11 | The exercise files are in the Exercise Files
folder, which I have placed on the desktop.
| | 00:15 | But you can store it wherever you like.
| | 00:17 | There are files for most movies.
| | 00:21 | They reside in subfolders
named according to the chapters.
| | 00:25 | You don't have to use these files.
| | 00:27 | You can use files of your own.
| | 00:29 | If you are a monthly or annual
subscriber to lynda.com, you don't have access to
| | 00:34 | the exercise files, but you can
follow along with your own work.
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|
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1. Setting Up Project FilesUsing the Ribbon| 00:00 | Microsoft introduced the Ribbon in Office
2007, and now Project 2010 joins the party.
| | 00:06 | Although the Ribbon takes up a lot
more space on the screen than the old menu
| | 00:10 | bar, it also holds a lot more commands.
| | 00:12 | The Project Ribbon makes a lot of
tasks much easier to perform, because the
| | 00:17 | commands are on the Ribbon instead of
buried deep in a dialog box somewhere.
| | 00:21 | The Ribbon has several tabs, which act
like the top-level entries on the old menu
| | 00:25 | bar, and because managing projects
focuses mainly on project, tasks, and
| | 00:30 | resources, the Ribbon tabs
in Project make perfect sense.
| | 00:33 | You'll learn about how to put
commands to work in the rest of this course.
| | 00:37 | When you first launch Project,
the program opens to the Task tab.
| | 00:41 | We go to the Microsoft Office
menu and double-click Project 2010;
| | 00:48 | you can see the Task tab opens.
| | 00:50 | Click a tab to show that
tab's commands on the Ribbon.
| | 00:54 | The Resource tab, Project
tab, View tab, and so on.
| | 01:00 | The File tab is like the
File menu on the old Menu bar.
| | 01:03 | You can manage files from this tab,
but it offers a lot more than that, as you
| | 01:08 | will learn in a later movie.
| | 01:11 | The Task tab is teeming
with task-related commands.
| | 01:14 | The View section helps you choose
the task-oriented view you want.
| | 01:20 | The Clipboard section let's
you copy, paste, and cut tasks.
| | 01:24 | The Schedule section let's you create
links between tasks, move tasks around in
| | 01:29 | the levels of the outline,
and update task progress.
| | 01:33 | The Tasks section lets you change task
between Manually and Auto Schedule mode,
| | 01:38 | review tasks with the Task
Inspector, or move tasks in the schedule.
| | 01:43 | The Insert section has commands for
creating regular tasks, summary tasks,
| | 01:48 | milestones and recurring tasks.
| | 01:51 | The Properties section has a button for
opening the Task Information dialog box.
| | 01:56 | Then in the Editing section, click
Scroll to Task to move the timescale so you
| | 02:01 | can see the taskbar for the selected task.
| | 02:06 | The Resource tab has a view
section for choosing resource views.
| | 02:11 | The commands that are active on the
tab depend on the view you select.
| | 02:17 | If the Resource sheet is visible, you
can click Add Resources to get resources
| | 02:22 | into your file in several ways.
| | 02:24 | If a task or assignment view is open,
like the Gantt Chart or Task Usage, you
| | 02:34 | can click Assign Resources
to assign resources to tasks.
| | 02:38 | The Properties section let's you look at
resource information, notes, or resource details.
| | 02:44 | The Level section has commands for
leveling assignments in several ways to
| | 02:48 | remove over allocations, as you
will learn in a later movie.
| | 02:54 | The Project tab focuses on project-
wide activities, like setting up a work
| | 02:58 | breakdown structure, defining the
working time and setting baselines.
| | 03:03 | You can insert subprojects or create
links between tasks in separate projects.
| | 03:08 | You can also access custom fields.
| | 03:11 | You can update project
status, or you can run reports.
| | 03:17 | You can tell Project to show exactly
what you want to see with the View tab.
| | 03:21 | In addition to commands for choosing
the view you want, you can choose a table,
| | 03:26 | apply highlighting, choose filters or
groups, customize the timescale to show
| | 03:37 | the calendar to the level of detail you
want, or you can tell Project to display
| | 03:42 | the timeline view, as it is here.
| | 03:45 | In Project 2010, you can hide or
display the Details pane - that's the
| | 03:50 | bottom view in a combination view - and tell
Project which view you want to see in that pane.
| | 03:56 | The Windows section has commands for
opening another window, arranging the open
| | 04:02 | windows, switching
between windows, or closing them.
| | 04:05 | One outcast, on the View tab, is the Macros
command, which let's you run or work with macros.
| | 04:14 | The Format tab is a chameleon.
| | 04:16 | It changes commands based
on the view you have open.
| | 04:19 | For example, when the Gantt Chart is
visible, the Format tab has commands for
| | 04:28 | formatting taskbars, showing
critical tasks, baselines, slack, and so on.
| | 04:36 | You can show or hide the project summary
tasks, or other summary tasks, at any level.
| | 04:44 | If a usage view, like Task usage, is
visible, the Format tab has check boxes
| | 04:51 | for the fields you want to see in
the Time Phased grid, like Work, Actual
| | 04:56 | Work and Actual Cost.
| | 04:59 | If I open the Timeline View, go to the
View tab, turn on the Timeline check box,
| | 05:07 | and then click in the
Timeline pane to make it active,
| | 05:13 | the Format tab has commands for adding
tasks and callouts to the timeline or
| | 05:18 | formatting parts of the timeline.
| | 05:21 | As you start using Project 2010, take
some time to look at the Format tab when
| | 05:26 | different views are active.
| | 05:28 | It's a treasure trove of
view management commands.
| | 05:32 | The Ribbon can do a few tricks.
| | 05:35 | You can reduce the amount of space the
Ribbon takes up or tell it to show you
| | 05:39 | keyboard shortcuts, so you can
keep your fingers on the keys.
| | 05:43 | If you make your Project program
window smaller, the Ribbon adjusts sections
| | 05:48 | and buttons to fit.
| | 05:50 | On the Task tab, the Insert section has
buttons for inserting several types of commands.
| | 05:56 | If you make the window narrower, the Insert
section shrinks to a single Insert button.
| | 06:01 | When you click it, you see a
submenu of the individual Insert commands.
| | 06:08 | You can also collapse the Ribbon
so it hides, until you click a tab,
| | 06:14 | right-click on the Ribbon and choose
Minimize the Ribbon. All you see are the tab names.
| | 06:22 | Click a tab name, and the
full Ribbon tab appears.
| | 06:27 | When you click a command,
the Ribbon hides again.
| | 06:32 | Then if you want to see the Ribbon, turn
off the Minimize the Ribbon check mark.
| | 06:37 | If you don't like switching between
mouse and keyboard, you can also use
| | 06:41 | keyboard shortcuts to choose commands.
| | 06:44 | Press the Alt key to show the
keyboard shortcut letters on the Ribbon.
| | 06:49 | Press a letter to choose the tab you want.
| | 06:51 | For example, U for resource.
Then keep pressing letters until you launch
| | 06:57 | the command you want.
| | 06:58 | For example, P for Team Planner and
then P again on the shortcut menu.
| | 07:03 | The Quick Access Toolbar is separate
from the Ribbon, but it's great for
| | 07:08 | commands you use all the time.
| | 07:10 | It sits above the Ribbon, but you can
place it below the Ribbon by clicking its
| | 07:15 | down arrow and choosing Show Below
the Ribbon, or you can move it back by
| | 07:24 | saying, Show Above the Ribbon.
| | 07:26 | Out of the box the Quick Access
toolbar has the Save, Undo, and Redo commands.
| | 07:33 | You can turn on other popular commands,
like New, Open and Save As, or you can
| | 07:38 | add any commands you want
so it's always available.
| | 07:45 | The Project Ribbon organizes commands
and makes it easy to perform many of your
| | 07:49 | frequently used activities, like
hiding or showing summary tasks.
| | 07:54 | It contorts itself to fit the width of
the Project window, so don't be surprised
| | 07:59 | if you see icon text disappear or
sections replaced by a single button.
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| Navigating the Backstage view| 00:00 | When you launch Project and go to the
File tab, the first few commands are old
| | 00:06 | favorites: Save, Save As, Open, Close,
and at the very bottom, Exit, all still do
| | 00:14 | what they did before.
| | 00:16 | But the other entries do more, a lot more.
| | 00:19 | On the Info tab, you see information
about the active project file, on the right
| | 00:24 | side of this page, like a
start date and finish date.
| | 00:28 | Click Project Information and then
Project Statistics to see scheduled baseline
| | 00:33 | and actual values, if they exist.
| | 00:37 | Click the Organizer button when you
want to copy views, tables, and other
| | 00:43 | elements between files, as
you will learn in a later movie.
| | 00:49 | Click Recent to see all the
projects you have opened recently.
| | 00:53 | This is the quickest way to reopen a file.
| | 00:57 | If you are going to work on a project
for months, click the pushpin to the
| | 01:02 | right of the file name.
| | 01:03 | The project gets pinned to the
top of the Recent Projects list.
| | 01:07 | To add projects to the Backstage menu,
turn on the Quickly access this number
| | 01:13 | of Recent Projects check box, and
type the number of files you want.
| | 01:20 | Project displays that number of recent
projects above the Info command, starting
| | 01:26 | with projects you have pinned
to the Recent Projects list.
| | 01:29 | You can create a new Project file in several
ways, as you will learn in a later movie.
| | 01:35 | The New command in the Backstage is
your ticket to all of these methods.
| | 01:40 | The Print page looks like
the old Print dialog box.
| | 01:47 | You can select a printer, choose
paper orientation or set margins.
| | 01:57 | When you are ready to print, choose the
number of copies and click the big Print button.
| | 02:03 | The one drawback to this Print page
is that the Options area won't shrink,
| | 02:08 | and unless you have a widescreen monitor, it's
tough to get a good preview before you print.
| | 02:15 | When you click Save & Send, you can choose
ways to save and send your project files:
| | 02:21 | Send your project as an e-mail
Attachment, Synchronize your file with a
| | 02:25 | SharePoint Task List, save the file to
Share Point site or if you click Save
| | 02:32 | Project as File, it does pretty much
the same thing as clicking Save As on
| | 02:36 | the Backstage menu.
| | 02:39 | Clicking Microsoft Office Help
opens the Project Help window.
| | 02:43 | You can also get info on your
version of project or find resources for
| | 02:53 | learning more about Project.
| | 03:00 | To open the Project Options window,
click Options. Then you can set Options for
| | 03:07 | Project or for a specific project file.
| | 03:17 | The File tab contains
commands for managing files and more.
| | 03:22 | You can set options or print views and reports.
| | 03:25 | The big difference with the File tab
is that it takes over the entire project
| | 03:29 | window. To get back to a Project
view, like the Gantt Chart, click another
| | 03:34 | Ribbon tab.
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| Creating a project| 00:00 | You keep a lot of information about a
project in a Microsoft Project file:
| | 00:04 | tasks that represent the project work,
resources you assigned to work on those
| | 00:09 | tasks, the dependencies between tasks
that determine the order in which work is
| | 00:14 | done, and once work begins,
the status of the project.
| | 00:18 | You can create a Project file from a
template, an Excel workbook, an existing
| | 00:23 | file, or a SharePoint Task List.
| | 00:27 | In Project, click the File tab.
| | 00:29 | Project's Backstage view is where you
create files, regardless which methods you use.
| | 00:39 | Click New to see the available templates page.
| | 00:43 | This page has buttons for all the
methods you can use to create a project.
| | 00:47 | Using a template is the quickest way
to get started, because a template can
| | 00:51 | contain tasks, resources, settings,
and even values like task durations or
| | 00:57 | estimated work hours.
| | 00:58 | Whether you use one of Microsoft's
templates, a colleague's template, or one of
| | 01:03 | your own, a template can get
you started with a ton of info.
| | 01:07 | Or it can have tasks with durations,
work hours, resources with pay rates,
| | 01:12 | assigned tasks, links between
tasks, baseline values - you name it.
| | 01:17 | How you get to a template
depends on the template.
| | 01:20 | To use a Microsoft template, double-
click one of the categories below the
| | 01:24 | Office.com Templates heading.
| | 01:26 | For example, double-click Plans
and then double-click Business.
| | 01:34 | All the business-oriented project
templates appear, showing a thumbnail of the
| | 01:38 | template and the company that produced it.
| | 01:44 | Select a template and then click Download.
| | 01:47 | The project template downloads to your
computer, to your Template folder, and
| | 01:51 | also opens in Project.
| | 01:53 | When you save the file, by clicking the
File tab and then clicking Save, the Save
| | 02:00 | As dialog box opens.
| | 02:02 | That's because you are saving a new
project file based on the template.
| | 02:06 | Open the folder where you want to store the
new project file, Desktop in this example.
| | 02:12 | Then in the File Name box type the
name for the new file. Click Save.
| | 02:25 | You have your new project file.
| | 02:27 | If you are looking for a specific type
of project, go back to the New page and
| | 02:34 | in the Search Office.com for templates
box, type keywords for the template.
| | 02:39 | Try typing wine fundraiser and click the arrow.
| | 02:46 | Sure enough, there is a
template for a wine tasting fundraiser.
| | 02:50 | I know because I created it.
| | 02:52 | If you go back to the Available
Templates page by clicking the Back button, if
| | 02:57 | you have used a recent template, an easy way
to get to it is by clicking Recent Templates.
| | 03:06 | The templates that I have opened
recently are both showing here.
| | 03:10 | Again, click the Back button to go
back to the full available Templates page.
| | 03:14 | Clicking My Templates opens the new
dialog box, showing the templates in
| | 03:20 | your Templates folder.
| | 03:21 | You can tell Project where
you want to keep your templates.
| | 03:24 | To create a project file from one of
these templates, just click the template
| | 03:29 | and then click okay.
| | 03:33 | There is a glitch in
Project's Template Folder option.
| | 03:36 | You can specify the templates folder
by clicking Options to open the Project
| | 03:41 | Options dialog box and then clicking Save.
| | 03:47 | The default folder is shown here.
| | 03:50 | It's buried under AppData/Roaming/
Microsoft/Templates for the Windows
| | 03:56 | 7 operating system.
| | 03:58 | It isn't a great place to keep
templates because you might skip that folder
| | 04:01 | when you do backups.
| | 04:03 | A folder within my documents, say My
Documents\Templates, is more likely to get
| | 04:09 | backed up and is just easier to get to.
| | 04:11 | You have to trick Project into
displaying templates in a folder like that.
| | 04:16 | The trick is to set your template
folder in another Office program,
| | 04:22 | close the Project Options box
and then open another program, for
| | 04:29 | example, Microsoft Word,
| | 04:38 | click the File tab and choose Options.
| | 04:44 | Click Advanced and scroll
down to the General section.
| | 04:51 | Click File Locations, click
Workgroup templates and then click Modify.
| | 05:00 | Select the folder where you want to
store your templates and click OK.
| | 05:03 | So, for example, choose My Documents
and then create a new folder called
| | 05:11 | Templates and click OK. Click OK to
close the File Locations box. Click OK to
| | 05:21 | close the Word Options box,
and you can close Word.
| | 05:27 | When you go back to Project, templates in
that folder will appear in the new dialog box.
| | 05:33 | I don't know why it works; it just does.
| | 05:35 | If you capture information about tasks,
resources, or assignments in an Excel
| | 05:41 | workbook, you can use that
file to create a project file.
| | 05:44 | Say you built a list of tasks in
Excel and you got estimates of work or
| | 05:48 | duration from team members.
| | 05:50 | You can pull that information
from Excel into a new project file.
| | 05:54 | Go to the File tab and click New,
and then click New from Excel Workbook.
| | 06:02 | The Open dialog box opens with
the File Type set to Excel Workbook.
| | 06:09 | Navigate to the folder with the file
you want, select the file, and click Open.
| | 06:15 | The Project Import Wizard opens. Click
Next to use a new map and to load the
| | 06:21 | data into a new file.
| | 06:23 | When you get to the Map Options
screen, turn on the Tasks check box.
| | 06:28 | If the workbook has resources or
assignments, you can turn those check boxes on too.
| | 06:35 | The Task Mapping page shows the
fields that you are going to import.
| | 06:40 | If a field in the Excel workbook isn't
mapped to a project field, you can select
| | 06:45 | the project field in the dropdown list.
| | 06:47 | For example, I can import
estimated work into the Work field.
| | 06:55 | The preview shows you an example of
the data that you are going to import.
| | 07:00 | If everything looks good in
the preview, click Finish.
| | 07:04 | Project creates a new file
based on the Excel Workbook.
| | 07:08 | When you click File and click Save,
the Save As dialog box opens, so you can
| | 07:15 | choose a folder and a
file name for the new file.
| | 07:23 | On the File tab, in the New page, you
can also click New from existing project,
| | 07:30 | but that isn't all that helpful.
| | 07:32 | You select the project you want to
copy and click Create New, and Project
| | 07:36 | opens the file for you.
| | 07:38 | However, it keeps all values in the original
project, including Baseline and Actual values,
| | 07:43 | so you might have to do more cleanup
than you want to, before you can use the
| | 07:47 | file for you new project.
| | 07:49 | On the other hand, if you want to
start completely from scratch, click Blank
| | 07:54 | Project and then click Create.
| | 07:58 | The keyboard shortcut, Ctrl+N, still works too.
| | 08:03 | Project creates a new file, named
something like Project1 or Project2 in this case.
| | 08:12 | You can also create a project
from a SharePoint Tasks List.
| | 08:17 | If you have tasks in a SharePoint Tasks
List, you can turn them into a Project file.
| | 08:22 | This is a great timesaver if you
brainstorm tasks with your team in SharePoint,
| | 08:26 | and then want to start a
schedule from those tasks.
| | 08:29 | This feature is new in Project 2010
Professional, and it's available as long as
| | 08:34 | you aren't using Project Server.
| | 08:36 | If you use Project Server, you can use
its more powerful features to collaborate
| | 08:41 | with your team without the Task List limitation.
| | 08:44 | For example, task come in from
SharePoint as manually scheduled tasks, which
| | 08:49 | means you have to specify
the start and finish dates.
| | 08:52 | If you synchronize autoscheduled tasks,
SharePoint converts them to manually
| | 08:57 | schedule, so you can't use Project's
scheduling features to manage your project.
| | 09:02 | But if you want to bring tasks in
from a Task List, click New from
| | 09:06 | SharePoint Task List.
| | 09:08 | In the import SharePoint Tasks List dialog
box, choose the URL of your SharePoint site.
| | 09:15 | In the Tasks List dropdown, you will
choose the Task List you want and click OK,
| | 09:21 | and the tasks appear in a new project file.
| | 09:24 | No matter which way you create a
project file, when you click Save, the Save
| | 09:28 | As dialog box opens.
| | 09:30 | You select the folder for the new file,
give it a new name, and when the Save
| | 09:34 | As type box is set to Project, you
know you are saving the file as a Project
| | 09:39 | 2010 format file.
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| Saving a project| 00:00 | You don't want to lose the hard work
you have done on your Project file, so
| | 00:04 | 'Save early, save often' are words to live by.
| | 00:07 | Saving an existing project file can be
as easy as pressing the Ctrl key and the
| | 00:12 | S key simultaneously.
| | 00:13 | But you can Project files in
other ways, and to other formats.
| | 00:17 | You can also choose from a few
safety-oriented options to protect your file.
| | 00:22 | For example, Project will always
create a backup of your file before you save
| | 00:26 | it, so you don't overwrite work by mistake.
| | 00:29 | Or you can assign a password that
someone has to enter before he or she can
| | 00:33 | open or edit the file.
| | 00:34 | Project's Save and Save As
commands handle all these ways to save.
| | 00:38 | In Project, when you click the File
tab, the Save and Save As commands are at
| | 00:44 | the top of the menu.
| | 00:46 | The Quick Access Toolbar also includes the
Save command, so it's always only a click away.
| | 00:51 | But the quickest way to save a file is
to press Ctrl+S. If you are saving an
| | 00:58 | existing file, Project just re-saves
it, and if you are saving a new file, the
| | 01:03 | program opens the Save As dialog box.
| | 01:05 | If you want to save to another
format, on the File tab, click Save As.
| | 01:12 | If you are saving a new file, the Save
As dialog box opens, whether you choose
| | 01:16 | Save or Save As, and you can also
Save As to save a copy of a Project file.
| | 01:22 | In Save As dialog box, go to the folder
where you want to save the file and then
| | 01:29 | give the file a new name
and then just click Save.
| | 01:35 | On the other hand, if you want to save
a project file to another file format,
| | 01:40 | use the Save As command.
| | 01:42 | This time in the Save As dialog box,
the key is the Save as type dropdown list.
| | 01:49 | Click the down arrow on
the right side of the box.
| | 01:52 | You can save to Project 2010, Project
2007, and Project 2000-2003 formats.
| | 02:01 | You can also save
Project 2010 or 2007 templates.
| | 02:05 | If you chose an earlier project format,
you will see a warning that you could
| | 02:10 | lose data if the file uses new
features, like manual scheduling.
| | 02:14 | If you want to export data to Excel,
choose Excel Workbook, Excel Binary
| | 02:20 | Workbook, or Excel 97-2003 Workbook.
| | 02:25 | Excel Workbook is the Excel 2010 format.
| | 02:29 | Excel Binary gives you a binary format
Excel file, and Excel 97-2003 is the
| | 02:35 | earlier Excel Binary format.
| | 02:38 | When you select an Excel format,
the Export Wizard launches.
| | 02:42 | Of course, the old standbys for tab-delimited
and comma-delimited files are also available.
| | 02:48 | When you use these formats, Project
saves the active table in the view and opens
| | 02:53 | the Export Wizard to help you export your data.
| | 02:56 | You will learn about the
Export Wizard in a later movie.
| | 02:59 | You can save straight to XML format if
you want to create a file to publish to
| | 03:04 | the web or use XM,L on it in some other way.
| | 03:08 | PDF files and XPS files give you electronic
hard copy files that most people can read.
| | 03:15 | You can open a PDF file with Adobe Reader.
| | 03:18 | XPS stands for XML Paper Specification,
and it's one of Microsoft's ways to
| | 03:24 | share documents with others.
| | 03:26 | Let's choose Microsoft Project 2000-2003.
Click Save to save the file to the format.
| | 03:41 | If you choose an older format, you
see a message warning you that the file
| | 03:45 | may be less secure.
| | 03:48 | Click OK to save the file anyway.
| | 03:52 | If your file uses new features, you may
also see a warning that the unsupported
| | 03:56 | features will be converted, like
manually scheduled tasks converted to
| | 04:00 | automatically scheduled tasks,
and you can just click Continue.
| | 04:04 | No mention of file formats would be
complete without a quick digression to the
| | 04:09 | file formats you can open with Project 2010.
| | 04:13 | Project can open files in earlier
versions of Project, going back to Project 98.
| | 04:19 | However, these files won't be able
to use Project 2010's new features.
| | 04:24 | On the other hand, Project can open but
not save to Project Databases, which is
| | 04:30 | an earlier format for storing multiple
Projects, or to Microsoft Access Databases,
| | 04:36 | or ODBC files, which stands
for Open Database Connectivity.
| | 04:39 | A few protection options are
tucked away in the Save As dialog box.
| | 04:47 | To the left of the Save button, click
Tools and then choose General Options.
| | 04:54 | The Save Options dialog box opens.
| | 04:57 | To create a backup copy whenever
you save the file, turn on the Always
| | 05:02 | create backup check box.
| | 05:04 | When you do this, you get a copy of
the file with the BAK file extension, in
| | 05:08 | addition to saving your project MPP file.
| | 05:12 | The Protection password is a password
you have to type to open the file, while
| | 05:17 | the Write Reservation password is a
password you have to type to edit the file.
| | 05:22 | If you set either of these passwords,
a Confirm Password dialog box opens.
| | 05:26 | You have to retype the password, so
you don't save a password with the typo,
| | 05:30 | which would mean you couldn't open the file.
| | 05:33 | Turn on the Read-only recommended check
box, if you want Project to ask if you
| | 05:38 | want to open the file as read-only.
| | 05:40 | If you do this, you can
always click No to edit the file.
| | 05:45 | You can also tell Project how
you want to save your projects.
| | 05:49 | To do that, go to the File tab
and click Options. Then click Save.
| | 05:58 | You can choose the format that
you want in the Save Files in this
| | 06:01 | format dropdown list.
| | 06:04 | You can also tell Project the folder
that you want to use, and you can tell
| | 06:10 | Project how often you want to save the work.
| | 06:13 | It's a good idea to have this check
box turned on, but for now, I am going to
| | 06:16 | turn this off so that we
don't get any interruptions.
| | 06:20 | Choosing the default file format and
the default folder location means that the
| | 06:26 | Save As dialog box opens with
the settings you use most often.
| | 06:31 | The Auto save every setting can be a lifesaver.
| | 06:34 | If you forget to save your work for
hours, you turn the check box on, and then
| | 06:38 | choose the number of minutes between saves.
| | 06:41 | You have to decide the trade-off
between saving your work and stopping what
| | 06:45 | you are doing to save.
| | 06:46 | 45-60 minutes is a happy medium.
| | 06:49 | You can also tell Project to autosave
only the active project or all open projects.
| | 06:56 | If you want Project to ask for
permission before it saves, turn on the Prompt
| | 07:01 | before saving check box.
| | 07:02 | A few options help keep your computer secure.
| | 07:07 | In the Project Options dialog box,
click Trust Center, and then click
| | 07:13 | Trust Center Settings.
| | 07:15 | If you want to be cautious with older
file formats which are prone to viruses
| | 07:20 | and other malware click Legacy Formats.
| | 07:24 | The middle ground is to select the
Prompt when loading files with legacy or
| | 07:28 | non-default file formats option.
| | 07:32 | Then Project asks you if you want to
open one of these older formats, and
| | 07:37 | opens it if you say Yes.
| | 07:39 | The Allow option goes ahead and opens a
file without asking, and the Do not open
| | 07:45 | option simply won't open the file, kind
of like a two-year-old faced with the
| | 07:49 | idea of eating a Brussels sprout.
| | 07:52 | To protect your privacy, click Privacy Options.
| | 07:56 | Turn on the Remove personal information
from file properties on save check box.
| | 08:03 | When you do this and save a file,
Project removes the author, manager, company,
| | 08:09 | and the person who last saved the file
from the File Properties. Then click OK
| | 08:15 | to close the Trust Center, and click OK
to close the Project Options dialog box.
| | 08:20 | The Save command saves an existing file.
| | 08:23 | Save As opens the Save As dialog box,
so you can save a file with another file
| | 08:28 | name to another file format, or with
one of Project's protection options.
| | 08:33 | To save time and heartache, be sure to
set Project's Save Option so the program
| | 08:38 | behaves the way you want.
| | 08:39 | You can also set additional options
to prevent older file formats from
| | 08:43 | endangering your computer or to erase
personal info from a file before you
| | 08:48 | send it to someone.
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| Defining project information| 00:00 | Because a project usually doesn't start
on the day that you create your project file,
| | 00:04 | one of the first things you do after
you create the file is to set the start
| | 00:08 | date for the Project.
| | 00:09 | That way Project automatically starts task
on that date, unless you tell it otherwise.
| | 00:14 | You can specify other settings for
the Project, like the calendar it uses to
| | 00:18 | determine working and nonworking times,
and whether you want to schedule the
| | 00:22 | project from the start date or
work backwards from the finish date.
| | 00:26 | Here we have an exiting project, and
it's showing the default view, which is the
| | 00:31 | Gantt Chart at the top and the
task form in the Details pane.
| | 00:34 | You can see right now all of the tasks in
this project are schedule to start today.
| | 00:40 | The Project Information dialog box
lets you set this project start date, the
| | 00:44 | calendar of working and
nonworking times, and a few other settings.
| | 00:48 | In Project 2010, you click the Project
tab and click Project Information to open
| | 00:56 | the Project Information dialog box.
| | 00:58 | When you set the start date for a
project, tasks without start dates or
| | 01:02 | predecessors automatically get the start
date that matches the project start date.
| | 01:07 | Project then uses predecessors and task
dependencies to calculate the dates for
| | 01:11 | autoscheduled tasks in your schedule.
| | 01:14 | To set the start date, choose
the date in the Start date field.
| | 01:19 | In this case, say August 2nd. When I
click OK, all of the tasks reschedule to the
| | 01:26 | project start, date August 2nd.
| | 01:29 | Going back into the Project Information
dialog box, The Schedule from box is set
| | 01:35 | to Project Start Date by default, and
you should really leave it that way.
| | 01:39 | Although executives might give you a
finish date for a project, it's better to
| | 01:43 | start from a start date to see when
the project realistically can finish.
| | 01:47 | If the finish date is too late, you can
use several techniques to shorten the
| | 01:51 | duration, like assigning more
resources or running tasks simultaneously.
| | 01:55 | If you try to work backwards by
scheduling from the Finish Date, you lose any
| | 02:00 | wiggle room on dates if the project goes awry.
| | 02:03 | The Calendar box is set to Standard initially.
| | 02:06 | Project's built-in standard calendar
uses Monday through Friday as working days
| | 02:10 | and 8 am to 5 pm with an hour for lunch
as the work times, and most of the time
| | 02:15 | standard calendar works.
| | 02:16 | If you want to modify your working days
and times, you can modify the standard
| | 02:20 | calendar or create your own calendar,
as you'll learn in the later movie.
| | 02:24 | The Project also has a Night Shift
Calendar and a 24 Hours Calendar built-in.
| | 02:31 | When you have the settings
the way you want, click OK.
| | 02:34 | Then you can click File > Save, to
save the project with those settings.
| | 02:39 | To make sure that you adjust your
project settings, you can tell Project to open
| | 02:43 | the Project Information dialog box
as soon as you create a new file.
| | 02:47 | Click File, and then click Options.
| | 02:50 | In the Project Options
dialog box, click Advanced.
| | 02:53 | In the General section at the top
of the screen, turn on the Prompt for
| | 02:57 | project info for new projects check box, and then
click OK to close the Project Options dialog box.
| | 03:05 | Then if you click New and create a blank
project, the Project Information dialog
| | 03:12 | box opens automatically, so
you can change your settings.
| | 03:15 | After you set the start date in the
calendar, you're ready to work on building
| | 03:21 | your project's schedule in earnest.
| | 03:23 | As you start defining your project, the
program calculates the finish date and
| | 03:27 | shows that date in the
Project Information dialog box.
| | 03:30 | As you'll learn in the later movie, you
also return to the Project Information
| | 03:33 | dialog box once you begin tracking
progress, to specify the current status
| | 03:37 | date for your project.
