Microsoft Project: The Basics

Microsoft Project: The Basics

If you're new to project management or Microsoft Project, you may have questions about creating and managing a project. This tutorial provides information about basic project management and Microsoft Project concepts, and then leads you through lessons where you'll learn how to create a plan, track its progress, and communicate the results.

Each lesson for creating your plan, tracking progress, and communicating results contains a set of step-by-step directions with simple navigation to lead you through the process. Click a lesson under The Basics or follow the link below to get acquainted with project management and Microsoft Project. To start building your project right away, click Create a plan on the menu at the left.

What is project management?

Project management is the process of planning, organizing, and managing tasks and resources to accomplish a defined objective, usually within constraints on time, resources, or cost. A project plan can be simple, for example, a list of tasks and their start and finish dates written on a notepad. Or it can be complex, for example, thousands of tasks and resources and a project budget of millions of dollars.

Most projects share common activities, including breaking the project into easily manageable tasks, scheduling the tasks, communicating with the team, and tracking the tasks as work progresses. And all projects consist of three major phases:

The more successful these phases are, the greater your chance of a successful project.

The project triangle

The Microsoft Project database

As project manager, you have a lot to do. How does Microsoft Project help? First, it stores the details about your project in its database. And it uses that information to calculate and maintain the project's schedule, costs, and other elements, creating a project plan. The more information you provide, the more accurate the plan.

Like a spreadsheet, Microsoft Project displays results of its calculations immediately. But the project plan isn't done until you enter critical information about all tasks. Only then do you see when your project will end or the dates when tasks are scheduled.

Microsoft Project keeps the information you enter and the information it calculates in fields, which contain specific types of information, such as task names or durations. In Microsoft Project, each field usually appears in a column.

How Microsoft Project schedules

How does Microsoft Project schedule a task's start and finish? It takes into account many factors, including task dependencies, constraints, and interruptions, such as holidays or vacation days. Most importantly, Microsoft Project schedules each task using the formula duration=work/resource effort, where:

Duration is the actual amount of time that passes before the task is done.

Work is the effort required over a period of time to do the task.

Resource effort is the amount of effort resources are assigned to the task and their allocation.

For example, if:

Three painters work two days on a task, with an effort of 8 hours per day, the work for each resource is 16 hours: (2 days * 8 hours).

The total effort of the resources is 24 hours per day: (3 painters * 8 hours).

The total work for the task is 48 hours: (2 days * 8 hours * 3 painters).

The duration is 2 days: 48 hours / (3 painters * 8 hours).

Understanding this formula is important to understanding how changes you make to tasks affect the project schedule.

Putting it together

Getting Help

Create a project plan

When you have defined project goals and thought out the major phases of your project, it's time to begin creating your plan.

First, enter and organize the list of tasks to be completed, along with each task's duration. Next, add people, equipment, and materials and their costs to your plan. Then assign these resources to tasks. With this information, Microsoft Project creates a schedule. You can verify the schedule and adjust it as necessary.

The lessons in this section guide you through creating your project plan.

Lesson: How do you set up a project?

The first steps in creating a schedule are starting a new file, designating a project start or finish date, and entering general project information.

When you've completed this lesson, you will have a Microsoft Project file containing the project name and other key information, the project's start or finish date, and the project calendar.

Create a new project

When you start a new project in Microsoft Project, you can enter your project's start or finish date, but not both. It's recommended that you enter only your project's start date and let Microsoft Project calculate the finish date after you have entered and scheduled tasks.

If your project must be finished by a certain date, enter only the project's finish date. Even if you initially schedule from the project finish date, it's best to schedule from the project start date after work begins on the project.

Tip You can change your project information at any time by clicking Project Information on the Project menu.

Enter key project information

Each project has a unique set of ingredients: the tasks involved, the people who do them, and the project goal. To help remember and communicate important details, enter information about the project and refer to it when necessary.

Tip To look for a menu command that doesn't appear, click the arrows at the bottom of the menu. The menu expands to show more commands. You can also expand a menu by double-clicking it.

