Microsoft Project Painting Exercise

Microsoft Project Painting Exercisemicrosoft Project Microsoft Pro

Microsoft Project Painting Exercise microsoft Project Microsoft Pro

Microsoft® Project Painting Exercise Microsoft® Project · Microsoft® Project (also called “MS-Project”) is one of the most popular tools for project planning projects today. It is relatively easy to use and makes it easier to manage projects. · Microsoft® Project Exercise: The Painting Project · This is a simple exercise in Microsoft® Project. These instructions are brief and only cover the basics. The objective of this exercise is to prepare you for Week 3 Learning Team assignment. This exercise only covers how to log into Microsoft® Project, set up a simple schedule, and log out.

The exercise is not concerned with monitoring or controlling the execution of a plan. Start Microsoft® Project To start Microsoft® Project; click through “Start > Programs > Microsoft Office 2013 > Microsoft Project”. Microsoft® Project should start up, with a blank “Gantt chart” view of a new project. Saving Microsoft® Project It is recommended that you save your project immediately. So please Save your project now using the following format ‘Last Name_Paint_Project’. If your last name is Allen, your Microsoft® Project file name will be ‘Allen_Paint_Project’.

If you are prompted to save the project with a baseline, click Yes . You may continue to work on the baseline until you have completed the exercise and turned it in as the final baseline. Microsoft® Project Settings Before getting into the details of the Painting Project, it is beneficial to enter a few Microsoft® Project settings. These settings are: · Duration Unit of Measure . The normal default for duration is the day (day) which consists of 8 hours.

There are other unit of measures that you may decide to use. The most popular are minute (min), hour (hr), and week (wk). For this exercise, we will use the default setting. · The working calendar. There is a default Standard Calendar which consists of a 5-day work week (Monday through Friday) with Saturday and Sunday set as non-working days. A day is made up of 8 hours.

It is recommended for this exercise that you leave Microsoft® Project set to the Standard Calendar. If you want to explore other calendars or how to set up your own calendar, click as follows “Project > Project Information”. The following pop-up menu will appear with Calendar showing as ‘Standard’. · Available resources. It is beneficial to set up your known resources pool at the start of the project. Note.

You may change the resources in the pool at any time, as resources are added to and subtracted from the project. To set up the resource pool click as follows “Resource > Resource Sheet”. You’ll get a table in which you can define the names of resources that you wish to be available. Simply type a name in the “Name” field, and use a new line for each different resource. For the Painting Project, the following are the resources:

Jackie Smith – Standard Rate $25.00; Overtime Rate $37.00

Tom Busch – Standard Rate $20.00; Overtime Rate $30.00

Alan Jacobs – Standard Rate $15.00; Overtime Rate $22.00

Suzie Smith – Standard Rate $15.00; Overtime Rate $22.00

Paint – One-time cost of $700

Paint Supplies (paint brushes and tape, drop cloth, etc.) – One-time cost of $450

Enter these in your resource sheet. · Project start or end date. When you first start developing a schedule for a project it is useful to set up the project start or end date. To enter this date, click as follows “Project > Project Information”. At work, you may have a project that will start in a few weeks so you would use a project start date. If this is the case, you will select ‘Project Start Date’ in the ‘Schedule from:’ field and enter the projected start date in the ‘Start date’ field as follows: If you are doing a project for a wedding or an event, the project would have an end date; the date the event will occur.

If this is the case, you will select ‘Project End Date’ in the ‘Schedule from:’ field and enter the desired project end date in the ‘Finish date’ field as follows: For the Paint Project, select Project Start Date and enter June 21, 2014. · Creating Tasks (activities). When you start Microsoft® Project, by default you’ll see a blank Gantt chart. The first three columns (on the left) are headed “ID,” “Task Mode”, “Task Name”, and “Task Duration”. To enter the tasks, work down the third column, entering Task Name and pressing the Down Arrow key (“↓“) at the end of each entry. Note:

Microsoft® Project assigns each task a Task ID or line number and inserts a default duration of 1 day for each task. Do not worry about this duration at this point. · Creating work packages and subtasks. Just like outlining a report in Microsoft® Word, or a presentation in Microsoft® PowerPoint®, you can outline a project’s tasks. There are several ways of doing this, but here’s just one. · First (outside of the software), write down your tasks, grouped under headings that describe their intended effect. These headings are called “Work packages”.

For example, the Paint Project consists of several work packages: Painting bedroom and bathroom, Purchase paint and materials, Prep rooms for painting, Paint rooms, Clean up paint items. These work packages are then expressed in detail as sets of subtasks, as follows:

- Painting bedroom and bathroom

- Purchase paint and materials

- Drive to paint store

- Select paint and materials

- Purchase paint and materials

- Drive back and put paint and materials at house

- Purchase of paint materials complete

- Prep rooms for painting

- Remove any furniture that is in the way

- Tape off fixtures that will not be removed

- Cover areas with drop cloths

- Inspect surfaces

- Prep rooms for painting complete

- Paint rooms

- Paint bedroom

- Paint bathroom

- Let paint dry

- Paint room complete

- Clean up paint items

- Pick up drop cloths and dispose

- Remove tape and dispose

- Place furniture back

- Clean up items complete

Once you have these tasks, enter them into Microsoft® Project, grouping related tasks under their respective work packages. Use the “Indent” function to make subtasks part of the work package by moving them to the right. When you indent a task, it becomes a subtask of the unindented task above. You can expand or collapse these groups to view details as needed.