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| Setting up the project calendar| 00:00 | The days and times that people work
affect the duration of your project's schedule.
| | 00:05 | Sure, you could get a seven-day, 12-
hour-per-day working calendar to try to
| | 00:08 | finish a project quickly, but people
won't work at that grueling pace for long,
| | 00:13 | and they'll quickly become less productive.
| | 00:15 | If you have teams in different parts of
the world, what's considered a standard
| | 00:18 | workweek can differ significantly.
| | 00:21 | In Project, you define calendars to
specify the days and times that people work
| | 00:26 | and the days and times that they don't.
| | 00:27 | Project's Calendar options tell the program
how to covert durations into hours of work.
| | 00:33 | To keep calculations accurate, you have
to tell Project the typical work hours
| | 00:38 | for a week and month, for your
organization's typical work schedule.
| | 00:42 | To create or edit calendars, on the
Project tab, click Change Working Time.
| | 00:48 | In the Change Working Time dialog box,
the For calendar box shows the calendar
| | 00:54 | assigned to the project, and shows
that by adding the words "Project Calendar"
| | 01:00 | after the calendar name.
| | 01:01 | A calendar identifies a set of
working and nonworking days and time.
| | 01:06 | You can assign a calendar to a project
to specify the work times for the entire
| | 01:10 | project, like your organization's
standard workdays, the official start and end
| | 01:15 | of the workday, lunchtime, and official holidays.
| | 01:18 | You can define additional calendars
for projects that follow a different
| | 01:22 | schedule, like construction on an
interstate highway bridge that runs from 9 pm
| | 01:26 | to 5 am to minimize traffic jams.
| | 01:29 | The easiest way to define your
organization's working and nonworking times is by
| | 01:33 | editing the built-in standard calendar.
| | 01:35 | However, if you want to create a new
calendar, click Create New Calendar.
| | 01:39 | In the Create New Base Calendar dialog box,
type the name for the calendar, such as LongWeek.
| | 01:49 | If you select the Create new base
calendar option, you have to define every
| | 01:54 | aspect of the calendar.
| | 01:55 | So it's usually quicker to copy
one of the built-in calendars.
| | 01:59 | To copy an existing calendar, leave
the Make a copy of option selected.
| | 02:03 | Then in the dropdown list, choose the
calendar you want to copy, but in this
| | 02:06 | case Standard is fine.
| | 02:09 | Then click OK to save the new calendar.
| | 02:12 | To edit a calendar, select it in the For
calendar dropdown list, as it's shown here.
| | 02:18 | If you set up calendars for resources,
they'll appear at the end of this list.
| | 02:27 | The Change Working Time dialog box
has two tabs for the two approaches to
| | 02:32 | defining working and nonworking days and times.
| | 02:36 | Work Weeks are named just that because
they represent the work schedules you
| | 02:41 | usually follow, week after week.
| | 02:43 | A workweek identifies the working and
nonworking days of the week and the work
| | 02:48 | hours for each workday.
| | 02:49 | You can set up more than one work
week if you work different schedules at
| | 02:53 | different times of the year,
| | 02:54 | for example a shorter summer workweek,
or you can define an alternate work-
| | 02:58 | week for a specific
resource who's working fewer hours.
| | 03:02 | You can't create a workweek and
apply it to different time periods.
| | 03:06 | Each time period with a special
work schedule needs its own workweek.
| | 03:10 | The default workweek sets weekdays as
workdays and weekends as non-workdays.
| | 03:16 | You can see here that Monday through
Friday all have work hours, and Sunday and
| | 03:24 | Saturday are nonworking days.
| | 03:28 | The start and end work times come from
the hours you specify in Project Calendar
| | 03:32 | options, which you'll learn about shortly.
| | 03:35 | The Start and Finish cells are filled in
with NA, which means that the workweek
| | 03:40 | applies to all dates.
| | 03:43 | To set up a new workweek, click the
first blank Name cell and type a name,
| | 03:49 | LongHours for example.
| | 03:54 | In the Start cell, choose the first date
that the workweek applies, say October 1st.
| | 04:02 | In the Finish cell, choose the last date.
| | 04:04 | Let's say that's December 31st.
| | 04:09 | The next step is to set
up the workdays and times.
| | 04:13 | With the Work Week selected
in the table, click Details.
| | 04:17 | The dialog box has the heading
Details for 'LongHours' to show that you are
| | 04:21 | setting the working and nonworking
schedule for the LongHours workweek.
| | 04:25 | You can select days in several ways.
| | 04:28 | You can click a single day,
| | 04:30 | you could drag over several days,
like Monday through Friday, or you can
| | 04:34 | Ctrl+Click non-adjacent
days like Sunday and Saturday.
| | 04:39 | If you select working days, say Monday and
Tuesday, the work hours appear in the table.
| | 04:45 | If you want to change your workday to a
nonworking day, select the Set days to
| | 04:50 | nonworking time option.
| | 04:52 | On the other hand, if you want to
change the work hours for a workday, or to
| | 04:56 | change a nonwork day to a work day,
select the Set day(s) to these specific
| | 05:02 | working times option.
| | 05:04 | Now that we've selected this option,
we can actually edit the workdays
| | 05:08 | for Monday and Tuesday.
| | 05:09 | To change the work hours in an existing entry,
you click the cell and then type the new time.
| | 05:15 | Project selects the entire cell contents,
| | 05:18 | so you can just start typing the new time.
| | 05:21 | Click the last To cell and type 07:00PM.
| | 05:27 | Actually, if you type a number from
7 to 11 without typing anything else,
| | 05:32 | Project automatically adds AM to the time.
| | 05:35 | Project adds PM to the numbers
12, and the numbers from 1 to 6.
| | 05:41 | Project doesn't like
overlapping times in different rows.
| | 05:44 | If one row has work times of 1 PM to 5
PM and 4 PM to 5 PM in another row, the
| | 05:51 | program complains when you
click OK to close the dialog box.
| | 05:55 | You have to get back into the Details
dialog box by clicking OK in the warning
| | 05:59 | message and just edit the
times to get them right.
| | 06:02 | To add a new row, click the first
blank From cell and type a starting time.
| | 06:08 | If you want to remove a row, drag across both
the From and To cells, and then press Delete.
| | 06:17 | To set times for other days, you can
select those days and edit the times, and
| | 06:21 | when you're ready, you can
click OK to close the dialog box.
| | 06:24 | I'm going to put in this starting time
again, so our work schedule is correct.
| | 06:31 | You use Exceptions mostly for
nonworking time, but some working time can fit
| | 06:37 | into the exception mold.
| | 06:39 | Company holidays are a
good example of exceptions.
| | 06:43 | You name each one, like
Thanksgiving Day, and choose the date range.
| | 06:48 | If an exception lasts longer than a week,
every day has to either be nonworking
| | 06:53 | time or use the same work hours.
| | 06:55 | For this reason, an exception can
work for a factory shutdown or for a
| | 06:59 | multi-day training class.
| | 07:01 | You can also set up recurring
exceptions to set aside the last day of every
| | 07:04 | quarter for an all hands meeting.
| | 07:07 | To create an exception, click the
Exceptions tab and then click the first blank
| | 07:12 | Name cell, and type a name for the
exception, like Company Meeting.
| | 07:19 | In the Start cell, choose the first
date for the exception, say September 17th.
| | 07:27 | In the Finish cell, choose the last date.
| | 07:36 | Then click Details.
| | 07:40 | The Details For dialog box shows the
exception name, Company Meeting in this example.
| | 07:46 | Because exceptions are often
nonworking time, Project automatically selects
| | 07:51 | the Nonworking option.
| | 07:53 | If the exception is for a few days of
different work times, select the Working
| | 07:58 | times option, and fill in
the Working times calendar.
| | 08:02 | If an exception occurs on a
regular schedule, you can set up a
| | 08:05 | Recurrence pattern.
| | 08:06 | For the quarterly meeting,
select the Monthly option.
| | 08:09 | You can choose a specific date in the
month or a day, like the second Friday.
| | 08:17 | Because it is a quarterly
meeting, type 3 in the months box.
| | 08:23 | The options you can choose vary
based on whether the recurrence is daily,
| | 08:27 | weekly, monthly or yearly.
| | 08:30 | The range of recurrence tells
Project how long the exception repeats.
| | 08:33 | You can end it after a number of
occurrences, or by a specific date.
| | 08:38 | In this example, type 8 in the
occurrences box to run the meeting for two years.
| | 08:45 | Click OK to save the exception.
| | 08:47 | Back in the Change Working Time dialog
box, you can also assign a calendar to an
| | 08:52 | individual or a group of resources to
schedule around vacations, a half-time
| | 08:57 | work schedule or other non
-standard working times.
| | 09:00 | You can even assign a calendar to
a task, for instance to schedule a
| | 09:04 | banking system cutover to run around
the clock over the weekend to minimize
| | 09:08 | service interruptions.
| | 09:10 | When you finish working on calendars, click
OK to close the Change Working Time dialog box.
| | 09:15 | You can copy calendars using the Organizer.
| | 09:22 | That way you can use them in other
projects, or you can copy a calendar into the
| | 09:27 | project Global template to share
that calendar with all new projects.
| | 09:32 | You will learn how to use
Organizer in a later movie.
| | 09:37 | You have to match a project's calendar
options to its calendar working time to
| | 09:41 | tell Project how to convert durations
for working times into hours of work.
| | 09:46 | To do that, on the File tab, click Options.
| | 09:50 | Then click Schedule.
| | 09:52 | The label, Calendar options for this
Project, tells you that the calendar options
| | 09:57 | apply to the project shown in the box.
| | 10:00 | When more than one project is open,
you can choose a different project name to
| | 10:04 | assign calendar options to a different project.
| | 10:07 | To adjust calendar options for all new
projects - that means not existing ones -
| | 10:13 | in the dropdown list, choose All New Projects.
| | 10:17 | Project's default calendar options are
perfect for your typical 40 hours workweek.
| | 10:23 | Hours per day is set to 8 and
Hours per week is set to 40.
| | 10:28 | The Hours per day sets the number of work
hours for a single workday, so in this
| | 10:33 | case, 8 hours of work.
| | 10:35 | If you use longer or shorter workdays,
type the number of work hours in this box.
| | 10:40 | And Hours per week defines the number of
work hours in one week, so five 8-hours
| | 10:45 | days in 40 work hours.
| | 10:47 | Days per month converts between days
and months, and is set to 20 workdays.
| | 10:53 | That's basically for four
weeks, each with five workdays.
| | 10:56 | The Hours per day, Hours per week
options have to match your work calendar if
| | 11:01 | you want project's calculations to be
correct. Say Hours per day is 6 hours.
| | 11:06 | For a task with a two-day duration,
Project multiplies the two days by six-hours
| | 11:11 | per day to get 12 work hours.
| | 11:13 | If someone is assigned to the task at
100% and works 8 hour day, as according to
| | 11:18 | the project calendar,
that's total of 16 work hours.
| | 11:21 | You will see different work hours
depending on whether you set the task duration
| | 11:25 | in hours or days, but if you keep your
calendar and calendar options in sync,
| | 11:30 | the issue never arises.
| | 11:32 | The Week starts on is set
initially to Sunday, which is fine.
| | 11:37 | If your corporate time tracking system,
however, starts on Monday, change this
| | 11:41 | setting so that both programs
start on the same day of the week.
| | 11:45 | Fiscal year starts in is important
only if your corporate fiscal year starts
| | 11:50 | in a month other than January, and you want
to produce fiscal period reports in Project.
| | 11:56 | For most tasks, the start time is based
on when the predecessors tasks finish.
| | 12:02 | Choose a time in the Default start time
box for tasks that don't have predecessors.
| | 12:08 | If you start you days earlier or
later, change the time in this box.
| | 12:13 | Default end time is for tasks in which
you specify a task's finish date without
| | 12:18 | specifying a finish time, and
it's set to 5:00 PM initially.
| | 12:23 | If your workday ends earlier or
later, change the time in this box.
| | 12:27 | Calendars tell Project about the
working and nonworking times for the entire
| | 12:31 | project, for specific resources,
and in some cases, specific tasks.
| | 12:36 | And they're one of the keys to how long
task take and how long resources work.
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
2. Creating TasksCreating a new task| 00:00 | In the past, Project always calculated
when tasks started and finished based on
| | 00:05 | dependencies you created between tasks.
| | 00:07 | If you wanted to fix a task's start
or finish date, you could set a date
| | 00:11 | constraint on the task.
| | 00:13 | Project 2010 has two scheduling modes.
| | 00:16 | Auto Scheduled mode makes tasks work
the way they always have, with Project
| | 00:20 | calculating their start and
finish dates automatically.
| | 00:23 | The new scheduling mode, Manually
Scheduled, gives you control over task dates
| | 00:28 | and comes in handy in several ways.
| | 00:30 | Whether you create a manually scheduled
or auto scheduled task in Project, the
| | 00:34 | only thing you have to do is type a task name.
| | 00:38 | Here's a project with some existing tasks.
| | 00:40 | Let's look at the Identify potential sites task.
| | 00:43 | Now, if you use project management
software to help you schedule and manage projects,
| | 00:48 | why would you want to start
setting your own task dates?
| | 00:51 | Well, one of the reasons is, early in
project planning, you might not have all
| | 00:56 | the information you need to define a
task, and with Manually Scheduled tasks,
| | 01:00 | you can start with a task name, and you can
fill in the other details as you get them later.
| | 01:05 | For example, you might know when the
task will start, but you don't know
| | 01:09 | how long it will take.
| | 01:11 | With a manually scheduled task,
you can leave the Date and Duration
| | 01:14 | fields blank if you want.
| | 01:16 | You can fill in specific dates, or the
duration, or you can even fill in a field
| | 01:21 | with a note about the
information you don't have yet.
| | 01:24 | For example, here you can talk to the
realtor about when this is likely to start.
| | 01:29 | The appearance of the taskbars in
the Gantt Chart time scale shows what
| | 01:34 | information is filled in or
missing on manually scheduled tasks.
| | 01:38 | See how the taskbar shows a cap at
the start date, because that's the only
| | 01:42 | information that you've provided so far.
| | 01:45 | Let's look at the Review
requirements with management task.
| | 01:48 | In some cases, tasks have to occur on
specific dates, like meetings, training
| | 01:53 | classes, and conferences.
| | 01:55 | Those tasks start, whether you are ready or not.
| | 01:58 | You can type the dates in the Start or
Finish fields of a manually scheduled
| | 02:01 | task, and that's when the task is scheduled.
| | 02:04 | This approach is also an easy way for
a beginner to start managing projects.
| | 02:08 | You can create tasks and set their start
and finish dates without learning about
| | 02:12 | task dependencies, date constraints,
and other mysterious project features.
| | 02:17 | The Review requirements with management
task is manually scheduled for December
| | 02:22 | 15th, which happens to be the
quarterly meeting of your head honchos.
| | 02:27 | It doesn't matter whether you finish
the budget and other requirements earlier.
| | 02:31 | December 15th is the first day you
can meet with the big kahunas to get
| | 02:34 | their okay to proceed.
| | 02:36 | As you'll learn in a later movie, you
can also use a date constraint to set a
| | 02:40 | task's start or finish date, but
manual scheduling lets you fix both dates.
| | 02:45 | With manually scheduled tasks, you can
also plan a project from the top-down.
| | 02:50 | Suppose your boss told you how long
you have to complete a project, but you
| | 02:54 | don't have any idea whether
that length of time is sufficient.
| | 02:57 | You can create manually scheduled
summary tasks with the high-level
| | 03:01 | durations you've been given.
| | 03:03 | When you create tasks for the work in that
summary task, you can see if you have enough time.
| | 03:08 | Here, the black summary bar shows the
duration you entered manually for the
| | 03:12 | Planning Move summary task.
| | 03:14 | The red bar shows the
duration of all the subtasks.
| | 03:18 | The bar is red, because it's longer
than the duration you set for the summary
| | 03:23 | task, and that means that
you don't have enough time.
| | 03:26 | If you change the duration to 90 days,
the bar turns blue, because now you
| | 03:31 | do have enough time.
| | 03:32 | You can point to the bars to see the
screentip with the information about the task.
| | 03:37 | Now, let's look at another file to
see how to create manually scheduled and
| | 03:41 | auto scheduled tasks.
| | 03:42 | In this case, we're going to open
the OfficeMove_CreateTasks file.
| | 03:48 | In the Open box, you can
just double-click the file name.
| | 03:52 | Project sets the Task mode to
Manually Scheduled by default.
| | 03:55 | The status bar shows the Task mode
that's set for New Tasks to create.
| | 03:59 | Since the Task mode is set to Manually
scheduled, you can create a new manually
| | 04:03 | Scheduled task by typing a
name in the Task Name cell.
| | 04:07 | When you type the task name, press Enter.
| | 04:10 | The entry table shows the Task mode in
the column to the left of the Task Name.
| | 04:15 | The pushpin shows that the
task is manually scheduled.
| | 04:18 | The question mark means the task
duration and date information is complete.
| | 04:23 | To start this task on January
10th, 2011, click the Start cell.
| | 04:28 | Click the down arrow, and in the
calendar, go to the date that you want.
| | 04:33 | A black bracket appears at the start
date in the Gantt Chart time scale to show
| | 04:37 | that you've set the start date.
| | 04:39 | With manually scheduled tasks, you
type placeholder text when you don't have
| | 04:43 | the information yet.
| | 04:44 | Say you're waiting for Marco to give you
an estimate of the duration of this task.
| | 04:49 | Click the Duration cell and type a note.
| | 04:52 | Project fills in this cell with your
note, but nothing changes in the time
| | 04:56 | scale, because you
haven't provided a duration yet.
| | 04:58 | When you get the estimate from Marco,
say four weeks, in the Duration cell,
| | 05:03 | type "4w" and press Enter.
| | 05:06 | Project changes the value to four weeks
and draws a teal taskbar that spans the
| | 05:11 | four weeks in the time scale.
| | 05:13 | Because you've provided two values,
the Start date and the Duration, Project
| | 05:18 | calculates the Finish date for you.
| | 05:21 | The black bracket at the
Finish date at the task shows that.
| | 05:24 | The question mark on the Task mode
icon disappears as well, because the task
| | 05:28 | duration and date info is now complete.
| | 05:31 | Project has another look for manually
scheduled tasks with duration, but no dates.
| | 05:36 | In the next blank Task Name
cell, type "Choose location."
| | 05:41 | In the Duration cell, type "1w,"
for one week and press Enter.
| | 05:46 | Project starts the task at the
project start date, January 10th, 2011, but
| | 05:51 | because you haven't given any dates,
the taskbar is a shaded bar with no end
| | 05:56 | brackets, to show that the
task has only a duration.
| | 06:00 | To create a new auto scheduled task,
type the task name, say Define budget.
| | 06:05 | In the Task mode cell, click the
down arrow and choose Auto Scheduled.
| | 06:10 | Because the task is auto scheduled, it has
to have a duration, start and finish date.
| | 06:15 | Project sets the duration to one
day with a question mark
| | 06:19 | to show that it estimates
the duration at one day.
| | 06:22 | It also sets the Start date to the
project's start date and calculates the
| | 06:26 | Finish date for you.
| | 06:28 | The taskbar for an auto scheduled task
is a blue bar instead of the teal color
| | 06:32 | for manually scheduled tasks.
| | 06:34 | If you changed the duration,
Project recalculates the finish date.
| | 06:38 | Type "5d" in the Duration cell and
press Enter, and the Finish date is
| | 06:43 | recalculated to January 14th, 2011, and
the taskbar gets longer in the time scale.
| | 06:49 | The question mark on the Duration
also disappears, because you actually
| | 06:53 | provided a duration.
| | 06:54 | Whether you create auto scheduled or
manually scheduled tasks, you start
| | 06:58 | by typing a task name.
| | 07:00 | Then you can fill in other fields, like
duration or dates if you want, but for
| | 07:04 | manually scheduled tasks, you can
leave fields blank, fill them in with
| | 07:08 | estimated values, or type placeholder
notes about the info you still need.
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| Creating a milestone| 00:00 | Another popular category
of task is the milestone.
| | 00:04 | A milestone is a great way to show when
you've reached a key point in the project:
| | 00:08 | a software module tested, a
construction walkthrough completed, or even better -
| | 00:12 | a customer acceptance that triggers a payment.
| | 00:14 | Milestones have zero duration,
| | 00:16 | so you can add as many to a project as
you want without increasing the length of
| | 00:20 | the project or taking up resources time.
| | 00:22 | Project 2010 offers a command
specifically for creating milestones.
| | 00:26 | To create a milestone, go to the place
that you want to insert the milestone in
| | 00:31 | your project and select the
task that follows the milestone.
| | 00:35 | Then to create a milestone task,
on the Task tab, click Milestone.
| | 00:41 | Project fills in the task name cell
with a generic name, New Milestonem and
| | 00:45 | selects the text, so you can start
typing the name of the milestone, Planning
| | 00:49 | complete in this example.
| | 00:51 | When you press Enter, you can see that
the Duration is automatically set to zero
| | 00:55 | days, the earmark for a milestone task,
and the task shows up as a diamond in
| | 01:00 | the Gantt Chart time scale.
| | 01:02 | Now that we have the milestone, what
you would do is to link the milestone to
| | 01:07 | the previous tasks that represent the
work completed by the milestone, and
| | 01:12 | you'll learn how to link tasks in a later movie.
| | 01:15 | Creating a milestone is a breeze in
Project, now that there's a command for
| | 01:19 | milestones on the Ribbon.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Creating a summary task| 00:00 | Project 2010 includes the Insert Summary
Task command on the Task tab of the Ribbon.
| | 00:06 | This command lets you create a brand-
new summary task with one new subtask, or
| | 00:10 | you can use it to create a summary task
for several existing subtasks, ideal for
| | 00:15 | organizing your tasks into a hierarchy.
| | 00:17 | If you're trying to see if the time
you've been given by the Project customer is
| | 00:21 | long enough, manually scheduled
summary tasks are just the ticket.
| | 00:24 | Project can keep track of the duration
you give a summary task, and the total
| | 00:29 | duration of all the subtasks, and show you
whether the work fits in the time you have.
| | 00:33 | In this example, we have the
OfficeMove_SummaryTasks project open.
| | 00:38 | If you forgot some tasks in your plan,
you can insert a new summary task
| | 00:42 | with one new subtask.
| | 00:44 | Click the first blank row in the Task table.
| | 00:46 | On the Task tab, click Summary.
| | 00:49 | Project inserts a new summary task
with the creative name of New Summary Task,
| | 00:54 | and one new subtask called New Task.
| | 00:56 | The New Summary Task name cell is
selected, so you can just type the name for
| | 01:01 | the task, Identify costs, and press Enter.
| | 01:04 | In the New Task cell,
type the name of the subtask.
| | 01:08 | You can move these tasks to
where they belong in the list.
| | 01:12 | Drag over the task ID cells, 31 and 32 here.
| | 01:16 | The pointer changes to a four-headed arrow.
| | 01:19 | Drag the pointer until it is over the
task below where you want the selected
| | 01:23 | tasks, Hire contractors in this example.
| | 01:27 | When you release the mouse button,
the tasks drop into position.
| | 01:31 | If you want to make several existing
tasks subordinate to a new summary task,
| | 01:36 | select those tasks in the Task table.
| | 01:38 | For example, drag over the phone-
related tasks from Evaluate phone system needs
| | 01:44 | to Order long-distance service.
| | 01:46 | On the Task tab, click Summary.
| | 01:49 | Project inserts a new summary task
and makes the existing tasks one level
| | 01:55 | lower in the outline.
| | 01:56 | The New Summary Task name cell is selected,
so you can type the name for the task.
| | 02:01 | With manually scheduled summary tasks,
you can plan a project from the top-down.
| | 02:06 | Suppose your boss told you how long
you have to complete a project, but you
| | 02:09 | don't have any idea whether
that length of time is sufficient.
| | 02:13 | You can create manually scheduled
summary tasks with the high-level
| | 02:16 | durations you've been given.
| | 02:18 | For example, let's look at
the Construct office space task.
| | 02:22 | This summary task is manually scheduled,
because you can see the pushpin in the
| | 02:26 | Task mode cell, and the
duration is set to eight weeks.
| | 02:30 | That's the time frame your boss gave you.
| | 02:32 | The red bar shows the
duration of all the subtasks.
| | 02:36 | The bar is red, because it's longer than the
duration that you've given for the summary task.
| | 02:42 | If you change the duration to 10 weeks,
the bar turns blue, because now you have
| | 02:48 | enough time to complete all the subtasks.
| | 02:51 | Organizing your tasks into summary
tasks and subtasks makes it easier to keep
| | 02:56 | track of the work you're doing,
and what you've accomplished.
| | 02:59 | The Insert Summary Task command on the
Ribbon can help whether you're building
| | 03:02 | brand-new summary tasks or turning
existing tasks into subtasks, and with manual
| | 03:08 | scheduling, you can also compare
timeframes you have to work with to the
| | 03:11 | durations that Project calculates.
| | 03:13 | This top-down planning helps you see
whether you have to find a way to shorten
| | 03:17 | your schedule, or you have some
wiggle room if delays crop up.
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| Creating a recurring task| 00:00 | It would be unbelievably tedious to
create each occurrence of a task that
| | 00:05 | occurs on a regular schedule, like
status meetings, software reviews, or
| | 00:10 | management presentations.
| | 00:11 | In Project, you can create recurring tasks.
| | 00:14 | You set up the basic information
about an individual occurrence and tell
| | 00:18 | Project the frequency.
| | 00:19 | The program creates individual tasks for each
occurrence and a summary task to hold them all.
| | 00:25 | You can insert a new recurring
task anywhere in your task list.
| | 00:28 | In this example, click the blank Task
Name cell at the end of the task list.
| | 00:33 | Then, on the Task tab, click the Task
down arrow and choose Recurring Task.
| | 00:40 | In the Recurring Task Information
dialog box, in the Task Name box, type the
| | 00:45 | name for the recurring
task, like Status Meeting.
| | 00:49 | The Duration box is set to one day,
which is the duration for one occurrence, in
| | 00:54 | this case, one Status Meeting.
| | 00:56 | In the Duration box, you can
type the duration, like one hour for a
| | 01:00 | mercifully brief meeting.
| | 01:02 | The Recurrence pattern section is
where you tell Project about the frequency.
| | 01:07 | You can choose one of the frequency
options: Daily, Weekly, Monthly or Yearly.
| | 01:13 | If you select the Daily option,
you can choose how many days
| | 01:17 | between occurrences.
| | 01:19 | Select the days option to schedule the
occurrences for working or nonworking days.
| | 01:24 | Select the workdays option
to schedule only on workdays.
| | 01:28 | If you select the Weekly option,
you can choose the days of the week.
| | 01:32 | Turn on the check box for each day
of the week you want in occurrence.
| | 01:35 | For example, to have a status meeting
every other Friday, turn on the Friday
| | 01:40 | check box and tell it to recur every two weeks.
| | 01:44 | If you select the Monthly option,
you can select a day of the month or a
| | 01:48 | particular day of a particular week of
the month. And if you pick Yearly, you
| | 01:53 | can also pick a date or a
particular day within that year.
| | 01:57 | In this example, we'll go with the Weekly
to have a Status Meeting every other Friday.
| | 02:01 | The Range of recurrence section is
how you tell Project how long the
| | 02:05 | recurring tasks should recur.
| | 02:07 | In the Start box, set a date
before the first occurrence.
| | 02:11 | In this case, we'll start in October of 2010.
| | 02:15 | You can set a number of occurrences.
| | 02:18 | Select the End after option and type
the number of occurrences you want, or you
| | 02:23 | can select End by and give an end date.
| | 02:26 | If your project runs longer than you
planned, Project doesn't automatically
| | 02:29 | extend recurring tasks.
| | 02:31 | You have to edit the task to add more
occurrences or create a new task for the extra ones.
| | 02:36 | When you've set all of your
options, click OK to create the task.
| | 02:40 | Project inserts the new
summary task into the task list.
| | 02:44 | To see all the individual occurrences,
click the Plus sign, and if you want to see
| | 02:48 | all the occurrences in the
timescale, click Scroll to Task.
| | 02:52 | The indicator column has a circular icon with
arrows, to indicate the task is a recurring task.
| | 02:59 | You can view the frequency and range
for the task by hovering the pointer
| | 03:03 | over the indicator.
| | 03:05 | To open the Recurring Task Information
dialog box, double-click the task's summary name.
| | 03:10 | Creating a recurring task is an easy
way to set up a bunch of individual tasks,
| | 03:15 | as long as they recur on a regular schedule.
| | 03:18 | Project creates the individual
occurrences according to the frequency you set,
| | 03:22 | and creates a summary task to
hold all the occurrences for you.
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| Copying and organizing tasks| 00:00 | Most Project team members
use Word, Excel, and Outlook,
| | 00:04 | so it's easy to get task
information from them in Word documents, Excel
| | 00:08 | spreadsheets or e-mails.
| | 00:10 | You can also copy tasks
within your Project task list.
| | 00:13 | Copying project tasks saves time when
you do the same sort of work in different
| | 00:17 | summary tasks or phases,
| | 00:19 | like the same construction tasks for
several buildings on a corporate campus.
| | 00:23 | Whether you're creating your initial
task list or revising it, you can organize
| | 00:27 | your tasks at any time, insert new
tasks, or delete tasks you don't need.
| | 00:31 | You might want to move task to another
place in the task list to rearrange your
| | 00:35 | work breakdown, or to put the tasks
in the order in which they occur.
| | 00:39 | Suppose your teams define the tasks
they will perform and send you the Word
| | 00:43 | documents or e-mails.
| | 00:45 | Here is a Word document with some tasks.
| | 00:47 | You can copy the text from this file, or
from an e-mail, and paste it into Project.
| | 00:52 | Project 2010 can translate indents in
Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, and
| | 00:58 | Outlook e-mails into outline levels,
so you can paste in summary tasks and
| | 01:02 | subtasks in one fell swoop.
| | 01:04 | In this example, the Word
document has task names only.
| | 01:08 | The summary tasks are at the left margin.
| | 01:11 | The subtasks are indented.
| | 01:13 | Select the tasks and press Ctrl+C to copy
them, or on the Home tab, you can click Copy.
| | 01:20 | Then switch over to Project.
| | 01:23 | Click the first blank
Task Name cell in the table.
| | 01:27 | To paste the project, you can press Ctrl+V,
or on the Task tab, you can click Paste.
| | 01:33 | The task names flow into the Task Name cells,
starting with the first cell you've selected.
| | 01:38 | Project indents the tasks, based on the
level they were indented in Word or Outlook.
| | 01:44 | In addition, Project copies the highlighting on
the two milestone tasks from the Word document.
| | 01:49 | You can choose to keep the
formatting from Word or Project.
| | 01:53 | If you look closely, you see an option
indicator to the left of the first Task Name.
| | 01:58 | Click it and a dropdown menu appears.
| | 02:00 | You can choose to keep the
source formatting or match the
| | 02:03 | destination formatting.
| | 02:05 | If the tasks you want to copy are already
in your task list, the steps are even easier.
| | 02:11 | You can select several tasks to copy
by dragging the pointer over all the
| | 02:15 | task ID cells you want.
| | 02:17 | In this project, click task ID
4 for Review with management.
| | 02:21 | If you click only one cell in the
Task row, the Copy command copies only
| | 02:25 | the value in that cell.
| | 02:26 | The pointer changes to a four-headed arrow.
| | 02:29 | Press Ctrl+C to copy the task to the clipboard.
| | 02:32 | To paste the task, click the
task row where you want the copy.
| | 02:36 | For example, select the last row and
press Ctrl+V. If you forget a task, you can
| | 02:41 | insert it into your existing task list.
| | 02:44 | Say you forgot to schedule a
walkthrough of the new Office Space.
| | 02:48 | To insert a new task between two tasks,
click the lower task row, Repair new
| | 02:53 | office, in this example.
| | 02:56 | On the Task tab, click Task.
| | 02:59 | The task comes in at the
same level as the task below it.
| | 03:03 | The Task Name cell says New Task, so just
start typing the task name, and press Enter.
| | 03:09 | If the task isn't at the outline level
you want, click Indent Task or Outdent Task.
| | 03:14 | You can also insert a summary task into the
list, as you learned in an earlier movie.
| | 03:19 | If you want to move tasks, you can
drag them to where you want them,
| | 03:22 | perhaps another part of your work
breakdown or to arrange them in the order
| | 03:26 | in which they occur.
| | 03:27 | Click the task ID cell to
select the entire task row.
| | 03:31 | In this project, click the
Obtain necessary permits task.
| | 03:35 | The pointer changes to a four-headed arrow.
| | 03:38 | When you drag the task, you see a
horizontal line that shows where the task will
| | 03:42 | drop, just above the hire contractors task.
| | 03:45 | If that's where you want it, just
release the button to drop the task into place.
| | 03:50 | To delete a task, just select its ID
cell and then press the Delete button.
| | 03:55 | If the task is a regular
task, Project deletes it.
| | 03:58 | If you delete a summary task, Project
asks you if you want to delete the summary
| | 04:02 | task and all its subtasks.
| | 04:04 | You can click OK to
continue with the delete or cancel.
| | 04:07 | If you want to delete a summary task
without deleting its subtasks, first
| | 04:12 | outdent the subtask to the
same level of the summary task.
| | 04:15 | For example, select these two
subtasks and then outdent them.
| | 04:20 | Then you can select the summary
task and press Delete to delete it.
| | 04:24 | If you see an indicator, you can click
it to delete the entire task or just the
| | 04:29 | contents of the Task Name cell.