Set up the project calendar

You can change the project calendar to reflect the working days and hours for everyone on your project. The calendar defaults are Monday through Friday, 8:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M., with an hour off for lunch.

You can specify nonworking times, such as weekends and evenings, as well as special days off, such as holidays.

Lesson:

How do you enter and organize a task list?

First, list the steps needed to accomplish your project's goals. Start with the large chunks of work and then break down each chunk into tasks with single deliverables. Add milestones. Finally, gather and enter duration estimates.

After you enter task information, create an outline to help you see the project's structure.

When you've completed this lesson, you will have a task list organized into summary and detailed tasks.

This lesson has five procedures.

Enter tasks and their durations

A typical project is a series of related tasks. A task represents an amount of work with a clear deliverable; it should be short enough to track its progress regularly. Tasks should generally be between one day and two weeks long.

Enter tasks in the order they will occur. Then estimate how long it will take to complete each task, and enter your estimate as the duration. Microsoft Project uses durations to calculate the amount of work to be done on the task.

Note Don't enter dates in the Start and Finish fields for each task. Microsoft Project calculates the start and finish dates based on how the tasks are related, information you'll enter in the next lesson.

Tip You can also add a note about a task. In the Task Name field, select the task, and then click Task Notes . Type your information in the Notes box, and then click OK.

Note The toolbar button you want may be temporarily hidden. It may not appear because there is not enough room to display all the buttons. Click More Buttons , and then click Task Notes

Create a milestone

A milestone is a task you use to identify significant events in your schedule, such as the completion of a major phase. When you enter a duration of zero days for a task, Microsoft Project displays the milestone symbol on the Gantt Chart at the start of that day.

Note Although a task with a duration of 0 is automatically marked as a milestone, you can make any task a milestone. To mark a task as a milestone, click the task in the Task Name field. Click Task Information , click the Advanced tab, and then select the Mark task as milestone check box.

Tip To see all milestones, click Milestones in the Filter list. To see the entire project again, click All Tasks in the Filter list.

Create a recurring task

Recurring tasks are tasks that repeat regularly, such as weekly meetings. A recurring task can take place daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly. You can specify the duration of each occurrence, when it will occur, and for how long or how many times it should occur.

Tip To view all instances of a recurring task, click the plus sign next to the main recurring task.

Structure tasks into a logical outline

Outlining helps organize your tasks into more manageable chunks. You can indent related tasks under a more general task, creating a hierarchy. The general tasks are called summary tasks; the indented tasks below the summary task are subtasks. A summary task's start and finish dates are determined by the start and finish dates of its earliest and latest subtasks.

To organize your outline, use outline buttons:

Tip You can indent or outdent a task quickly with the mouse. Select the task, and then position the pointer over the first letter of the task name. When the pointer changes to a two-way arrow, drag right to indent the task or drag left to outdent the task.

Edit a task list

As you create a task list, you will probably want to break large tasks into smaller tasks and rearrange tasks. You may want to copy, delete, or move tasks in your project.

You can also easily rearrange project phases in an outlined schedule. When you move or delete a summary task, the subtasks associated are moved or deleted as well.

Note The toolbar button you want may be temporarily hidden. It may not appear because there is not enough room to display all the buttons. Click More Buttons , and then click the button you want.

Tip To add a new task between existing tasks, click a task ID number and then press the INSERT key. Tasks renumber automatically after you insert a new task.

Lesson: When will tasks start and finish?

After you create and outline your task list, it's time to address how the tasks relate to each other and to specific dates. There are many types of task relationships, such as links that show one task starting as another finishes. These links are called task dependencies. Microsoft Project automatically determines the start and finish dates for tasks that have dependencies to other tasks.

The advantage of dependencies or "linked" tasks is that whenever a task changes, linked tasks are automatically rescheduled. You can refine task schedules using constraints, overlap or delay tasks, and split tasks when work stops temporarily.

When you've completed this lesson, you will have a schedule for your project.

This lesson has five procedures.

