Project Management: Microsoft Office 2010 - Term Paper Example

Microsoft Office Project 2010 1. Introduction Also known as MOP 2010, Microsoft Office Project is software for project management developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is an efficiency tool that gives project managers a new and visually enhanced way of effectively planning and managing a wide range of programs and projects. It offers a set of steps and procedures which help in development of plans, assigning of resources to the various tasks, monitoring progress, budget management and analyzing workloads (Happy, 2010). In addition to that, Microsoft Office Project 2010 supports sample project templates and importing and exporting task lists from other Microsoft Office suites’ applications such as Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Outlook. Reasons for using MOP 2010 When used correctly, MOP 2010 can help users to; a. Work more efficiently due to the easy to use interface. b. Manage all planed tasks effectively. c. Allocate resources to each task. d. Control and manage a budget with ease. e. Manage time wisely since users can see the baseline time against the waste time. f. Make a report with ease. MOP 2010 screen shot 2. Terminology of Microsoft Project This section will discuss the technical terms used in Microsoft Project 2010 as well as their meaning. The main terms used in MOP 2010 are; i. Project – it refers to a discrete set of tasks whose start and end date is defined which are used to achieve a particular goal. ii. Project management – is the process of tracking, organizing and communicating info about a project so as to meet the set goals of the project. iii. Project manager – a central person who receives all details about the project and is also in charge of ensuring that the project gets completed on time. iv. Tasks – it is any piece of work that requires effort. v. Duration – is the total span elapsed or working time required to complete a task. vi. Milestone tasks – a reference point that marks a major event in the project and is used to monitor the progress of the project. vii. Resources – People and equipment required and used in order to complete a particular task. viii. Network diagram – a flow diagram used to show how tasks relate to each other. ix. Gant Chart – a graphical representation of the current schedule of the project. x. Scope – the total amount of services and products that are supposed to be provided by the project. xi. Risk – a negative impact in the project arising from the probability of a task, resource or cost being miscalculated. xii. Critical path – a series of tasks that must be timely completed so that the project finishes on schedule. xiii. Actual cost – is the cost incurred for the work already performed on a task by a resource. xiv. Quality – the degree to which something meets the objective standards. The table below shows a summary of other terms used in MOP 2010. 3. Creating a timeline project plan in MSOP 2010 Microsoft Project 2010 enables project managers to have a high visibility of the project plan using the project timeline. Using MSOP 2010, it is easy to represent the project’s plan and schedule in a graphical timeline (Heather, 2009). The following are required in order to create a timeline; Tasks and durations Start and finish dates for each task Relationship between the various tasks A timeline project help team to predict the project’s future as well as to forecast the finish time of the project and conduct a plan on time with the schedule (Heather, 2009). In MOPO 2010, the timeline can be viewed in a number of appearances such as Gantt chart and Network diagrams. However, PERT charts cannot be used since MOP 2010 does not have them but PERT chart expert software can be used to convert a project to PERT view. In order to manage the timeline, a task management team must be used as it helps enter the name of the project, duration and predecessors (Makar, 2011). The first screen after opening MOP 2010 The following steps are followed when creating a timeline; 1. Select the ‘view’ tab 2. Click on the Timeline checkbox. A timeline window will appear after this. 3. Look for a milestone in the project schedule 4. Right click on the task and select ‘Add to Timeline’. 