Q7503, Principles of Project Management, Fall Software Project Management Session 6: MS-Project Intro & Mid-term Exam

Q7503, Principles of Project Management, Fall Today WBS Homework Review Brief introduction to MS-Project Exam

Q7503, Principles of Project Management, Fall WBS Review For process approaches –It sometimes appears that you think requirements = analysis = design –Or that doing a few diagrams (ERD, DFD) = requirements Consistency –Consistent use of verb+noun descriptions of activities Language –Inclusion of some phases but missing others Some at beginning, some at end Use of a spell checker (spelling counts in project plans too)

Q7503, Principles of Project Management, Fall WBS Review Disappearing ‘plot lines’ –Like designing a network or choosing hardware but never implementing Consistency across phases –If ‘Development’ includes four major modules, typically ‘Design’ should reflect those same four If using a ‘process’ model, then there should be a visible ‘flow’ to the process –Not like this: Systems Engineering, Hardware & Software, Project Management, Test, Training, Site Implementation

Q7503, Principles of Project Management, Fall WBS Review Some MS-Project plans had all 1 day assignments, That's good for this point of process This is prior to estimation Tone & Content –Some are very “generic” Tell me nothing about your system Not enough to say 'requirements, analysis, design, etc, done’

Q7503, Principles of Project Management, Fall WBS Review Some activities overly general 'Control Project‘ Forget things at equal level like ‘architecture design’ Think all activities through Aim for a consistent level of detail Know the basic order of things: testing doesn’t occur before development –Other details: QA is not part of ‘Rollout’ I am lenient now but will be less so going forward

Q7503, Principles of Project Management, Fall MS-Project Mid-market leader Has approx. 50% overall market share 70-80% MS-Project users never used automated project tracking prior (a “first” tool) Not a mid/high-end tool for EPM (Enterprise Project Mgmt.)

Q7503, Principles of Project Management, Fall Project Pros Easy outlining of tasks Resource management Accuracy: baseline vs. actual; various calculations Easy charting and graphics Cost management Capture historical data

Q7503, Principles of Project Management, Fall Project Cons Illusion of control Workgroup features ok, still in-progress Scaling No estimation features Remember: –Being a MS-Project expert does not make you an expert project manager! –No more so than knowing MS-Word makes you a good writer.

Q7503, Principles of Project Management, Fall The MS-Project Process Move WBS into a Project outline (in Task Sheet) Add resources (team members or roles) Add costs for resources Assign resources to tasks Establish dependencies Refine and optimize Create baseline Track progress (enter actuals, etc.)

Q7503, Principles of Project Management, Fall Project Overview This is a ‘quickie’ overview We will return to all of these steps individually over the next few weeks Sample project from McConnellproject

Q7503, Principles of Project Management, Fall Project UI Views –Default is Gant Chart View 2 panes Task Sheet on left (a table) Gantt Chart on right –View Bar on far left

Q7503, Principles of Project Management, Fall Project UI

Q7503, Principles of Project Management, Fall Create Your Project File/New Setup start date Setup calendar –Menu: Project/Project Information –Often left with default settings –Hours, holidays

Q7503, Principles of Project Management, Fall Enter WBS Outlining Sub-tasks and summary tasks Do not enter start/end dates for each Just start with Task Name and Duration for each Use Indent/Outdent buttons to define summary tasks and subtasks You can enter specific Start/End dates but don’t most of the time

Q7503, Principles of Project Management, Fall Establish Durations Know the abbreviations –h/d/w/m –D is default Can use partial –.5d is a half-day task Elapsed durations Estimated durations –Put a ‘?’ after duration

Q7503, Principles of Project Management, Fall Add Resources Work Resources –People Material Resources –Things –Can be used to track costs Ex: amount of equipment purshased –Not used as often in typical software project

Q7503, Principles of Project Management, Fall Resource Sheet Can add new resources here –Or directly in the task entry sheet Beware of mis-spellings (Project will create near-duplicates) Setup costs –Such as annual salary (put ‘yr’ after ‘Std. Rate’)

Q7503, Principles of Project Management, Fall Effort-Driven Scheduling MS-Project default Duration * Units = Work Duration = Work / Units (D = W/U) Work = Duration * Units (W = D*U) Units = Work / Duration (U = W/D) Adding more resources to a task shortens duration Can be changed on a per-task basis In the advanced tab of Task Information dialog box Task Type setting Beware the Mythical Man-month Good for laying bricks, not always so for software development

Q7503, Principles of Project Management, Fall Link Tasks On toolbar: Link & Unlink buttons –Good for many at once Or via Gantt chart –Drag from one task to another

Q7503, Principles of Project Management, Fall Milestones Zero duration tasks Insert task ‘normally’ but put 0 in duration

Q7503, Principles of Project Management, Fall Make Assignments Approach 1. Using Task Sheet –Using Resource Names column –You can create new ones by just typing-in here 2. Using Assign Resources dialog box –Good for multiple resources –Highlight task, Tools/Resources or toolbar button 3. Using Task Information dialog –Resources tab 4. Task Entry view –View/More Views/Task Entry –Or Task Entry view on Resource Mgmt. toolbar

Q7503, Principles of Project Management, Fall Save Baseline Saves all current information about your project –Dates, resource assignments, durations, costs

Q7503, Principles of Project Management, Fall Fine Tune Then is used later as basis for comparing against “actuals” Menu: Tools/Tracking/Save Baseline

Q7503, Principles of Project Management, Fall Project Editions: Standard, Professional, Server MS Project Server 2002 Upgrade of old “Project Central” Includes “Project Web Access”, web-based UI (partial) Workgroup and resource notification features Requires SQL-Server and IIS “Portfolio Analyzer” –Drill-down into projects via pivot tables & charts “Portfolio Modeler” –Create models and “what-if” scenarios SharePoint Team Services integration

Q7503, Principles of Project Management, Fall Project 2002 MS-Project Professional –“Build Team” feature Skills-based resource matching –Resource Pools: with skill set tracking –Resource Substitution Wizard “Project Guide” feature –Customizable “process component”

Q7503, Principles of Project Management, Fall Homework McConnell: 5 “Risk Management”, 14 “Feature-Set Control” Schwalbe: 10, “Project Risk Management”, Appendix A “Guide to Using Microsoft Project 2000” ( ) Install MS-Project if you haven’t done so already

Q7503, Principles of Project Management, Fall Questions?