Establish relationships between tasks

To establish relationships between tasks, use task dependencies. First, select the related tasks, link them, and then change the dependency type, if necessary. The task whose start or finish depends on another task is the successor. The task that the successor is dependent on is the predecessor. For example, if you link "Hang clock" to "Paint wall," then "Hang clock" is the successor and "Paint wall" is the predecessor.

After the tasks are linked, changes to the predecessor's dates affect the successor's dates. Microsoft Project creates a finish-to-start task dependency by default. Because a finish-to-start dependency does not work in every situation, you can change the task link to start-to-start, finish-to-finish, or start-to-finish to model your project realistically.

Note To unlink tasks, select the tasks you want to unlink in the Task Name field, and then click Unlink Tasks . The tasks are rescheduled based on existing links to other tasks, or constraints.

Overlap tasks or add lag time between them

After you've sequenced tasks by linking them, you can overlap or delay them as well. In Microsoft Project, delay tasks by adding lag time to the predecessor task, and overlap tasks by entering lead time. You can also enter lead or lag time as a percentage of the task.

Tip To quickly add lead or lag time to a successor task, double-click the link line on the Gantt Chart, and then type the amount of lead or lag time in the Lag box of the Task Dependency dialog box.

Set a specific start or finish date for a task

You can schedule your tasks most effectively by entering task durations, creating dependencies between tasks, and then letting Microsoft Project calculate the start and finish dates for you. However, you can set a specific start or finish date for a task if necessary.

Task constraints that tie tasks to specific dates are called inflexible constraints; the most inflexible constraints are specific start or finish dates. Because Microsoft Project takes constraints into account when calculating your schedule, use these inflexible constraints only when tasks must start or finish on a specific date.

Note If you select a start date for a task in the Start field of the Gantt Chart, or if you drag a Gantt bar to change the start date, Microsoft Project sets a Start No Earlier Than (SNET) constraint based on the new start date. If you select a finish date for a task, Microsoft Project automatically assigns a Finish No Earlier Than (FNET) constraint.

Add a deadline to a task

When you set a deadline for a task, Microsoft Project displays an indicator if the task is scheduled to finish after the deadline.

Setting a deadline doesn't affect how tasks are scheduled. It's just a way to have Microsoft Project inform you that a task will finish past its deadline. You then have the option of adjusting the schedule to meet that deadline.

Split a task into segments

You can split a task if work on the task is interrupted and then resumes later in the schedule. This is useful, for example, when you need to temporarily stop work on a task to work on another task. You can split a task as many times as necessary.

Note that splitting a task into parts is not the same as entering a recurring task, a task that occurs at regular intervals, such as a staff meeting.

Tip You can remove the split by dragging a portion of a split task so that it touches another portion.

Lesson: How do you assign resources?

You should assign resources to tasks when you want to:

Track the amount of work done by people and equipment assigned to tasks or monitor materials used.

Have more flexibility in scheduling tasks.

Monitor resources with too little or too much work assigned.

Keep track of resource costs.

If you don't enter resource information, Microsoft Project calculates your schedule using only task duration and dependencies.

When you've completed this lesson, you will have added people, equipment, and materials to your project and assigned them to tasks.

This lesson has five procedures.

Create a resource list

You can use the Resource Sheet in Microsoft Project to create a list of the people, equipment, and material resources that make up your team and carry out the project tasks. Your resource list will consist of work resources or material resources. Work resources are people or equipment; material resources are consumable materials or supplies, such as concrete, wood, or nails.

Notes

Resource groups can be used for sorting, filtering, or grouping tasks by resources belonging to a particular group. You can use groups to indicate the department a human resource belongs to or to specify accounting codes for billing purposes.

You cannot assign resource groups to tasks. If you want to specify consolidated resources, such as "Carpenters" or "Editors" or "Engineers," enter that as the resource name, and then assign the consolidated resource name to tasks.

Tip As you work in the Gantt Chart or other task views, you can enter additional resource names. To assign additional resources, click Assign Resources , and then type a resource name in the Name field. You can also click Address and select a resource from your e-mail address book.