5. The milestone will now appear on the Timeline (Heather, 2009). When adding tasks to the Timeline View, the Format Menu can be used to change the appearance of the tasks. After creating the Timeline View, new tasks can be inserted directly (Makar, 2011). Gantt chart When creating a Gantt chart using MSOP 2010, the following steps should be followed; (a) The tasks name should be added in the task name field in Gantt chart view (b) Establish the duration of each task in the duration field (c) Add the logical relationship between tasks. The following is an example of a Gantt chart. MSOP 2010 offers four types of task dependencies. These are; 1. Start-to-Finish 2. Finish-to-Start 3. Finish-to-Finish 4. Start-to-Finish However, the default relationship is Finish-to-Finish. Linking between tasks Using Gantt charts, project managers have focused attention on overdue tasks and critical project parts. The project manager can easily and graphically visualize the progressing jobs, the sequential dependencies between tasks and resources in each task and compare both planned dates, and actual start (David, & Venkatesan, 2007). The project’s end date is calculated from the start date of the project, the logic amongst the activities, any Leads or Lags applied to the logic and durations of the activities. To show the critical path in a project, the following steps are followed; Go to the View Menu, Click on other views and choose more view. From the list, select detail Gantt and then click Apply. The critical activities will be shown by red bars as shown in the following figure. Network diagrams They are flow diagrams that help show how tasks relate to each other (Patel, 2010). Through network diagrams, project managers can view the critical paths and dependencies in a project and monitor task completion status, sequence of tasks, summary tasks, milestones, deliverables and external projects. WBS elements are displayed as nodes while the dependencies between the tasks are displayed as arrows. The following steps are followed when adding tasks; From the View toolbar, Click Network Diagram From the insert menu, Click New Task In the new box, type in the information in each field. One of the most important applications in MOP is Critical path. MOP calculates the critical path automatically. This involves having float (slack) equal zero and outlining this path in red. The project manager will identify the jobs that need to be focussed more energy on in order to be complete. In network diagrams, the Critical path is also shown in red boxes while the blue boxes represent the non – critical path. The figure below represents a network diagram and shows the linked tasks, critical path and the non- critical path. PERT Analysis Program Evaluation and Review Technique is a tool for project management used schedule, organize and co ordinate tasks within a certain project. It is very vital for analyzing and estimating the duration of tasks. On the other hand, MOP 2010 also has some shortcomings. For example, it does not offer the functions that are dedicated for construction such as multiple links, multiple tasks per row, code libraries and in-built template for construction scheduling offered by Primavera and Asta PowerProject. MOP also lacks CPM functionality for example the designation of a longest path does not exist (Harris, 2008) and the early/late calculations are also not presented in MOP 2007 (Winter, 2011). 4. Managing Resources using Microsoft Office Projects 2010 Managing a project till completion is a very compelling task and is very essential for a project to succeed. It is very important to manage resources since a change in resources can affect the whole project by changing the plans and schedule of the project. There are three types of resources that can be managed using MOP 2010. These are; a. Work (Anything or anyone that works on any task in the project) When managing work resources, the amount of time resources spend on a project can be defined. Full time is usually set at 100%. When more than one person is required to work on a project, the amount of time required can be added to be more than 100%. For example, if 4 people working full time are required to complete a particular task, 400% can be added for a resource. b. Materials (Things that are always kept available in the project and are used up by the project’s tasks) Material resources can help project managers calculate the amount of materials that are to be used during the project duration and therefore helps in planning. Using MOP 2010, it is easy to calculate the amount of money that is to be spent in purchasing materials (Harris, 2010). Cost resources (cost incurred when running a particular task) By using cost resources, it is possible to add a fixed cost without depending on the work performed. Often, the maximum units of resources with the cost/use can be added, as well as, the standard rates and the rate of overtime in order to calculate the cost. Resources cost money and this means that they affect the overall cost of the project. Therefore, for a project to be managed effectively, resources should be defined and assigned to the various tasks in the project. The appropriate resources should be defined in the project plan through the resources sheet. In Resource Sheet view, the user can set the type, maximum units, standard rate, overtime rate and Cost per Use. Resources can be assigned to tasks in a project either by clicking Assign Resources on the Tools menu or by clicking the Assign Resources button on the Standard toolbar. Microsoft Project 2010 also provides the function of splitting the window into two panes. The upper pane is the Gantt chart view, and below it is the Task Form. The following