In this case, select Delete the entire task.
| | 04:34 | You can identify summary task by the
Plus or Minus signs to the left of the name.
| | 04:39 | Click on minus to collapse the
summary task and hide its subtasks.
| | 04:43 | Then if you want to see them again, just
click the plus to expand the summary task.
| | 04:48 | Copying task information from other
Office programs like Word, Excel, and Outlook
| | 04:53 | is much easier with Project 2010.
| | 04:55 | Project can recognize outline levels
and formatting that comes from those other
| | 04:59 | programs, but you can also fine-tune
task organization in Project, insert or
| | 05:04 | delete tasks, move or copy them, or you
can change the outline level to change
| | 05:08 | subtasks into summary tasks, or vice versa.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Displaying summary tasks and WBS codes| 00:00 | Most of the time you want to see
summary tasks in Project because they make it
| | 00:04 | easier to digest what's going on.
| | 00:06 | But sometimes you want to see just the
lower-level tasks, for instance to assign
| | 00:10 | resources to tasks or to check progress.
| | 00:13 | Displaying or hiding summary tasks is
much easier in Project 2010 - the check box
| | 00:18 | you need is right on the Ribbon - and the
same goes for the project summary task.
| | 00:22 | Work Breakdown Structure codes, also
known as WBS codes, uniquely identify each
| | 00:28 | task in your project.
| | 00:29 | Initially, Project uses the
outline number as the WBS code.
| | 00:34 | But you can also build a custom WBS
using a code mask to tell Project what each
| | 00:40 | level of your WBS code should look like.
| | 00:43 | Showing and hiding summary tasks
is really easy in Project 2010.
| | 00:48 | On the Tasks tab, you can choose the
view that you want, for example, the
| | 00:52 | Tracking Gantt that we are showing here.
| | 00:54 | Then click the Format tab.
| | 00:56 | If you want to hide the summary tasks,
just turn off the Summary Tasks check box
| | 01:02 | and all you see are the lowest level tasks.
| | 01:04 | To bring the Summary tasks back,
just turn on the check box again.
| | 01:08 | The project summary task is a good tool
for checking project-wide values like a
| | 01:13 | full project duration, the project
finish date and the total project cost.
| | 01:18 | To see this task, just turn on
the Project Summary Task check box.
| | 01:22 | The project summary task is like an
ultra-top-level summary task, and it has a
| | 01:27 | special task ID of zero.
| | 01:30 | On the other hand, the WBS code is a
field you have to insert into a table.
| | 01:35 | To add the WBS field to a table, right-
click a column heading and choose Insert
| | 01:40 | Column. The dropdown list shows all the
task fields Project has to offer, but in
| | 01:46 | this case it's just easier to
type WBS and then press Return.
| | 01:50 | Project selects WBS in the list
and inserts it into the table.
| | 01:55 | If you want to set up your own format for WBS,
click the Project tab and then click WBS.
| | 02:02 | On the dropdown menu, choose Define Code.
| | 02:06 | The WBS Code Definition dialog box opens.
| | 02:10 | The first box you come to
is the Project Code Prefix.
| | 02:15 | The only time you need to set this is when
you add several projects to a master project.
| | 02:20 | By defining a unique project code
prefix for each project, the WBS codes in
| | 02:25 | the master project will be unique, even if
the individual projects use the same code mask.
| | 02:30 | For example, you can make the prefix
something like Offmv, for office move.
| | 02:37 | To get down to business with the code
mask, click the first sequence cell and
| | 02:42 | click the Down Arrow.
| | 02:43 | As you can see, you can use numbers,
letters, or a combination of the two.
| | 02:48 | For example, you can abbreviate phases,
and use something like Tst for test, while
| | 02:54 | using Numbers for lower-level
Summary Tasks, and letters for subtasks.
| | 02:58 | Choose the type of character you want
for the highest level of the hierarchy.
| | 03:02 | Ordered numbers and letters mean that
Project increments the numbers or letters
| | 03:06 | as you add task to the WBS.
| | 03:09 | For example, ordered numbers
go from one to two to three.
| | 03:13 | Characters (unordered) means you can
mix numbers and letters, and Project won't
| | 03:18 | increment the values.
| | 03:19 | That way you can provide your own code.
| | 03:22 | In this case, we will start with Ordered Numbers.
| | 03:25 | In the Length cell, Project fills in any,
which means the entry can be any length.
| | 03:30 | But keep in mind a WBS code
can only be up to 255 characters.
| | 03:36 | So keeping the lengths to less than four
makes your full WBS codes more manageable.
| | 03:41 | For ordered numbers, Project
increments the number until it reaches the
| | 03:45 | limit based on Length.
| | 03:46 | For Characters, you can type as
many letters and numbers as you want.
| | 03:50 | If you choose a length, the entry at
that level can be between one character
| | 03:54 | and the length you set.
| | 03:55 | For example, if you set a number to a
length of two, Project numbers that level
| | 04:00 | from one to 99 and then starts over at one.
| | 04:02 | We will leave the top level at Any Length.
| | 04:05 | In the Separator cell, choose the character
to separate the top level from the next level.
| | 04:11 | You can use a period, a hyphen,
a Plus sign, or a forward slash.
| | 04:17 | In the next row, repeat steps to get the
sequence, length, and separator for the
| | 04:22 | second level. In this case I will use
uppercase letters, set the length to 3, and
| | 04:30 | keep the period as a separator.
| | 04:32 | I will use lowercase letters, at the
length of 3 for the third level and go back
| | 04:38 | to Ordered Numbers with a
length of 2 for the final level.
| | 04:43 | The Code Preview box at the top of the
dialog box shows a sample of the code
| | 04:48 | mask you have built so far.
| | 04:50 | The Generate WBS code for new task
check box is turned on, and you really want
| | 04:55 | to keep it that way.
| | 04:56 | It tells Project to automatically assign
a WBS code to each new task you create.
| | 05:01 | You also want to keep the Verify
uniqueness of new WBS codes check box turned on.
| | 05:06 | That way Project will warn you
if you create a duplicate WBS.
| | 05:10 | This warning comes in handy if you
decide to manually renumber a few tasks and
| | 05:14 | make a mistake. When you are
done setting the code mask click OK.
| | 05:17 | Now you can see all of the WBS
codes for the tasks in this project.
| | 05:23 | Project automatically assigns WBS
code's tasks as you create them.
| | 05:27 | But if you rearrange your task
list your WBS will be out of sequence.
| | 05:32 | As long as you haven't used the WBS
codes for anything, like naming the
| | 05:36 | documents that define work packages,
you can renumber the WBS codes in your
| | 05:41 | project to neaten things up.
| | 05:43 | On the Project tab, click
WBS and choose Renumber.
| | 05:47 | Make sure that the Entire Project
option is selected and click OK.
| | 05:52 | Then to proceed with renumbering, click Yes.
| | 05:55 | Project reapplies the WBS codes putting
ordered letters into alphabetical order
| | 06:00 | and ordered numbers into sequence.
| | 06:02 | Showing and hiding summary task is
something you do a lot, and all it takes is
| | 06:06 | turning on a check box.
| | 06:08 | But to see WBS codes, you have to
add WBS field to a table and project.
| | 06:13 | You can use the basic WBS format that
comes with Project or set one up to match
| | 06:18 | what your company uses.
| | 06:20 | It's your choice.
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| Linking tasks| 00:00 | A task's Start or Finish Date is
often determined by the Start or Finish
| | 00:04 | dates of other tasks.
| | 00:05 | A predecessor task determines when
a successor task starts or finishes.
| | 00:09 | These associations between tasks are
usually called task dependencies, but they
| | 00:13 | also go by the names links and relationships.
| | 00:16 | A task link is all about one task
controlling the timing of the other, with
| | 00:20 | finish to start dependencies, the
predecessor starts first, and when it finishes,
| | 00:25 | the successor task begins.
| | 00:27 | Because finish to start dependencies
are so common, the Link Task command
| | 00:32 | creates only that type.
| | 00:33 | In this example, you dig a trench,
and when the trench is done you pour
| | 00:37 | concrete in the trench.
| | 00:39 | If the two tasks are adjacent, you can
drag over the first and then the second task.
| | 00:45 | On the Task tab, click Link Tasks.
| | 00:48 | The link line between the
tasks appears in the Timescale.
| | 00:52 | The Link Task command also makes it
easy to link two tasks when you can't see
| | 00:56 | both in the view at the same time.
| | 00:58 | You can click the predecessor first
and then Ctrl+Click the successor.
| | 01:02 | When the start of one task controls
the start of another task, you use a start
| | 01:06 | to start dependency.
| | 01:07 | For example, when you start
registration for a conference, you can start
| | 01:12 | recording the registrations you receive.
| | 01:14 | Several places in Project let you
create any type of task dependency.
| | 01:18 | The Task Form in the
Details Pane is the easiest.
| | 01:22 | To work with links, right-click the Task
Form and choose Predecessors & Successors.
| | 01:28 | Select the Predecessor,
which is Start Registration.
| | 01:32 | Then in the Task Form, click the
Successor name cell, click the down arrow, and
| | 01:38 | choose Record submitted registrations.
| | 01:41 | In the Type cell, type SS, for
start to start, and click OK.
| | 01:47 | You see the start to
start link in the Timescale.
| | 01:50 | With a finish to finish dependency, the
finish of one task triggers the finish of another.
| | 01:56 | When you finish recording registrations,
you also finish sending confirmations.
| | 02:01 | You can work on task dependencies
in the Task Information dialog box.
| | 02:05 | Select the Send confirmations task and
then on the Task tab, click Information.
| | 02:12 | In the dialog box, select the Predecessors tab.
| | 02:15 | The Task Information dialog box only
assigns predecessors to the selected task.
| | 02:20 | Click the Task Name cell and click
the down arrow and choose Record
| | 02:25 | submitted registrations.
| | 02:27 | In the Type cell, choose Finish-to-Finish.
| | 02:30 | Click OK to create the link and
close the dialog box, and you can see the
| | 02:35 | Finish-to-Finish link line in the Timescale.
| | 02:37 | Start-to-finish dependencies are rare,
which is good, because they could be confusing.
| | 02:43 | The start of one task
triggers the finish of another.
| | 02:46 | So the predecessor actually
occurs before the successor.
| | 02:50 | For example, the start of the Get married
task rings in the finish of the Be single task.
| | 02:57 | Sometimes there is a delay between
the predecessor and the successor, which
| | 03:01 | is called lag time.
| | 03:02 | For example, when you finish
recording registrations, it takes a few days to
| | 03:07 | catch up on sending confirmations.
| | 03:09 | Select the Record submitted registrations task.
| | 03:13 | To continue sending confirmations for
two days after recording registrations in
| | 03:18 | the Lag cell down in the Task
Form, type 2D and then click OK.
| | 03:24 | On the other hand, some
tasks can overlap a little bit.
| | 03:26 | You can overlap tasks, called lead time,
by entering a negative value in Lag field.
| | 03:32 | Project tries to help by automatically
editing task dependencies when you insert,
| | 03:37 | move, and delete tasks.
| | 03:39 | If you insert a new task between two
existing tasks, Project removes the
| | 03:43 | existing link and create finish-to-
start dependencies between all three tasks.
| | 03:47 | To prevent Project from providing this
assistance, click File and then Options.
| | 03:54 | In the Project Options
dialog box, click Schedule.
| | 03:58 | Make sure that the Autolink inserted or
moved tasks check box is turned off, as
| | 04:03 | it is here. Click OK to close the dialog box.
| | 04:07 | Most of the time creating task
dependencies between tasks is all you need to put
| | 04:11 | tasks into sequence to
build your project's schedule.
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| Setting task dates| 00:00 | Most of the time, you don't want to
interfere with Project's ability to calculate
| | 00:04 | the schedule, or you'll end
up micro-managing your tasks.
| | 00:07 | But sometimes you have to restrict task dates.
| | 00:11 | In Project 2010, you can use manually
scheduled tasks or date constraints to do this.
| | 00:17 | But each method has its pros and cons.
| | 00:19 | Whether you use date constraints or
manual scheduling to set task dates, you
| | 00:24 | reduce the flexibility of your schedule.
| | 00:26 | So use these features sparingly.
| | 00:29 | In an earlier movie, you learned how
to create manually scheduled tasks.
| | 00:33 | Now let's look at setting date
constraints. Because you don't set date
| | 00:37 | constraints very often, the Task Information
dialog box is a great place to make this change.
| | 00:43 | Select the task you want to work on,
Schedule open house for employees, for example.
| | 00:48 | On the Task tab, click
Information, then click the Advanced tab.
| | 00:55 | Every task in Project
actually comes with a date constraint,
| | 00:58 | although most of the time the constraint
is completely flexible, like the As Soon
| | 01:02 | As Possible constraint.
| | 01:04 | Other day constraints, like Must Start
On, make tasks occur on specific dates, a
| | 01:10 | lot like manually scheduled tasks.
| | 01:12 | The one difference is that a date
constraint controls either the start or the
| | 01:16 | finish, while you can set both
dates with a manually scheduled task.
| | 01:21 | In Project 2010, the main reason to
use a date constraint instead of manual
| | 01:26 | scheduling is to create a
partially flexible constraint.
| | 01:29 | For example, you want a task to
start after a specific date, but anytime
| | 01:34 | after that date is fine.
| | 01:36 | As Soon As Possible means the start
and finish date are scheduled as soon as
| | 01:41 | possible, based on the task length,
the duration, resources, and work times.
| | 01:46 | As Late As Possible is also flexible,
but it doesn't leave any buffer for delays
| | 01:52 | if something goes wrong.
| | 01:53 | On the other hand, Must Start On and
Must Finish On are completely inflexible.
| | 01:58 | They set dates for a task with no
wiggle room whatsoever, and then the other
| | 02:02 | types are partially flexible.
| | 02:04 | Start No Earlier Than means a task has
to start after a certain date, but then
| | 02:10 | it can start anytime after that.
| | 02:12 | For example, the open house for
employees has to start after the office
| | 02:16 | construction is complete
but can be anytime after that.
| | 02:20 | In the Constraint type box, if you
choose Start No Earlier Than, then you also
| | 02:25 | have to choose the constraint date.
| | 02:27 | In this example, let's choose September 1.
| | 02:30 | Then click OK to set the
task with the date constraint.
| | 02:34 | You can also set date
constraints in the Task Details form.
| | 02:38 | Click the View tab, and then in the
Details dropdown list, choose More Views.
| | 02:44 | In the More Views dialog box,
double-click Task Details form.
| | 02:49 | In the Constraint box, you can choose a
constraint that you want and choose the date.
| | 02:54 | If you want to get rid of lots of date
constraints, a table is the easiest place to do that.
| | 02:59 | Right-click a column heading and
choose Insert Column on the shortcut menu.
| | 03:03 | In the dropdown list, choose Constraint Type.
| | 03:06 | You can start typing the name of the field
and then choose it when you see it in the list.
| | 03:12 | Choose the constraint type you want to
use, which is usually As Soon As Possible.
| | 03:18 | You can drag a constraint type from
cell to cell by dragging the rectangle from
| | 03:23 | the lower-right corner of
the cell across other cells.
| | 03:28 | When the crosshair turns to a plus, just
drag down the other cells that you want.
| | 03:33 | Sometimes date constraints seem
to materialize out of thin air.
| | 03:36 | Actually, you can create date constraints
without realizing it, if you aren't careful.
| | 03:41 | If you drag a taskbar horizontally in
the Timescale, Projects sets at start no
| | 03:46 | earlier than constraint.
| | 03:47 | Date constraints let you restrict one
date with different levels of flexibility.
| | 03:52 | Manually scheduled tasks are great
for pinning both dates to the calendar,
| | 03:57 | so pick whichever method is
best for the task at hand.
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| Switching between manual and automatic scheduling| 00:00 | A project can have a combination of
auto scheduled and manually scheduled tasks.
| | 00:04 | In Project, you can set an option for
the Task mode you use most of the time,
| | 00:09 | but you can switch between modes in a flash.
| | 00:11 | The Entry, Schedule, and Summary
tables include the Task mode column.
| | 00:16 | To display one of these tables,
right-click the All Cells box at the
| | 00:21 | intersection of the column headings in
the task ID rows. Then you can choose
| | 00:25 | the table you want.
| | 00:26 | If you want to change the Task mode
for an existing task, just click the
| | 00:30 | task's Task mode cell,
| | 00:33 | click the down arrow, and
click the mode that you want.
| | 00:36 | You can also add the Task
mode field to any table.
| | 00:40 | If I pick a table that doesn't have
the Task mode, I can right-click a column
| | 00:44 | heading and choose Insert Column,
and then start typing the field name.
| | 00:50 | When I see it in the list, I can
choose it to insert the column.
| | 00:54 | If you want to change the scheduling
mode for all new tasks, you can set a
| | 00:58 | scheduling mode option in Project.
| | 01:00 | Click File and then choose Options.
| | 01:04 | In the Project Options dialog box, click
Schedule. Under the Scheduling options
| | 01:09 | for this project heading, click New
tasks created dropdown list and choose
| | 01:14 | Manually scheduled or Auto Scheduled for
the Task mode that you want for all new
| | 01:19 | tasks that you create in the future.
| | 01:21 | And if you want to use that
scheduling mode for all new projects, in the
| | 01:25 | Scheduling options for this project
dropdown list choose All New Projects.
| | 01:30 | Keep in mind manually scheduled tasks
work only in Project 2010 format files.
| | 01:36 | If you save a project file with a
manually scheduled task to an earlier file
| | 01:40 | format, the tasks go back to the
old standard of auto scheduled.
| | 01:45 | Click OK to close the
Project Options dialog box.
| | 01:48 | There is one more way to switch between
auto scheduled and manually scheduled.
| | 01:53 | In the Status Bar, you can click New
Tasks, and then choose the mode that you
| | 01:58 | want for new tasks that you create.
| | 02:00 | So go ahead and set the
mode that you typically use.
| | 02:04 | After that, you can switch modes for
one task, or all new tasks, whenever you
| | 02:08 | need to.
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|
|
3. Creating ResourcesUnderstanding resources| 00:00 | Projects need resources, people to do
work, equipment, materials, travel to
| | 00:06 | scope out a location, and so on.
| | 00:08 | Project comes with several types of resources
to model the resources you use in the real world.
| | 00:13 | After you define project tasks, you can
start identifying the resources you need.
| | 00:18 | When you add those resources to
Project you tell the program how much the
| | 00:21 | resources cost and how much they're available.
| | 00:24 | Then when you assign resources to tasks,
Project can calculate the schedule and
| | 00:28 | cost, identify overallocations, track
progress, and provide information about
| | 00:33 | your project's performance.
| | 00:34 | To see the resources in a project, on
the View tab, click Resource Sheet.
| | 00:40 | Project offers several types of resources.
| | 00:43 | The Work resource type is the one
you'll use most often, but Material and Cost
| | 00:48 | resources come in a close second and third.
| | 00:51 | Time is the critical factor with work resources.
| | 00:54 | People and equipment are available to
work only so many hours in a day, and even
| | 00:58 | then, they might not be available
to work full-time on your project.
| | 01:02 | For example, the IT manager is
available only 25% of the time on the office
| | 01:08 | move project, because the rest of
her time is spent keeping the IT
| | 01:12 | infrastructure up and running.
| | 01:13 | Resources can have their own calendars,
which is great for setting aside a
| | 01:17 | resource's vacation time or
specifying a nonstandard workweek.
| | 01:22 | Work resources availability
affects the project schedule.
| | 01:26 | In this case, the amount of time that's
available is listed in the Maximum unit's column.
| | 01:31 | At the same time, you can see that
Project doesn't care whether you use people's
| | 01:34 | names or generic titles.
| | 01:37 | Using titles or skills as placeholder
names means you can figure out how many
| | 01:41 | resources you need with
different types of skills.
| | 01:44 | Then when you obtain warm bodies, you
can add their names to your project file
| | 01:48 | and replace the placeholder
resources with real people.
| | 01:51 | Work resources costs usually depend
on the amount of time you use them,
| | 01:55 | whether you pay an electrician by
the hour or ran a crane by the day.
| | 01:59 | The IT manager's hourly rate is $80 per hour.
| | 02:04 | With materials, you use quantities, not time.
| | 02:08 | The cost of materials do affect the
cost of your project, and for material
| | 02:13 | resources, the material label
field is where you tell Project the units
| | 02:18 | you use to measure the material, whether
it's cubic yards of concrete, gallons of
| | 02:22 | paint, or reams of paper.
| | 02:24 | For example, with a brochure,
you pay for it by the piece.
| | 02:29 | The only time materials affect the
schedule is when you have to wait for the
| | 02:33 | materials to arrive.
| | 02:37 | On the other hand, Cost resources are
specifically for additional costs not
| | 02:42 | related to work or material resources.
| | 02:45 | Travel, fees, utilities, mobile phone
usage are all examples of pure costs that
| | 02:51 | work well as cost resources.
| | 02:54 | With cost resources, you could track how
much you spend on different types of costs.
| | 02:59 | If you assign the lodging cost resource
to each task that requires an overnight
| | 03:04 | stay, you can see the total cost for lodging.
| | 03:07 | If you have cost resources for airfare
and for mileage, you can compare how much
| | 03:11 | you spend for flying versus driving.
| | 03:13 | The Cost resources work a little
differently than Work and Material resources.
| | 03:19 | You don't apply a cost when
you create a cost resource;
| | 03:23 | instead, you assign the cost when you apply the
resource to a task, as you'll in a later movie.
| | 03:29 | Work resources are perfect for
resources you use for periods of time, like
| | 03:34 | people and equipment.
| | 03:35 | Material resources handle the supplies
and other consumable items you use to
| | 03:40 | complete a project, and cost resources take
care of pure cost items, like travel and fees.
| | 03:45 | Between these three resource types,
you can document everything you need
| | 03:49 | to perform a project.
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| Creating a work resource| 00:00 | A work resource, like a person or a
piece of equipment, is limited by the
| | 00:04 | time it's available.
| | 00:05 | A person can't work 24 hours a day
without eventually melting into a puddle
| | 00:10 | of unproductive goo.
| | 00:12 | Even equipment needs some
time off for maintenance.
| | 00:15 | In addition to entering information
like name, initials, and workgroup, you can
| | 00:19 | tell Project how much a resource is
available and the resources work schedule.
| | 00:24 | The Resource Sheet is the
easiest place to create and add basic
| | 00:28 | information about resources.
| | 00:29 | If it is not visible, you can click the View
tab, and click resource sheets to display it.
| | 00:36 | The entry table that you see
contains the basic fields for work material
| | 00:40 | and cost resources,
| | 00:42 | so it's a great place to start when
you're creating all types of resources.
| | 00:46 | Click the first blank resource name
cell and type the name of the resource.
| | 00:51 | A standard like last name, first
name helps you find resources later on.
| | 00:55 | But you can also create generic
resources for a skill set, by using the job
| | 00:59 | description as the resource name, like IT admin.
| | 01:06 | When you get people assigned to work
on your project, you can replace the
| | 01:09 | resource name with the person's name.
| | 01:12 | Keep in mind you can't use
commas or brackets in resource names.
| | 01:16 | When you press Enter, Project
automatically fills in the Type field with work,
| | 01:20 | so you can leave this cell as it is.
| | 01:22 | For work resources, you can't
type anything in the Material cell.
| | 01:27 | So Initials are the next thing that you enter.
| | 01:30 | Project initially fills in the
Initials field with the first letter of the
| | 01:34 | resource name, but that results in lots
of duplication in meaningless initials
| | 01:39 | for all but the smallest projects.
| | 01:40 | So be sure to type the person's first
and last initials or an abbreviation of
| | 01:45 | the job description.
| | 01:47 | Initials are great when you want to see
who is assigned to a task in the Gantt
| | 01:51 | Chart Timescale, without having the
resource names hogging the screen.
| | 01:56 | The Group field can represent any
type of category you want: departments,
| | 02:01 | subcontractors versus vendors, or skill sets.
| | 02:04 | In addition to grouping resources in
the Resource Sheet, you can use the Group
| | 02:08 | field to filter the task list to tasks
performed by the specific workgroups, or
| | 02:13 | to group tasks by the type of resource required.
| | 02:17 | The Maximum units field is where you
tell Project what percentage of time the
| | 02:21 | resource is available for the project.
| | 02:24 | For example, most resources work
full-time during normal working hours,
| | 02:28 | so Project automatically fills in 100%.
| | 02:32 | For people who work part-time,
you can change the percentage,
| | 02:37 | for instance 60% for people who work
three days a week, or 50% for people who
| | 02:40 | work four hours each day.
| | 02:44 | You can even tell Project that a
resource is really a five-person team by
| | 02:48 | setting the Maximum units to 500%.
| | 02:51 | A resource's availability actually
depends on the Maximum unit's field and
| | 02:56 | the resources calendar.
| | 02:58 | If a resource works the regular
work schedule, maximum units of 100%
| | 03:02 | represents 40 hours a week.
| | 03:05 | But if a resource calendar has work
time as Monday through Friday and four -hour
| | 03:09 | work days, maximum units set to
100% represents only 20 hours a week.
| | 03:16 | Project also sets the Base calendar
cell to the calendar you use for the
| | 03:20 | project, standard in this example.
| | 03:22 | You learned about creating
calendars in an earlier movie.
| | 03:26 | If you want to assign a different
calendar for a resource, for instance night
| | 03:31 | shift, choose the calendar
in this cell's dropdown list.
| | 03:36 | The Code field provides another way to
categorize resources, which you can then
| | 03:41 | use to sort, filter, or
group tasks and resources.
| | 03:45 | If your organization assigns job codes,
you can enter them in the Code field and
| | 03:50 | then filter for tasks that
require a specific job code.
| | 03:53 | If you type a resource name into an
assignment and the resource name doesn't
| | 03:57 | exist in your project file, the program adds
a new resource with default values for you.
| | 04:02 | That can save a lot of time because
you don't have to switch to the Resource
| | 04:05 | Sheet to create a resource before you assign it.
| | 04:08 | But if you type the name incorrectly, you
could end up with two resources in your
| | 04:12 | project file for a single
resource in the real world.
| | 04:15 | To get Project to tell you when it
creates a new resource, click File and
| | 04:20 | then click Options.
| | 04:22 | In the Project Options dialog box,
click Advanced. In the General Options for
| | 04:28 | this project section, turn off the
Automatically add new resources and tasks
| | 04:33 | check box and click OK.
| | 04:37 | You can also enter or edit
resource information in the Resource
| | 04:41 | Information dialog box.
| | 04:44 | To open this dialog box, click
Resource and then click Information.
| | 04:49 | In fact, this dialog box provides
access to a lot more resource fields, like
| | 04:54 | variable cost rates and availability.
| | 04:57 | When you finish setting the values for a
resource, click OK to close the dialog box.
| | 05:02 | With Work resources, you tell Project
how much the resource costs and how much
| | 05:07 | it's available to your project.
| | 05:09 | With that information, Project can
calculate the project schedule and cost
| | 05:13 | for you.
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| Creating a material resource| 00:00 | A material resource represents
tangible items used up by the project, like
| | 00:04 | gallons of gas, reams of paper, cubic
yards of concrete, or bottles of wine for
| | 00:09 | the new office open house.
| | 00:11 | Material resources don't have a
regular time component like work resources.
| | 00:16 | They can sit around
waiting until they're needed.
| | 00:18 | So you can skip several fields
that you fill in for work resources.
| | 00:22 | To create a material resource,
start on the Resource Sheet.
| | 00:26 | The entry table that appears has
all the fields you need to set up
| | 00:29 | material resources.
| | 00:31 | As you do, for Work Resources, click the
first blank Resource Name cell and type
| | 00:36 | the name of the material resource,
like Wine for that open house.
| | 00:40 | When you press Enter, Project
automatically fills in Work in the Type cell.
| | 00:46 | So click that cell, click the
down arrow, and choose Material.
| | 00:50 | When you do that, the Material cell
becomes active, while Project empties a few
| | 00:56 | other fields like Maximum Units,
Overtime Rate, and Base Calendar.
| | 01:01 | Material resources mostly don't go
by units of time, and that's why the
| | 01:05 | Standard Rate cell for material
resources have just the dollar value without a
| | 01:10 | slash and a time period.
| | 01:12 | That's also why the Material
label field becomes active.
| | 01:15 | That's where you define the units of
measurement for a material resource.
| | 01:19 | For example, if you buy wine by the
gallon for the open house, type Gallons in
| | 01:24 | the Material label field.
| | 01:26 | To set the costs per unit, type the
number in the Standard Rate field,
| | 01:32 | for example, 6 for the $6 gallon
bottle of fine red wine you're serving.
| | 01:38 | Material resources do you
have one time-related trick.
| | 01:42 | Suppose that a task consumes
materials depending on how much time passes,
| | 01:46 | for example, gallons of gas when you're
driving somewhere or gallons of wine if
| | 01:52 | the Open house runs longer than you'd
planned. You can set up an assignment for
| | 01:56 | a material resource so its
consumption depends on the task duration.
| | 02:00 | The trick is to add the /hr to
the Units field of the assignment.
| | 02:04 | To see how this works on a task assignment,
click the View tab and choose Gantt Chart.
| | 02:10 | Select the Open house task. To display
the task form, turn on the Details check box.
| | 02:18 | In the Task Form, select the Resource
Name cell and add Wine to the task.
| | 02:25 | In the Units cell, type 6/ and then 'hr' for hours.
| | 02:32 | Click OK to finish the assignment.
| | 02:35 | Project changes the value
in the cell to 6 gallons/hr.
| | 02:40 | If you right-click and display Cost,
you can see that the cost is a $144.
| | 02:47 | That's the six gallons per hour, times
four hours for a total of $144.
| | 02:51 | Now, back on the Resource Sheet, you can
also fill in the Initials field with an
| | 02:57 | abbreviation for the material resource name.
| | 03:01 | And if you want to group material
resources, you can fill in the group field or
| | 03:05 | simply leave this field blank.
| | 03:08 | You'll learn about filling in the cost
fields in more detail in a later movie.
| | 03:12 | Creating material resources is similar
to creating work resources, but you don't
| | 03:16 | have to fill in as many fields, because
material resources don't depend on time
| | 03:20 | the way work resources do.
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| Setting up resource costs| 00:00 | When you assign cost rates to work and
material resources, Project can use them
| | 00:05 | to calculate project costs.
| | 00:07 | Project multiplies the rate by the
amount of time assigned to determine the
| | 00:11 | cost of each assignment.
| | 00:13 | The Resource Sheet is the easiest place
to enter cost fields, but you can enter
| | 00:17 | them in the Resource Information dialog box, too.
| | 00:20 | The Standard Rate field is the typical pay
rate for a work resource for a time period.
| | 00:26 | To set the Standard Rate for a Work
or Material resource, type the monetary
| | 00:30 | value in the resource's Standard Rate cell.
| | 00:34 | For the Office Manager, you
can type 60 and press Enter.
| | 00:38 | If the pay rate is by the hour you
don't have to type the /hr. Project
| | 00:43 | automatically adds it to the value.
| | 00:45 | If you pay a resource for a different
time period, like a retainer to your
| | 00:49 | webmaster, you can type a different unit of
time after the slash, for example 1,000/mon.
| | 01:02 | On the other hand, material
resources don't go by units of time.
| | 01:06 | That's why the Standard Rate cells
for Material Resources don't have the
| | 01:10 | slash and a time period.
| | 01:12 | You still use the Standard Rate field
to set a material resource's cost rate,
| | 01:17 | except that the standard
rate represents the rate per unit.
| | 01:21 | The unit is what you type
in the Material Label cell.
| | 01:25 | For example, for a keycard, you set a
cost for each keycard to the new office, or
| | 01:32 | Gallon for each gallon of
wine you get for the open house.
| | 01:36 | To set the price for the Keycard
resource, type 5 in the Standard Rate cell
| | 01:43 | and press Enter.
| | 01:44 | Because the Material Label is Card,
Project knows that each card costs $5.
| | 01:51 | To see how Project calculates cost
from these rates, click the Task tab and
| | 01:55 | click the Gantt Chart.
| | 01:59 | The Order security system has the
office manager a work resource assigned.
| | 02:06 | When I right-click the Task Form and
choose Resources & Successors, I can see
| | 02:11 | that the Office Manager is
assigned to work 8 hours.
| | 02:15 | If I assign the Keycard to the task,
in the Units cell, I can type 175 to add
| | 02:24 | 175 cards to this task.
| | 02:29 | When I click OK, Project adds card,
which is the units, to the value.
| | 02:35 | Now to see the cost, right-
click the table and choose Cost.
| | 02:41 | The cost for the office manager is
$480. That's $60/hour for the 8 hours the
| | 02:47 | office manager is assigned.
| | 02:49 | On the other hand, the
cost for the keycards is $875.
| | 02:53 | That's $5 a piece for the 175 keycards.
| | 02:57 | Now, let's go back to the Resource
Sheet and look at a few other cost fields.
| | 03:02 | On the View tab, click Resource Sheet.
| | 03:05 | Overtime Rate applies only to work
resources, because it's the rate charged if a
| | 03:10 | resource earns a higher
rate for working overtime.
| | 03:13 | If someone gets the same rate no matter
how many hours he works, you can skip the
| | 03:17 | Overtime Rate field altogether.
| | 03:19 | The only time you have to fill in the
Overtime Rate field is when someone gets
| | 03:23 | paid more for their overtime hours.
| | 03:26 | You can also fill in a value for Cost/Use, if
you pay an amount each time you use the resource.
| | 03:32 | For example, if the wine bar has $150
setup charge for each setup, you can type
| | 03:38 | $150 in the Cost/Use field.
| | 03:43 | Then every time you assign wine to a
task, the $150 setup fee is included in the
| | 03:48 | cost for the wine resource, along
with the cost for each gallon you order.
| | 03:53 | Accrue at is set to Prorated, which
means that the cost is spread out over time.
| | 03:59 | If you want to track costs when they
occur, you can change the Accrue at to
| | 04:02 | reflect when money is actually spent.
| | 04:07 | Choose Start to show the cost as soon
as the task starts, like paying for an
| | 04:11 | airline ticket before you take your trip.
| | 04:14 | End means you pay at the end of a task,
| | 04:16 | for instance, when you don't pay a
consultant until the work is done and accepted.
| | 04:20 | Initially, Project fills in the Standard
Rate and Overtime Rate field with $0.00/hr.
| | 04:26 | If most of your resources cost the
same amount per hour, you can tell Project
| | 04:30 | the standard rate or
overtime rate you want to use.
| | 04:32 | To do that, click the File
tab and then click Options.
| | 04:37 | In the Project Options dialog box, click
Advanced. Then you can type the Default
| | 04:43 | standard rate that you want to use, say
$60/h and if you want to set an Overtime
| | 04:51 | rate, you can type that as well.
| | 04:55 | Then click OK to save those default rates.
| | 05:00 | The Resource Sheet is the place to
go to enter cost information for work
| | 05:04 | and material resources.
| | 05:06 | After you enter cost information,
Project can use it to calculate the cost for
| | 05:10 | tasks when you assign resources to them.