· Enter the Paint Project Work Packages and Subtasks. After entering these, set Microsoft Project to Auto-Schedule to allow it to calculate start and finish dates automatically. When completed, the Gantt chart will reflect the structure of your project plan.

· Linking Tasks. Understand linkage or precedence: some tasks must finish before others can start, like putting on socks before shoes. Create Finish-to-Start (FS) linkages between related tasks:

- Select the earlier activity

- Hold ‘Control’ and select the later activity

- Click the ‘Link Tasks’ icon (chain symbol)

This creates a link arrow showing task dependencies. Only link specific activities within work packages—not the entire work packages—to accurately reflect process flow.

· Assigning Resources to Tasks. To assign resources, select a task row, click in the resource name column, and choose from your resource pool:

- For example, assign Alan Jacobs to tasks related to paint supplies

- Assign Jackie Smith for painting tasks

- Assign Suzie Smith for prep and cleanup tasks

Resources are assigned to specific activities based on who performs each task.

· Assigning Task Durations. Input the durations for each task as agreed upon:

- For example, drive to paint store: 1 hour

- Paint bathroom: 4 hours

Input durations into the ‘Duration’ column for each task.

If resource over-allocation occurs (like Jackie working more than 8 hours/day), use the resource leveling feature via ‘Resource’ tab to avoid overtime.

· Scheduling and Determining the Critical Path. Use the ‘Format’ tab to highlight critical tasks (check ‘Critical Tasks’). The critical path shows the sequence of tasks that determines the project’s minimum duration. Finalize your schedule by saving your project file and preparing for submission.

Paper For Above instruction

Microsoft Project is a powerful tool for planning and managing projects, offering features that help project managers organize tasks, allocate resources, determine schedules, and identify critical paths. The specific exercise discussed here centers around a simple painting project, providing a foundational understanding of Microsoft Project’s capabilities for scheduling, resource management, task linkage, and critical path analysis.

Initiating a project in Microsoft Project begins with starting the software and setting an appropriate project start date. For the painting project, the start date is ideally June 21, 2014. Setting the start date ensures that all subsequent task scheduling aligns with the overall project timeline. It is crucial to create an initial list of tasks, which are then organized into work packages and subtasks. This hierarchical structuring mimics outlining documents in Word or PowerPoint and enhances clarity in project management.

Creating work packages involves defining broader groups of related activities, such as “Painting bedroom and bathroom” or “Purchase paint and materials.” Subtasks under these packages include specific actions, like “Drive to paint store” or “Select paint and materials.” Indenting subtasks under work packages helps establish a clear task hierarchy, enabling the software to display a collapsed or expanded view of task details, which is essential for managing complex projects.

Linking tasks is another core feature, establishing dependencies like Finish-to-Start (FS) relationships. For example, painting cannot begin until the purchase of materials is complete. Creating these links accurately reflects the sequential nature of tasks, allowing Microsoft Project to generate a realistic schedule and identify critical tasks whose delays could impact the entire project timeline.

Resource management entails entering known resources into the resource pool, such as personnel (e.g., Jackie Smith, Tom Busch, Alan Jacobs, Suzie Smith) and materials (paint, supplies). Each resource has associated standard and overtime rates, which help in cost estimation and budget management. Assigning resources to specific tasks assigns responsibility and helps track resource utilization throughout the project.

Determining task durations is critical; in this example, durations like 1 hour for driving or 4 hours for painting are inputted into the schedule. Proper duration estimates, combined with resource allocations, ensure accurate project timelines. If resource over-allocation occurs—such as Jackie Smith being scheduled for more hours than available—the resource leveling feature can be used to mitigate overtime and maintain realistic schedules.

Finally, the critical path analysis, accessible through the Format tab, highlights the sequence of tasks that directly impacts the project duration. Visualizing the critical path allows project managers to focus on tasks that require close monitoring. When all tasks are properly scheduled, linked, and resources assigned, Microsoft Project generates a comprehensive project schedule that guides execution and helps prevent delays.

In conclusion, mastering the basic functions of Microsoft Project—such as task creation, linking, resource allocation, scheduling, and critical path analysis—provides project managers with essential tools to plan effectively. The painting project exemplifies these fundamentals, illustrating the importance of hierarchical task organization, dependency management, resource planning, and schedule optimization in successful project delivery.

References

• Fewell, R. (2008). Microsoft Project 2007: The Missing Manual. O'Reilly Media.
• Meredith, J. R., & Mantel Jr, S. J. (2017). Project Management: A Managerial Approach. John Wiley & Sons.
• Schwalbe, K. (2015). Information Technology Project Management. Cengage Learning.
• Leach, L. P. (2005). Critical Chain Project Management. Artech House.
• Kerzner, H. (2017). Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling. Wiley.
• PMI. (2017). A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide). Project Management Institute.
• Gido, J., & Clements, J. (2014). Successful Project Management. Cengage Learning.
• Forsberg, K., Mooz, H., & Cotterell, P. (2005). Visualizing Project Management. Wiley.
• Shenhar, A. J., & Dvir, D. (2007). Reinventing Project Management: The Diamond Perspective. Harvard Business Review Press.
• Heldman, K. (2018). Project Management JumpStart. Sybex.