is an example of a resource sheet showing various tasks and types of resources. Critiques By using MOP 2010, project managers can easily calculate resources and costs of tasks through managing resources. Cost resources have been introduced in MOP and they help users to monitor project financials in a more accurate manner as well as to keep the project in sync with data in the accounting systems. This therefore supports integration with accounting systems. On the other hand, MOP lacks some features that create convenience for construction managers. For example, unlike AstaPower Project, it lacks the drag and drop function of resources to tasks and use of allocation histogram to graph resource and cost information and highlight important details updated in real time. Particularly, MOP does not provide the tool that helps users create and utilize a construction based resource library such as that found in Asta PowerProject (Todd, 2012). 5. Creating a resource driven project plan Managing resources in the relationship with tasks which those resources are assigned plays a major role in project management. However, MOP presents a feature that assists the above issue. Resource driven tasks are defined as tasks whose durations are affected by addition or subtraction of resources. When the user assigns or removes personnel from a task, MOP lengthens or shortens the duration of the task based upon the number of resources assigned to it, without changing the total work for the task. This process is known as effort-scheduling and it is the default one used by MOP when assigning resources to tasks (Microsoft Corporation, 2007). In order to create a resource driven task, one can use resource graphs, task type, task and resource usage charts. Using a resource graph, one can; check whether any resource is been over allocated See the work capacity for each resource Check the number of hours that a resource is using in a schedule Review the resource costs. There are 3 types of tasks when assigning resources namely fixed work, fixed units and fixed duration tasks. Changing the task type can affect a project schedule. In MSOP 2010, the default task type is fixed units task. To change the task type, access the task information, choose the advanced tab then change the task type to the required one. Task usage view can be used to display the cost of each resource that is assigned to a task over a certain period of time. It helps in editing of task and resource information, checking the number of times that each resource has to be used and varying the percent of work a person spends on a task through setting of contours and splitting a task for a second part to run later. Task usage view chart Resource usage view is used for; Entering and editing information on a resource task assignment such as cost, work availability, etc. Distributing assignments among resources Reviewing the cost and percentage of work spent by a person Calculating the time usage for each resource. The following is an example of a resource usage view and a Gantt chart. Critiques Despite having its benefits to project managers, Resource usage view, Task usage and resource graph can also confuse the users and also it does not offer the project planner with adequate information such as that provided by Asta PowerProject and Omniplan. Moreover, in MOP 2010, users are forced to rely on Excel by exporting the earned value data to Excel through the Analyze Timescaled Data when they wish to create the S-curves for earned value information. 6. Using calendars to maximise resource availability Calendar view makes it easy to create, edit or review a project task. From the calendar bar, one can know more about the schedule of each task by particular days, weeks or even months. Calendars help in better management of resources since one can check the availability of a resource at any time during the project duration (Trajkovski, 2011). Setting up resources. In MOP 2010, it is possible to change the calendar for the whole project or for each resource individually. This enables managers to have a more efficient schedule and ensures project success. To maximise the availability of resources, the time can be changed by setting the working time in the calendar from the tools menu. The calendar determines how tasks and resources assigned to these tasks are scheduled. Change Working Time specifies the working days and hours of the project, as well as nonworking times such as weekends, and holidays. When all of the resources are working to their maximum availability, the project manager can not hire more resources and decrease the amount of work that needs to be done to complete a task, overtime may be a good option. However, one caution when using overtime - overtime can be costly, as each resource has to be paid an overtime rate. To Change the working time, go to the Project Tab then choose the working time. To change all the working time in a project, go to file tab, choose Options, then choose schedule