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| Creating a cost resource| 00:00 | The Cost Resource type is perfect for
costs that aren't time-based, or related to
| | 00:05 | materials the Project consumes.
| | 00:07 | Unlike the Fixed Cost field, you can
apply more than one cost resource to
| | 00:11 | a task, so you can track the cost for lodging,
airfare, fees, and other costs separately.
| | 00:16 | Then you can look at the total cost
for a cost resource to see how much
| | 00:20 | you spend by category.
| | 00:22 | A cost resource is easy to create.
| | 00:24 | To get to the resource sheet, on
the View tab, click Resource Sheet.
| | 00:30 | Then, in the first blank Resource Name
cell, you can type the name of the cost
| | 00:36 | resource, Catering in this example.
| | 00:41 | Click the down arrow in the
Type cell and choose Cost.
| | 00:45 | The standard values for a work resource disappear.
| | 00:49 | The only other fields with
values are Initials and Accrue At.
| | 00:54 | As you do, for work resources, you can
change the Initials by typing a new value.
| | 01:00 | To change the Accrue At value,
choose the value from the dropdown list.
| | 01:07 | You actually specify the assignment
cost when you assign a cost resource to a
| | 01:13 | task, so the cost can vary for each assignment.
| | 01:16 | To see how this works, click the
Task tab and click Gantt Chart.
| | 01:21 | Select the Visit Oakland site task.
| | 01:25 | The Airfare and Lodging resources
are assigned, but there is no Cost yet.
| | 01:30 | To set the cost for a trip to Oakland,
click the Airfare Cost cell and type 150.
| | 01:36 | Click the Lodging cell and type 190.
Then click OK to save those assignments and costs.
| | 01:44 | Now, select the Visit Seattle site task.
| | 01:47 | To assign the Airfare and Lodging cost
resources, click a blank Resource Name
| | 01:52 | cell and choose the resource.
| | 01:55 | First, assign Airfare, and then in the
next Resource Name cell, choose Lodging.
| | 02:02 | Click OK to assign the resources.
| | 02:06 | Now, in the Airfare Cost cell, type
$350 and in the Lodging cell, type 360 and
| | 02:15 | click OK to save those costs.
| | 02:17 | To see how much you're spending by category
of cost, the Resource Usage View is better.
| | 02:23 | Click the View tab. Click Resource Usage.
| | 02:29 | Scroll down to see your cost resources.
| | 02:34 | The cost value in the Lodging summary
row shows the total cost for all lodging
| | 02:40 | assignments in this project.
| | 02:42 | You can see that the Visit Oakland
site and Visit Seattle site add up to
| | 02:46 | the $550 for Lodging.
| | 02:50 | Likewise, the Airfare value in the
summary row is equal to the cost for the
| | 02:56 | Oakland and Seattle trips.
| | 02:58 | Cost Resources are great way to
track costs that aren't labor or material
| | 03:02 | related. Just remember, you assign the
cost for a cost resource when you assign
| | 03:06 | the resource to a task.
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|
|
4. Assigning Tasks to ResourcesUnderstanding duration, work, and units| 00:00 | Task Duration is eternally
connected to the work and units of a
| | 00:04 | resource assignment.
| | 00:05 | The mathematical relationship is
easy to manage when you first assign
| | 00:09 | resources, but editing resource assignments
and getting the right results can be a challenge.
| | 00:14 | Understanding how duration, work, and
units work together is the key to getting
| | 00:18 | your resource assignments right every time.
| | 00:20 | To understand the relationship between
duration, work and units, all you need
| | 00:25 | is some basic algebra.
| | 00:27 | Duration = Work/Units. Units are the
percentage, or decimal amount, that the
| | 00:34 | assigned resource works on the task.
| | 00:37 | Full-time is 100%, or .1. Halftime is 50%, or .5.
| | 00:44 | If you estimate work at 40 hours and
specify that the resource works on the task
| | 00:50 | 50% of the time, Project
calculates the duration to be 10 days.
| | 00:55 | That's the equivalent of 80 hours.
| | 00:57 | On the other hand, if you estimate
duration to be 5 days, and the resource works
| | 01:02 | 40% on the task, the work is 2 days, or 16 hours.
| | 01:08 | Similarly, Project calculates Units if
you give it the duration and the work.
| | 01:12 | If you set the work at 40 hours and the
duration at 160 hours, that's 20 8-hour days.
| | 01:19 | The percentage of time the resource
works on the task is 25%, shown here as .25.
| | 01:26 | Project has built-in rules
about which values it changes.
| | 01:30 | Unless you give Project specific
instructions, the program tries to change
| | 01:35 | duration first, then work and
finally, as a last resort, units.
| | 01:41 | For example, if you give Project work
and units, it will calculate duration.
| | 01:48 | Similarly, if you give it duration and
units, it calculates work. And if you
| | 01:54 | give it duration and work
it will calculate units.
| | 01:57 | You can also see that if you leave the
Unit cell blank, Project uses 100%, or the
| | 02:03 | resources Maximum units.
| | 02:06 | You can bypass Projects built-in
calculation rules by setting the task type field.
| | 02:12 | Let's look at the Identify
physical requirements task.
| | 02:15 | Say your boss tells you the task has to
be finished more quickly, so you decide
| | 02:19 | to assign a second person to help you.
| | 02:22 | You want the duration to shorten
and the work to remain at 80 hours.
| | 02:26 | One way to do that is to change
the Task type field to Fixed Work.
| | 02:33 | In the Task type dropdown list, just
choose Fixed Work. Then you can add the
| | 02:39 | Office Manager to the task.
| | 02:45 | When you click OK, the Duration drops
to 5 days, and each person works 40 hours,
| | 02:52 | for a total of 80 hours.
| | 02:54 | The Effort driven check box is one
more factor in how resource assignments
| | 02:59 | change when you add or remove resources.
| | 03:02 | Effort-driven scheduling means a task's
total work stays the same as you add or
| | 03:07 | remove resources to a task.
| | 03:09 | Effort-driven scheduling is the norm
because you often add resources to shorten
| | 03:13 | a task by having several
people work on it simultaneously.
| | 03:17 | Meetings are one example of tasks
that don't follow the effort-driven
| | 03:21 | scheduling formula.
| | 03:22 | Meetings don't get shorter when you add
people to the attendee list; instead, the
| | 03:27 | total work for the task increases,
even if the duration stays the same.
| | 03:31 | Look at the Present
selection to management task.
| | 03:36 | With the relocation manager as the
only resource, the Duration and the Work
| | 03:40 | are both four hours.
| | 03:42 | To add attendees and increase the work,
first turn off the Effort driven check
| | 03:47 | box. Add the management folks
and the office manager to the task.
| | 03:55 | In each blank cell, choose a different
manager and then finally add the office
| | 04:07 | manager to the task.
| | 04:11 | When you click OK, you see that
every person assigned to this task is
| | 04:16 | assigned for 4 hours;
| | 04:18 | however, the Duration for the task is
still four hours, but the total work
| | 04:22 | adds up to 20 hours.
| | 04:24 | Keeping costs down and using people's
time effectively are two reasons to learn
| | 04:28 | how to run an efficient meeting.
| | 04:30 | The values you enter for Duration,
Work, or Units determines how Project
| | 04:34 | calculates resource assignments, but
the Task type and Effort driven scheduling
| | 04:38 | setting also affect resource assignment changes.
| | 04:42 | By understanding how each of these
features work, you can modify assignments and
| | 04:45 | get the results you want.
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| Assigning resources to tasks| 00:00 | Your project's schedule doesn't come into
focus until you assign resources to tasks.
| | 00:05 | How many resources you assign, their
work schedule, and availability for your
| | 00:09 | project all affect how long tasks take.
| | 00:12 | Project offers several methods
for assigning resources to tasks.
| | 00:16 | You can use your favorite method or use the
best methods for the assignment task at hand.
| | 00:21 | If you know the resources you
want to assign, the Task Form sits
| | 00:25 | conveniently below the Gantt Chart,
and can handle most of the assignment
| | 00:29 | fine-tuning you throw at it.
| | 00:31 | The Task Form shows information for the task
that's currently selected in the top pane view.
| | 00:37 | In this case, with Identify physical
requirements selected, you can see that
| | 00:42 | task down in the task form.
| | 00:44 | So, to assign a resource click the
first blank Resource Name cell. In the
| | 00:49 | dropdown list, choose the resource
you want to assign, the Relo PM.
| | 00:55 | To use the resource's Maximum units
from the resource sheet, you can leave the
| | 00:59 | Units cell blank and click OK.
| | 01:03 | Project fills in 100%, which is the
Relo project manager's Maximum units.
| | 01:08 | To allocate the resource at another
percentage, you can click the Units cell,
| | 01:12 | type the number, like 50 for 50%, and click OK.
| | 01:17 | In this case, let's bring the
Duration back down to the 40 days.
| | 01:23 | The percentage in the Units cell is
a percentage of the resource's work
| | 01:28 | schedule, which comes from the resources
calendar that you learned about in an earlier movie.
| | 01:33 | For regular work schedules, 100% is full-
time and usually represents 8-hour workdays.
| | 01:39 | Notice that the work hour is that Project
calculates for this assignment is 160 hours.
| | 01:45 | That's 4 hours a day for 40 workdays.
| | 01:49 | To assign another resource to the task,
click the next resource name cell,
| | 01:54 | choose the resource, like Relo
Assistant, fill in the Units and click OK.
| | 02:02 | You can see here that Project
distributes the hours for the PM to the Assistant,
| | 02:08 | so the total hours are still 160 hours,
split 50-50 between the two resources,
| | 02:15 | and the Duration has now dropped to 20 days.
| | 02:19 | Assigning material resources is almost
the same as assigning work resources.
| | 02:24 | Instead of telling Project how much
time the resource spends, you fill in the
| | 02:28 | quantity of material.
Select the Open House task.
| | 02:32 | In the Resource Name cell,
choose Wine on the dropdown list.
| | 02:40 | In the Units cell, type the quantity
of wine based on the material label you
| | 02:44 | defined in the resource sheet.
| | 02:46 | In an earlier movie, you set the
wine resource units to gallons.
| | 02:50 | So, if you type 20, you assign 20
gallons of wine to the open house, and you can
| | 02:55 | see that Project fills in
the label when you click OK.
| | 02:59 | The Assign Resources dialog box has
several tricks up its sleeve. Click the
| | 03:03 | Resource tab. Actually, select this
task, and then click Assign Resources.
| | 03:12 | You can drag the Assign Resources dialog box
out of the way so you can see what you're doing.
| | 03:18 | It stays where you put it, and it
stays open until you move it, or close it.
| | 03:23 | The Assign Resources dialog box is one
of the few that can stay open while you
| | 03:27 | do other things in Project.
| | 03:29 | You can also use this dialog box to
look for specific types of resources, or for
| | 03:33 | resources with enough available time.
| | 03:36 | In the Task view, select the task you
want to assign resources to, Walkthrough
| | 03:41 | office in this example.
| | 03:44 | In the Resource Name column, click the
resource that you want to assign, in this
| | 03:50 | case the Relo PM, and click Assign.
| | 03:55 | Several things happen. The resource you
clicked jumps to the top of the list and
| | 04:00 | a check mark appears next to the Resource Name.
| | 04:04 | The Unit cell fills in with the
resources Maximum units, and the cost of using
| | 04:09 | the resource for the work
hours shows up in the Cost cell.
| | 04:12 | If you want to change the units,
type the percentage in the Units cell.
| | 04:18 | To assign several resources at the
same time, click the first resource name,
| | 04:23 | then Ctrl+Click the other resource names.
| | 04:27 | In this case, I'll click the
Office Manager and the Relo Assistant.
| | 04:33 | When I click Assign, all the selected
resources move to the top of the list with
| | 04:38 | a check mark, to show
their assignment to the task.
| | 04:42 | If you have tons of resources on your
project, you can filter the resource names
| | 04:46 | in the Assign Resources dialog box
to look for the resources you want.
| | 04:51 | If you don't see the Resource list
options, for example when it's collapsed
| | 04:55 | like this, click the plus to display them.
| | 04:59 | To find resources based on criteria,
turn on the Filter by check box. Then, in
| | 05:06 | the dropdown list, you can choose a
filter like Resources-Work to show just
| | 05:12 | the work resources.
| | 05:14 | To view the full Resource list again, in the
Filter by dropdown list, choose All Resources.
| | 05:22 | The Available to work check box helps
you find people who have time available
| | 05:26 | between the task's Start and Finish date.
| | 05:29 | You can turn on the Available to work
check box, and then in the Available to
| | 05:33 | work box, type the time you need
from a resource, like 16h for 16 hours.
| | 05:41 | Then the Resource list in the Assign
Resources dialog box can show you only
| | 05:47 | the resources who have that amount of time
available between the task's Start and Finish date.
| | 05:53 | When you are done assigning resources,
you can close the Assign Resources dialog
| | 05:57 | box by clicking the Close button.
| | 06:00 | The Task Form and the Assign Resources
dialog box all help you assign resources.
| | 06:06 | The Assign Resources dialog box has the
most bells and whistles, and it can sit
| | 06:10 | anywhere on your screen and stay
open while you do other things.
| | 06:14 | In a later movie, you'll learn how to
assign resources with the Team Planner
| | 06:17 | View, which is new in Project 2010 Professional.
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| Viewing resource assignments and finding over-allocations| 00:00 | After you assign resources to tasks, you
have to make a second pass through your
| | 00:04 | schedule to make sure your
resource assignments work.
| | 00:07 | Workloads have to be just right
so you keep your team members busy
| | 00:11 | without burning them out.
| | 00:12 | The Gantt chart, the Task Form, and the
Assign Resources dialog box that you use
| | 00:18 | to assign resources focus on tasks
and assignments for one task at a time.
| | 00:23 | Project's Resource Usage view makes it
easy to scan all of the assignments for a
| | 00:27 | resource, review day-by-day
assignment details, and find overallocations.
| | 00:33 | Other views and filters provide
shortcuts for hunting down the overallocations
| | 00:37 | hiding in your schedule.
| | 00:38 | To quickly scan how many resources are
overallocated, look at the Resource Sheet.
| | 00:44 | On the View tab, click Resource Sheet.
| | 00:47 | If a resource is overallocated even
once, the text in the Resource's row is
| | 00:52 | red and bold, and the Indicators column
contains a yellow diamond with an exclamation mark.
| | 00:58 | In this view, you can see how many
resources you have to work on, but you can't
| | 01:02 | tell how much balancing you'll have to do.
| | 01:05 | The Resource Usage view is great when
you want to see all of our resource's
| | 01:09 | assignment and the day-to-day
assigned hours that produce overallocations.
| | 01:14 | On the view tab, click Resource Usage.
| | 01:17 | In the Resource Usage view, each resource
in the project appears in a summary row.
| | 01:23 | Right off the bat, you can see how many
hours the resource is assigned on your
| | 01:26 | project in the Work column.
| | 01:29 | The summary row shows the total hours
assigned to the resource. The assignment
| | 01:34 | rows show the hours for each assignment.
| | 01:36 | When you first display the Resource
Usage view, you probably won't see over-
| | 01:41 | allocations immediately.
| | 01:42 | Even if you do, overallocations can be
spread out of over time, or across many assignments.
| | 01:48 | You can jump from overallocation to
overallocation by clicking the Resource
| | 01:53 | tab and then clicking Next Overallocation.
| | 01:58 | This command starts looking for
overallocations from the currently selected
| | 02:02 | date and assignment.
| | 02:04 | It works its way down the time
period, from assignment to assignment.
| | 02:07 | When it gets to the last assignment
in a column, it moves to the next time
| | 02:11 | period. Because of that, it's better if
you change the time phase grid to show
| | 02:15 | weeks instead of days.
| | 02:18 | Right-click the Timescale
heading and then choose Timescale.
| | 02:23 | Click the Bottom Tier tab and then
choose Weeks. Click the Middle Tier and
| | 02:32 | change that to say Months and then click OK.
| | 02:36 | If the command doesn't find any
overallocations, try searching from the
| | 02:39 | beginning of the project.
| | 02:41 | You can press Ctrl+Home to move to the
first column in the first row. Then press
| | 02:46 | Ctrl+Up Arrow to move to the
first cell in the first row.
| | 02:50 | If the resource is overallocated at
all, the text in the summary row is red
| | 02:54 | and bold, and the yellow diamond with an
exclamation point appears in the Indicators column.
| | 03:00 | The time phase grid on the right shows
hours assigned during each time period.
| | 03:05 | If the hours are higher than the
resources maximum available time, the
| | 03:09 | hours appear in red too.
| | 03:11 | Unfortunately, if several tasks
contribute to the overallocation, the hours in
| | 03:16 | the summary row are red, but the
hours in the assignment rows aren't.
| | 03:24 | You can focus on the overallocated
resources by filtering the resources in the view.
| | 03:30 | Click the down arrow to the right
of the Resource Name column heading.
| | 03:34 | On the dropdown menu, point to Filters
and then choose Overallocated Resources.
| | 03:41 | The list of resources changes to
all red and bold, because all of these
| | 03:45 | resources are overallocated.
| | 03:48 | The Overallocated
Resources filter works on any view.
| | 03:51 | When you want to see all the resources
again, click the down arrow next to the
| | 03:55 | Resource Names heading.
| | 03:57 | In the Filters dropdown
list, choose All Resources.
| | 04:03 | When you are trying to figure out
how to balance out overallocations,
| | 04:07 | other fields can help.
| | 04:08 | The Overallocation field that tells
you how many hours you've gone beyond the
| | 04:12 | resource's available time.
| | 04:14 | On the other hand, the remaining
availability field shows the hours that
| | 04:18 | resources have available, if
you're looking for replacements.
| | 04:21 | Project 2010 makes it easy to display
or hide other fields in the Resource
| | 04:26 | Usage time phase grid.
| | 04:29 | Click the Format tab and then turn on
the check boxes for the fields you want, in
| | 04:34 | this example Overallocation.
| | 04:36 | Another row appears in each
assignment for overallocated hours.
| | 04:41 | The Resource Allocation view goes one
step further, if you want to manually delay
| | 04:46 | tasks to remove overallocations.
| | 04:49 | It displays the Resource Usage view in
the primary pane and the Leveling Gantt
| | 04:54 | Chart in the Details pane, so you can
add a leveling delay, which you'll learn
| | 04:58 | about in the later movie.
| | 05:00 | To display the Resource Allocation
combination view, on the View tab, click Other
| | 05:06 | Views and then choose More Views.
| | 05:09 | In the More Views dialog box
double-click Resource Allocation.
| | 05:15 | The resource graph is a great
companion to the Gantt Chart, Task Usage or
| | 05:20 | Resource Usage View.
| | 05:22 | It shows resource allocation by time period.
| | 05:25 | On the View tab, turn on the
Details check box. In the dropdown list,
| | 05:30 | choose Resource Graph.
| | 05:32 | Vertical bars show the selected
resource's allocation by time period.
| | 05:43 | When the vertical bar shoots pass
the horizontal line of the resources
| | 05:47 | availability, the bar above the line is red
to show that the resource is overallocated.
| | 05:53 | The Resource Graph doesn't show the
assignments for the overallocated time.
| | 05:57 | That's why it's better to display in
the Details pane with the Resource Usage
| | 06:02 | view in the primary pane.
| | 06:04 | Like the Resource Usage view, you can
change the fields you see in the Resource Graph.
| | 06:09 | Make sure that the Resource Graph is
the active view by clicking it.
| | 06:13 | Then click the Format tab.
| | 06:15 | In the graph dropdown list, choose
the field that you want to see, for
| | 06:19 | example, Overallocation.
| | 06:21 | Project has several views that help you see
resource assignments and resource overallocations.
| | 06:26 | You can filter views or show
different fields to help you to decide how to
| | 06:30 | reallocate resources.
| | 06:32 | The best way to look at
assignments is to display a view like
| | 06:36 | Resource Usage in the primary pane, so you can
see the big picture of a resource's assignment.
| | 06:41 | Then you can display another view like
the Leveling Gantt or the Resource Graph
| | 06:45 | in the Details pane to dig
deeper and figure out a solution.
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| Modifying resource assignments| 00:00 | Resource assignment changes
come in all shapes and sizes.
| | 00:03 | You can add or remove resources from a
task, change the task duration or work,
| | 00:08 | or adjust the percentage of
time resources devote to a task.
| | 00:12 | To get the assignment results you want,
you have to juggle Project's Effort driven
| | 00:15 | scheduling setting with the task type
you choose, and the values you enter for
| | 00:20 | duration, work, and units.
| | 00:22 | In this movie, you're going to edit
the same task over and over again.
| | 00:26 | After each change, you'll undo the
change, so you can see how each edit has
| | 00:30 | a different effect.
| | 00:31 | When you want to add, remove, or
replace resources on a task, the Assign
| | 00:35 | Resources dialog box is your best bet.
| | 00:39 | Click the Resource tab and
then click Assign Resources.
| | 00:43 | The Assign Resources dialog box appears.
| | 00:45 | In the Gantt chart, or another task view,
select the task you want to edit, like
| | 00:50 | Identify physical requirements.
| | 00:52 | The resource assigned appear at the
top of the list in the Assign Resources
| | 00:57 | dialog box, with check marks to the
left of the name to show they're assigned.
| | 01:02 | The units they're assigned at and the
resulting assignment costs show up in the table.
| | 01:07 | To add a resource to the task, click the
name of the resource, like Office manager.
| | 01:13 | If you want to set the units for the new
assignment, in the Units cell, type the percentage.
| | 01:18 | Otherwise, project sets the
units to 100%. Then click Assign.
| | 01:25 | In the Gantt chart table, you see a
feedback triangle in the upper-left corner
| | 01:29 | of the Task Name cell.
| | 01:31 | That's Project's way to tell you it
needs some help figuring out how to make the
| | 01:35 | change you asked for.
| | 01:37 | Click the triangle and then click
the smart tag indicator that appears.
| | 01:42 | Project opens a dropdown menu with
the changes you're most likely to make.
| | 01:47 | If you added resources, the first
option is Reduce duration so the task ends
| | 01:52 | sooner, but requires the same amount of work.
| | 01:56 | Project selects this option
automatically, because shortening duration is
| | 02:00 | usually why you add resources.
| | 02:02 | The duration shortens based on the
resource units, but the total work stays the same.
| | 02:09 | In this case, Project
assigns the Office manager at 100%.
| | 02:13 | The duration shortens to 15 days,
but the total work is still 240 hours.
| | 02:19 | On the Quick Access Toolbar,
click Undo to undo this change.
| | 02:25 | Now assign the office manager again.
Click the feedback triangle and click the
| | 02:33 | smart tag indicator, but this time
select the second option: Increase total
| | 02:39 | work, because the task
requires more person-hours.
| | 02:42 | Keep duration constant.
| | 02:43 | That keeps the duration
and recalculates the work.
| | 02:48 | The duration stays at 30 days,
but the amount of work changes.
| | 02:52 | This option is great if you add
resources to complete new features the
| | 02:55 | customer asked for.
| | 02:57 | Project assigns the office manager at 100%.
| | 03:00 | In this case, the total
work increases to 480 hours.
| | 03:05 | Once again, undo the change.
| | 03:08 | Reassign the office manager one more time.
| | 03:14 | This time the third option, Reduce
the hours that resources work per day.
| | 03:19 | Keep duration and work the same.
| | 03:22 | This option redistributes the work to
all the resources, because the total work
| | 03:27 | stays the same, and the duration stays
the same, each resource can work fewer
| | 03:31 | hours each day, which means
a smaller value for units.
| | 03:37 | If you choose this option, Project
assigns the three resources at 33%, but keeps
| | 03:42 | the duration at 30 days and
the total work at 240 hours.
| | 03:47 | To remove an assigned resource,
select the resource and click Remove.
| | 03:52 | We select the office manager and click Remove.
| | 03:57 | The assigned check mark goes away,
and the resource name goes back to its
| | 04:01 | original location in the
alphabetical list of unassigned resources.
| | 04:07 | When you remove resources, the smart
tag shows similar options for increasing
| | 04:11 | duration, decreasing total
work, or increasing units.
| | 04:19 | You can replace one resource with another.
| | 04:21 | In the Assign Resources dialog box,
select the resource you want to replace,
| | 04:29 | say the Relo Assistant.
| | 04:31 | Then click Replace.
| | 04:33 | In the Replace Resource dialog box,
select the new resource, Office manager, for
| | 04:38 | example, and click OK.
| | 04:43 | Because you are simply swapping one
resource for another, you don't have to
| | 04:46 | answer any smart tag questions.
| | 04:49 | Undo this replacement.
| | 04:53 | If you assign a new resource and tell
Project the units or work to give to the
| | 04:58 | resource, you answer one of
the questions that Project has.
| | 05:02 | In this case, add the office manager,
but set the units to 25%, and click Assign.
| | 05:14 | Project keeps the existing
resources at their percentage and adds the
| | 05:17 | office manager at 25%.
| | 05:20 | It figures out how much work to
assign to each resource based on the units.
| | 05:26 | Based on the work hours, Project
calculates the new duration to be 50 days.
| | 05:31 | You don't have to understand the ins
and outs of effort-driven scheduling and
| | 05:35 | task types, if you use Project's smart
tags when you edit resource assignments.
| | 05:39 | You make a change in the Assign
Resources dialog box, and the program asks you
| | 05:44 | what you're trying to do.
| | 05:45 | You give it a little guidance,
and it makes your wishes come true.
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| Using Team Planner to assign resources| 00:00 | The Team Planner view is new in Project
2010 Professional, and it's an easy way
| | 00:05 | to work on resource assignments for small teams.
| | 00:08 | Team Planner shows a swim lane for
each resource assigned to the project.
| | 00:12 | The tasks they're working on appear in
a timescale, and you can drag tasks to a
| | 00:16 | resources row to assign it, drag
assignments from one resource to another, or
| | 00:20 | move assignments around in time.
| | 00:22 | Team Planner isn't as helpful for large
projects with auto scheduled tasks and
| | 00:26 | oodles of resources.
| | 00:28 | You have to scroll through lots of
resources in the timescale to find the
| | 00:31 | assignments you want to work on.
But for small teams, it's great.
| | 00:35 | To display Team Planner, click the
Resource tab, and then click Team Planner.
| | 00:42 | Choose Team Planner on the dropdown menu.
| | 00:44 | Before you start assigning tasks with Team
Planner, let's look at how the view is set up.
| | 00:49 | The upper-left of Team Planner view
lists the project's resources, one resource
| | 00:54 | per row, like swimmers
ready for a race in a pool.
| | 00:57 | If a resource is assigned to manually
schedule tasks without start or finish
| | 01:01 | dates, those tasks appear in
the Unscheduled Tasks column,
| | 01:07 | like the Meet with management task
assigned to the Relo Project Manager.
| | 01:11 | There are two ways to assign a task from
the bottom half of the Team Planner window.
| | 01:16 | You can drag the task to the row for
the resource you want to assign, like
| | 01:21 | Identify physical
requirements to the Relo PM resource.
| | 01:28 | One pitfall with this method is that you
might drop the task on a different date
| | 01:32 | than the task's current dates.
| | 01:34 | For manually scheduled tasks,
it isn't that big a deal -
| | 01:37 | you can drag the task to the correct
date, but dropping an automatically
| | 01:41 | scheduled task on a different
date creates a date constrain.
| | 01:45 | To avoid date constraints, you can also
assign a task by right-clicking its bar
| | 01:49 | like the Draft the budget task.
| | 01:52 | On the pop-up menu, choose Reassign To,
and then click Relo PM on the dropdown menu.
| | 02:01 | One thing to note: the Team Planner
timescale on the right shows bars based on
| | 02:06 | task's start and finish dates, but
because these bars are associated with the
| | 02:10 | resource, they're assignment bars.
| | 02:12 | If a task has more than one assigned
resource, a bar for the task appears in the
| | 02:17 | row for each assigned resource.
| | 02:19 | Now that the Identify physical
requirements and Draft the budget tasks are both
| | 02:24 | assigned to the Relo PM, you see
red lines above and below the tasks.
| | 02:30 | The red lines mean that the
resource is overallocated.
| | 02:34 | The resource's name also changes to
red when the resource is overallocated.
| | 02:39 | Team Planner is happy to prevent
overallocations in the first place.
| | 02:44 | Click the Format tab and then
click Prevent Overallocations.
| | 02:50 | If you try to assign a task to a
resource that's already allocated, Project
| | 02:54 | reschedules the assignment to
the resource's next available slot,
| | 02:58 | the way it did the Draft the budget task.
| | 03:01 | Another way to eliminate
overallocations is to drag the bar to
| | 03:05 | another resource's row.
| | 03:06 | For instance, you can drag the
Draft the budget task to the Relo
| | 03:10 | Assistant resource.
| | 03:15 | Let's try one more method.
| | 03:17 | First, reassign the task back to the Relo PM
resource, starting the week of December 12th.
| | 03:26 | Actually, we have to go back and turn off the
Prevent Overallocations to get this to work.
| | 03:35 | To tell Project to chop up the
assignment into a resource's available time,
| | 03:40 | select the assignment,
Draft the budget in this case.
| | 03:44 | Then click the Task tab, click Move,
and choose When Resources are Available.
| | 03:55 | Project moves the assignment to when
the resource is available and splits the
| | 03:59 | task into pieces if necessary.
| | 04:02 | Team Planner is a great way to manage
resource assignments for small teams,
| | 04:06 | particularly for projects
that are manually scheduled.
| | 04:09 | You can drag and drop assignments
and move them around in time to your
| | 04:12 | heart's content.
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
5. Working with ViewsChoosing a different view| 00:00 | Over the lifetime of a project, you look at
project information from many perspectives.
| | 00:04 | That's why Project has dozens of
built-in views that you can display in
| | 00:08 | different panes within the main project window.
| | 00:11 | In addition to a plethora of different
views, Project lets you pick the view you
| | 00:15 | want in a number of places within the program.
| | 00:18 | When you create a new file, Project
initially displays the timeline, which is a
| | 00:22 | new pane in the Project 2010 window.
| | 00:27 | To create a new file, click File, then
click New and double-click Blank project.
| | 00:36 | Click OK to close the
Project Information dialog box.
| | 00:39 | This pane up at the top is the
Timeline view, and you can see that Gantt
| | 00:43 | Chart is in the bottom.
| | 00:45 | However, as you work on a project,
you'll look at it in different ways.
| | 00:49 | Let's look at a completed project plan.
| | 00:52 | The Gantt Chart view here shows the
tasks in the project, the task lengths that
| | 00:56 | determine your schedule, the
resources assigned, and more.
| | 01:00 | This view is called a single-pane view,
because it contains just one view, the Gantt Chart.
| | 01:06 | But the Gantt Chart view does
have a left and a right pane.
| | 01:10 | The left side is a table of data, and
the right side is a timescale that shows
| | 01:14 | when tasks are scheduled against a calendar.
| | 01:17 | You can also show two views at a time.
| | 01:20 | For example, to see the Timeline,
click the View tab and turn on the
| | 01:24 | Timeline check box.
| | 01:28 | Then the Timeline appears
above the Gantt Chart view.
| | 01:31 | Project automatically selects
Timeline in the Timeline box,
| | 01:35 | so it appears above the Gantt Chart, but
you can choose another view if you want.
| | 01:40 | The Timeline shows the dates
covered in the Gantt Chart timescale.
| | 01:44 | You can drag the blue timeline bar to
scroll the Gantt Chart's timescale dates.
| | 01:54 | Or, you can drag one end to change the
date range that you see in the timescale.
| | 02:01 | You'll learn more
Timeline tricks in a later movie.
| | 02:04 | Instead of the Timeline, you can display
the Details pane below the primary pane.
| | 02:09 | To display the Details pane, click the View
tab and then turn on the Details check box.
| | 02:17 | Project automatically selects Task Form
in the box, and the Task Form dutifully
| | 02:22 | appears below the Gantt Chart.
| | 02:23 | If you want to see a different view in
the Details pane, click the down arrow.
| | 02:28 | To choose from any view, click More Views,
and then in the More Views dialog box,
| | 02:35 | you can double-click the view you want,
| | 02:37 | for example, the Task Details Form.
| | 02:41 | When the Details pane is opened, it
shows information about what you select
| | 02:45 | in the primary pane.
| | 02:46 | Select a task in the Gantt Chart, and
the information about the task appears in
| | 02:50 | the view in the Details pane,
like the Task Details Form here.
| | 02:56 | You can see, when I select Identify
physical requirements, the resource is
| | 03:00 | assigned, and the units and cost
all appear in the Task Details Form.
| | 03:05 | Select another task and the information you see
in the Details pane changes to show that task.
| | 03:10 | Views called Combination Views display
one view in the primary pane and another
| | 03:16 | view in the Details pane.
| | 03:17 | If you want to hide the Details pane
to concentrate on your primary view, you
| | 03:22 | can turn the Details
check box off on the View tab.
| | 03:29 | A shortcut is double-clicking the
horizontal divider between the two panes.
| | 03:35 | To restore the Details pane, you can
double-click the box immediately below the
| | 03:39 | vertical scrollbar or turn on the
Details check box on the View tab.
| | 03:44 | Here's the box below the vertical scrollbar.
| | 03:47 | Just to keep your pane terminology
clear, Project also has Task panes, which
| | 03:53 | aren't related to View panes.
| | 03:55 | For example, click the Task
tab and then click Inspect.
| | 04:02 | That opens the Task Inspector
pane to the left of your view.
| | 04:06 | The Task tab and Resource tab include
commands for displaying the most commonly
| | 04:10 | used Task or Resource views.
| | 04:13 | On the Task tab, the View section
has a button labeled Gantt Chart.
| | 04:18 | Click the down arrow and then
choose the view that you want to display.
| | 04:24 | On the dropdown menu, click More Views
to open the More Views dialog box, which
| | 04:30 | contains all built-in and custom views.
| | 04:34 | Click the Resource tab.
| | 04:37 | The View section has a button labeled
Team Planner, so you can click it to see
| | 04:41 | the Team Planner in no time.
| | 04:43 | But to see another view, click the
down arrow and choose the view you want.
| | 04:49 | The View tab provides easy
access to several popular views.
| | 04:55 | The Task View section has buttons for
the Gantt Chart, Task Usage, Network
| | 05:00 | Diagram, Calendar, and Timeline.
| | 05:09 | The Network Diagram is a planning view
that helps you see the task dependencies
| | 05:13 | between tasks as you build your schedule.
| | 05:16 | The Calendar looks like a desk calendar with
your project tasks drawn across the date boxes.
| | 05:21 | It's a great way to send schedule
information to team members in a format
| | 05:25 | they're used to, and you've
already seen the Timeline.
| | 05:28 | The Resource View section has buttons
for Team Planner, Resource Usage, and
| | 05:32 | the Resource Sheet.
| | 05:33 | The Team Planner makes it easy to assign
resources to tasks on small, less formal
| | 05:38 | projects, and the Resource Usage view
is like the Task Usage view except that
| | 05:42 | you can see the hours that a resource
works on assignments by time period.
| | 05:46 | Project also has View shortcuts on
the right side of the Status Bar.
| | 05:51 | You can click one of the icons to
display the Gantt Chart, Task Usage, Team
| | 05:57 | Planner, or the Resource Sheet.
| | 06:00 | When both the primary and Details pane
are open, Project applies the view you
| | 06:05 | choose to the active pane.
| | 06:07 | So before you choose a view, be sure
to click the pane you want to switch,
| | 06:11 | either the primary pane or the Details pane.
| | 06:14 | The vertical title bar is a dark
gray to show you which pane is active.
| | 06:19 | If you have a favorite view, you can
tell Project to display that initially.
| | 06:24 | Click File and then click Options.
| | 06:27 | In the Project Options dialog box,
on the General tab, you can choose the
| | 06:32 | default view that you want in the dropdown list.
| | 06:34 | After you select that view,
click OK to close the dialog box.
| | 06:39 | Project can display a primary view pane,
along with either the Timeline or a view
| | 06:44 | in the Details pane.
| | 06:45 | Click the pane you want to switch and
then choose the view you want to see.
| | 06:48 | Project has shortcuts on the Ribbon
and the Status Bar for opening the most
| | 06:52 | commonly used views, but you can always
click a View command button and choose
| | 06:56 | more views to get to every view
that's available in your file.
