Microsoft Project Painting Exercise CPMGT303 Version 1.1

Microsoft Project Painting Exercisecpmgt303 Version 111university Of

Microsoft Project Painting Exercise CPMGT/303 Version University of Phoenix Material Microsoft® Project Painting Exercise Microsoft® Project Microsoft® Project (also called “MS-Projectâ€) 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 you 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 consist 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 Informationâ€. 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 Sheetâ€. 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 Informationâ€. 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 project 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 (aka activities). When you start Microsoft® Project, by default you’ll see a blank Gantt chart. The first three columns (on the left) are headed “ â€, “Task Modeâ€, “Task Nameâ€, and “Task Durationâ€. 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 inserted a default duration of 1 day for each task. Do not worry about this duration at this point in time. 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 packagesâ€. For example, the Paint Project consist 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 any fixtures that will not be removed; covering so paint does not get on them Place drop cloths in appropriate areas Inspect to make sure all surfaces not requiring paint are covered adequately 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 of them Remove tape form any fixtures and dispose of tape Place furniture back where required Clean up items complete

To achieve this effect in Microsoft® Project, enter all the tasks, grouping them together under their work package. Then use the “Indent†function (the icon) to make the subtasks part of the work package by moving them to the right. Note how the task immediately above the indented one changes to work package, or summary task, with a bold font. When you indent a task, it becomes a subtask of the next “un-indented†task (work package) above it. You may also “outdent†using the icon. This indenting to form work packages is extremely useful to control how projects are displayed. By expanding and collapsing a Work package, you can show or hide subtasks to show just the level of detail you want. You can select multiple tasks (shift-click) before indenting. · Enter the Paint Project Work Packages and Subtasks. Once you have entered these items it is recommend that you set Microsoft Project to Auto-Schedule which allows Microsoft Project to calculate the task start and end dates for you. To set each work package and subtask to auto schedule highlight each and then click on Auto Schedule. When done your Gantt Chart should look as follows: Linking Tasks You should understand the concept of linkage or precedence — in other words, which activities need to finish before others can start (like putting on socks before putting on shoes before tying laces). It is easy to create the commonest type of linkage — FS, or Finish-to-Start — between them. Simply: With the left mouse button, select the earlier activity. Hold down the ‘Control’ (or ‘Ctrl’) key. Select the later activity and release the mouse button and control key. Click the ‘Link tasks’ icon (it looks like a chain). You should see the later activity’s duration bar get pushed to the right, and its left end will align with the right end of the earlier one. An arrow will appear showing the link. General rule Never link work packages themselves — always expand both work packages first and specify linkages between specific activities. Link the tasks as they could occur, regardless of resources, in the Paint Project. When complete, your file should look as follows: Note: Removing any furniture that is in the way does not have to wait for delivery of paint and paint supplies, but Taping off any fixtures or placing drop cloths does have to wait, so those tasks are linked to a purchase of paint and material task. Assigning Resources to Tasks Now it is time to use the resources that you set up. To assign a resource to a task, go to the Gantt chart and, on the task line item, click on the resource name column. A pop up menu should appear with the list of the resources in your resource pool. Simply select the correct resource and move to the next sub task. Work packages are not assigned resources. For the Paint Project, the following resource are to be assigned to each subtask. Task Name Task Resource(s) to be assigned Drive to paint store Alan Jacobs Select paint and materials Alan Jacobs Purchase paint and material Alan Jacobs; Paint; Paint supplies Drive back and put paint and materials at house Alan Jacobs Remove any furniture that is in the way Tom Busch Tape off any fixtures that will not be removed Suzie Smith Place drop cloths in appropriate areas Suzie Smith Inspect to make sure all surfaces are covered adequately Suzie Smith Paint bedroom Jackie Smith Paint bathroom Jackie Smith Pick up drop cloths and dispose of them Suzie Smith Remove tape from any fixtures and dispose of tape Suzie Smith Place furniture back where required Tom Busch Assigning Task Duration Now you can work with our resources to determine the duration of each of their assigned tasks. Once durations have been agreed to you will input that into Microsoft Project. To input the durations, click in the “Duration†box for each task and specify its duration and time unit (min, hr, day or wk). The agreed to durations for the Paint Project are as follows: Task Name Task Agreed to Duration Drive to paint store 1 hr Select paint and materials 6 hr Purchase paint and material 45 min Drive back and put paint and materials at house 1 hr Purchase paint and materials complete 0 day Remove any furniture that is in the way 2 hr Tape off any fixtures that will not be removed 6 hr Place drop cloths in appropriate areas 1 hr Inspect to make sure all surfaces are covered adequately 1 hr Prep rooms for painting complete 0 day Paint bedroom 1 day Paint bathroom 4 hr Let paint dry 1 day Paint rooms complete 0 day Pick up drop cloths and dispose of them 1 hr Remove tape from any fixtures and dispose of tape 4 hr Place furniture back where required 1 hr Clean up paint items complete 0 day

