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S. Mitra Email: [email protected]

Acknowledgement: Eldyne Group of Companies Email: [email protected]



If a man takes no thought about what is distant; he will find sorrow at hand.

Confucius (551-497 B.C.)

If a plan is not made carefully listing out tasks to be performed in a ‘schedule’ and by specified ‘resource’ at a particular ‘cost’, we could be reasonably sure that the tasks would take longer time, increased cost and would not attain the desired specification.



What is a project ?

The dictionary meaning of ‘Project’ is a plan or a scheme.

In real world, a project is the collective name of a ‘task’ or a group of tasks, usually unique or non-standard, scheduled to be completed in a specified time using specified ‘resources’.

Resource is often a term used for personnel, equipment & tools, knowledge-base and expertise and off course money.

Project Management is thus a specialized job of managing and reviewing and optimizing the conflicting requirements of task, schedule and resources. Often in real world, project risk management and project scope management becomes an integral part of project management



Why is Project Management important ?

Helps to think ahead regarding technical, process, personnel and funds involvement.

Helps to plan for funds, personnel and relevant process know-how.

Helps to identify inter-dependence of jobs and also critical tasks so that they may be scheduled in the proper time.

Provides a monitoring scheme, whereby potential drainage of time and money are identified at an early stage.

Can provide reports like ‘resource -wise task list’ and ‘schedule wise activity list’, ‘resource or personnel loading patterns’ and identifies potential bottlenecking areas.

Can use computers to store events and tasks in database for advanced database techniques to use them. Also uses networking method for work group communication.

Find out how costly a project could be, without adequate project management !



Project Overrun

Inadequate project management often leads to escalation in project cost which has a snowballing effect on many others (Table at the left shows some typical cost escalation due to project delay)

Loss due to missed opportunity

Not only does the project overrun cost the investors on initial project loss, the recovery is also hit due to the loss of production due to the delay. (Table at the left shows some typical production loss figures due to project delay)



Structured techniques of Project Management could be traced back to 1900 when a simple but powerful and indicative tool, Bar Chart or ‘Gantt Chart’ as it was called after its originator, was used for reviewing projects.

But the otherwise simple and effective Gantt chart has some short comings ...

Bar Chart orGantt Chart



The Gantt chart was inadequate in the following ways;

It could not reflect inter-relationship between tasks.

There was no method of identifying ‘critical tasks’.

The length of the bar posed as a limitation to it being representative of task duration.

The method was not quite suitable for frequent modifications and for adaptation to a computer system.

Network techniques filled in the above gaps; Around 1957 to 1958 two techniques namely PERT and CPM were introduced to manage complex projects.



PERT - Project Evaluation and review technique was introduced in 1958 in United States for submarine project ‘Polaris’.

It had as many as 1000 agencies involved with 23 network covering a total of more than 2000 events.

CPM - Critical Path Method was evolved in 1957 by joint work of Du Point & Rand Corporation.

Both PERT and CPM addressed ‘inter-dependence’ of tasks and utilized computers.

Network Diagram



utilizes the simplicity and indicative nature

of Gantt Chart and the power of Network Diagram and analytical power of RDMS and visual basic for customization.

Definition of project i.e. quantification and specification of tasks, schedule and resources available.

Making the detailed project plan showing tasks, including interdependence, schedule and resources.

Tracking and maintenance of project plan.

Closing of the project.

Microsoft Project could be employed in above steps 2 & 3



Though Microsoft Project is employed primarily in steps 2 & 3 of the 4 steps in Project Management namely in making the detailed plan and in tracking and reviewing it, actually it does much more. It is worthwhile making some parameter setting taking cue from Step 1 - Specifying the scope of the project. To do this click on Project on the top menu bar and further click on Project Information

Clicking on the Project Information opens up the Project information dialog box ..



It is often a good practice to save a copy of the project at start. In this example the project has been saved at start as ‘MyProject’. This allows the user to save all the configuration of the project under this name. The Project Information dialog box is one the first to negotiate with.

Step 2: Select ‘Standard’ in the drop-down box Calendar. This is usually referred to for specified hours per day with break in between and with week end holiday. The timings are further specified under Tools in the menu bar and further selecting ‘Option’ and ‘Calendar’. The Current date is selected by system automatically.

Step 1: Click on ‘Schedule from’ and select ‘Project Start Date’. The ‘Start date’ control is available for setting while ‘Finish date’ is not. Enter date - here date entered is 4 June 2002.

Selecting ‘Project Start Date’ as reference, schedules task ASAP (As soon as possible), while selecting ‘Project Finish Date’ schedules task ALAP ( As late as possible)



Step 3: The project Calendar is selected by clicking on Tools Option Calendar

Entries at the left have been taken for example for Eldyne - RAD

Step 4: Work and Duration units are specified under Tools Option Schedule. Task duration could be set in ‘Hours’ while Work in ‘Days’.