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| Choosing a different table in a view| 00:00 | Sometimes the view you're looking at
is okay, but you want to see different
| | 00:04 | fields of information.
| | 00:06 | The table that appears on the left side
of many views, like the Gantt Chart or
| | 00:10 | Resource Usage, is nothing more
than a collection of Project fields.
| | 00:14 | Similar to views, Project comes
with lots of built-in tables, and you
| | 00:19 | can customize your own.
| | 00:20 | You can switch the table
you see in several ways.
| | 00:23 | The Gantt Chart view initially displays
the entry table, which is perfect when
| | 00:27 | you're first building a plan.
| | 00:29 | The Entry Table has columns for status
indicators, like overallocated resources,
| | 00:35 | and the Task mode so you can set tasks
to Manually Scheduled or Auto Scheduled.
| | 00:39 | Then the entry table has basic task
fields like Task Name, Duration, Start,
| | 00:46 | Finish, Predecessors, and Resource Names.
| | 00:49 | With most tables, you can't see all
the fields in the table at the same time.
| | 00:54 | In the Entry Table, you can see
only through the Start Field here.
| | 00:58 | If you want to see more of a table's
columns, drag the vertical divider between
| | 01:02 | the table and the timescale to the right.
| | 01:05 | Another option is scrolling within the table.
| | 01:10 | If the table is narrow, you can click in
the horizontal scrollbar to move within
| | 01:14 | the columns in the table.
| | 01:17 | To change the table in the view,
click the View tab, then click Tables and
| | 01:23 | choose the table that you want.
| | 01:25 | For example, the Cost table shows
cost for each task or assignment.
| | 01:31 | You can see the current cost, the
baseline, actual cost, and remaining cost.
| | 01:37 | The Variance is the difference between
the baseline and the current estimate, but
| | 01:41 | in this case there is no baseline,
so the Variance is the total value.
| | 01:46 | The Summary Table shows Duration, Start
and Finish, Cost, Work, and the Percent Complete.
| | 01:52 | One other way to show a table is to
right-click the All Cells box, and then
| | 01:58 | choose the table that you want.
| | 01:59 | You can also choose other tables, like
Variance, if you are evaluating project progress.
| | 02:07 | To choose any table available in your
project, choose More Tables, and then in
| | 02:15 | the More Tables dialog box, select
the table you want and click Apply.
| | 02:21 | In this particular view, the date columns
aren't wide enough to show the full dates.
| | 02:27 | You can widen a column automatically
by double-clicking the vertical bar
| | 02:31 | between the two columns.
| | 02:37 | A table is a collection of several
fields with information about tasks,
| | 02:41 | assignments, or resources.
| | 02:43 | You can change the table in a view
depending on the project management task you
| | 02:46 | are performing, or what aspect of
project performance you want to evaluate.
| | 02:51 | It's always your choice.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Inserting and rearranging columns in a table| 00:00 | Project comes with lots of built-in
tables, but they don't necessarily
| | 00:04 | contain the fields you want to see, in the
order you want, or with the settings you want.
| | 00:08 | You can add, remove, or rearrange
columns right within the table in the View,
| | 00:12 | whether it's a built-in table
or one you fiddled with before.
| | 00:16 | You can change field settings to
display information in columns exactly the way
| | 00:20 | you want, and you can save your new
and improved masterpiece as a new table
| | 00:24 | without breaking a sweat.
| | 00:26 | Making changes to a table by working on a
directly in the view is the best way to go.
| | 00:30 | You can see the results immediately
and try again, until you get it right.
| | 00:34 | Let's work on the Summary table.
| | 00:38 | Right-click the All Cells box and
choose Summary on the dropdown menu.
| | 00:42 | To insert a column in a table, right-click the
column heading to the right of the new column,
| | 00:47 | for instance, Finish.
| | 00:50 | On the dropdown menu, choose Insert Column.
| | 00:54 | Project displays the Field Name
dropdown list, which shows the abundance of
| | 00:58 | Project fields you can choose from.
| | 01:00 | The fastest way to a field is
to start typing the field name.
| | 01:04 | Project selects the first field
that matches the letters you've typed.
| | 01:07 | For example, to insert the Baseline
Finish Field, start typing Baseline Finish.
| | 01:13 | By the time you get to baseline F,
Project has selected the field, and you can
| | 01:18 | click it to add it into the Table, or
say you want to insert the % Work Complete
| | 01:24 | Field. Right-click the heading again,
choose Insert Column, and then you can
| | 01:29 | choose % Work Complete,
right on the dropdown menu.
| | 01:33 | Tables in Project 2010 also include
the Add New Column heading in the last
| | 01:38 | column of the table.
| | 01:42 | Click the down arrow and choose the
fields you want from the dropdown list.
| | 01:48 | The Add New Column column can figure
out what type of field you want to add.
| | 01:52 | For example, if you type a date into
the column, like 12/1/2010, Project adds
| | 02:04 | the custom Date2 Field to your Table.
| | 02:07 | To remove a column, right-click
it's heading and choose Hide Column.
| | 02:16 | If you want the columns in a different
order, you can drag columns to where you
| | 02:20 | want them in the table.
| | 02:21 | For example, let's say we want to
put % Work Complete next to % Complete.
| | 02:28 | Click the column heading. The pointer
changes to a four-headed arrow. Now you
| | 02:32 | can drag the column to where you want.
| | 02:35 | As you drag, a vertical line shows you where
the column goes if you release the mouse button.
| | 02:41 | When the line is in between the columns
you want, just release the mouse button,
| | 02:46 | and the column snuggles in between its new pals.
| | 02:49 | Field settings let you change
the way values look in a column.
| | 02:53 | To change a column's settings, right-
click the column heading, say % Work
| | 02:57 | Complete, and choose Field
Settings on the dropdown menu.
| | 03:05 | Initially, the column heading shows the
name of the Project field, but you can
| | 03:10 | change the title to whatever you want.
| | 03:12 | In the Title box, type the heading
you want, such as Completed Work.
| | 03:19 | You can align the title within the
heading cell by choosing left, center or
| | 03:24 | right in the Align Title box.
| | 03:28 | Turn on the Header Text Wrapping check
box to wrap the title over several lines
| | 03:33 | when the column is narrow.
| | 03:35 | That way it will show on
multiple lines, as it does here.
| | 03:39 | The Align Data box is where you tell Project
how to align the values in the column cells.
| | 03:44 | For example, dates and numbers
are usually aligned to the left.
| | 03:48 | Text or Yes/No fields are often
aligned to the right, or the center.
| | 03:54 | The Field Settings dialog box has a Width
setting to change the width of a column.
| | 03:59 | But the easiest way to resize the
column is to click Best Fit. Then Project
| | 04:04 | changes the column width, so it's wide
enough for all the values in the column.
| | 04:11 | Let's look at the tracking table
for one other feature of tables.
| | 04:17 | Project 2010 has a new setting that
automatically wraps the text in columns like
| | 04:22 | Task Name, which mean very long Task
Names wrap over several lines as you
| | 04:27 | change the column width.
| | 04:30 | The row height automatically
adjusts to show the full cell contents.
| | 04:35 | If you widen the column,
some things go to a single line.
| | 04:38 | If you narrow it, they go to two or even three lines.
| | 04:43 | If you want to apply wrapping to a
column, right-click the column and
| | 04:47 | then choose Wrap Text.
| | 04:51 | Project keeps the changes you make to a
table in your Project file, so the table
| | 04:55 | looks the same way the next time you apply it.
| | 04:59 | If you want to save the modified Table
as a new one, click the View tab, click
| | 05:05 | the Table's down arrow and then
choose Save Fields as a New Table.
| | 05:12 | In the Name box, type the
name for the table and click OK.
| | 05:20 | Project comes with lots of tables, with
different sets of project information.
| | 05:24 | You can use those tables as a foundation
for the information you want to see, by
| | 05:28 | adding, removing, or
rearranging the columns in any table.
| | 05:31 | And Field Settings change the appearance
of the information in those columns, so
| | 05:35 | you can see the info you
want, just the way you want.
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| Sorting tasks, assignments, and resources| 00:00 | The alphabetical order in your address book
makes it easy to find the people you contact.
| | 00:05 | You often sort tasks, assignments, and
resources in Project for the same reason.
| | 00:11 | You might sort tasks by WBS code while
you're planning, and then by Start Date
| | 00:16 | while you're tracking progress.
Or, perhaps you sort your resources first by
| | 00:21 | Resource Type and then by Resource Name
to make all the work, material, and cost
| | 00:27 | resources easy to find.
| | 00:29 | Project 2010 makes
sorting easier than ever before.
| | 00:32 | You find the Sort command on the View tab.
| | 00:36 | Click Sort, and a dropdown menu with
several common sort criteria appears.
| | 00:42 | Choose by Start Date to see
tasks in the order they start,
| | 00:47 | for example, to give team members their
assignments in the order they work on them.
| | 00:52 | You can make tasks even easier
to see by hiding summary tasks.
| | 00:57 | Click the Format tab and turn
off the Summary Task check box.
| | 01:04 | Now you can see just the
work tasks in your Project.
| | 01:09 | Back on the View tab, if you click Sort
and then choose by Finish Date, you sort
| | 01:15 | tasks by when they finish.
| | 01:17 | So you can see which resources you
need to the very end of the project.
| | 01:21 | If you assign priorities to tasks, to
help with leveling resources, you can also
| | 01:25 | sort tasks by priority.
| | 01:31 | Sorting by cost is helpful if you're
trying to find the most expensive tasks for
| | 01:35 | a cost-cutting initiative.
| | 01:37 | And finally, sort by ID puts the tasks
back in the order they were originally.
| | 01:43 | Project 2010 introduces an even
easier way to sort by a column in a table.
| | 01:49 | Click a column heading down arrow -
| | 01:51 | Duration, for example.
| | 01:54 | The dropdown menu includes sort
options specific to the column.
| | 01:58 | For the Duration column, the two sort
commands are Sort Smallest to Largest and
| | 02:03 | Sort Largest to Smallest.
| | 02:05 | If you click the down arrow in the
Start column, the sort commands are Sort
| | 02:11 | Earliest to Latest and Sort Latest to Earliest.
| | 02:14 | On the other hand, clicking the down
arrow in the Task Name column shows Sort A
| | 02:20 | to Z and Sort Z to A.
| | 02:22 | The sort options on the dropdown
menu sort by one criterion at a time,
| | 02:27 | but you can also build a Sort
that uses up to three fields.
| | 02:31 | Click Sort and then choose Sort By,
at the bottom of the dropdown menu.
| | 02:37 | If a Sort is applied, the field you're
sorting by appears in the Sort By box.
| | 02:42 | To choose a different field, click the
Sort By down arrow and choose the field
| | 02:46 | you want, for example, Duration.
| | 02:51 | If you want to see the longest
duration first, select the Descending option.
| | 02:55 | To add another sort criterion, choose a field
in the first Then by box - for example, Cost.
| | 03:05 | To see the highest Cost
first, choose Descending.
| | 03:09 | If you want the task names to appear
in alphabetical order within each sort,
| | 03:13 | choose Name in the next Then by box,
and select the Ascending option.
| | 03:21 | To apply the Sort, click Sort.
| | 03:24 | Now your tasks are sorted by
longest duration and highest cost,
| | 03:29 | the perfect targets for innovative,
schedule and cost-cutting efforts.
| | 03:33 | You can also sort resources.
| | 03:35 | Say you build a team of resources,
but the list is a hodgepodge of names
| | 03:39 | and resource types.
| | 03:41 | On the View tab click Resource sheet,
you can click Sort and choose Sort by
| | 03:47 | on the dropdown menu.
| | 03:50 | You want your resources sorted first
by resource type, and then by resource
| | 03:53 | name, so that different types of
resources are grouped together and then shown
| | 03:58 | alphabetically within each type.
| | 04:00 | Choose type in the Sort By box.
Choose Descending to show work resources first.
| | 04:08 | In the Then By box, choose
Name. Choose Ascending to list
| | 04:14 | resources alphabetically.
| | 04:16 | To make this new sort order
permanent, turn on the Permanently Renumber
| | 04:20 | Resources check box.
| | 04:22 | When you click Sort, Project
reorders the resources and changes their ID
| | 04:27 | values to this new order.
| | 04:30 | If you're sorting tasks, the Sort
dialog box shows the Permanently
| | 04:34 | Renumbered Task check box.
| | 04:37 | Say you sort tasks by WBS code and
want them to remain in that order.
| | 04:41 | You can turn on the Permanently
Renumber Task check box, so Task IDs change to
| | 04:46 | list Tasks by WBS code.
| | 04:48 | Sorting comes in handy in
all sorts of situations.
| | 04:51 | In Project 2010, you can choose common sort
criteria on the Sort dropdown menu on the View tab,
| | 04:58 | or you can build multi-criteria
sorts using the Sort dialog box.
| | 05:02 | Clicking a column heading
gives fast access to sort criteria,
| | 05:06 | specific to the column you click.
| | 05:08 | So choose the Sort method that you
prefer or is best for the task at hand.
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| Grouping tasks, assignments, and resources| 00:00 | Grouping tasks or resources is helpful
when you're trying to focus on categories.
| | 00:05 | For example, you can group tasks by the
Overallocated field to find tasks with
| | 00:10 | overallocated resources.
| | 00:12 | You can nest groups to group tasks
first into critical and non-critical, and
| | 00:17 | then by overallocated resources.
| | 00:20 | Grouping offers another benefit; the
summary rows for each group rolls up values
| | 00:25 | for all the items below.
| | 00:27 | If you group by internal and external
resources, using a custom resource field,
| | 00:33 | you can see how much you're spending
on labor for employees, contractors, and
| | 00:37 | third-party vendors.
| | 00:39 | To apply a Group, click the View tab.
| | 00:43 | Then click the Group down arrow, on
the dropdown menu choose the group you
| | 00:48 | want, like resource.
| | 00:51 | Project creates summary rows for each resource.
| | 00:54 | If I click the Minus sign, I can
collapse the group with no resource names, and
| | 00:59 | now you can see the groups for all
the other resources in the project.
| | 01:03 | The Group's summary rows show the total for
the values in the group's numeric fields.
| | 01:08 | So, for example, you can see how much
you're spending on each resource in the project.
| | 01:14 | To choose any group that's available,
including custom groups, click the Group down arrow.
| | 01:20 | On the dropdown menu, choose More Groups.
| | 01:24 | In the More Groups dialog box double-
click the group you want, like Critical.
| | 01:29 | Now you can see the group of non-
critical tasks, and if you scroll down,
| | 01:35 | the critical tasks.
| | 01:38 | Another way to apply a group is by
clicking the down arrow to the right of the
| | 01:42 | column heading you want to group by.
| | 01:44 | Then on the dropdown menu, you choose Group By.
| | 01:49 | Click the down arrow in the Duration
column. Point to Group By, and you can
| | 01:54 | group by duration or weeks.
| | 01:57 | If you make changes to a project, like
adding resources to shorten duration, the
| | 02:02 | changes can affect the group, task,
resource, or assignment it belongs to.
| | 02:06 | So be sure to reapply the
group to see those new groupings.
| | 02:10 | To remove a group, on the View tab, click
the Group down arrow. Then choose No Group.
| | 02:18 | You can also click the down arrow in a column
heading and choose No Group on the dropdown menu.
| | 02:25 | Right now, the No Group Command is not
selectable because there is no group applied.
| | 02:30 | To create a multilevel group,
you have to dig a little deeper.
| | 02:34 | You can copy an existing group as a
foundation, and make changes to it.
| | 02:38 | Suppose you want to find tasks
that are good prospects for crashing.
| | 02:42 | They are on the critical path,
and their durations are long.
| | 02:44 | So you can shorten them if you're
willing to spend a little money.
| | 02:48 | You want to create a new
group based on the critical group.
| | 02:52 | On the View tab, click the Group down
arrow, and then on the dropdown menu,
| | 02:56 | choose More Groups.
| | 03:00 | In the Groups list, select the group you want
to copy, Critical in this case, and click Copy.
| | 03:08 | In the Name box, type a new name for
the group, like Critical Duration.
| | 03:16 | If you want the group to show up on
the dropdown menu on the Ribbon, turn on
| | 03:20 | the Show in menu check box, as it is here.
| | 03:23 | To add another field to Group By, click
the first blank Field Name cell, click
| | 03:28 | the down arrow and then choose
the Field you want to group by,
| | 03:33 | in this case, Duration.
| | 03:38 | In a task-oriented view, Project
fills in the Field Type cell with task.
| | 03:42 | If you're working on a
Resource view, it fills in resource.
| | 03:46 | If you want to group by assignments,
choose Assignments in the Field Type cell
| | 03:52 | and turn on the Group
assignments, not tasks check box.
| | 03:55 | For example, in a Task Usage view, you
might group by assignments to see which
| | 04:00 | resources generate the highest cost.
| | 04:02 | If you want to see critical tasks first in
this group, in the Order cell, choose Descending.
| | 04:09 | Descending shows numbers, from the
largest to smallest and text from Z to A.
| | 04:14 | With groups on a field like duration,
you could end up with a lot more groups
| | 04:18 | than you bargained for:
| | 04:19 | duration of one day, one-and-a-
half days, 1.75 days, and so on.
| | 04:25 | The solution is to define group intervals.
| | 04:28 | For example, on a 1-month project, the
intervals for the duration group could be days.
| | 04:33 | On a multiyear project, the
interval for the duration group could be
| | 04:36 | two-week intervals.
| | 04:37 | With the Field selected,
click Define Group Intervals.
| | 04:43 | The Group On field is set to Each
Value, which creates a separate subgroup
| | 04:48 | for each unique value.
| | 04:50 | To change the interval, click the down
arrow and choose the interval you want,
| | 04:55 | Weeks for example.
| | 04:57 | The Group on dropdown list
varies based on the field.
| | 05:01 | Duration has choices like Days and Months,
while Cost has a numeric Interval size.
| | 05:06 | To start the interval at a specific
value, which helps group very small values,
| | 05:12 | type the number in the Start At box.
| | 05:14 | To start at one week, type 1, to have the
first group show any duration less than 1 week.
| | 05:21 | To define the interval size, type
the number in the Group Interval box,
| | 05:26 | like 2, for two-week intervals. Then click OK.
| | 05:31 | Click Save to save this group.
| | 05:35 | Now that this group is in the More
Groups dialog box, you can click Apply to
| | 05:39 | apply it to your view.
| | 05:41 | You can see in this group that
first we group by critical tasks and
| | 05:47 | non-Critical Tasks.
| | 05:50 | Then within the critical tasks, the
tasks are grouped by duration, so you have
| | 05:55 | less than 1 week to 1 week, 1 week to
3 weeks, 3 weeks to 5 weeks, and the
| | 06:03 | longest group, 5 to 7 weeks.
| | 06:05 | The non-critical group has the same intervals.
| | 06:13 | Groups help you organize tasks,
assignments, or resources into categories,
| | 06:19 | like tasks by duration, assignments by
resource, or resource by standard rate.
| | 06:25 | One handy feature of groups is that
they roll up the values of the items
| | 06:28 | underneath so you can see
the totals, like cost or work.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Filtering tasks, assignments, and resources| 00:00 | Project filters display the information you
care about and screen out what isn't important.
| | 00:05 | Project comes with a bunch of built-in filters.
| | 00:07 | For example, the Incomplete Tasks
filter shows tasks that aren't done yet, and
| | 00:12 | hides the ones that are complete,
| | 00:14 | so you can focus on tasks you
can still do something about.
| | 00:17 | Some filters include prompts like the
Using Resource filter, which asks which
| | 00:22 | resource you want to filter by.
| | 00:23 | Auto-filter is an easy way
to set up a filter on the fly.
| | 00:27 | Auto-filter options appear on a dropdown
menu when you click a column heading.
| | 00:31 | So filtering is easier than ever.
| | 00:33 | The View tab includes a Filter box
where you can choose a filter to apply.
| | 00:39 | Click the Filter down arrow and a dropdown
menu with several common filters appears.
| | 00:45 | Choose Critical to see only
the tasks on the critical path.
| | 00:51 | On the Filter dropdown menu, the Date
Range and Using resource filters have
| | 00:57 | ellipsis after the filter names.
| | 00:59 | That means that you have to give the
filter some info to tell it what to do.
| | 01:03 | For example, choose Date Range.
| | 01:06 | Type the first date of the date range in
the prompt box that appears,
| | 01:10 | 11/1/2010, for example, and then click OK.
| | 01:16 | Then type the end date of the
date range, 12/1/2010, and click OK.
| | 01:23 | And Project filters the task list to
task the start or finish after the first
| | 01:28 | date, and start or
finish before the second date.
| | 01:31 | Project has more filters than the
ones that appear on the dropdown menu.
| | 01:35 | To access any filter that's available,
on the dropdown menu in the filter box,
| | 01:41 | choose More Filters.
| | 01:43 | Then in the More Filters dialog box,
you can double-click the filter that you
| | 01:47 | want, for example, manually scheduled tasks.
| | 01:51 | To remove the filter, click the
Filter dropdown arrow and choose No Filter.
| | 01:58 | Let's look at the summary table.
| | 01:59 | To show that, right-click the All
Cells box and then choose Summary.
| | 02:05 | Let's widen the Table pane so
we can see all of the columns.
| | 02:10 | I widened the Table pane by dragging the
vertical bar between the Table pane and the Timescale.
| | 02:16 | Similar to sorting and grouping, Auto-
filter commands appear on a dropdown menu
| | 02:21 | when you click the down
arrow in a column heading.
| | 02:24 | Click a column heading down
arrow, % complete, for example.
| | 02:29 | The dropdown menu includes
filter options specific to the column.
| | 02:34 | Point to filters. The first batch of
options is Not Started for tasks that
| | 02:39 | haven't started yet.
| | 02:41 | In Progress, for tasks that are
somewhere in progress, and Complete for the ones
| | 02:46 | that are already done.
| | 02:48 | But you can also choose
percentage ranges, like within 1% and 25%.
| | 02:54 | The dropdown menu also has check boxes
for all the values that appear in that
| | 02:58 | column, so you can turn
specific values on or off.
| | 03:04 | Let me apply the In Progress filter.
| | 03:06 | When a column auto-filter is applied, a
funnel icon appears to the right of the
| | 03:12 | column title, and the Status
Bar also says AutoFilter Applied.
| | 03:18 | If you click the down arrow in the
Start column and point to filters, you can
| | 03:23 | choose from periods like Next
Week, Next Month, or This Year.
| | 03:29 | To remove a filter in a column, click
the AutoFilter Filter icon, and then
| | 03:36 | choose Clear Filter.
| | 03:38 | I will clear the one for % Complete as well.
| | 03:44 | If you make changes to a project, they can
affect what should appear in the filtered list.
| | 03:49 | But project doesn't update the filter for you.
| | 03:52 | You have to reapply the
filter to see the changes.
| | 03:55 | The fastest way to reapply a
filter is to press Ctrl+F3.
| | 04:00 | You can build your own filters, too.
| | 04:02 | The quickest way to a custom filter is
to start with one that already exists.
| | 04:05 | Say you want to build a filter that
looks for critical tasks that are longer
| | 04:09 | than two weeks, so you have the most
chance of shortening the schedule.
| | 04:13 | You can copy the built-in critical group and
then edit the copy to add a test for duration.
| | 04:18 | On the Filter dropdown
menu, choose More Filters.
| | 04:23 | In the More Filters dialog box, select
the Critical Filter and then click Copy.
| | 04:29 | In the Filter Definition dialog box,
type a name for the filter in the Name box,
| | 04:36 | CriticalDuration, for example.
| | 04:39 | If you want your filter to appear on
the filter dropdown menu, turn on the Show
| | 04:43 | in menu check box, as it is here.
| | 04:45 | Building a test that compares a field
to a value is an easy way to get started.
| | 04:51 | Select a blank field name cell.
| | 04:55 | Click the down arrow and choose the
field you want, Duration in this example.
| | 05:01 | Then click the Test cell.
| | 05:04 | Click the test cell down
arrow and choose the type of test.
| | 05:08 | For the Duration test, choose
is greater than or equal to.
| | 05:13 | That filters for tasks equal to
or longer than a duration you set.
| | 05:18 | The tests you can use for filters should
be familiar from high school math classes.
| | 05:22 | Equals, does not equal, is less than,
and so on, compare numbers to one another.
| | 05:27 | Is within and is not within test to
see if a value is or isn't within a range.
| | 05:33 | And contains, does not contain, and
contains exactly, are tests for text strings.
| | 05:39 | Click the Value cell.
| | 05:41 | In the Value cell type or choose the
value to compare to, two weeks in this case.
| | 05:46 | If you have more summary rows than
subtasks, you can turn off the Show related
| | 05:51 | summary rows check box, to see only
the work tasks that passed the filter.
| | 05:58 | Then click Save to save the filter.
To apply the filter to your project, click Apply.
| | 06:06 | A good way to learn about more
specialized filters is to copy an existing filter.
| | 06:11 | In the Filter dropdown
menu, choose More Filters.
| | 06:15 | Select a filter, like Late/
Overbudget Tasks, and then click Edit.
| | 06:21 | You can see how the filter is put
together, or you can use it as a
| | 06:25 | foundation for a new one.
| | 06:28 | Click Cancel to close the Filter
Definition dialog box. Then click Cancel to
| | 06:33 | close the More Filters dialog box.
| | 06:36 | Filtering is a great way to focus on
just the information you want to see.
| | 06:39 | You can use built-in filters or
build your own in several ways.
| | 06:44 | If you create your own filters, the
easiest approach is to copy a built-in
| | 06:48 | filter that has some of the
tests that you want and add to it.
| | 06:51 | It is as easy as that.
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| Modifying task bar styles, text, and layout| 00:00 | Changing the formatting of
taskbars makes it easy to emphasize the
| | 00:04 | information you want, just like
showing critical tasks in red and
| | 00:07 | non-critical tasks in blue.
| | 00:10 | You can format individual taskbars if
you want to highlight a few key tasks,
| | 00:15 | like milestones that trigger payments.
| | 00:17 | You can also tell Project how to
format all the taskbars in a category, like
| | 00:22 | summary tasks or tasks that are late.
| | 00:25 | When you format a category of taskbars,
Project tracks the tasks that belong to
| | 00:30 | the category and changes their
formatting if their category status changes.
| | 00:34 | For example, if a task falls off the
critical path, the red taskbar is changed to blue.
| | 00:41 | Adjusting the layout of tasks is
helpful, mainly when task dependency lines
| | 00:45 | become overwhelming.
| | 00:47 | You can hide them, or at
least make them a little neater.
| | 00:50 | Changing the format for some task
categories is easier in Project 2010.
| | 00:54 | For example, to show critical tasks with
red taskbars, click the Format tab in the
| | 01:01 | Gantt Chart view, and then turn
on the Critical Task check box.
| | 01:06 | If you don't want to see critical tasks
in red, turn the check box off, and the
| | 01:11 | taskbar is changed to
blue, like non-critical tasks.
| | 01:15 | To go back to the critical path,
turn the check box back on.
| | 01:18 | Bar styles apply only to the view that's active.
| | 01:22 | To format categories of
taskbars, click the Format tab.
| | 01:27 | Click the Format down
arrow and choose Bar Styles.
| | 01:34 | In the table, select the category of
taskbar you want to format, let's say the
| | 01:42 | Manual Summary taskbar.
| | 01:44 | Then click the Bars tab.
| | 01:47 | As you might expect, the Start
section controls the appearance of the
| | 01:51 | beginning of the taskbar.
| | 01:53 | The Middle section controls the middle, and
the End section controls the end of the bar.
| | 01:59 | If you want to change the shapes at
the beginning or end of the taskbar, you
| | 02:03 | choose the shape, the line style, and the color.
| | 02:07 | In the Start section,
click the Shape down arrow.
| | 02:12 | Choose the triangle.
| | 02:16 | Change the color to dark blue.
| | 02:18 | Now you can do the same with the end mark.
| | 02:22 | Click the Shape down arrow, choose the
triangle, and click the down arrow in the
| | 02:28 | color box and click dark blue.
| | 02:32 | In the Middle section, you can change
the color to dark blue to stay consistent.
| | 02:37 | Click the down arrow and
choose the same dark blue color.
| | 02:41 | Bars come in wide, medium, or narrow.
| | 02:44 | If you choose a bar that isn't full
height, you can choose a position at the
| | 02:48 | top, middle, or bottom of the taskbar row.
| | 02:51 | Most tasks are full height, but
progress bars are narrow bars in the middle.
| | 02:56 | If you click the Shape down arrow in
the Middle section, you can see the
| | 03:00 | different bars you can choose from.
| | 03:02 | Adding fields to taskbars means you can
see task information in the Timescale;
| | 03:07 | for example, taskbars come with
resource names on the right end, but you might
| | 03:12 | want to show initials instead to save space.
| | 03:15 | In the table, select the
category of taskbar you want to format.
| | 03:21 | Let's select Task for regular tasks.
| | 03:25 | Then select the Text tab.
| | 03:27 | If fields are already associated with
the taskbar category, you see them in the
| | 03:32 | corresponding positions,
like resource names here.
| | 03:35 | You can add fields at the left, right,
top, bottom, and inside of taskbars.
| | 03:42 | Select a position box, like right,
for resource names, click the down arrow,
| | 03:47 | and then choose the field to display at
that position, in this case Resource Initials.
| | 03:58 | If you want to remove a field, you can
select the position box and then press Backspace.
| | 04:04 | When you finish
formatting the bar style, click OK.
| | 04:09 | Now you can see initials
next to some of the bars.
| | 04:12 | You can format individual taskbars, for
instance to show customer meetings with green bars.
| | 04:18 | Select the tasks you want to format in the View.
| | 04:22 | On the Format tab, click the
Format down arrow and choose bar.
| | 04:28 | The Format Bar dialog box has the
same Start, Middle, and End sections that
| | 04:34 | you see for Bar Styles.
| | 04:36 | You can choose the shapes,
styles, and colors you want.
| | 04:40 | The preview at the bottom of the
dialog box gives you an idea of what your
| | 04:44 | selections look like.
| | 04:45 | But the background isn't quite white, so
you can't gauge how the color will work
| | 04:50 | until you see the bars in the view.
| | 04:52 | To add fields to an individual
taskbar, click the Bar Text tab.
| | 04:57 | Choose the fields you want, as you
do for Bar Styles, and then click OK.
| | 05:02 | In this case, I'm going to click
Cancel to not apply anything to this bar.
| | 05:08 | There is a shortcut for changing
a taskbar's color in Project 2010.
| | 05:13 | Right-click the taskbar you want to change.
| | 05:16 | In this case, I'm going to go to the
Task tab and click Scroll to Tasks, so I
| | 05:21 | can see the taskbar.
| | 05:22 | Now I right-click the bar.
| | 05:24 | On the mini toolbar above the taskbar,
you can click the Bar color down arrow
| | 05:30 | and then choose the color you want.
| | 05:33 | Theme Colors give you color-coordinated
shades, or you can click More Colors to
| | 05:38 | pick exactly the hue you want.
| | 05:42 | Following link lines between predecessor
and successor tasks can be challenging.
| | 05:47 | Layout options can clean
up the Timescale a little.
| | 05:50 | On the Format tab, click Layout.
| | 05:56 | If you want an L-shaped link line
to neaten things up, select the third
| | 06:00 | option, as it is here.
| | 06:01 | But if you want to hide link lines
completely, select the first option.
| | 06:06 | Then click OK to apply your settings.
| | 06:09 | Formatting taskbars is an effective way to
show off the information you want to see.
| | 06:14 | You can emphasize entire categories of
tasks, like critical tasks, or you can
| | 06:19 | format individual bars to
highlight a few key tasks.
| | 06:23 | Choosing layout options also helps by
keeping the Timescale neat and tidy.
| | 06:28 | You can format things any way you want.