Change the work schedule for a resource

The working hours and days off defined in the project calendar are the default working hours and days off for each resource. When an individual resource works a different schedule entirely, or when you need to account for vacations or equipment downtime, you can modify an individual resource calendar.

Tip If a group of resources has the same special working hours and days off, you can create a new base calendar for them. On the Tools menu, click Change Working Time. Click New, and type a name for the new base calendar. Click Create new base calendar to begin with a default calendar.

Or to base the new calendar on an existing calendar, click Make a copy of, and then click the calendar name of the existing calendar in the Calendar box. Click OK, and then modify the days and hours on the calendar. On the View menu, click Resource Sheet, and select the new base calendar in the Base Calendar field for each resource that you want to assign the calendar to.

Assign resources to tasks

When you assign a resource to a task, you create an assignment. You can assign any resource to any task and change assignments at any time.

You can assign more than one resource to a task and specify whether a resource works full-time or part-time on a task. If the work assigned to a resource exceeds the daily full-time allotment indicated in the resource's working times calendar, Microsoft Project displays the name of the overallocated resource in red in resource views.

Tip You can replace one resource with another. Select the task whose resource you want to replace. In the Assign Resources dialog box, select the assigned resource and click Replace. Select one or more resources to assign, and then click OK.

Fix the duration of a task

As you assign more resources to a task, Microsoft Project automatically decreases the duration of the task. For example, a task with a one-day duration and one assigned resource has 8 hours of work. With effort-driven scheduling, if you assign a second resource, the task still has 8 hours of work, but its duration is reduced to half a day.

If you want to change the amount of work on the task instead, you can turn off effort-driven scheduling and assign another resource. The task will then have 16 hours of work and still have a one-day duration.

Tip You can turn off effort-driven scheduling for all new tasks you create. Existing tasks will not be affected. On the Tools menu, click Options, click the Schedule tab, and then clear the New tasks are effort driven check box.

Check and edit resource assignments

The Resource Usage view shows project resources with their assigned tasks grouped underneath them. Using the Resource Usage view, you can find out how many hours each resource is scheduled to work on specific tasks and see which resources are overallocated. You can also determine how much time each resource has available for additional work assignments.

Notes

You can change the timescale to another scale, such as weeks, if that is more appropriate for your project. On the Format menu, click Timescale, and change the values in the Units boxes under Major scale and Minor scale.

Changing the view or table does not add information to or remove information from your project; it only changes the project information that is displayed.

If a resource name is red and bold, the resource is overallocated.

Lesson: How do you enter costs?

Whether you need to account for each task's expenses or the overall cost of the project, entering rates for a resource's work on tasks or for fixed task costs enables you to see whether you are staying within budget.

You can choose when to accrue costs, enter per-use and overtime rates for resources, and plan for raises.

When you've completed this lesson, you will have entered cost information for resources and tasks. If you don't need to keep track of costs in your project, click View the schedule at the left to go on to the next lesson.

This lesson has five procedures.

Assign costs to resources

Microsoft Project allows you to assign rates to human and material resources so you can manage project costs accurately. You can assign standard rates, overtime rates, or per-use rates to resources.

Tip You can set the default standard and overtime rates for any new resources you enter. On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the General tab. In the Default standard rate and Default overtime rate boxes, type the new rates. If you want to set this default for all future projects, click Set as Default.

Note If the rate for a resource will change over the course of the project or if the resource will be paid at different rates for different assignments, or if you work with different grades of material, click Resource Sheet on the View menu. In the Resource Name field, select a resource and then click Resource Information . Then, enter the information on the Costs tab.

Set fixed task costs

When you know an exact cost associated with a task, such as equipment costs, you can enter a fixed cost.

Tip In the Cost table, you can also change when the fixed cost is accrued by selecting an accrual method in the Fixed Cost Accrual field.

Define when costs accrue

In Microsoft Project, resource costs are prorated by default. Their accrual is distributed over its duration. You can, however, change the accrual method so that resource costs take effect at the start or end of the task instead.