to change the time from the beginning. To change the working time for each resource, go to Resource Sheet View, click on any resources which the working time is to be changed, choose Project Tabs, then click on change the working time button (Trajkovski, 2011). Changing the working time. Critiques MOP 2010 seems inferior to other planning software such as Asta PowerProject which offers an effective feature that uses the theory of critical chain with buffer management to manage resources. Using critical chain, project planners have an efficient tool for maximising resource availability. MOP lacks this feature as well as enough web based tool for project and resource managers to update it via the web. 7. Program management using MOP 2010 In most situations, large projects are difficult to manage. MOP 2010 provides the project management team with management tools that help in consolidating the resources into the main project or from subprojects within the main project. In MOP 2010, it is easy to add sub projects to the main project hence can organize and manage complex or multiple related projects more efficiently. This feature of programme management by inserting the subprojects into a master project is one of advantages of Microsoft Project 2010. It is not offered by any other planning software. Using master-subproject organization allows more than one person to enter, edit, and update tasks simultaneously in separate subproject file that are linked to a master project in case of using a server (Bunin, 2009). Inserting subprojects into the main project is done by clicking on the task that needs to be added sub projects, choose Project Tab then click on the sub projects button. The figure below shows the view after sub projects have been added to the main project (Gido & Clements, 2012). After the project manager consolidates the subprojects into the main project, he can view all the resources of the subprojects together in the Resource sheet. A change in the resource information in the main project is reflected in the subproject. If the same resources are used in multiple subprojects, there will be duplicate resource names. However, this method of managing resources can result in resource overall allocations and assignment conflicts. MOP 2010 also has another feature for evaluating work, generic and committed resource allocations, and adjusting the project so that the resources are no longer over allocated. To access this feature, simply click Level resources form the tools menu and the project comes up with a solution. 8. Base planning and tracking using Microsoft Project Among the vital roles of a project manager is keeping track what is being carried out and comparing them to schedule. IN MOP 2010, this is done with the help of the tracking feature. The tracking process involves comparing what is actually happening in the project with the estimate of what would happen. A base line project plan helps in setting original start and finish dates, cost, duration, and work of a project before a project begins. This is usually the first step in order to ensure control of the project (Harris, 2010). In order to set up a baseline, the following steps are followed; • On the Tools menu, point to Tracking, and then click Set Baseline. • Click Save baseline, and then click the baseline you want to save. Click Entire Project To view how tasks are progressing across time and evaluate the slippage of tasks, a Tracking Gantt chart can be used. This is done by clicking on Tracking Gantt chart view from the View Menu. Tracking Gantt charts are advantageous since the user can view graphically while still having access to detailed information about tasks. To update the start and finish dates, the user can access the Tools Menu in the Gantt chart view, point to tracking and then Click on update tasks. The following is an example of a Tracking Gantt chart. Critiques MOP also has the View Task drivers feature that enables project managers to isolate the root cause of schedule delay. It provides quick access to factors that affect task dates and enables easy browsing of the critical path in a project plan. With this feature, the project manager can quickly see, for a specific task, what is driving the scheduling of that task. It makes it easier to know what might need to be adjusted to make the schedule work in the project manager’s favour (Microsoft Corporation, 2007a). On the other hand, MOP also has a drawback, which is the limit on the number of baseline. The project planner only can generate 11 baselines, which is considered to be a disadvantage if compared with Asta PowerProject that offers unlimited baselines. 