Step 5: List resources (work and material) in resource sheet : Select View Resource sheet

Material Label ‘dy.’ indicates ‘per day’. The different percentages under column ‘Max Units’ indicate extent utilized for the project in question. ‘100%’ indicates fully allocated to the project, while ‘600%’ indicates that 6 personnel from the group Fazil allocated to the project.

Resource could be other-wise assigned one by one against tasks by selecting the icon on the menu bar or clicking on Tools Resources Assign resources

If however a resource sheet is prepared, assignment against tasks could be done by selecting from a drop down box.



One of the strategies, efficient Project Management depend on is to break down the project into a set of manageable tasks and possibly into sub-tasks , examine concurrence and inter-dependence and schedule them while assigning resource to each of the tasks or sub-tasks. More than one resource could be assigned to the same task at the same time.

A task is declared as outline task by selecting it & clicking on menu bar. ( )

The sub tasks are entered by clicking on menu bar ( )

Menu bar



The time duration for task and sub tasks could be entered under column ‘Duration’. Microsoft Project automatically enters the Start & Finish dates.

One of the project realities used effectively by Microsoft Project is to identify task dependencies. Any two task may be linked by selecting them in succession with [Ctrl] pressed and then clicking on the ‘link’ icon on the menu bar. They may also be de-linked using the de-link icon on the menu bar

Two tasks may also be linked using the mouse. The mouse is taken over the task (rectangular shaded bar). The shape of the cursor changes to a 4 - directional arrow. The mouse is then dragged with the left button pressed and released over the linked task. Link may be of 4 types, changeable by clicking on the link. The link types are

1. Finish to Start (usual) ; 2. Finish to Finish ; 3. Start to Finish and 4. Start to Start.

The task shown as a rectangular bar in the Gantt Chart could be clicked and ‘Bar Text’ selected in the pop up menu. Upto 5 types of text identifier could be selected. In the picture to the left, the task ID is selected to appear to the left and resource associated to the right.

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The plan for MyProject as shown in earlier slide is grossly inadequate and incomplete without resource allocation.

One of the most important and judicious planning lies in assigning resources to any task or sub tasks. Delegation to ones own employee or hired contractor or consultant is often considered pivotal determining successful implementation. Apart from the above ‘Work Resources’, ‘Material Resources’ need also to be assigned to tasks, which includes equipment, tools, knowledge-base and off course funds.

Assignment of resource

Resource Allocation

Resource allocation is done with every task or sub task selected & clicking on resource icon on the menu bar and selecting from the drop down box. (if ‘Resource Sheet’ is completed earlier)



With details task break-up, sequencing , scheduling and resource allocating completed, Microsoft Projects is now ready to offer the first set of aids and analyzed reports.



Microsoft Project has a rich and effective set of reports. The categorized reports list is as follows;

Overview Reports

Project Summary Top Level Tasks Critical Tasks Working Days

Un-started Tasks Tasks starting soon Tasks in progress Completed tasks Should have started tasks Slipping tasks

Current Activity Reports

Assignment Reports

Who does what Who does what & when To do list Over-allocated resources

Other reports



Cost Reports

Cash flow & Budget Over-budget tasks Over-budget resources Earned value

Workload Reports

Task usage Resource usage

Click ‘View’ on menu bar and select Reports. The options pop up for you.

Workload Reports

User configured



Within work group

With Partners & Associates

Management Reporting

Identify slipping tasks

Identify over-loading or under-loading resource

Identify drainage of resources & task repetitions



So far we have dealt with planning and generating initial reports. But the actual monitoring and control is not initiated until ‘Tracking’ is done.

Select a task to be tracked. Click on ‘Tools’, then ‘Tracking’ and then select ‘Update Tasks ...’

On successful tracking of a task, a black bar appears with length proportional to the extent (%) completed. A tick () appears to the left of a 100% completed task.

How to track a task



How & when tracking is required ?

On completion of a project plan, it should be shared with all members, associates, partners and top management through initial presentation or meeting.

Individual members should report progress of a task scheduled on a daily basis to the Project Manager or the Project Management Team. Using this information, the particular task is tracked. Tracking is preferably done everyday, using information collected till end of last working day.

Team members

Project Management Team

Project Manager

Ensure all tasks resource allocated.

Ensure task progress per plan else analyze, counsel, change, reinforce.

Ensure milestones are achieved timely.

Avoid under and over allocating on resources.

Communicate status to all concerned.

Microsoft Project 2000 has an unique client-server configuration based on web browser for effective work group communication.



The following topics were covered in this module;

How to break up a project into tasks and sub-tasks.

How to schedule the tasks and build inter-relationship.

How to allocate resources to the tasks.

How to do a task tracking.

How to generate reports for aiding project implementation and monitoring.

For advanced topics & concepts, Module-2 is recommended. Comments to : [email protected]

1 of 23 S. Mitra Email: [email protected] Acknowledgement: Eldyne Group of Companies Email:...

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