Minimum Level of Resources, Assigning Additional Holidays - Term Paper Example

Part Ai: Resource Allocation The first task of this part involved allocating resources to the tasks. This means that we needed to indicate which taskrequires which resources. This was done through assigning resources to tasks. Since we had already specified the resources in the resource sheet, we only had to assign the resource to task and add its units. Resources were assigned in terms of their units. These units are based on the percentage that the resource will be used. Since we had initially defined cost in the resource sheet for each resource, the cost was also was computed automatically for each resource in the next column. The screenshot below shows the resources being assigned to task 3. Other tasks were assigned resources similarly. A clash is a conflict or an impossible condition which occurs in the project. There could be multiple reasons for the clash. Either this could be because of over usage of resources or insufficient cost being defined for a task. While assigning the resources, we encountered clashes in the resource usage. This is because a resource assigned to a task was also assigned to another task in the same time frame. Since the amount of resource at present is fixed and the schedule has also been defined, this created clash and the system warned us about this. This is shown in the screenshot below: In order to resolve the clash, we could adopt two ways (as suggested by MS Project): Either change the duration so that resources could work on the other task after completing the first one. This option would change the duration of the task to make it start later than the other parallel task which was using the same resource. In this way, the resource, instead of being used parallel in both tasks, will be used after it is free from the first one. Change the task’s total work (person-hours) to match the units and duration. This involved increasing the availability of the resource by increasing the person hours. There are two ways this could have been achieved. Firstly, by increasing the number of persons assigned to the project. Secondly, by increasing the time each person spends per day on the project. The effect of any of these would be an increase in the person hours. This would make the resource more available and would resolve the clash that is occurring. We decided to change the duration as an option. This is because choosing the first option would involve that we either higher more resource or pay overtime to the existing one. Either way, this would increase our cost. Choosing the second option and increasing the duration would make the tasks take a bit longer. However, since the tasks were not critical tasks, this would not affect the overall duration of the project and seems to be a better option. After carrying out resource allocation to the tasks, we found out the total project cost. The project cost is computed on the basis of the use of resources. The computation, for each task, is a product of the units of consumption and the rate of the resource. Adding the costs for each resource gave us the total project cost. The screenshot shows the cost of the project which, at this stage, comes to be £73,440. The cost may seem to be a bit less but it is because we have tried to add minimum amount of resources to each task. The screenshot also shows the total effort in person hours and in days. Part A ii: Minimum level of resources In order to find out the minimum level of resources required for the project, we first looked at the current resource sheet. As a feature of MS Project, it automatically shows the resources which are over allocated. These are shown in red in the following screenshot. In order to resolve this, we need to increase the maximum units of the resource. This is done by increasing the units till the color changes back to black. As soon as the resources are displayed in black, this indicates that the minimum level of resource usage has been achieved. This way we achieve the minimum level of resources required for the project as shown in the following screenshot: In order to find the minimum level of network engineers required, we need to reduce the maximum units which are currently shown at 500%. We shall reduce this till the resource is displayed in red. At a level above it, the maximum units shown will be minimum level of network engineers required. As shown above, as we reduce the maximum units of network engineers, the resource appears to be red at a level of 150%. At a level above this (200%), the minimum units required for network engineers will be achieved. Part B: Assigning additional holidays In order to make changes in the project calendar we need to first define a new calendar. Rather than defining a new calendar, we made a copy of the standard calendar and named it as “Topple Database”. In this calendar we defined the holidays stated. The following screenshot shows the holidays being assigned: At the next step, we need to assign the calendar to the project. The following screenshot shows the calendar ‘Topple Database’ being assigned to the project. With the addition of holidays, the changes are reflected in the project schedule. The following screenshot shows that the tasks which were initially scheduled in the days that are now holidays are adjusted to account for the holidays. The changes are shown by highlighting the cells in blue which got their value changed. Similarly, to assign holidays to the staff, the dates of the holidays were mark as vacations. This is shown in the screenshot below: The holidays brought changes in the schedule of the project. The effect is shown by highlighting the cells in blue which had their values changed. This is shown in the following screenshot: Part C: Assigning Costs In this part we had to apply costs to the tasks in the project. Before assigning any costs, we checked the project cost at this stage so that we can compare and see the effect of the changes. This