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| Modifying text styles and text formatting| 00:00 | Like Bar Styles, Text Styles apply
formatting to text in different categories,
| | 00:06 | like row and column headings, text
positioned around the edges of taskbars, or
| | 00:11 | the text for critical tasks in a table.
| | 00:14 | You can use Text Styles to change
the font, font size, font style, color,
| | 00:20 | and background color,
| | 00:21 | for example, to increase the font size
to make tables more readable, or the font
| | 00:26 | color to emphasize critical tasks.
| | 00:29 | You can also change the format for a
single text string to make sure you don't
| | 00:33 | forget to check on a task
with troublesome issues.
| | 00:35 | To format categories of text, click
the Format tab. Then click Text Styles.
| | 00:44 | In the table, select a
category of text you want to format.
| | 00:48 | If you want to format all the text in
the view, for instance so you can hide
| | 00:52 | your reading glasses in the desk
drawer, select All in the Item to Change
| | 00:57 | dropdown list, like it is here.
| | 00:59 | When you choose All, the formatting you
choose applies to all the text in the active view.
| | 01:06 | Changed cells represent the
changed highlighting feature.
| | 01:10 | If you want to make items that have
changed stand out, you can change the text
| | 01:14 | and background color for
the changed cells category.
| | 01:20 | In the Text Styles dialog box, pick the
font you want, like Arial or Times New Roman.
| | 01:36 | Font Style includes Regular, Italic,
Bold, and combinations of those.
| | 01:42 | In this case, choose Italic, and the Font
Size determines the size of letters you see.
| | 01:47 | You can type a number in the size box to pick a
size that doesn't appear in the dropdown list.
| | 01:55 | In this example, choose 12.
| | 01:58 | In the Color dropdown list, choose
the color you want, red to stick with
| | 02:02 | the critical theme.
| | 02:05 | Keep in mind dark colors are
easier to read than light shades.
| | 02:09 | Look at the screen or print samples
to make sure that the colors work.
| | 02:15 | Click OK to apply this Text Style.
| | 02:18 | Like the shading that Project applies
to changed cells, you can change the
| | 02:22 | background color for categories,
like critical tasks, or inactive tasks.
| | 02:27 | To highlight cells that use a Text Style,
in the background Color dropdown list
| | 02:31 | you can choose the color you want.
| | 02:33 | Let's choose critical tasks, and then in
the Background Color, we can choose a dark red.
| | 02:41 | Background Pattern comes in handy
if you use black-and-white printers.
| | 02:45 | The Sample box shows what the color
and pattern formatting choices look like.
| | 02:49 | Click OK to apply the formatting.
| | 02:53 | You can also format text for an
individual row, or even a cell in a table.
| | 02:58 | Project 2010 makes this type of
formatting even easier with the mini toolbar.
| | 03:03 | Right-click a row, a cell, or several cells.
| | 03:06 | In this case, select this one task.
| | 03:10 | Then right-click a cell
and a mini toolbar appears.
| | 03:14 | You can click a tool to change the
font, font size, font color and style.
| | 03:28 | Here, I am clicking a dark
blue for this particular cell.
| | 03:32 | Formatting Text Styles or
individual text makes information stand out.
| | 03:37 | If you format text categories, project
takes care of changing the formatting
| | 03:41 | if a task, resource, or
assignment switches categories.
| | 03:45 | Formatting individual text emphasizes
important information that doesn't fall
| | 03:50 | into a category, like a particular
task that the customer really cares about.
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| Using the Timeline view to summarize a project| 00:00 | The Timeline is a new view in Project 2010,
| | 00:03 | that's great for distilling
key information about a project.
| | 00:07 | You can emphasize a few important tasks
on the timeline or add key milestones as
| | 00:12 | callouts, but the timeline also provides
an easy way to adjust the dates you see
| | 00:17 | in the primary view in Project.
| | 00:19 | You can drag the ends of the Timeline bar,
or drag the bar itself, so the timescale
| | 00:24 | shows the dates you want.
| | 00:25 | If the Timeline doesn't appear above
the primary view, click the View tab, and
| | 00:32 | then turn on the Timeline check box.
| | 00:36 | Project displays the
Timeline above the Primary view.
| | 00:40 | The Timeline shows the Start
and Finish date for the project.
| | 00:44 | A light blue bar indicates the date
range that's currently visible in the
| | 00:49 | Gantt Chart Timescale.
| | 00:50 | To scroll through the dates in the timescale,
point at the blue bar in the timeline.
| | 00:56 | When you see a four-headed arrow, you
can drag to the left to move the Gantt
| | 01:00 | Chart Timescale back in time, or to
the right to move forward in time.
| | 01:08 | To change the earliest date you see in
the timescale, drag the left end of the
| | 01:12 | blue bar in the timeline.
| | 01:15 | To change the latest date,
you drag the right end.
| | 01:22 | You can also change the duration that
appears in the timescale by dragging the
| | 01:26 | Zoom slider in the status bar, down
in the right corner of the window.
| | 01:35 | To add tasks to the Timeline, or
customize it in other ways, first click the
| | 01:40 | Timeline pane and then click the Format tab.
| | 01:46 | To add a task in your project to
the timeline, click Existing Tasks.
| | 01:52 | The Add Tasks to Timeline dialog box
opens and displays check boxes for every
| | 01:58 | task in the project.
| | 01:59 | You can turn on the check boxes for the
tasks you want to add to the timeline,
| | 02:04 | such as Finalized lease and
Open house. Then click OK.
| | 02:19 | You can see the Finalized lease
task as a bar in the Timeline.
| | 02:23 | When you select a task in the Timeline,
you can show it as a bar or a callout.
| | 02:28 | Bars show up within the Timeline bar and are
good for individual tasks you want to highlight.
| | 02:33 | Callouts appear above the bar, which is
good for milestones or project phases.
| | 02:38 | To change between the two, select the
task in the timeline, and then on the Format
| | 02:43 | tab, click Display as Bar or Display as callout.
| | 02:50 | You can also insert new tasks,
callouts, or milestones on the timeline.
| | 02:56 | In this case, let's add a callout. On the
Format tab, click Callout Task. Then in
| | 03:04 | the Task Information dialog box, you
give the task a name, and you can type the
| | 03:11 | date, in this case, 3/31/2011.
| | 03:16 | Click OK to add it to the
timeline, and there's our payment.
| | 03:20 | To remove a task from the timeline, you
can simply select it, right-click, and
| | 03:26 | then choose Remove from Timeline.
| | 03:29 | On the Format tab, clicking Detailed
Timeline toggles between showing bars and
| | 03:35 | showing bars with the task name and dates.
| | 03:38 | Let me expand this so that you can see
that. Here's the bar without any text, and
| | 03:49 | when I click Detailed Timeline,
it shows the text in the bar.
| | 03:52 | When the Pan & Zoom check box is
turned on, as it is here, you can drag the
| | 03:57 | Timeline bar to change
the dates in the timescale.
| | 04:00 | However, if you want to set the
Timeline to show the full Project date range,
| | 04:05 | turn off this check box.
| | 04:07 | If you want to share the Timeline
view with others, on the Format tab,
| | 04:10 | click Copy Timeline.
| | 04:12 | You can send it by e-mail, or you can
paste it into another program, like PowerPoint.
| | 04:18 | When you choose an option, Project
places the timeline on the clipboard, so you
| | 04:22 | can paste it into the
destination program you want.
| | 04:25 | The Timeline view is usually a narrow band
above the main view in the Project window.
| | 04:30 | Its claim to fame is emphasizing a few
key tasks, so don't try to stuff every
| | 04:34 | project task onto it.
| | 04:36 | But you can also use it as a shortcut
for adjusting the dates that appear in the
| | 04:40 | Timescale of the main view, for instance,
to scroll around in time or to quickly
| | 04:45 | show a specific date range.
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|
|
6. Fine-Tuning the Project ScheduleUsing the Task Inspector to handle scheduling issues| 00:00 | Task Inspector is new in Project 2010.
| | 00:04 | This feature scans your project for
issues, like tasks that start before their
| | 00:09 | predecessors, or a subtask that occurs
after the summary task's finish date.
| | 00:15 | Manually scheduled tasks are prone to
schedule problems because Project doesn't
| | 00:19 | calculate their dates.
| | 00:21 | If their predecessors move, the manually
scheduled tasks stick to their original dates.
| | 00:27 | Red squiggly lines, like the ones for
misspellings in Microsoft Word, show
| | 00:31 | potential schedule problems in Project 2010.
| | 00:35 | When you right-click a cell with a red
squiggly line, you can choose a command
| | 00:40 | to correct the problem, or open the Task
Inspector to see what's going on and
| | 00:45 | choose the corrective action you want to take.
| | 00:48 | If you look at the Prepare materials task,
you see a red squiggly line on the finish date.
| | 00:55 | The same thing goes for the
Present to management task.
| | 00:58 | Scheduling problems that arise often
start somewhere else in the project.
| | 01:03 | Predecessors that are delayed, time
that's unavailable in a resources calendar,
| | 01:08 | or date constraints are a few examples
of items that can foul up a schedule.
| | 01:13 | If you right-click a task, a few
commands for correcting scheduling problems
| | 01:18 | appear on the shortcut menu.
| | 01:20 | Right-click Prepare materials.
| | 01:24 | The first command on the
shortcut menu is Fix in Task Inspector;
| | 01:28 | we'll look at that shortly.
| | 01:31 | The second command is Respect Links.
| | 01:34 | That's because this manually scheduled
task isn't following its task link to the
| | 01:39 | Prepare management presentation task.
| | 01:42 | Keep in mind using Respect Links on a
manually scheduled task may temporarily
| | 01:47 | correct a scheduling problem, but it
might return if the predecessor task
| | 01:51 | changes, or is delayed.
| | 01:54 | Choosing Respect Links moves the
tasks so it now follows its predecessor.
| | 01:59 | You can see that in the Timescale.
| | 02:02 | However, the red squiggly line doesn't go
away, so there is actually another problem.
| | 02:09 | Task Inspector can help identify
problems with the Prepare materials task.
| | 02:14 | On the Tasks tab, click Inspect.
You can also right-click the Task and choose
| | 02:20 | Fix in Task Inspector.
| | 02:23 | The first section of the Task
Inspector lists problems with the task.
| | 02:29 | In this case, there are a couple of them.
| | 02:31 | The Resources are assigned in nonworking
time, and the Task finishes after its summary.
| | 02:39 | The second section of the Task
Inspector shows different repair options, and if
| | 02:44 | you scroll down, you can also see factors
that affect the scheduling of the task,
| | 02:49 | in this case the Manually
Scheduled setting is the most important.
| | 02:54 | The Repair section lists several repair
options. Extending the Summary task will
| | 03:00 | correct the problem that Project sees,
but it isn't really what you want,
| | 03:04 | because the management meeting is going
to occur on December 17th, regardless.
| | 03:10 | The other repair options would correct
the problem of resources working during
| | 03:13 | nonworking time, but because the
management meeting is fixed, these repairs
| | 03:18 | actually won't work either.
| | 03:20 | This just goes to show the
Task Inspector isn't infallible.
| | 03:24 | However, just to see how repairs would
work, you can click Reschedule Task to
| | 03:29 | move the task to when the
resources are available.
| | 03:34 | You can see that the task finish date
moves out, but the Task Inspector still
| | 03:39 | shows several problems.
| | 03:42 | In this case, because the repair
didn't fix the problem, go up to the Quick
| | 03:46 | Access Toolbar and click Undo.
| | 03:48 | And before we move on, let's scroll
up so that we can see the summary task.
| | 03:55 | The factors that appear in the Task
Inspector pane may change as you modify the schedule.
| | 04:01 | For example, click Extend Summary.
| | 04:05 | You can see that the summary task now
expands to include the task dates for all
| | 04:10 | of the task below it, and
the repair options change.
| | 04:16 | Sometimes you want to ignore problems.
| | 04:19 | Maybe you get a resource to agree to
work extra hours, so you want to ignore a
| | 04:23 | resource over-allocation.
| | 04:26 | The Present to management task has a
red squiggly line, but it's scheduled on
| | 04:31 | the right day, so you decide to hide
this squiggly line for the problem.
| | 04:36 | Right-click the task and choose Ignore
Problems for This Task. Project hides the line.
| | 04:45 | If you decide to review problems
you've ignored, on the Task tab click the
| | 04:49 | Inspect down arrow, and
choose Show Ignored Problems.
| | 04:56 | The red squiggly line is back.
| | 04:59 | The Present to management task has a
problem, because the Prepare materials
| | 05:04 | predecessor finishes later.
| | 05:07 | It turns out that the real problem with
the management meeting is that the real
| | 05:11 | OPM and assistant have to start
working on the presentation sooner.
| | 05:16 | The task link between the Draft the
budget and Prepare management presentation
| | 05:20 | makes sense, but it doesn't get
the presentation done in time.
| | 05:25 | In an earlier movie, you learned
how to modify resource assignments,
| | 05:28 | for example to increase the units
that the real OPM and assistant work on
| | 05:32 | tasks. It turns out that's the real
solution to getting this presentation done in time.
| | 05:38 | Project identifies problems or
potential improvements to your schedule with red
| | 05:43 | and green squiggly lines.
| | 05:45 | You can right-click a task to choose
commands that can fix the problem, or you
| | 05:49 | can open the Task Inspector to dig a
little deeper and choose a repair option
| | 05:53 | that makes the most sense.
| | 05:55 | But sometimes the problems go beyond
what Task Inspector can handle, and you
| | 05:59 | have to come up with your own solutions,
like modifying resource assignments or
| | 06:03 | adjusting task dependencies.
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| Splitting and delaying tasks and assignments| 00:00 | When tasks overlap, the assigned
resources may have more work than they can get
| | 00:05 | done with the time they have available.
| | 00:08 | If you don't have other resources you
can assign, you can delay tasks so the
| | 00:12 | assigned resources can work on
the tasks one after the other.
| | 00:16 | You can also split tasks into pieces,
so the resources can go back and forth
| | 00:21 | between tasks until all the work is done.
| | 00:24 | In this project, the Select
site and Estimate costs tasks have
| | 00:29 | overallocated resources.
| | 00:31 | The overallocation indicators are the
red people icons in the indicators column.
| | 00:36 | The tasks use the same resources
and are scheduled at the same time.
| | 00:41 | Project has the Level Resources
feature, which can split and delay task to
| | 00:46 | remove resource overallocations, but
sometimes it takes time just to get level
| | 00:51 | resources to do what you want.
| | 00:54 | If you have just a few tasks to
reschedule, you can split or delay tasks to
| | 00:59 | resolve the overallocations on your own.
| | 01:02 | Say you want to delay the Estimate cost
task until the Select site task is complete.
| | 01:08 | You can delay the task by adding a value
to the Leveling Delay field for the task.
| | 01:13 | The Leveling Gantt view makes
it easy to work on task delays.
| | 01:18 | On the Task tab, click the View
dropdown and choose Leveling Gantt.
| | 01:25 | The table in the Leveling Gantt view
includes the Leveling Delay column, so you
| | 01:30 | can enter leveling delays.
| | 01:33 | The leveling delay moves the start
date out for the task and all its resource
| | 01:37 | assignments. Because it's the same
field that the level resources feature uses,
| | 01:42 | it's specifically for
removing resource overallocations.
| | 01:47 | Let's expand the table so that we
can see the dates for these tasks.
| | 01:52 | In the leveling delay cell, you type
the length of time to delay the task.
| | 01:57 | In this example, the Estimate costs task
starts the same day as the Select site
| | 02:03 | task, November 11/1/10.
| | 02:04 | So you want to delay the task to
start after the Select site task finishes.
| | 02:11 | You see in the table that the duration
for the Select site task is 5 days. Click
| | 02:17 | the Leveling Delay cell for the
Estimate cost task. Type 5 and press Enter.
| | 02:24 | Project changes your entry to 5 edays.
| | 02:28 | The e stands for elapsed time, which means
it doesn't take nonworking time into account.
| | 02:35 | Now, the Estimate costs task waits
until after the Select site task is done, as
| | 02:41 | you can see in the timescale.
| | 02:44 | The narrow line before the taskbar
shows the Leveling Delay that you added.
| | 02:50 | And you can see that the
overallocated resource indicators have disappeared
| | 02:54 | from the indicator cell.
| | 02:56 | Even though you start one task after
the other, you don't want to use a task
| | 03:00 | link to do this. That's because the
link would be there, even if you decided to
| | 03:05 | use a different resource.
| | 03:06 | By using a Leveling Delay, it's much
more obvious that the delay is there
| | 03:11 | because of our resource overallocation.
| | 03:14 | Splitting a task means that you
break the task into pieces. Then you can
| | 03:19 | schedule each piece separately.
| | 03:21 | For example, the Finalize lease task and
the Hire contractors task overlap, and
| | 03:28 | both use the office manager.
| | 03:31 | Let's scroll to see these more clearly.
| | 03:35 | Say you want to split the Finalize
lease task to squeeze in hiring contractors.
| | 03:40 | On the Task tab, click Split Task,
which looks like a broken taskbar.
| | 03:48 | The pointer changes to a Split taskbar
pointer. Click the Finalize lease taskbar
| | 03:55 | where you want the split to start.
| | 03:58 | In this case, it's on the date that
the Hire contractors task starts.
| | 04:02 | Drag the split to where you want that part of
the task to resume, at the end of the other task.
| | 04:11 | Project splits the taskbar in
two, and moves the second part.
| | 04:15 | The dotted line between the two pieces
shows the split, and you can see that the
| | 04:20 | resource overallocation
indicators for both tasks disappear.
| | 04:25 | Delaying a task is one way to
remove resource overallocations.
| | 04:29 | By using the Leveling Delay field, you
make it clear that the delay is due to
| | 04:34 | Resource Availability.
| | 04:35 | If you decide to use different resources,
you can remove the delay, so the tasks
| | 04:39 | occur as soon as possible.
| | 04:41 | Splitting a task is another solution,
in which you break the task into two or
| | 04:45 | more pieces, so you can reschedule
other work somewhere in the middle.
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| Adjusting a work contour| 00:00 | Project assumes that resources work the
same amount every day, from the start to
| | 00:04 | the finish of every task.
| | 00:07 | But you know that work sometimes starts
slowly, ramps up to a steady level, and
| | 00:12 | then tapers off while
someone ties up loose ends.
| | 00:15 | At other times, people work more and more as
days pass to get the work done by the due date.
| | 00:21 | You can apply Work contours to resource
assignments to reflect how work really gets done.
| | 00:28 | Work contours change the amount of work
that is assigned during each period over
| | 00:32 | the length of assignments.
| | 00:34 | Work contours apply to
assignments for auto scheduled tasks, not
| | 00:38 | manually scheduled ones.
| | 00:39 | And the Flat contour is what
Project applies automatically.
| | 00:44 | It scheduled the same hours of work
each day, like eight hours, if a resource
| | 00:48 | works 100% on the task.
| | 00:50 | To see what the work hours look like
for the Flat contour, select the Inventory
| | 00:55 | Office task, click the View
tab, and then click Task Usage.
| | 01:04 | Each day, the Office manager and the
Relo Assistants are assigned to work 8
| | 01:10 | hours for the length of the tasks.
| | 01:13 | Contours come in several shapes.
| | 01:15 | The benefit of using Work contours is
that you may eliminate overallocations
| | 01:20 | without reassigning resources.
| | 01:21 | You use the time that assignments don't demand
a resource's full attention to overlap tasks.
| | 01:29 | The reduced hours on some days
though, mean that a task will have a longer
| | 01:33 | duration than it does with the Flat Contour.
| | 01:36 | To apply a Work contour to an
assignment, double-click the Relo Assistant row,
| | 01:41 | below the Inventory Office task.
| | 01:44 | The Assignment Information dialog box opens.
| | 01:48 | The Work contour box shows
that the Flat contour is applied.
| | 01:52 | When you click the Work contour down
arrow, the dropdown list has contour names.
| | 01:58 | It doesn't show how they
shape the assignment hours.
| | 02:01 | But some of the names are easy to figure out.
| | 02:04 | Back Loaded means that the highest level of
work is loaded at the end of the assignment,
| | 02:09 | a lot like your adrenaline
level as you approach a deadline.
| | 02:13 | Click Back Loaded and then click OK.
| | 02:17 | The indicators column displays the Back
Loaded indicator, which shows, graphically,
| | 02:22 | how work is distributed over
the course of the assignment.
| | 02:27 | If you look at the hours for the
assignment in the timescaled grid, you see
| | 02:31 | that the first day is .8 hours.
| | 02:34 | When you scroll to the right, you can
see the hours increasing, until it reaches
| | 02:43 | the 8 hours a day at the very end.
| | 02:47 | The last day is slightly less, but that
represents what's left over at the end of the task.
| | 02:53 | Front Loaded is easy to figure out.
| | 02:55 | It starts with a maximum at the
beginning and decreases until the end.
| | 03:00 | You can use the Work contour
indicators to figure out the other contours.
| | 03:06 | On the Quick Access Toolbar, click Undo
to get rid of the Back Loaded contour.
| | 03:12 | Now double-click the Relo
Assistant assignment again.
| | 03:16 | This time choose Double Peak and click OK.
| | 03:21 | Double Peak looks like a suspension bridge.
| | 03:24 | It comes with a peak near the beginning,
another one near the end, with lower
| | 03:28 | hours tapering up and down
over the rest of the time.
| | 03:32 | Once you know what Double Peak looks like,
you know what Early Peak in Late Peak do.
| | 03:37 | Early Peak has a peak at the beginning
like the first part of the Double Peak.
| | 03:40 | Then it tapers off until the end.
| | 03:43 | Late Peak starts slow and
increases to a peak near the end.
| | 03:48 | The workload in a Bell contour increases
to a peak and then tapers off to the end.
| | 03:54 | Finally, the Turtle contour is like the
Bell contour except that it ramps up and
| | 03:58 | down more quickly, with a maximum
hours for a longer period in the middle.
| | 04:03 | You can't define Custom contours;
| | 04:06 | however, you can manually change the
hours and the time phased grid on the right
| | 04:10 | side of the Task Usage view.
| | 04:13 | Click an assignment cell and
type the new hours for that period.
| | 04:19 | If you manually edit work hours, the
indicator cell displays the edited work icon.
| | 04:25 | It looks like a contour indicator,
but it has a pencil on it as well.
| | 04:30 | Work contours change the hours
assigned each day, so that some days have more
| | 04:34 | hours and some have less.
| | 04:36 | Contours are often a better reflection
of how much time resources spend on their
| | 04:40 | assignments over time.
| | 04:42 | Even though Work contours lengthen
assignments, you may be able to eliminate
| | 04:46 | resource overallocations with less of
an impact on the project finished date
| | 04:50 | than delaying task until
resources are available.
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| Leveling resources| 00:00 | The Level Resources feature delays and
splits resource assignments to help you
| | 00:05 | get rid of overallocations.
| | 00:07 | If you level your entire project, don't
expect Microsoft Project to figure out
| | 00:11 | everything you hoped it would do.
| | 00:14 | In many cases, it delays some assignments
for eons, or splits tasks into teensy pieces,
| | 00:20 | so resources have to keep
jumping back and forth between tasks.
| | 00:24 | With Project 2010, you can focus
leveling on specific tasks or resources, so you
| | 00:30 | can level the items that are
giving you the most trouble.
| | 00:34 | The leveling Gantt Chart view helps you
see the results of leveling right away.
| | 00:39 | That way you can undo the leveling if
you want to try different options, or level
| | 00:43 | different parts of your project.
| | 00:45 | On the Resource tab, click the View
down arrow and choose Leveling Gantt.
| | 00:51 | On the Ribbon, you see Level
Selection, Level Resource, and Level All.
| | 00:57 | If you want to level the
entire project, you click Level All.
| | 01:02 | If you have a few resources in great
demand, you can select those resources and
| | 01:07 | then click Level Resource.
| | 01:09 | In this project, the tasks for evaluating
lease sites and identifying costs have a
| | 01:14 | lot of resource overallocations.
| | 01:17 | You can tell Project to level just those tasks.
| | 01:21 | Select the tasks that you want to level.
| | 01:27 | You drag over the task IDs from
Evaluate lease sites down to Hire contractors.
| | 01:34 | Once the tasks are selected,
you can click Level Selection.
| | 01:40 | The green bars show the original
dates for the tasks. The blue bars show
| | 01:46 | the leveled schedule.
| | 01:47 | For example, Finalize lease and
Identify additional costs both have leveling
| | 01:54 | delay lines in front of them.
| | 01:56 | In fact, the Finalize lease task
is moved later by about a month.
| | 02:03 | The Estimate cost task has a split in it.
| | 02:06 | That's to give the Relo PM
time to identify additional costs.
| | 02:11 | The Inventory Office task has a longer duration.
| | 02:14 | That's because the Relo Assistance
assignment was delayed until the second part
| | 02:19 | of the Estimate cost task.
| | 02:21 | As you can see, the leveling features
sticks to delays and splits to get rid
| | 02:26 | of overallocations.
| | 02:28 | Before you level resources, you can
consider other ways to remove overallocations.
| | 02:33 | For example, in earlier movies, you
learned how to add resources to task to
| | 02:38 | reduce the time overallocated
resources have to work, or you could replace
| | 02:43 | resources with people with more
available time, or use Work contours.
| | 02:48 | If you don't like the leveling results
you see, on the Quick Access Toolbar you
| | 02:53 | can click Undo to undo the leveling
command. Or as an alternative, if you've
| | 03:00 | leveled, you can also click Clear
Leveling on the Resource tab and then choose
| | 03:06 | Entire Project and click OK.
| | 03:11 | Leveling Options let you control some
aspects of Project's leveling strategies.
| | 03:16 | Click Leveling Options.
The Resource Leveling dialog box opens.
| | 03:21 | When you choose Leveling Options,
Project uses the same settings each time you
| | 03:25 | level until you choose different options.
| | 03:28 | Your first choice is Automatic or Manual.
| | 03:32 | The Manual option is the smart choice,
because you don't want Project to level
| | 03:36 | assignments after every little
change you make to your project.
| | 03:40 | When you select the Manual option, you
simply click a Level command on the Ribbon
| | 03:45 | to tell the program to do its leveling magic.
| | 03:48 | The next choice can have a huge
effect on how much Project has to level.
| | 03:52 | You already know that
overallocations can work themselves out over time.
| | 03:58 | A resource could be over allocated on
Monday and have free time on Thursday.
| | 04:03 | If you level using longer time
periods, Project may have fewer over-
| | 04:07 | allocations to deal with.
| | 04:09 | In the Look for overallocations on a
Day by Day basis box, choose the longest
| | 04:15 | time period you're comfortable with.
| | 04:17 | Week by Week works for most projects.
| | 04:20 | Click the down arrow and
choose the timeframe you want.
| | 04:25 | Turn on the Clear Leveling
values before leveling check box.
| | 04:29 | That tells Project to remove
any previous leveling delays.
| | 04:34 | Starting from scratch each time you
level is usually the best approach,
| | 04:37 | so you see the changes that
Project makes more easily.
| | 04:40 | However, if you added from leveling delays
manually, you might want to turn the check box off.
| | 04:46 | Project automatically selects
the Level entire project option.
| | 04:50 | You can choose the level option if you
want to set a date range, for example, to
| | 04:55 | level just the phase of the
project you're working on now.
| | 04:58 | The Leveling order is set to Standard
initially, and that's what you want unless
| | 05:03 | you decide to assign priorities to tasks.
| | 05:07 | Project turns off the Level only
within available slack check box initially.
| | 05:13 | This setting removes all
overallocations and pushes the project finish date
| | 05:17 | out as much it has to.
| | 05:19 | If you're trying to remove
overallocations without moving the finish date,
| | 05:24 | turn this check box on.
| | 05:26 | That way Project levels only if the
leveling doesn't push the finish date out.
| | 05:32 | Project also turns on the Leveling can
adjust individual assignments on a task check box.
| | 05:37 | So it levels only the assignments
that overallocate resources, and that's
| | 05:42 | usually what you want.
| | 05:43 | When you turn on the Leveling can
create splits in remaining your check box,
| | 05:47 | Project can split or delay tasks that
haven't started and add splits to the
| | 05:51 | remaining work for tasks in progress.
| | 05:54 | With the check box turned on, Project
doesn't use splits, so a resource can
| | 05:58 | complete work without stopping.
| | 06:00 | Unfortunately, that usually pushes tasks
out to something close to the end of time.
| | 06:06 | Project turns on the Level manually
scheduled task check box, which is what you want.
| | 06:11 | Manually schedule tasks tend to
result in more overallocations than
| | 06:15 | auto scheduled ones.
| | 06:17 | When you're done setting all your
options, click OK to close the dialog box.
| | 06:21 | Then you can click a Leveling command
to start leveling with the new options.
| | 06:27 | Leveling takes a lot of factors into account.
| | 06:30 | The best way to get the results you
want is to level small portions of
| | 06:33 | your project at a time,
| | 06:35 | a few tasks or a few resources.
| | 06:38 | You can also choose leveling options to
give Project hints about how you want it
| | 06:42 | to level your project.
| | 06:44 | And remember, if you don't like the
results, press Ctrl+Z or click Undo to
| | 06:49 | undo them and try again.
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| Inactivating tasks| 00:00 | Inactivating tasks is a new feature
in Project 2010 that helps you document
| | 00:05 | tasks in several situations.
| | 00:08 | Suppose you have tasks that you define, but
you aren't ready to include them in your project.
| | 00:13 | Perhaps you have a couple of
alternative approaches for the same work, or
| | 00:17 | optional work that you might not have
budget for, or even change requests that
| | 00:21 | haven't been approved.
| | 00:23 | You want to see them in your project
file, but you don't want them contributing
| | 00:27 | to the cost or resource workloads just yet.
| | 00:30 | Inactive tasks do just that.
| | 00:33 | Then if you get the go ahead for these
tasks, you reactivate them and all the
| | 00:38 | information flows back into your project plan.
| | 00:41 | This Office Move Project has two
alternatives for new locations.
| | 00:46 | I click on the vertical scrollbar
to show the two different options:
| | 00:50 | Evaluate build sites and Evaluate lease sites.
| | 00:54 | Right now, both sets of tasks are rolled
up into the Schedule, Cost and Workloads.
| | 01:01 | You can see the Choose new
location summary task has a cost for both
| | 01:06 | options rolled up into it.
| | 01:08 | Likewise, the work hours, 1000 hours
for Evaluate build sites and 376 hours for
| | 01:15 | Evaluate lease sites are rolled up
into the Choose new location summary task.
| | 01:20 | Making tasks inactive removes their
values from your project's rolled up
| | 01:25 | Schedule, Cost and Workload, but the
tasks, their resource assignments, and
| | 01:31 | other information remain in the plan.
| | 01:34 | Suppose you decide to inactivate the
tasks for Evaluating build sites to focus
| | 01:39 | on the faster and less expensive lease
option. Select the Evaluate build sites
| | 01:44 | summary task and its subtasks.
| | 01:48 | Click the Task tab and then click Inactivate.
| | 01:54 | Several things happen.
| | 01:56 | First, the tasks you inactivated are
grayed out and have a strikethrough line
| | 02:01 | drawn through their values.
| | 02:03 | The Inactive Taskbars changed to
white with a thin black border.
| | 02:09 | If you check the Choose new location
summary task, you see that the Finish
| | 02:13 | date, Cost, and Work are now equal to the
values from the Evaluate lease sites summary task.
| | 02:20 | The Cost is $33,840 in both
cases, and the Work is 376 hours.
| | 02:28 | The inactive tasks still have
all the information you entered.
| | 02:33 | In fact, you can edit the inactive tasks.
| | 02:37 | Select an inactive cell on the table
and edit its value, or double-click the
| | 02:42 | task to open the Task Information box.
| | 02:45 | In this case, I'll change
the duration to 50 days.
| | 02:50 | If you decide to reactivate the tasks,
the edited information is still there.
| | 02:54 | For example, say you want to see what the
project looks like if you go with the build option.
| | 03:01 | Select the build option
tasks again and click Inactivate.
| | 03:07 | The tasks change back to their original look,
and the values roll up into the summary tasks.
| | 03:13 | In this case, scroll down to make
sure you have all the Evaluate lease site
| | 03:18 | tasks, select them, and click
Inactivate to make them inactive.
| | 03:25 | Now you can see that the Choose new
location summary task is equal to the
| | 03:29 | Evaluate build sites values.
| | 03:32 | Inactive tasks are perfect for alternative
options, or tasks you don't have approval for.
| | 03:37 | You can define tasks and assign
resources as you would normally.
| | 03:41 | Then when you make them inactive,
Project keeps the information but doesn't roll
| | 03:46 | values up into summary tasks.
| | 03:49 | If you decide to add the tasks to the
project, you simply reactivate them,
| | 03:52 | and you're ready to go.