9. Reporting using Microsoft Project 2010 When managing a project, it is very important to make reports. Reports are a mainstay for presenting project information to others. In MOP 2010, it is easy to set up and print reports. There are two types of reports; visual reports and normal reports. These two types are chosen from the report group in the Project Menu (Gambrel, 2011). View reports comes as a new feature that allows the project manager to report on the projects data in Excel using PivotTables, PivotCharts and PivotDiagrams. The following is an example of a view report. MOP offers six categories of visual reports which the project manager can build on himself. Some of these reports are time phased data (Data distributed over time). Visual reports templates can be modified but also the user can chose to create new templates using New Template and Edit Template buttons in the Visual Reports Dialog box. Basic reports are divided into six categories in the Reports menu. The user can modify any of these reports in the Current Activities, Costs, and Assignments categories by changing the task filter or by applying a different table. They can also change the appearance of the text in any of the basic reports. Critiques Visual Reports, filters and pivots give the project manager a deeper understanding of the status of the project’s resources, costs, and schedules. However, Microsoft Project still has a few disadvantages. The number of report templates is not as profuse as Primavera and Asta Powerproject which offer many construction-specialized report types (Harris, 2010). One of disadvantages of MOP 2007 is the poor integration with other software. This can cause difficulties for the stakeholders in report communication. 10. Other Features of Microsoft Project 2010 MOP 2010 has very significant differences from the other versions such as MOP 2002 and Mop 2007. The first feature is the ribbon display. MOP 2010 uses the Microsoft Fluent User Interface which facilitates easier access to the tools. The rich display in MOP 2010 is as shown in the figure below. Ribbon feature in MOP 2010 Another distinctive feature in MOP 2010 is its ability to save project data in a central SQL-based database that allows users to update and display saved data over the internet. In MOP 2010, it is now possible and easy to copy/paste data between MOP and other Microsoft Software such as MS excel while retaining the initial format. The timeline in MOP 2010 displays the key milestones and phases associated with a certain project in an easy way that is very beneficial in showing a high level view of the project. The Timeline view The team planner in MOP 2010 (Professional only) allows one to tell more hours than the available time and whether the resources are available in tasks and whether they will work (Ratliff, 2011). It is also possible to connect teams using the save and send button in the files menu to send mails or share projects online with the other project management team members (Ratliff, 2011). Conclusion Project management is very essential as it plays a major role in deciding the success of a project. With its new features, MOP 2010 will make developing and managing a project very intuitive. Hopefully, MOP 2010 will be the number one software in project management software due to its extremely useful tools that help a project team to build and manage a project. This report gives readers an insight into how to use MOP 2010 and introduces them to its tools and features as well as their uses. References Biafore, B, 2010, Microsoft Project 2010: The missing Manual, O’Reilly Media Inc., California. David, M., & Venkatesan, A. (2007). Microsoft Office Project 2007- Level 1, McGraw-Hill, Toronto. Gambrel, B, 2011, Microsoft Project 2010, John Wiley and Sons, New York Gido, J, Clements, J, 2011, Successful Project Management, Cengage Learning, Stamford. Happy, R, 2010, Project 2010 Project Management, John Wiley and Sons, New York. Harris, P, 2010, Planning and Control Using Microsoft Office Project 2010, Eastwood Harris Pty Ltd. Heather, M, 2009, Project 2010: Introducing the Timeline View, Viewed 1st May 2012. http://blogs.msdn.com/b/project/archive/2009/10/01/project-2010-introducing-the-timeline-view.aspx Makar, A, 2011, Create the timeline view in Microsoft Project 2010, Viewed 1st May 2012. http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/tech-manager/create-the-timeline-view-in-microsoft-project-2010/5245 Microsoft Coporation. (2007b). What"s new in Office Project 2007. Retrieved from http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc197654(v=office.12).aspx. Patel, D, 2010, Microsoft Project 2010 Feature Rally: Project Timeline, Viewed 1st May 2012. http://www.mpug.com/News/Pages/MicrosoftProject2010FeatureRallyProjectTimeline.aspx Ratliff, B, 2011, Top 5 New Features in Microsoft Project 2010 Desktop, Viewed 1st May 2012. < http://www.solarity.com/budblog/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?List=192e87fc-9847-4c57-baf6-48227f662c7e&ID=15> Todd, N, 2012, An Understanding to Asta Powerproject, Asta Publishing, Stockbridge: Trajkovski, N, 2011, How to set up calendars in MS Project 2010, and Why? PART 3, Viewed 1st May 2012. < http://ntrajkovski.wordpress.com/2011/09/08/the-wedding-project-how-to-set-up-calendars-in-ms-project-2010-and-whypart-3/> Read More