is shown in the following screenshot: In order to apply the costs, we need to add the cost in the resource sheet and mark it under the category of costs. At the first step, we had to add overhead of £100 to every task. We defined a cost with the name of overhead. In MS Project, a cost is also considered a resource which is assigned to a task. Further, we can also define the rate at which the cost is applied or leave it to vary if the rate is not fixed. This is shown below: At the next level, we need to assign this cost to the resources. One way of applying the cost to a resource is to change the task information and add the resource. This would consume a lot of time. Since this cost had to be applied to all the tasks, rather than individually assigning it by changing in the task information, MS Project gives the option to assign the cost to all the selected tasks. This is shown below: After we had applied the overhead cost, we checked the project cost. The changes are shown below, which reflect that the total project cost has gone up to £ 77,140. In the next step, we had to assign the different costs to specific resources. Just as we did with overheads, we had to define the costs in the resource sheet and assign it to the tasks. However, since these costs only applied to selected tasks, we could not apply these to all the tasks through the option. Instead, we had to change this in the individual task information for each task. This is shown below: The project cost now increases to £88,240. This is shown below: Part D: Reports Reports are an essential tool to judge the project performance. In order to analyze the project with various dimensions, we chose to get the following reports: Resource Remaining Report: This report highlights the performance of your resource and indicates where they stand in terms of the work assigned to them. The report is shown in the form of bar chart with the resources on one axis and the percentage of work on the other. The bars for each resource reflect the percentage of work they have completed and the work they still need to perform. This report is highly important to judge the performance of your resource. It can indicate, at any point, which resources are performing better than the others. The project manager can use the report to control the project by being stricter with the people who are underperforming and rewarding the ones who are being efficient. Budget Cost Report: Costs are one of the most important features of a project. Since the project usually has a fixed budget, the project manager needs to cut down on the costs and minimize them to make the project as profitable as possible. They can only achieve so by monitoring the costs. The report shows the break up of the costs for each quarter. The report can also be customized for each month if required. The bars indicate the budgeted cost, baseline cost, actual cost and total cost. This way, the project manager can view the costs and control them to ensure the project gets completed in the budget and goes into profit. Budget Work Report: The budget work report shows the details of the work in the project that has been completed and the one that is remaining. It shows them according to each quarter. For each quarter, it shows the budgeted work that was initially planned, the base line work, the actual work that was carried out and the total work. The project manager can use it to see the project’s performance and see where the project stands in each quarter. This is especially useful for projects that span over a long period and where it is important to ensure consistent performance in each time period. Earned Value over Time: Earned Value is a measure of assessing the value of a project in the middle of the project. The value reflect the current worth of the project according to the work that has been completed in the project. At the start of the project, the earned value is 0. At the end of the project, the earned value is the total project value. During the project, the earned value is based on the percentage completed. This value can be used to judge the project’s performance. This is especially useful if, during the tenure, the project is to be transferred or outsourced to some other company. The value of the deal is based on the earned value of the project at that stage. Part E:Tracking Tracking of a project refers to assessing the project in terms of the work completed and the cost incurred. Tracking is highly important to judge the performance of the project. If the project is not tracked, there is no way to tell how successful the project went. Tracking is carried out by assigned values to each task in terms of the work completed on the project. The cost incurred on the task is automatically updated based on the work completed. The following screenshot shows the changes made to the tasks by assigning the percentage of completion to them. As soon as the percentage is applied, the changes are shown in the Gantt chart with the line drawn inside the bar. The length of the line is related to the percentage completed. The changes in the completion percentage also bring about a change in the actual cost of the project. Previously, the actual cost had no value. Now, after applying the changes, the actual work completed and the actual cost incurred is shown as changed. This is shown in the following screenshot: The following report also reflects these changes. The report shows the graph which compares the percentage of the total cost with the actual cost that has so far been incurred. References: Chatfield, C., & Johnson, T. (February 07, 2007). Microsoft® Office Project 2007 Step by Step. Larson, D. (n.d.). Microsoft Project 2007 Tutorials. Retrieved from Oregon State University: http://faculty.bus.oregonstate.edu/Larson/New%20Faculty%20Page/project07/index.htm Marmel, E. Microsoft Project 2007 Bible. MS-Project2007.com. (n.d.). project management with microsoft project 2007. Retrieved from http://www.ms-project2007.com/ Read More