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|
|
7. Tracking and Managing ProjectsUnderstanding baseline, scheduled, and actual values| 00:00 | When you finish your project plan, you
can save it in Project in a Baseline.
| | 00:04 | Those are the target values you aim
to achieve when you execute your plan.
| | 00:08 | As you work on your plan in Project,
you see the current plan, which is your
| | 00:12 | schedule and cost based on changes you
make to the plan, along with the effects
| | 00:17 | of actual performance.
| | 00:19 | Project uses baseline values and
current values to calculate the variances and
| | 00:24 | other performance measures.
| | 00:26 | By comparing your current schedule
values to the baseline, you can see whether
| | 00:30 | the project is on time and within budget.
| | 00:33 | When you get the project plan the
way you, the Project customer and the
| | 00:37 | management team want it, you save that plan.
| | 00:40 | In Project, you save a baseline, which
is a set of dates, task durations, work
| | 00:44 | hours, cost and other fields that you
try to meet when you execute the project.
| | 00:49 | The Gantt Chart View shown here
doesn't show the baseline initially.
| | 00:53 | One view that does show your
baseline is the Tracking Gantt.
| | 00:57 | On the Task tab, click the View down
arrow and then choose Tracking Gantt.
| | 01:02 | If necessary, you can click Scroll to
Task to see the taskbars in the timescale.
| | 01:07 | The Tracking Gantt has
two taskbars for each task.
| | 01:11 | The top taskbars, blue here, show
your current project schedule.
| | 01:16 | The bottom taskbars, gray,
are your baseline schedule.
| | 01:20 | Another helpful view for looking at
different values is the Task Details Form.
| | 01:25 | On the View tab, make sure that the
Details check box is turned on, and then
| | 01:30 | click the down arrow. Choose More Views,
and then in the More Views dialog box,
| | 01:34 | double-click Task Details Form.
| | 01:37 | You can see that there are options for
Current, Baseline and Actual, so you'll
| | 01:42 | be able to look at all those values.
| | 01:44 | These two views together can help you
get a handle on the difference between
| | 01:48 | Baseline, Schedule, and Actual values.
| | 01:50 | Let's look at the Identify requirements task.
| | 01:53 | In the Task Details Form,
select the Baseline option.
| | 01:57 | The Start and Finish boxes display the
Baseline Start and Finish dates for the
| | 02:02 | task: November 1st and November 26th.
And if you look at the gray taskbar on the
| | 02:07 | timescale, you can see
that that's when it occurs.
| | 02:10 | When you first save a baseline, the
Baseline and Current values are the same,
| | 02:15 | but then, as you work on your project,
the Current values will usually change.
| | 02:21 | When you enter actuals, Project
recalculates the task dates, duration, work, and costs.
| | 02:26 | The Current values can also
change whenever you edit your plan.
| | 02:30 | In this case, the blue bar shows the
Current dates and duration for the task.
| | 02:35 | You can see that it starts on the
same date as the baseline, but it
| | 02:39 | actually isn't as long.
| | 02:41 | That means the task finished early.
| | 02:43 | You can also see the Current values by
selecting the Current option in the Task
| | 02:48 | Details Form. And you can see here
that the Start date was the same, November
| | 02:52 | 1st, but the Finish date did
come in earlier, November 23rd.
| | 02:57 | This task is complete, so
it also has Actual values.
| | 03:01 | If you select the Actual option in the
Task Details Form, then the Actual values
| | 03:06 | for the task appear, and you can see
that because the task is complete, the
| | 03:10 | Current and the Actual values are the same.
| | 03:12 | When tasks are in progress, the Baseline,
Current and Actual values may all be different.
| | 03:18 | Let's look at the Identify costs
task, and we'll look at the baseline.
| | 03:23 | The Baseline Start is January 20th,
and the Baseline Finish is March 11th.
| | 03:28 | The Duration is 20 days.
| | 03:30 | If we now look at the Current values,
you can see that it starts on January 6th
| | 03:35 | and finishes on February 25th.
| | 03:38 | The Duration is still 20 days.
| | 03:40 | On the other hand, if you select the
Actual option, there is no Finish date,
| | 03:44 | because the task is in progress.
| | 03:46 | It hasn't finished yet.
| | 03:48 | One way to see Baseline fields
is to display the Baseline table.
| | 03:52 | First, let me click this
cell to deselect the task.
| | 03:55 | Then on the View tab, click
Tables and choose More Tables.
| | 04:00 | In the More Tables dialog box, double-
click Baseline to apply the table to the view.
| | 04:05 | I'm not sure what this invalid duration
is, but I'm going to click OK to dismiss
| | 04:11 | the message and move on with work.
| | 04:14 | In the Baseline table, you can see
Baseline Duration are your target
| | 04:18 | durations for your tasks.
| | 04:20 | The Start and Finish are your target
dates, the Work is the amount of work
| | 04:25 | that you've estimated for your tasks,
and the Cost is what they will cost if
| | 04:30 | you do all of that work.
| | 04:32 | When you first save a baseline, your
original plan and your Current values are the same.
| | 04:37 | Then as you record Actual values,
your Current values can change.
| | 04:41 | Project keeps track of your original
plan in the Baseline, but it also keeps
| | 04:45 | track of actual progress your team is making.
| | 04:48 | The difference between your Baseline
and the Current plan is called Variance,
| | 04:51 | and it tells you whether tasks are ahead
of or behind schedule, and whether costs
| | 04:56 | are within or exceeding budget.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Saving and clearing a baseline| 00:00 | When project stakeholders approve the
project plan, your next step is to save
| | 00:04 | the baseline in Project.
| | 00:06 | You can save additional baselines at
later dates, for example, to track trends
| | 00:11 | in Project performance as
the team makes progress.
| | 00:14 | Project can save up to 11 baselines.
| | 00:17 | If you don't want a baseline anymore, or
you run out of baselines, you can clear
| | 00:21 | a baseline to remove the baseline values.
| | 00:24 | When the project plan is the way you
want, you are ready to save the baseline.
| | 00:28 | Click the Project tab, then click Set Baseline
and choose Set Baseline on the dropdown menu.
| | 00:35 | The Set Baseline dialog box opens.
| | 00:37 | The options that Project selects
initially are almost always what you want for
| | 00:42 | your first baseline.
| | 00:43 | The Set Baseline box is set to Baseline.
| | 00:46 | That's the baseline that
Project uses to calculate variances.
| | 00:50 | The entire Project option is
selected, so it saves the entire project.
| | 00:54 | So go ahead and click OK.
| | 00:57 | Project stores the current values for
start, finish, duration, work, and costs in
| | 01:03 | the corresponding Baseline Fields.
| | 01:06 | To see this, start by right-
clicking the All Cells box. That's at the
| | 01:11 | intersection of the Column
headings in the task ID rows,
| | 01:14 | and then choose Variance. And here you
can see Baseline Start and Baseline Finish.
| | 01:19 | You can also see that the current
start date matches the Baseline start date.
| | 01:24 | Now click set Baseline
again and choose Set Baseline.
| | 01:29 | And you can see that one
of the baselines is saved.
| | 01:32 | You can tell because it has a date
when it was saved in the dropdown list.
| | 01:37 | Saving an additional baseline is a good idea
if your project goes through big changes.
| | 01:42 | Say your project is halfway complete,
when it gets put on hold, while another
| | 01:46 | project gets all the attention.
| | 01:48 | When you get back to work, the original
Baseline start and finish dates aren't a
| | 01:52 | good reflection of reality.
| | 01:53 | So you can save a new baseline with
your new target dates and other values, so
| | 01:58 | you can track performance going forward.
| | 02:00 | You can keep the original baseline if you
want, because Project can save up to 11.
| | 02:04 | The primary baseline is in the
field that starts with Baseline.
| | 02:08 | But you can choose Baseline 1
through 10 for other baselines.
| | 02:12 | To set an additional baseline, just
choose the one that you want in the dropdown
| | 02:16 | list, Baseline 1 in this example.
| | 02:19 | Leave the entire Project option
selected and click OK to save this baseline.
| | 02:24 | Project 2010 makes it easy
to look at other baselines.
| | 02:28 | If you display a Gantt Chart View, click
the Format tab, then you can choose the
| | 02:34 | Baseline dropdown arrow, and choose
the baseline that you want to look at.
| | 02:39 | You can also overwrite a baseline
that you saved, but sometimes you simply
| | 02:43 | want to get rid of a baseline that you saved
by mistake, or because it's just so out of date.
| | 02:48 | To clear a Baseline, go back to the
Project tab, click Set Baseline and then
| | 02:54 | choose Clear Baseline.
| | 02:57 | Then you can choose the baseline that you want
to clear, let's say Baseline 1, and click OK.
| | 03:03 | You can save up to 11 baselines in Project.
| | 03:06 | So you can keep track of the status that
you want from month to month, or year to year.
| | 03:11 | If you run out of baselines, or you
save one by mistake, you can always clear
| | 03:16 | it to clear out the values in
the corresponding Baseline Fields.
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| Editing tasks and adding them to a baseline| 00:00 | Every so often, you have to
edit a baseline after you save it.
| | 00:04 | For example, someone finds a
big mistake in a plan you saved.
| | 00:07 | If the baseline already has values,
you don't want to overwrite the entire
| | 00:11 | baseline, because you lose the
variances that may already exist.
| | 00:15 | In this case, you can resave the
parts of the baseline with changes.
| | 00:19 | At other times new tasks may arise,
such as change requests that your
| | 00:23 | customer agrees to pay for.
| | 00:25 | In this situation, the new finish
dates and costs aren't variances.
| | 00:29 | They are part of the updated plan.
| | 00:31 | So you want the baseline
to reflect these changes.
| | 00:34 | You can add the task to the baseline
and set the baseline values for those
| | 00:38 | tasks, and Project leaves
your other baseline tasks alone.
| | 00:42 | If you want to change a baseline
before you have any actual values in your
| | 00:46 | project, you can simply overwrite the baseline.
| | 00:49 | Click the Project tab, then click
Set Baseline and choose Set Baseline.
| | 00:55 | In the Set Baseline dialog box, choose
the baseline that you want to overwrite,
| | 01:00 | in this case it is baseline.
| | 01:02 | Leave the entire Project
option as it is, and just click OK.
| | 01:06 | A message box warns you that
you're about to overwrite the baseline.
| | 01:10 | Just click Yes, to rewrite the values.
| | 01:13 | But suppose your project has actual
values and some tasks already have
| | 01:17 | variances from the baseline.
| | 01:19 | You don't want to lose that information.
| | 01:21 | In the case, you want to resave
specific tasks in the baseline.
| | 01:26 | You can filter the task list to
show all the incomplete tasks.
| | 01:30 | Click the View tab, then click the
Filter down arrow and choose Incomplete Tasks.
| | 01:36 | To select all the tasks in a
filtered list, click the All Cells box.
| | 01:41 | Then on the Project tab, click Set
Baseline and choose Set Baseline.
| | 01:47 | In the Set Baseline dialog box choose the
baseline you want to resave, baseline once again.
| | 01:53 | But in this case, now you want to
select the Selected Tasks option.
| | 01:58 | So you just baseline the tasks
that you have selected and click OK.
| | 02:03 | Just as before, a message box warns
you that you're about to overwrite the
| | 02:07 | Baseline. Click Yes.
| | 02:09 | You can resave parts of a baseline,
either to reflect edits you have made to
| | 02:13 | the project, or to include
new tasks that you've added.
| | 02:16 | When you save selected tasks in a
baseline, you can tell Project how you want
| | 02:20 | the new values to roll up into summary
tasks, which help you see the effect of
| | 02:24 | the baseline edits you made.
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| Updating the schedule| 00:00 | The level of detail you use to track
progress depends on your organization, the
| | 00:04 | type of project, and the
information your stakeholders need.
| | 00:08 | It may also depend on how much time you
have to collect progress data and enter
| | 00:12 | it into your project file.
| | 00:14 | Project lets you fill in progress
information using almost any level of detail,
| | 00:19 | from a quick percent
complete to the actual hours worked.
| | 00:23 | If are progressing according to plan,
the Mark on Track command is an easy
| | 00:28 | way to update them.
| | 00:29 | First, click the Project tab.
Then click the Status Date Calendar.
| | 00:33 | We are going set a Status Date, in
this example 2/11/2011, and click OK.
| | 00:41 | From then on, you can see the
current status date right on the Ribbon.
| | 00:45 | The next step is to select the
task or tasks you want to update.
| | 00:49 | In this case, click Finalize
lease and Ctrl+Click Estimate costs.
| | 00:55 | Then on the Task tab, click Mark on Track.
| | 00:59 | Projects sets the actual Start date
to the scheduled date and updates the
| | 01:03 | percent complete based on the Status Date.
| | 01:06 | Finalized lease doesn't
finish until after February 11.
| | 01:10 | So you that it updated the
progress to the Status date.
| | 01:14 | On the other hand, Estimate cost does
finish before the Status Date, so it
| | 01:19 | shows as 100% complete.
| | 01:21 | Another quick but less accurate
update method is Percent Complete.
| | 01:26 | The first thing to remember is percent
complete represents the duration that's
| | 01:30 | complete, not how much work is done.
| | 01:32 | But for easy updates, percent complete
gives you an idea of where you stand.
| | 01:37 | A quick way to update a task's percent
complete is from the task mini toolbar.
| | 01:42 | Right-click at task and then click
the down arrow for Percent Complete and
| | 01:47 | choose the percent complete
you want. Let's choose 50%.
| | 01:51 | On the other hand, to set percent
complete to any value, you can use the
| | 01:56 | Update Task command.
| | 01:58 | Select the tasks you want to update
to the same percent complete value,
| | 02:02 | for example, Identify additional costs
and then Ctrl+Click Inventory office.
| | 02:08 | On the Task tab, click the Mark on
Track down arrow, and choose Update Tasks.
| | 02:16 | In the Update Tasks dialog box, type the
percentage in the % Complete box, let's
| | 02:21 | say 80% and click OK.
| | 02:24 | Project updates both of these to 80%.
| | 02:26 | No matter how you update tasks, Project
shows the % Complete with a narrow black
| | 02:32 | bar in the middle of the
taskbar, up to the % Complete mark -
| | 02:36 | 80% on both of these tasks.
| | 02:39 | The Update Task dialog box contains all
the fields you can use to update progress,
| | 02:44 | so you can use it to update
progress for a variety of data.
| | 02:48 | If you have several tasks with the same
update values, you can select them all,
| | 02:52 | and then open the dialog box
to enter the update values.
| | 02:56 | In this example, select the
Inventory office task again.
| | 03:00 | On the Task tab, click the Mark on
Track down arrow and choose Update Tasks.
| | 03:05 | You can see that the Update Task
dialog box includes % Complete, Actual
| | 03:10 | duration, Remaining duration,
and Actual Start and Finish.
| | 03:14 | If you type a value in the % Complete
and Actual duration, Project calculates
| | 03:20 | the Remaining duration and
updates the total Task Duration.
| | 03:24 | For example, type 25% in the % Complete
dialog box, and type 8 days for Actual duration.
| | 03:33 | Click OK.
| | 03:35 | Now open the dialog box again.
| | 03:37 | You can see that the remaining duration
is 24 days. That's the other 75%, based
| | 03:43 | on the actual duration of 8 days.
| | 03:45 | The new duration for the total task is 32 days.
| | 03:49 | If you don't enter the actual start,
project just uses the scheduled start date
| | 03:54 | for the actual start.
| | 03:55 | You can also skip the % Complete box
and fill in the Actual and Remaining
| | 03:59 | duration. Then Project figures out
the % complete from those two values.
| | 04:04 | For completed task, you can simply
fill in the Actual Start and Actual Finish
| | 04:08 | dates, and Project calculates the rest.
| | 04:11 | If you display the Task form in the
Details Pane, like it is here, you can
| | 04:15 | select a task in the Gantt chart
view to see its values in the task form.
| | 04:19 | Right-click the task form and choose Work.
| | 04:22 | That way you can see the total work,
the Actual work, and the Remaining work.
| | 04:27 | If you want, you can type in
Actual work and Remaining work,
| | 04:31 | in this example, let's say 50 hours,
and for Remaining work 80 hours, and click
| | 04:37 | OK, to update the task that way.
| | 04:40 | Project has an almost infinite variety
of methods for updating progress. The key
| | 04:44 | is to use the method that's easiest
for you, but gives the level of accuracy
| | 04:49 | that you and your stakeholders need.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Using overtime| 00:00 | One thing you don't want to do is
assign overtime as part of your
| | 00:04 | original project plan.
| | 00:05 | If you count on people working long
hours from the get go, there won't be
| | 00:09 | any wiggle room left if you need them to
work even more once the project is underway.
| | 00:15 | But if a project schedule starts to slip
during execution, you can assign some
| | 00:19 | overtime to keep the schedule on track.
| | 00:22 | How you do that in Project
is a little different though.
| | 00:25 | Projects overtime feature is a bit
unwieldy, but the good news is you can
| | 00:30 | often handle overtime assignments
without going anywhere near Project's over-
| | 00:34 | time-related fields.
| | 00:36 | The only time you have to resort to
Projects overtime feature is when resources
| | 00:40 | get paid more for their over time hours.
| | 00:43 | When resources earn a salary or earn
the same hourly rate, no matter how many
| | 00:48 | hours they work, you can handle
overtime with easier techniques.
| | 00:52 | The best approach is to set resources' work
schedules to longer hours for a period of time.
| | 00:58 | For example, you can edit a resource's
calendar and define an overtime work week.
| | 01:02 | On the Project tab, click Change Working Time.
| | 01:06 | In the For Calendar dropdown list, choose
the Resource, in this case Relo Assistant.
| | 01:14 | Click the Work Week's tab.
| | 01:16 | In a blank name cell, type a
Work Week name like Overtime.
| | 01:21 | In the Start and Finish cells, you can
choose the date range for the overtime.
| | 01:26 | Let's say January 9th, 2012 to January 27th.
| | 01:33 | Then click Details.
| | 01:36 | Drag over Monday through Friday to
choose the dates, and select the option Set
| | 01:42 | day(s) to these specific working times.
| | 01:44 | Now you can change the end time for the
work days to 7, to add a couple of hours
| | 01:52 | of work and click OK.
| | 01:54 | Click OK to close the
Change Working Time dialog box.
| | 01:59 | One thing you don't want to do is
increase a resource's maximum units in
| | 02:04 | the resource sheet.
| | 02:05 | Doing that tells Project to assign the
resource for longer hours for the entire
| | 02:10 | project, and that's bound
to generate some complaints.
| | 02:13 | But if resources are paid more for
overtime hours, then you do have to assign
| | 02:18 | overtime hours in Project or
the labor costs won't be correct.
| | 02:23 | As you learned in an earlier movie,
the overtime rate in the resource sheet
| | 02:27 | tells Project how much someone is
paid for the overtime hours you
| | 02:30 | specifically assign.
| | 02:32 | Click the View tab and
then click Resource Sheet.
| | 02:35 | In the Movers Overtime rate
cell, type 75, and press Enter.
| | 02:41 | The easiest way to assign overtime
hours is by customizing the task usage or
| | 02:46 | resource usage view to show overtime hours.
| | 02:50 | On the View tab, click Task Usage.
| | 02:54 | We want to add overtime work to the table.
| | 02:58 | So right-click a column heading and choose
Insert column. Then start typing Overtime.
| | 03:04 | As soon as you just see Overtime Work,
click it to add the column to the table.
| | 03:10 | We also want overtime in the time phase grid.
| | 03:15 | To do that, click the
format tab and click Add Details.
| | 03:22 | Scroll down in the list and select
Overtime Work and click Show to add it to the
| | 03:29 | Show these fields list.
| | 03:31 | Then when you click OK, you can see that
there is a row for each assignment, for
| | 03:37 | Overtime Work as well as Work.
| | 03:39 | We are going to add some overtime to
the pack and move task for the movers.
| | 03:45 | So let's scroll down to that task,
just near the end of the project.
| | 03:53 | Here is Pack & Move and
with the Movers assigned.
| | 03:56 | If I scroll over a little bit in the
time phase grid, you can see that it starts
| | 04:02 | on the 20th and goes into the
second week, ending on the 29th.
| | 04:09 | But we want this task to end in the first
week, so we are going to assign some overtime.
| | 04:14 | The hours in the second week add up to 66 hours,
| | 04:17 | so we are going to use those as overtime.
| | 04:19 | You can't actually edit the overtime
hours in the individual time periods.
| | 04:24 | So the way you add overtime is you type the
hours in the overtime work cell in the table.
| | 04:30 | Type 66 and press enter.
| | 04:34 | Project automatically sets the 66 hours
to overtime and the rest is regular hours.
| | 04:40 | And it divides the over time over the
new duration of the task, so the total
| | 04:45 | work for each day increases.
| | 04:48 | The cost for the task will increase as
well, because 66 hours are being charged
| | 04:53 | at a higher rate of $75 per hour.
| | 04:56 | If resources earn the same amount per
hour, no matter how many hours they work,
| | 05:01 | you can assign overtime simply by
setting up a workweek with longer hours for
| | 05:05 | the timeframe you need.
| | 05:07 | However, if resources earn more for
overtime you have to set their rate in the
| | 05:11 | Overtime Rate field and then fill in
the Overtime Work field with the number of
| | 05:15 | hours of overtime you want to assign.
| | 05:18 | That way Project takes care of
calculating the cost for regular work hours and
| | 05:22 | overtime work hours, and
gets your labor cost correctly.
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| Updating costs| 00:00 | For work and material resources,
you don't have to do anything to update costs.
| | 00:05 | Project calculates the cost for people,
equipment, and materials based on the
| | 00:10 | rates and other cost fields you define
for the resources and the work hours, or
| | 00:15 | quantities, you add to the assignment.
| | 00:17 | However, if you use cost resources,
you have to update those values to
| | 00:22 | your actual values.
| | 00:24 | To see that you don't have to update
labor and equipment costs, right-click the
| | 00:29 | All Cells box and choose Tracking.
| | 00:35 | Drag the vertical divider over, and
you can see that Project has calculated
| | 00:40 | actual cost based on work hours
for the people assigned the tasks.
| | 00:46 | If you have work resources that can't
speak for themselves, like cranes or
| | 00:50 | helicopters, you do have to
designate someone to tell you the work hours
| | 00:54 | for that equipment.
| | 00:56 | If you assign material resources, the
actual cost includes the quantity of
| | 01:01 | material multiplied by the cost rate per unit.
| | 01:04 | The only update you might need to make is
updating the actual quantity of material used.
| | 01:11 | To do that, on the View tab, click
Resource Usage. Scroll down to one of your
| | 01:17 | material resources, in this case Keycard.
| | 01:22 | Double-click the assignment to open
the Assignment Information dialog box and
| | 01:28 | then click the Tracking tab.
| | 01:31 | In the actual workbox, type the actual quantity.
| | 01:37 | In this case, let's type 175 and click OK.
| | 01:42 | If I right-click the task form and
choose cost, you can see that the actual cost
| | 01:49 | is less than the original cost.
| | 01:52 | When you assign cost resources to a
task you also estimate the cost value.
| | 01:57 | Then if the actual cost is different,
you update the actual cost the way you do
| | 02:02 | for material resources.
| | 02:04 | Lodging and meals are both cost resources.
| | 02:07 | So you can do the same thing and
double-click the assignment to open the
| | 02:12 | Assignment Information dialog box.
| | 02:14 | Then on the Tracking tab, you can
type the actual cost for the assignment,
| | 02:18 | in this case, 150 and click OK.
| | 02:22 | Now you can see down in the Task Form
that the original cost was $200, but the
| | 02:27 | actual cost is only 150.
| | 02:30 | For the most part Project
handles updating costs in a project.
| | 02:33 | However, you do have to update actual
quantities for material resources, and
| | 02:38 | you may have to update the actual cost
for cost resources, if your estimates
| | 02:42 | weren't correct.
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| Making global progress updates to a project| 00:01 | Every so often, you need a way to
record project progress quickly, and minute
| | 00:05 | detail isn't important.
| | 00:07 | Perhaps your project was put on
hold for a few months, and you want to
| | 00:10 | reschedule all the unfinished work
when the ball starts rolling again.
| | 00:14 | Project has an easy way to reschedule
unfinished works, so you can pick up
| | 00:18 | where you left off.
| | 00:19 | Or as a last resort, you can also tell
Project to bring your file up to date as
| | 00:24 | if everything happened just the way you planned.
| | 00:27 | You can tell Project the date to resume
work and let it reschedule all the work
| | 00:31 | that isn't complete.
| | 00:32 | With a task-oriented view like the Gantt
Chart displayed, click the Project tab,
| | 00:38 | then click Update Project.
| | 00:40 | In the update Project dialog box,
select the Reschedule uncompleted work
| | 00:45 | to start after option.
| | 00:48 | And then in the box, choose the date
when work should restart, March 31st,
| | 00:53 | 2011 in this example.
| | 00:57 | Leave the entire project
option selected and click OK.
| | 01:03 | Tasks that were in
progress restart on March 31st.
| | 01:07 | If we go and look at the Finalized lease
task, I'll go to the Task tab and click
| | 01:12 | Scroll to Task, so we can see this,
| | 01:14 | and you can see that a split is now in
the task, so that the uncompleted work
| | 01:19 | has moved to March 31.
| | 01:22 | Any tasks that haven't started but
were scheduled to start before March 31st
| | 01:27 | are now set to start on March 31st instead.
| | 01:30 | And of course, any successors linked
to these tasks move forward in time, so they
| | 01:34 | still follow their predecessors.
| | 01:37 | When you do this, look over your schedule
carefully for edits you might have to make.
| | 01:42 | For example, manually scheduled tasks
are tasks with date constraints will need
| | 01:46 | to be changed manually.
| | 01:48 | And you may want to save a new baseline,
which you learned about in an earlier movie.
| | 01:53 | On the other hand, if your project
is mostly on track, and you don't
| | 01:57 | need accurate numbers to get paid,
an automatic progress update can get
| | 02:01 | you up to date quickly.
| | 02:03 | For this update, let's open the Office
Move on Track file. Click the File tab and
| | 02:09 | click Open. Then double-
click Office Move on Track.
| | 02:14 | To update specific tasks, select them first.
| | 02:18 | For example, starting at the beginning
of the project, we can scroll down and
| | 02:24 | Shift+Click Task ID 24 to select
everything up through planning complete.
| | 02:30 | Notice that the milestone is
scheduled to finish on March 11th.
| | 02:35 | Now on the Project tab, click Update Project.
| | 02:38 | In the Update Project dialog box, make sure
Update work as complete through is selected.
| | 02:45 | And in the Date box choose
the status date for updating.
| | 02:49 | Let's make it March 3/1/2011.
| | 02:54 | Project automatically updates tasks
scheduled to start before that date, but
| | 02:58 | what about tasks that start before
the cut off date or finish after?
| | 03:03 | To update tasks as partially complete,
select the Set 0% - 100% complete option.
| | 03:12 | This option tells Project to update
completion based on how much of the task
| | 03:16 | should be done by the cut off date.
| | 03:18 | On the other hand, if you select the Set
0% - 100% complete only option, Project
| | 03:25 | updates only tasks that should have
been 100% complete before the cut off date.
| | 03:30 | Because we selected tasks, be sure to
select the Selected tasks option, then
| | 03:36 | click OK, and Project
updates the selected tasks.
| | 03:40 | You can see that all the tasks that
finish before March 1st are set to 100%, but
| | 03:46 | Finalize lease, which
finishes on March 4th, is at 70%.
| | 03:51 | However, the milestone Planning
complete is still set to finish on March 11th.
| | 03:57 | Project offers a few shortcuts
for updating your project's progress.
| | 04:01 | These shortcuts don't provide
accurate values of where your project stands.
| | 04:05 | So you don't want to use them, if you
rely on numbers and Project for billing
| | 04:09 | customers or paying contractors.
| | 04:11 | However, the Update Project command
does get your tasks updated quickly, so you
| | 04:16 | can go back to managing your project and
tracking progress accurately once more.
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| Using earned value| 00:00 | Earned value analysis measures
progress by determining how much of the
| | 00:04 | project cost you've earned.
| | 00:06 | You start by saving a baseline in
your project file so you have something
| | 00:10 | to compare progress to, and then you enter
actual values to record your actual progress.
| | 00:16 | Earned value measurements convert your
plan and you progress both into dollars
| | 00:20 | to figure out where your project
stands, in terms of budget and schedule.
| | 00:24 | Earned value measures progress
through a specific date, so you have to set a
| | 00:28 | status date in Project.
| | 00:30 | On the Project tab, click the Status
Date Calendar icon. Then in Status Date
| | 00:37 | Select Date box, type the status date you want,
| | 00:41 | in this example 2/10/2011 and click OK.
| | 00:46 | Earned value analysis starts with three
basic measures. To get your bearings with
| | 00:51 | earned value switch to the tracking Gantt view.
| | 00:55 | Click the View tab, click the Gantt Chart
down arrow, and then choose Tracking Gantt.
| | 01:01 | We also want to display the Earned Value table.
| | 01:04 | Right-click the All Cells
box and choose More Tables.
| | 01:09 | Then in the More Tables dialog box,
select Earned Value and click Apply.
| | 01:17 | The first earned value column has a
title of BCWS. That stands for Budgeted Cost
| | 01:23 | of Work Scheduled, and it's also known
as the planned cost for scheduled work.
| | 01:28 | In plain English, that means it's
how much you plan to spend on the work
| | 01:33 | scheduled through the status date.
| | 01:35 | And how much you planned to spend on the
work scheduled is nothing more than the
| | 01:38 | baseline cost for the work scheduled.
| | 01:42 | Let's look at the Select site task.
| | 01:46 | The BCWS value for Select site is
$5,760. That means that through the status
| | 01:53 | date, February 10th, you plan to spend that
money on selecting the site for the new office.
| | 01:59 | The next column, BCWP, stands for
Budgeted Cost of Work Performed, and that's the
| | 02:06 | earned value because it's the
baseline cost you've actually earned for
| | 02:11 | completing work through the status date.
| | 02:13 | In this example, the budgeted cost for
work performed, or earned value, is $7,200,
| | 02:20 | so you see that the earned value is
higher than the planned value, and that means
| | 02:25 | that you got more work completed
through the status date than you had
| | 02:29 | originally planned.
| | 02:30 | So just remember, when earned value is
higher than planned value, the project
| | 02:34 | is ahead of schedule.
| | 02:36 | If earned value is lower than planned
value, you haven't accomplished as much as
| | 02:40 | you planned, and the project is behind schedule.
| | 02:43 | The third value is
actual cost of work performed.
| | 02:47 | It's how much you actually spend
through the status date. And in this example,
| | 02:52 | actual cost for selecting this site is $3,600.
| | 02:57 | The task is complete, so that means
that you spend only $3,600 to select the
| | 03:03 | site, but had planned on spending $7,200.
| | 03:07 | If the actual cost is less than the
earned value, the project is under budget.
| | 03:12 | Planned value, earned value, and
actual costs are all expressed in dollars, so
| | 03:18 | you can compare them to
evaluate schedule and cost performance.
| | 03:22 | If you graph these three values, you
can use the positions of the three lines,
| | 03:27 | relative to one another, to see if the
project is on time and within budget.
| | 03:32 | The Earned Value Over Time visual
report shows use these three measures.
| | 03:37 | Click the Project tab and
then click Visual Reports.
| | 03:42 | Click Earned Value Over Time and click View.
| | 03:49 | The Earned Value Over Time visual
report opens in Excel. The graph you see here
| | 03:54 | is what you always want to see for a project.
| | 03:57 | The earned value line, the blue line,
is above the planned value line, which
| | 04:03 | is red, and that means that the project has
been ahead of schedule since the beginning.
| | 04:08 | The earned value line is also above
the actual cost, which means that the
| | 04:12 | project is under budget, too.
| | 04:15 | The earned value graph shows costs
along the Y axis and time along the X axis.
| | 04:21 | Let me scroll down so you can see
fourth quarter of 2010, first quarter of 2011.
| | 04:30 | Okay, now we're going to go back to
Project and just look at one more thing with
| | 04:34 | the Earned Value table.
| | 04:35 | I'm going to close Excel.
Click No to throw this file away.
| | 04:40 | Now that we've looked at the
visual report, click Close to close the
| | 04:45 | Visual Reports dialog box.
| | 04:47 | The Earned Value table includes other
measures that forecast final costs based
| | 04:53 | on project performance so far.
| | 04:55 | For example, the SV field is the variance
between the earned value and planned value.
| | 05:02 | If SV is positive, more work is complete
than you plan, so you're ahead of schedule.
| | 05:08 | The tasks in the office move all
have positive variance, which is good.
| | 05:12 | The CV field is the variance
between earned value and the actual cost.
| | 05:17 | If CV is positive, the baseline cost
is greater than the actual costs, so the
| | 05:22 | project is under budget,
like the tasks for this move.
| | 05:25 | Estimated completion, the EAC field, is
an estimate of how much a task will cost
| | 05:31 | when it's done, based on its performance so far.
| | 05:34 | And the last one, BAC, budgeted
completion, is just the baseline cost.
| | 05:40 | Earned value measures can analyze both
schedule and cost performance. The Earned
| | 05:45 | Value table shows several
earned value measures, task by task.
| | 05:49 | However, the Earned Value Over Time
visual report is a visual graph that shows
| | 05:54 | you scheduled and cost performance at a glance.