Upon entering these durations, you should see Jackie Smith as an over-allocated resource. If Jackie is the only painter available then the resource must be leveled so that Jackie is not working a 12 hour day and getting paid overtime. To level resources in Microsoft® Project go to ‘Resource’ tab and click on Level Resource. Then select Jackie Smith and click on level now. Scheduling a project – determining duration and the critical path By default, the Gantt chart shows what is happening in the project. With the Gantt chart open, click the Format tab and notice the Critical Tasks checkbox. If you check the box, Microsoft® Project will show you the Critical Path highlighted in red as follows. At this point you have completed the Paint Project Exercise. Save the file and submit in the Assessments Tab. Project Estimating and Control Techniques Grading Guide CPMGT/303 Version Microsoft® Project Painting Exercise and Executive Summary Grading Guide CPMGT/303 Version 11 Project Estimating and Control Techniques University of Phoenix® is a registered trademark of Apollo Group, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. Use of these marks is not intended to imply endorsement, sponsorship, or affiliation. Edited in accordance with University of Phoenix® editorial standards and practices.

Paper For Above instruction

The use of Microsoft Project as a project management tool offers a systematic approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling various project tasks. This paper details the process of completing a painting project exercise in Microsoft Project, emphasizing how to develop a comprehensive schedule, link tasks, assign resources, define durations, and identify the critical path. The exercise underscores the importance of understanding task dependencies and resource leveling to ensure project efficiency and accuracy.

Introduction

Microsoft Project is a widely adopted project management software that streamlines the planning and execution phases of projects. Its capabilities allow project managers to define tasks, allocate resources, set durations, and visualize dependencies through Gantt charts and networks. The painting project exercise serves as a practical application to understand core project management principles such as task sequencing, resource management, and critical path analysis.

Developing the Project Schedule

The initial phase involves setting up the project environment within Microsoft Project. This includes establishing project settings such as the calendar, resource pool, and start date. For the painting exercise, the default standard calendar suffices, assuming a five-day workweek and eight-hour workdays. In configuring resources, key personnel such as Jackie Smith, Tom Busch, Alan Jacobs, and Suzie Smith are entered into the resource sheet, with their respective standard and overtime rates recorded. Additional costs for supplies like paint and brushes are also added to the resource pool, providing a comprehensive resource ledger.

Next, the project's tasks are outlined based on work packages and subtasks that collectively complete the painting project. These tasks are grouped hierarchically, enabling a clearer understanding of project scope and scope management. The tasks range from prep activities such as moving furniture and taping fixtures to actual painting, drying, and cleanup. Using Microsoft Project’s indent feature, these tasks are categorized into work packages and subtasks, enhancing clarity and control.

Task Linking and Dependencies

One of the fundamental aspects of project scheduling is establishing task dependencies through linking. In the painting exercise, dependencies are primarily finish-to-start (FS), meaning a subsequent task cannot commence until its predecessor concludes. For example, taping fixtures cannot begin until the fixtures are uncovered after the purchase of paint and supplies. Using Microsoft Project’s link function (chain icon), tasks are linked sequentially, ensuring logical flow and temporal coherence.

Proper linking prevents scheduling conflicts and ensures resource allocations are realistic. For instance, tasks like removing furniture and taping fixtures are linked appropriately to reflect real-world constraints, optimizing workflow and resource utilization. It is critical to link only specific activities or subtasks, not entire work packages, to maintain accuracy in schedule development.

Resource Allocation and Durations

Resource allocation involves assigning personnel to specific tasks, considering their expertise and availability. In the exercise, project resources like Jackie Smith and Tom Busch are assigned to relevant activities, with resource assignment windows controlling their workload. Durations are then set for each task, based on realistic estimates. For example, painting the bathroom is allocated four hours, whereas painting the bedroom is scheduled for one day.

Resource leveling is implemented when over-allocation occurs. The example highlights that Jackie Smith might be assigned too many tasks, resulting in an overworked schedule. Resource leveling in Microsoft Project adjusts task start and finish times to prevent over-allocation, ensuring team members are not scheduled beyond their capacity.

Determining the Critical Path

The critical path method (CPM) identifies tasks that directly influence the project's finish date. In Microsoft Project, enabling the Critical Tasks view highlights these tasks in red, allowing project managers to focus on activities that require tight control. In the painting exercise, tasks such as painting and cleanup are part of the critical path, dictating the overall project duration.

Understanding the critical path enables efficient resource allocation and schedule adjustments. It also facilitates risk management, as delays in critical tasks could jeopardize project completion. The application of the critical path technique in the exercise illustrates its vital role in project planning and control.

Lessons Learned and Conclusion

Completing the painting project exercise in Microsoft Project underscores the importance of systematic planning and dependency management. The process of outlining tasks, establishing dependencies, assigning resources, and analyzing the critical path enhances project transparency and control. Key lessons include the necessity of accurate task duration estimates, the importance of resource leveling, and the utility of visual tools like Gantt charts for project monitoring.

Overall, the exercise demonstrates that effective use of Microsoft Project can significantly improve project outcomes through improved scheduling accuracy and resource management. The integration of these elements provides a complete framework to manage complex projects efficiently and proactively.

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