Notes

When you enter timephased rate changes for a resource and use the prorated cost accrual method, your costs will be calculated using the rates for the appropriate time periods and may change during the completion of the task.

You cannot prorate per-use resource costs or accrue them at the end of a task assignment. They always accrue at the start of the assignment.

See the cost of tasks or resources

After you assign rates to resources or fixed costs to tasks, you may want to review the total cost of these assignments to make sure they fall within your expectations. If the total cost of a task or resource does not meet your budget, you may need to examine each individual task's costs and each resource's task assignments to see where costs can be reduced.

Tips

You can also view how costs are distributed over a task's duration in the Task Usage view by displaying its cost details. On the View menu, click Task Usage. On the Format menu, point to Details, and then click Cost.

You can view resource costs in more detail by clicking Resource Usage on the View menu, pointing to Details on the Format menu, and then clicking Cost. You can also see resource cost totals displayed graphically by clicking Resource Graph on the View menu, pointing to Details on the Format menu, and then clicking Cost or Cumulative Cost.

See the cost of the entire project

You can view your project's current, baseline, actual, and remaining costs to see whether you're staying within your overall budget. These costs are updated each time Microsoft Project recalculates your project.

Tips

After you set a baseline and begin to track actual costs, you can compare the Baseline and Actual fields to see if total project costs are progressing as expected.

As actual work progresses, you can also compare the variance between the Current and Remaining fields to see if you will have enough money to complete the project.

Lesson: How do you view the schedule and its details?

After entering the basic project data, review it. Will you meet your deadlines? If not, examine the tasks leading up to milestones and make sure you have scheduled them efficiently.

First, look at the big picture: the start and finish date and the critical path. Then check the details. Display tasks and resources in views that you can change to suit your needs.

When you've completed this lesson, you'll know how to see overall schedule information as well as details.

This lesson has eight procedures.

See the entire project on the screen

You can get an overview of your project's start and finish dates and see when major phases will occur by zooming in and out on the Gantt Chart.

Tips

To see the Gantt bars on a larger or smaller timescale, click Zoom In or Zoom Out

If you have to scroll down to see the project's finish date, and you have outlined tasks in a hierarchy, you can look at just the top-level summary tasks. Click the ID field heading (the left uppermost cell in the Gantt Chart) and then click Hide Subtasks

To see tasks to a specific outline level, click the ID column heading (the left uppermost field in the Gantt Chart). Click Show , and then click the outline level you want.

Check the project's finish or start date

You can review important project information, such as the finish date, to see if the project will meet your expectations as it is currently scheduled.

On the Project menu, click Project Information, and then click Statistics.

The project's start and finish dates are shown, as well as the project's total work and cost.

Identify the critical path

The critical path is a series of tasks that must be completed on time for a project to finish on schedule. Most tasks in a typical project have some slack and can therefore be delayed a little without affecting the project's finish date. Those tasks that cannot be delayed without affecting the project finish date are the critical tasks. As you modify tasks to resolve overallocations or other problems in your schedule, be aware of the critical tasks; changes to critical tasks will affect your project finish date.

Tips

You can filter your schedule so that only the critical tasks are displayed. On the Project menu, point to Filtered for, and then click Critical. Click All Tasks in the Filter list to display all the tasks again.

After filtering critical tasks, you can sort them by duration so that the critical tasks will be in order, from the longest to the shortest. Sorting the critical tasks helps you see where to put your efforts in shortening tasks.

Switch to a different view

You can display project information in task views or resource views. Some task and resource views are in sheet views, containing columns (called fields) of related information. You can change the table in a sheet view to see different fields of information. Other views show tasks or resource allocation graphically (such as the Calendar, Network Diagram, and Resource Graph views), or tasks and resources related to a timescale (such as the Task Usage and Resource Usage views).

On the View menu, click the task or resource view you want.

If the view you want to see isn't on the View menu, click More Views for more choices. Click a view in the Views list, and then click Apply.