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|
|
8. Viewing and Sharing Project InformationViewing project status| 00:00 | Reviewing project status frequently
is the best way to get early warning of
| | 00:04 | problems that are brewing.
| | 00:06 | In Project, you can start with a
30,000-foot view and then drill down to find
| | 00:11 | the tasks that are in trouble.
| | 00:12 | Project views, reports, and several other
features help you evaluate your project status.
| | 00:18 | The project summary task is an easy
way to keep high-level status visible.
| | 00:23 | The project summary task shows up with
a special task ID of 0, and the way you
| | 00:28 | show it is on Format tab
| | 00:31 | you turn the Project Summary Task
check box on, the way it is here.
| | 00:35 | If you turn it off, the summary task disappears.
| | 00:38 | Turn it back on and task ID 0 reappears.
| | 00:42 | The great thing about the project summary
task is that it summarizes your entire project.
| | 00:47 | You see the full duration.
| | 00:48 | You see the start date of the project,
the finish date, and other values.
| | 00:53 | To quickly scan what's going on in your
project, you can apply different tables
| | 00:57 | and look at the values in
the project summary task.
| | 00:59 | For example, on the View tab,
click Tables and then choose Variance.
| | 01:07 | That'll show you the
scheduled variance for your project.
| | 01:09 | We can drag the vertical divider over
here, so I can see the Finish Variance.
| | 01:15 | And you can see that the
Finish Variance is 13 days.
| | 01:19 | That means, for this project, right now, the
finish date is 13 days later than you planned.
| | 01:25 | On the other hand, if you click Cost, you
can see that the variance is -$3,240.
| | 01:34 | The project is actually
below budget by that amount.
| | 01:38 | Another way to see high-level status is
through the Project Information dialog box.
| | 01:44 | Click the Project tab and click Project
Information. Then, at the bottom, click Statistics.
| | 01:51 | The Project Statistics dialog box
shows the current, baseline, actual and
| | 01:57 | remaining values for your project.
| | 01:59 | You can also see the percentage of
duration and work that's complete.
| | 02:04 | The project summary report shows
statistics similar to the Project Statistics
| | 02:09 | dialog box, with more Variance values.
| | 02:13 | Click Close to close this
dialog box. Then click Reports.
| | 02:18 | In the Reports dialog box, double-click
Overview and then double-click Project Summary.
| | 02:28 | You can click the zoom in to
see this report in more detail.
| | 02:32 | Just click those scrollbars to
move, to see the report information.
| | 02:40 | If variance values for Start, Finish
and Duration are greater than 0, the
| | 02:45 | Project may be behind schedule.
| | 02:47 | Cost variances greater than 0 are
signs that the project is over budget.
| | 02:52 | When the Work Variance is greater than 0,
the project could be behind schedule,
| | 02:57 | over budget, or both.
| | 02:59 | In this example, the Work Variance
is positive, and you can see that the
| | 03:03 | Duration Variance is 13 days;
| | 03:06 | so the project is behind schedule.
| | 03:08 | Another way to see status for
tasks is with status indicators.
| | 03:12 | Let's go back to the Gantt Chart view.
| | 03:15 | To see status indicators, right-click
a column heading in a table and choose
| | 03:20 | Insert Columns, start typing
Status, and then choose Status Indicator.
| | 03:26 | A clock with a check mark
shows tasks that are on time.
| | 03:30 | If there are tasks that aren't finished
but are running late, you would see a
| | 03:34 | clock with an exclamation
point inside a red diamond.
| | 03:38 | To draw taskbars for a baseline, go
to the Format tab, click Baseline, and
| | 03:45 | then choose the baseline that you want to see.
| | 03:50 | You can see in the Timescale that the
grey taskbars represent the baseline.
| | 03:55 | To see how much slack tasks
have, turn on the Slack check box.
| | 03:59 | A narrow black line sticking out from
the right end of a taskbar shows how
| | 04:03 | much a task can delay
before it delays its successors.
| | 04:09 | You can see slack here on
the Finalize Lease task.
| | 04:14 | Click the Slippage down arrow and then
select a baseline to show slippage,
| | 04:18 | with narrow black lines, from the
baseline start dates to the current,
| | 04:22 | scheduled start date. Here's slippage.
| | 04:26 | The length of the Slippage line
shows how far tasks have slipped from the
| | 04:30 | baseline start date.
| | 04:32 | Project has all kinds of tools to help
you evaluate how your project is doing.
| | 04:37 | Give them a try, and then
use the ones you like the most.
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| Looking for schedule and cost problems| 00:00 | When your project's current values
start to stray from the baseline, you know
| | 00:04 | tasks are taking longer than they should,
and could end up costing more than you planned.
| | 00:09 | In Project, you can look at variances
and other values to head off potential
| | 00:13 | problems before they become reality.
| | 00:16 | One way to find delays in your project
is to look for tasks that should have
| | 00:20 | started already but haven't.
| | 00:22 | The Should Start By filter shows tasks
that should have started by the date you
| | 00:27 | specify but haven't.
| | 00:29 | On the View tab, click the Filter
down arrow, and then choose More Filters.
| | 00:37 | In the dialog box, select Should
Start By and then click Apply.
| | 00:44 | In the Start By box, type the Should Start by
date, 3/1/2011 in this example, and click OK.
| | 00:53 | This filter looks for tasks without
actual start dates, whose start dates are
| | 00:58 | earlier than your Should Start By date.
| | 01:00 | You can check with the resources
assigned to these tasks to see why they
| | 01:04 | haven't started yet.
| | 01:05 | To remove the filter, click the
Filter down arrow and choose No Filter.
| | 01:11 | Now you can see all of your tasks again.
| | 01:13 | Another problem is when tasks
start on time and then fall behind.
| | 01:19 | To find problems like these, you can
look for tasks whose finish dates are later
| | 01:23 | than the Baseline finish.
| | 01:25 | The Slipping Tasks filter finds
these tasks, whether they started late, are
| | 01:29 | scheduled to start late, or are
just taking longer than they should.
| | 01:34 | On the View tab, click the Filter
down arrow and choose More Filters.
| | 01:41 | In the dialog box, select
Slipping Tasks and click Apply.
| | 01:46 | To remove the filter, go back to
the Filter box and choose No Filter.
| | 01:51 | On the other hand, work hours that grow
beyond your estimates can lead to longer
| | 01:56 | task durations and higher costs,
| | 01:59 | so it's important to
catch these variances early.
| | 02:01 | The Work Table shows Work Variance.
| | 02:05 | On the View tab, click the
table's down arrow and then choose Work.
| | 02:11 | The Work Table also has the % Work Complete
column. That's the percentage of the baseline work
| | 02:18 | that's done.
| | 02:20 | A positive Work Variance means the
scheduled hours are higher than the baseline
| | 02:25 | work, and that's a problem.
| | 02:26 | So you should investigate
what's going on with these tasks.
| | 02:30 | The Slipped Late Progress filter
looks for tasks that are running late, but
| | 02:35 | it also checks for completed work
that's less than what you planned, for the
| | 02:39 | date that you pick.
| | 02:40 | Click the Filter arrow and choose More Filters.
| | 02:46 | In the More Filters dialog box, select
Slipped Late Progress and click Apply.
| | 02:56 | You can see here that there are quite a
few tasks that you have to investigate.
| | 03:00 | The Cost Table shows Cost Variance,
as well as several cost fields.
| | 03:05 | Right-click the All Cells
box and then choose Cost.
| | 03:10 | You can see here that some tasks have
positive variance and some have negative.
| | 03:16 | Overall, the project is
under budget by about $3,000.
| | 03:21 | On the other hand, if you want to look
at tasks whose scheduled cost is greater
| | 03:25 | than the baseline cost,
| | 03:27 | on the View tab, click the Filter
down arrow and then choose More Filters.
| | 03:34 | In the More Filters dialog box,
select Cost over Budget, and click Apply.
| | 03:40 | And you can see that there's one
task here that's gone over budget.
| | 03:44 | Project comes with tables and filters
to help you keep an eye on task dates,
| | 03:48 | work hours, and cost.
| | 03:50 | By checking for values that stray
from the baseline, you can spot problems
| | 03:54 | easily and take corrective action.
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| Running a text-based report| 00:00 | Project's text-based reports are easy
to run, and they are great when you want
| | 00:04 | to produce a checklist of upcoming
assignments, or send people a quick summary of
| | 00:09 | where a project stands.
| | 00:10 | Text-based reports offer a few
basic options for choosing, arranging,
| | 00:15 | and formatting data.
| | 00:16 | Unlike visual reports, text
reports show data in a specific way.
| | 00:21 | If you want a different perspective,
you have to run a different report or
| | 00:25 | create custom report with the layout you want.
| | 00:28 | Running a text-based report is as easy as 1,2,3.
| | 00:31 | First, you open the Reports dialog box
by clicking Reports on the Project tab.
| | 00:39 | Then you select the Report category and
finally, you select and run the report you want.
| | 00:46 | If you double-click the Overview
category, you see several reports that give
| | 00:51 | different high-level
perspectives of your project.
| | 00:53 | For example, double-click
the Project Summary report.
| | 01:00 | The report opens on the Print page of the
Backstage view, so you can preview the report.
| | 01:06 | It shows the scheduled, baseline, and
actual values for the start and finish
| | 01:09 | dates, duration, working cost.
| | 01:12 | The Print options appear on
the left side of the Print page.
| | 01:17 | You can choose the printer you want to use.
| | 01:21 | You can choose the page orientation.
| | 01:23 | Click the down arrow to
choose Portrait or Landscape.
| | 01:26 | You can also choose the
size of the paper you use.
| | 01:31 | In Project, you can select
the dates for the report.
| | 01:34 | That's a great way to save trees if your
project spans several months, or even years.
| | 01:40 | If you want to adjust margins or add
information to the header or footer, click
| | 01:45 | the Page Setup link.
Click Cancel to close that box.
| | 01:50 | To print more than one copy, type the
number you want up in the Copies box.
| | 01:54 | Then to print the report,
click the nice, big Print button.
| | 02:00 | One drawback to the Print page is
that it doesn't leave much room for a
| | 02:04 | preview of your report.
| | 02:06 | You can zoom in just by clicking the
report, but then you actually have to
| | 02:10 | scroll around, using the horizontal and
vertical scrollbars, to see the content in the report.
| | 02:17 | If you click the One Page button, you
can see the report at its actual size.
| | 02:24 | If your report has more than one page,
you can click Multiple Pages to actually
| | 02:28 | get an overview of what the report looks like.
| | 02:34 | Let's go back and look at a different report.
| | 02:38 | On the Project tab, click Reports,
and this time double-click the Current
| | 02:43 | category. Double-click the Tasks In
Progress Report, which shows tasks people
| | 02:49 | are currently working on.
| | 02:51 | You can click the left, right, up and down
arrows to switch between pages in the report.
| | 02:57 | Here I am on the first page. Click the right
arrow to go to the second page of the report.
| | 03:02 | The arrows are gray or black, depending
on how many pages there are in the report
| | 03:07 | and which page you are looking at.
| | 03:10 | In this case, the only direction I can
go is to click left to go back to the
| | 03:14 | first page of the report.
| | 03:16 | If you want to get a more thorough
look at the report before you print, your
| | 03:20 | best bet is to print to a file like a PDF.
| | 03:25 | In the Printer dropdown list, you can
choose one of the other options, like
| | 03:31 | sending it to OneNote or to the
Microsoft XPS Document Writer, which is
| | 03:36 | Microsoft's version of Adobe PDF format.
Then you can click Print to send it to a file.
| | 03:43 | If you want to customize a report,
you can go to the Custom category.
| | 03:47 | Let's go back to the Project tab and
open up the Reports dialog box again.
| | 03:53 | This time double-click Custom.
| | 03:56 | The Custom Reports dialog box shows
all of the existing reports. Select the
| | 04:02 | report that you want and then click Copy.
| | 04:07 | After you copy the report, you can
make changes, like choose the table to
| | 04:11 | display or the filter to apply, and then you
click OK, and you can run your custom report.
| | 04:17 | Text-based reports are great
for checklists or quick overviews.
| | 04:21 | You can report details too, but the
reports can spit out page after page.
| | 04:25 | Check out all the reports
that Project has to offer.
| | 04:28 | To keep reports concise, or to show
specific information, try the different
| | 04:33 | report settings until you see the
information just the way you want.
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| Generating a visual report| 00:00 | Project's visual reports let you change
them on the fly because they use Excel
| | 00:05 | PivotCharts and Visio Pivot
Diagrams to look at data in different ways.
| | 00:11 | For example, you may start with costs
by month, but with a quick modification,
| | 00:15 | you can show costs by
resource, or by project phase.
| | 00:19 | Generating a visual report is easy.
| | 00:21 | On the Project tab, click Visual Reports.
| | 00:25 | In the Visual Reports dialog box,
select the visual report you want to run,
| | 00:30 | like Baseline Cost.
| | 00:32 | The Assignment Visual Reports are
the most flexible because they include
| | 00:36 | time-phased data about both tasks
and resources so you can look at your
| | 00:40 | project from every angle.
| | 00:43 | A preview of the visual report gives
you an idea of what the report looks like,
| | 00:47 | for example, a bar graph,
a pie chart, or a tree.
| | 00:51 | In the Select level of usage data to
include in the report dropdown list, choose
| | 00:56 | the shortest period of
time you might want to see.
| | 01:00 | Weeks is a good compromise, but you can go
shorter or longer, to days or months, for
| | 01:06 | shorter or longer projects.
| | 01:09 | Then just click View to create the report.
| | 01:15 | It can take some time
for the report to generate.
| | 01:19 | If you use an Excel visual report,
Excel starts up and opens an Excel file with
| | 01:25 | your project data in it.
| | 01:26 | The Chart1 worksheet is a special graph
that displays the data in your report in
| | 01:31 | the way that you tell Excel to.
| | 01:33 | If the chart is too big for the window,
you can drag the Zoom slider on the
| | 01:36 | right side of the Status bar.
| | 01:42 | The second worksheet is called a PivotTable.
| | 01:46 | Here it says Assignment Usage, and
this PivotTable is how you configure
| | 01:50 | the look of the report.
| | 01:51 | Excel-based visual reports are bar
graphs, pie charts, or line graphs, and
| | 01:57 | they're great for comparing values side-by-side.
| | 02:00 | To see the PivotTable,
click on Assignment Usage.
| | 02:03 | The Baseline Cost Report initially
shows actual cost, baseline cost, and cost,
| | 02:11 | and you can see that those are the
fields that have check marks in the
| | 02:15 | PivotTable Field List.
| | 02:17 | So that tells you that you can display any
field that you want by turning on its check mark.
| | 02:23 | You can change the order that
the fields appear in the chart.
| | 02:27 | Let me go back to Chart1 and show you,
Baseline Cost, Cost and Actual Cost, and
| | 02:35 | those are the three fields,
down in the Sum Values section:
| | 02:39 | Baseline Cost, Cost, and Actual Cost.
| | 02:42 | If you want to change the order, just
drag a field to a different position.
| | 02:47 | For example, drag Actual Cost to be
above Cost. And if you go back to the chart,
| | 02:56 | now you can see that
Actual Cost is in the middle.
| | 03:00 | Back on the Assignment Usage worksheet,
you see that the Baseline Cost Report
| | 03:07 | starts with a column for the entire
project, and then has additional entries for
| | 03:13 | each top-level task.
| | 03:16 | Changing the category in the Row Labels area
is how you categorize data in different ways.
| | 03:23 | To break down the Baseline Cost Report
by time periods, drag the Weekly Calendar
| | 03:29 | from the Report Filter
box into the Row Labels box.
| | 03:34 | If the Weekly Calendar is first in the
list, the report categorizes, first by
| | 03:39 | time period, and then by tasks.
| | 03:46 | Let's go back to the chart, and now you
can see that there are time periods, and
| | 03:52 | then the top-level tasks.
| | 03:58 | Let me zoom out a little bit.
| | 04:00 | I'm going to zoom out some more so
that you can see the text in this chart.
| | 04:18 | I'm not sure I can zoom out enough, so
that the text doesn't overwrite itself;
| | 04:22 | however, the one thing that you want to
see is that each time period has its own
| | 04:29 | set of graphs for those top-level tasks.
| | 04:33 | To see more or less detail, you
expand or collapse the information in the
| | 04:38 | PivotTable worksheet.
| | 04:39 | So, let's go back to Assignment Usage.
| | 04:43 | Click the 2001 Plus button to
show the quarters in the year.
| | 04:50 | Then click the chart worksheet, and
we'll zoom back out, and now you can see
| | 04:56 | that for 2001, you can see the
quarters when you didn't before.
| | 05:00 | You can also filter the
information that appears in a visual report.
| | 05:04 | If you want to look at a specific
time period or resource, you can drag the
| | 05:08 | field into the Report Filter area.
| | 05:11 | For example, drag tasks from the Row
Labels box into Report Filter, click the
| | 05:22 | Tasks down arrow, and
turn on Select Multiple Items.
| | 05:28 | Now you can expand your project - let's
make this box a little bigger - and you
| | 05:35 | can see that you can turn off the top-
level tasks that you don't want to see.
| | 05:41 | When I click OK, it's just going
to show those items in the chart.
| | 05:47 | So these bars now just show
everything up through planning the move.
| | 05:51 | A Visio-based Visual Report starts
Visio and creates a Visio Pivot Diagram.
| | 05:57 | The Visio file has one page for the diagram
and a background page for things like logos.
| | 06:02 | Visio-based Visual Reports break
information down in a hierarchy, like a work
| | 06:08 | breakdown structure.
| | 06:09 | You can drill down level by level,
and use icons to highlight good, bad,
| | 06:13 | and indifferent values.
| | 06:15 | Visual Reports can slice and dice
project information in all sorts of ways.
| | 06:19 | You can categorize data, summarize,
or look at details and filter out what
| | 06:24 | you don't want to see.
| | 06:25 | Check out the visual reports that
Project offers and then experiment with the
| | 06:29 | settings in Excel PivotTables and
Visio Pivot Diagrams to see what you can do.
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| Working with the Global Template| 00:00 | The Global Template file is where
Project stores elements like views and tables,
| | 00:05 | and settings like the date format you use.
| | 00:07 | Project uses the Global Template
with every project file you create,
| | 00:11 | so elements and settings are
available whenever you work on those files.
| | 00:15 | The Organizer in Project
helps you manage file elements.
| | 00:18 | You can copy things between a file and the
Global Template, or even between two project files.
| | 00:25 | To see what the Global Template
stores for you, click the File tab.
| | 00:31 | On the Info page, click Organizer.
| | 00:35 | The Organizer dialog box has tabs for
the elements it works with, like views,
| | 00:41 | tables, filters, groups,
calendars, fields, reports, and so on.
| | 00:47 | You can also see the name of
the Global Template is Global.MPT.
| | 00:51 | What that means is it's a
Microsoft Project Template.
| | 00:55 | It's really just a
regular project template file.
| | 00:58 | You can click a tab to see what's in
your active project file, on the right, and
| | 01:03 | the Global Template, on the left.
| | 01:05 | For example, click Tables to see the tables
that are available or Calendars and Filters.
| | 01:14 | To look at the elements in a different
open file, click the down arrow on the
| | 01:19 | right side and choose the file you want.
| | 01:22 | In this case, just one file is open,
| | 01:24 | so we keep that one selected.
| | 01:26 | Whenever you make a change to an element,
like changing the table for a view or
| | 01:31 | inserting a column into a table,
you have customized that item.
| | 01:35 | And Project keeps that
customized item in your project file.
| | 01:40 | That's why you see so many views
listed on the right side of the Organizer.
| | 01:44 | All of these views have been
changed slightly in this particular file.
| | 01:48 | Say you like a view you have customized so much
you want to use it in every new project you create.
| | 01:55 | You can copy it to the Global Template.
| | 01:58 | Select a view on the
right side of the dialog box,
| | 02:01 | let's say the Gantt Chart.
| | 02:02 | So you don't overwrite projects
build in Gantt Chart, click Rename.
| | 02:08 | In the Rename box, type a new name
for the view, maybe something like
| | 02:13 | MySpecialGantt, and click OK.
| | 02:19 | And you can see that view is
now in the Global Template file.
| | 02:23 | Click the Close button to close the Organizer.
| | 02:27 | When you create a new project file,
it grabs all the views from your Global
| | 02:31 | Template and uses them.
| | 02:32 | You can also delete items with the Organizer.
| | 02:35 | If you don't want an item in your file,
you can select it on the right side of
| | 02:39 | the Organizer and then click Delete.
| | 02:41 | For example, you can select one of
these views, Resource Allocation here,
| | 02:48 | and then click Delete.
| | 02:49 | Click Yes to confirm that you want to delete it.
| | 02:52 | You can't delete an item that's in use.
| | 02:54 | So if the view you want to delete is
visible, first select another view.
| | 02:59 | In Project 2010, you can tell the
program to automatically copy items to
| | 03:03 | the Global Template.
| | 03:04 | If you are the only person who uses
your copy of Project, this means your
| | 03:09 | customized elements are available
for every new project you create.
| | 03:13 | Let's close the Organizer by
clicking the Close button, and then on the
| | 03:18 | File tab, click Options.
| | 03:21 | In the Project Options
dialog box, click Advanced.
| | 03:26 | Scroll down to the Display section and
make sure that the Automatically add new
| | 03:33 | views, tables, filters, and groups
to the global check box is turned on.
| | 03:38 | On the other hand, if you share a
Global Template with others, it's better to
| | 03:42 | turn off the check box,
| | 03:44 | so your customized elements
stay in your project files.
| | 03:48 | Then if you do want to share them,
you can copy them to the Global Template
| | 03:52 | using the Organizer.
| | 03:53 | The Global Template is a project
template file that the program uses to store
| | 03:57 | things like views, tables,
filters, and calendars.
| | 04:01 | The Organizer helps you manage the elements
in your project files and the Global Template.
| | 04:05 | You can copy your favorite elements to
the Global Template with the Organizer.
| | 04:10 | That way they are ready and
waiting for you in every new project file
| | 04:14 | you create.
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| Importing and exporting information| 00:00 | When you import or export data, you
can control the data you send between
| | 00:04 | programs, and where it
goes in the destination file.
| | 00:07 | Project has wizards for importing and
exporting data, so you can follow the
| | 00:11 | wizard's lead to get data where you want it go.
| | 00:13 | Excel spreadsheets provide a great
framework for getting data into Project.
| | 00:18 | It's easy to map the columns
in Excel to fields in Project.
| | 00:23 | To import an Excel spreadsheet,
click the File tab and then click Open.
| | 00:29 | In the Open dialog box, click the
Microsoft Project Files down arrow, and then
| | 00:35 | choose Excel Workbook to
bring in an Excel 2010 workbook.
| | 00:40 | Select the workbook that
you want and then click Open.
| | 00:44 | In the Import Wizard window, click Next.
| | 00:50 | Project automatically selects the New
map option, and that's what you want, so
| | 00:55 | click Next to continue.
| | 00:58 | To import the data into a new project,
leave the As a new project option
| | 01:02 | selected, and click Next.
| | 01:05 | With an Excel workbook, you can import
more than one type of information, each
| | 01:09 | from a different worksheet.
| | 01:11 | In this example, turn on the
Tasks check box to import tasks.
| | 01:16 | If the Excel file has a row with
headers, leave the Import includes headers
| | 01:20 | check box turned on, and click Next.
| | 01:23 | Project fills in the Excel worksheet
name in the Source worksheet name box.
| | 01:29 | If the spreadsheet contains more than one
worksheet, choose the name from the dropdown list.
| | 01:36 | Project tries to map fields in the
Excel workbook to fields in Project.
| | 01:40 | In this file, it figured
out WBS, Name, and Duration.
| | 01:45 | Where you see not mapped, you know you
have to tell it how to match up the data.
| | 01:50 | Select the cell that goes with Estimated Work.
| | 01:53 | Click the down arrow and then
type "Work" and select it in the list.
| | 02:01 | That maps the Excel Work
to the Project Work field.
| | 02:05 | Because you are importing tasks,
not assignments, you can skip the
| | 02:08 | Resources field in Excel.
| | 02:10 | You actually don't have to
import every field in your Excel file.
| | 02:14 | The Preview area shows what
your imported data looks like.
| | 02:18 | The first row shows the names
of the source fields in Excel.
| | 02:23 | The Project row shows the Project
fields mapped to the imported fields, and the
| | 02:28 | Preview Rows show sample values.
| | 02:31 | If everything looks good,
click Finish to import the data.
| | 02:36 | Project brings the data into a new Project file.
| | 02:39 | If you want to export some information from
Project to Excel, you can use the Export wizard.
| | 02:45 | Click File and click Open.
| | 02:50 | Select the OfficeMove_
Progress file and click Open.
| | 02:57 | On the Task tab, click the View down
arrow and choose the view with the data
| | 03:01 | you want to export,
| | 03:02 | for example, the Gantt Chart as we have here.
| | 03:06 | If you want specific fields,
display the table with those fields.
| | 03:11 | On the View tab, click the
Tables down arrow and choose cost.
| | 03:16 | To export all the data in the
table, click the All cells box.
| | 03:21 | That's the intersection of the
column headings and the task ID rows.
| | 03:25 | Click File and then click Save As.
| | 03:29 | In the Save as Type dropdown
list, choose Excel Workbook.
| | 03:35 | That saves in Excel 2010 format file.
| | 03:39 | In the File Name box, type the name for
the file, like ExcelExport, and click Save.
| | 03:49 | In the Export Wizard, click Next to get going.
| | 03:53 | The wizard automatically selects the
Selected Data option, which exports the
| | 03:58 | data you selected in the view.
| | 04:00 | So click Next to continue.
| | 04:03 | Select the Use existing map option
to use the map that's already present.
| | 04:08 | Click Next and choose Cost
data by task. Click Next.
| | 04:15 | To export tasks, make sure that the
Tasks check box is turned on, as it is here.
| | 04:22 | Each type of data goes to a separate Excel
worksheet if you export more than one type of data.
| | 04:28 | Click Next.
| | 04:30 | The Destination worksheet name box
shows the name for the Excel worksheet.
| | 04:35 | You can type a different name if you want.
| | 04:37 | In this example, Project uses the map
you selected to map project fields to
| | 04:43 | Excel columns in the Excel worksheet.
| | 04:46 | If the mapping looks the way you want it,
go ahead and click Next. Then click Finish.
| | 04:55 | Project exports the tasks
into the new Excel file.
| | 04:59 | If we go to Windows Explorer, you can
see ExcelExport is sitting in the folder
| | 05:05 | and if you have Excel 2010, you can open it up.
| | 05:08 | Importing data into Project is a great
way to get information from team members
| | 05:12 | like tasks and estimates into your Project file.
| | 05:15 | On the other hand, exporting data from
Project comes in handy when you want to
| | 05:19 | work on the data in ways
that Project isn't so good at,
| | 05:22 | or you want to transfer the
data to another program like, your
| | 05:25 | company's accounting system.
| | 05:26 | Either way, Project has wizards
that guide you through every step.
| | 05:30 | At the same time, you have complete
control over the data you want to exchange
| | 05:34 | and where you want it to
go in the destination file.
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| Sharing project information in other ways| 00:00 | You can e-mail your project file as
an attachment, whether you do that in
| | 00:04 | Outlook or from within Project.
| | 00:06 | You can also create a picture of your
project to include in presentations.
| | 00:11 | Just like other Microsoft programs, Project
files can turn into linked or embedded
| | 00:15 | objects when you copy and paste
from Project to another program.
| | 00:19 | If your organization uses SharePoint,
you can use it to share your project
| | 00:24 | file with your team.
| | 00:25 | If you want to e-mail your project file
from within Project, click the File tab
| | 00:31 | and then click Save & Send.
| | 00:33 | On the Backstage, click Send as Attachment.
| | 00:37 | If your e-mail program isn't running,
it starts and opens a new e-mail message
| | 00:42 | form, with the Current
Project file already attached.
| | 00:46 | Fill out the form as you
would normally and send it.
| | 00:49 | The Copy Picture Command creates an
image of the Current View, perfect for
| | 00:54 | publishing a high-level schedule
to your intranet, or sending resource
| | 00:58 | assignments to someone's manager.
| | 01:00 | So first, display the view you want.
| | 01:02 | For example, on the View
tab, click Resource Usage.
| | 01:07 | If you want to see specific rows,
select them first. I click the Minus Sign
| | 01:14 | button on the unassigned tasks to hide those.
| | 01:17 | Let's go down to the office manager.
| | 01:19 | Now I am going to click the first
Office manager row and Shift+Click the last
| | 01:29 | assignment for the office manager.
| | 01:32 | I'm also going to expand the
Resource Name column, so that I can see the
| | 01:36 | assignments and make sure that the
last column that you want to see is
| | 01:41 | completely included in the Window;
| | 01:43 | partial columns won't show up in the picture.
| | 01:46 | Click the Task tab, click the Copy
down arrow, and then choose Copy picture.
| | 01:54 | In the Copy Picture dialog box, choose
an option. Project automatically selects
| | 02:01 | For screen, which is what you want
when you copy for a picture to put in a
| | 02:05 | PowerPoint presentation.
| | 02:07 | Select For printer, if you're going to
print a picture in a hard copy report.
| | 02:12 | And if you want to create a file,
select To GIF image file, and then you would
| | 02:17 | tell Project the name of
the file and where to put it.
| | 02:20 | If you selected rows, Project
automatically selects the Selected Rows
| | 02:25 | option. And if you want, you can
show specific dates in the Timescale by
| | 02:29 | choosing the From and To dates.
| | 02:34 | Let's pick 1/1/2011 to 2/28/2011. Click OK.
| | 02:47 | Because we selected so much information,
Project is telling me that it might be
| | 02:52 | too large to paste into other
applications, but I'm going to be optimistic, and
| | 02:56 | I'm going to keep the
selected range. Just click OK.
| | 03:00 | Project copies the picture to the clipboard.
| | 03:03 | Now you can go into another
application, like Word, and then, in that program,
| | 03:09 | paste it into the document.
| | 03:11 | Let's see how this works in a Word document.
| | 03:14 | In this case, I already have Word
open, with a blank document ready.
| | 03:19 | On the Home tab, click the Paste
dropdown arrow and then click the Paste icon.
| | 03:27 | And there is your picture in the Word document.
| | 03:30 | If your company uses SharePoint to
collaborate, you can share your project files
| | 03:34 | on your SharePoint site.
| | 03:36 | Let's go back to Project.
| | 03:38 | To save a Project file to SharePoint,
click the File tab and then click Save & Send.
| | 03:45 | If you want to save the file to the
SharePoint site, you can click Save to SharePoint.
| | 03:50 | You have to tell Project where the
SharePoint site is, but then you click Save
| | 03:55 | as to save the file in that location.
| | 03:56 | The other command you might
notice is Sync with Tasks List.
| | 04:01 | With Project 2010, this feature
lets you publish Project tasks to a
| | 04:06 | SharePoint Tasks List.
| | 04:08 | On the Save & Send page, you
click Sync with Task Lists.
| | 04:13 | You can tell Project where the
SharePoint site is, and the task lists that you
| | 04:17 | want to use, and the
program publishes the tasks.
| | 04:21 | But before you get too excited, keep
in mind that this approach has a few
| | 04:25 | serious limitations.
| | 04:27 | It isn't the solution if you use
Project to calculate your schedule and you
| | 04:31 | have a large team of resources,
| | 04:33 | but it's handy for a handful of manually
scheduled tasks and a couple of colleagues.
| | 04:38 | The big limitation is that SharePoint
doesn't calculate project schedules,
| | 04:42 | so tasks you synchronize
are always manually scheduled.
| | 04:46 | If you synchronize auto-scheduled
tasks, SharePoint will convert them
| | 04:51 | to manually scheduled.
| | 04:53 | Project offers several ways to share
your project information with others,
| | 04:56 | from attaching project files to
e-mails, to copying and pasting information
| | 05:01 | into other programs, to creating a
picture of a schedule, to publishing a file
| | 05:05 | to a SharePoint site.
| | 05:07 | Explore the different methods available
in your environment. Before you know it,
| | 05:11 | you'll know which way is best
for sharing in any situation.
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ConclusionGoodbye| 00:00 | Now you know the basics for
setting up a schedule in Project.
| | 00:03 | You've seen how to create projects, and set
up basic project information and calendars.
| | 00:08 | We've explored creating and linking
different types of tasks to build a schedule.
| | 00:12 | We've created work, material, and cost
resources, and assigned them to tasks.
| | 00:17 | You've also seen how to work with
Project's views to fine-tune your schedule,
| | 00:21 | track progress, spot problems, and
take corrective action to bring a wayward
| | 00:26 | project back on course.
| | 00:27 | Finally, you've walked through creating
different types of reports and explored
| | 00:31 | other ways to share
project information with others.
| | 00:34 | So go ahead and start managing
your projects with Microsoft Project.
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