Note Changing the view neither adds information to nor removes information from your project; it only changes what is displayed.

See different fields in a view

As you plan and track your schedule, it's useful to look at different combinations of information. By changing the table applied to a sheet view, you can change the fields of information displayed in that view.

Display specific information by using a filter

When you want to focus on certain tasks or resources in the current view, you can apply a filter to the view. You can specify that the filter show or highlight only those tasks or resources that meet the filter criteria.

Note You cannot apply task filters to resource views or apply resource filters to task views.

Tip You can set an AutoFilter in many views to quickly find a subset of data in a field. On the Project menu, point to Filtered for, and then click AutoFilter. Click the arrow in the column that contains the information you want to display, and then click a value you want to use to filter the table. To turn off AutoFilters, point to Filtered for on the Project menu, and then click AutoFilter again.

Sort information in a view

You can sort tasks or resources by criteria such as task name, finish date, and resource name. Sorting can be useful when you want to see tasks in sequence. For example, you can see which tasks should start or finish sooner.

Sorting is maintained when you switch views and is saved when you close a project file. However, a custom sort cannot be saved.

Note Clicking Reset only resets the sort options in the Sort dialog box to their default order. If your tasks were permanently reordered by using the Permanently renumber tasks check box, then clicking Reset will not reset the numbered order of the tasks.

Group information in a view

In many views, you can group information for tasks or resources to compare and contrast data. For example, you may want to see all tasks that have a similar duration grouped together.

Lesson: How do you adjust your schedule?

If, after viewing your schedule, you find that you won't meet your project finish date, you can adjust tasks to shorten your schedule. Pay special attention to critical tasks because any changes to those tasks may affect the finish date.

Can a task begin earlier? Use lead time. Is there a date that a task must absolutely start? Add a constraint. Are some resources overworked and others free? Reassign resources to shorten tasks.

When you've completed this lesson, you'll have adjusted your schedule to meet the finish date.

This lesson has five procedures.

Check and adjust a task dependency

A task dependency describes how a task is related to the start or finish of another task. Microsoft Project provides four task dependencies you can use to connect a series of tasks in a schedule: finish-to-start (the most commonly used dependency), start-to-start, start-to-finish, and finish-to-finish. By using these dependencies effectively, you can modify the critical path and shorten your project schedule.

Microsoft Project assigns a finish-to-start task dependency when you link tasks. If another relationship better models your tasks, change the dependency type. For example, when two tasks need to start at the same time, you can create a start-to-start link. When tasks need to finish at the same time, you can use a finish-to-finish link.

Tips

If you have tasks that can be worked on at the same time, you can shorten the critical path most by changing the task dependency. For example, if two tasks can be started at the same time, you can change the task dependency to start-to-start. If two tasks should finish at the same time, you can change the task dependency to finish-to-finish.

You can add lead or lag time to tasks to make their start or finish dates overlap each other or to delay a predecessor task. To quickly add lead or lag time to a successor task, double-click the link line on the Gantt Chart, and then type the amount of lead or lag time in the Lag box of the Task Dependency dialog box. Type lead time as a negative number (for example, -2d for two days of lead time) or as a percentage. Type lag time as a positive number or as a percentage.

Overlap tasks

If you have tasks that can begin earlier than shown in your schedule, you can overlap (add lead time) to more accurately model how the work will be done.

For example, if the electricians can begin wiring outlets before the walls are all finished, you can use time more efficiently by starting the "Wire outlets" task after half of the walls have been roughed in. To do this, you set up a lead time between the finish of the "Rough-in walls" task and the start of the "Wire outlets" task. In Microsoft Project, you type lead time as a negative number or as a negative percentage, such as -50 or -30%.

Tips

You can quickly add lead time to a successor task by double-clicking the link on the Gantt Chart, and then typing the amount of lead time in the Task Dependency dialog box.

You can also delay tasks by adding lag time. For example, if you need a 2-day delay between the finish of one task and the start of another, double-click the link line on the Gantt Chart, and then type 2d in the Lag field of the Task Dependency dialog box.

Check and adjust constraints on tasks

Task constraints can help you create a more accurate schedule by tying tasks to specific dates. For example, you can specify that a task must start no earlier than a particular date or finish no later than a particular date. You can change the constraint on a task from the default, As Soon As Possible, to seven other constraints or reset it to the default constraint to better reflect when the task will be done.

Notes

If you type a start date for a task or drag a Gantt bar to change the start date, Microsoft Project sets a Start No Earlier Than (SNET) constraint based on the new start date. If you type a finish date for a task, Microsoft Project automatically assigns a Finish No Earlier Than (FNET) constraint.

If you're scheduling your project from a finish date, typing a start date for a task or dragging a Gantt bar to change the start date sets a Start No Later Than (SNLT) constraint. If you type a finish date for a task, Microsoft Project automatically assigns a Finish No Later Than (FNLT) constraint.

Make tasks shorter by adding more resources

After you've assigned resources to a task, Microsoft Project recalculates the task's duration if you add or remove additional resources. For example, if you add another resource to an effort-driven task with a four-day duration and one assigned resource, the task will be shortened to two days. If you have more flexibility with your resource assignments than schedule deadlines, adding resources can be an effective way to shorten your schedule.

Note If the task duration isn't affected by adding resources, ensure the scheduling options are set to effort-driven scheduling. Click Task Information , and then click the Advanced tab. Be sure the Effort driven check box is selected and the task type is Fixed Units or Fixed Work.

Tips

If you don't know which resources are available to take on more work, you can see current resource allocations by clicking Resource Usage on the View menu.

To assign a resource part-time, type a value less than 100 in the Units field to represent the percentage of working time you want the resource to spend on the task. To assign more than one of the same resource (such as two carpenters), type a percentage amount greater than 100 in the Units field.

To assign several different resources, hold down CTRL as you click nonadjacent resources or hold down SHIFT as you click adjacent resources.

Split a task into segments

Splitting tasks may help adjust your schedule. You can split a task so that the task is interrupted, and then resumes later in the schedule.

Splitting tasks is useful when you need to stop work on a task temporarily to work on another task. You can split a task as many times as necessary. Splitting a task into parts is not the same as entering a recurring task scheduled to occur at regular intervals, such as a staff meeting.

Note The toolbar button you want may be temporarily hidden. It may not appear because there is not enough room to display all the buttons. Click More Buttons , and then click Split Task

Tips

You can create a longer split by clicking and dragging the taskbar to the right.

You can remove the split by dragging a portion of a split task so that it touches another portion.

Lesson: How do you save the plan along the way?

After you've entered task, resource, and cost information for your project, you can save a snapshot of your original plan, called a baseline.

To save a checkpoint of actual progress on the project, you can save an interim plan and compare changes to your baseline plan.

After the project is underway, you can enter actual information and compare that data to the baseline.

When you've completed this lesson, you'll have a baseline of your project for future reference.

This lesson has two procedures.

Save a baseline plan

When you've entered all of your project information and you're ready to start actual work, you can save a baseline of your project's information to compare with the actual progress of your project. Using a baseline, you can track the progress of your schedule so you can make the necessary corrections. For example, you can see which tasks started later than planned, how much work resources performed, and whether your budget's on track.

Tip To create a budget, first assign resources and enter rate information or any fixed costs, and then save a baseline. The cost information in the baseline plan can serve as a budget. You cannot save this information in an interim plan.

Note If you haven't yet entered all your basic project information when you first save your file, you can choose to save it without a baseline.

Save an interim plan

After you save a baseline of your project's information, you can save up to 10 interim plans as checkpoints during the project.

Note An interim plan saves the tasks' start and finish dates into Start and Finish fields. You can display these interim plan dates by adding the Start and Finish fields to a table.

Track and manage progress

When you manage a project, you need to monitor the elements of the project triangle: time, money, and scope. Adjusting one of these elements affects the other two. Events such as unexpected delays, cost overruns, and resource changes can cause problems in your schedule.

If you keep your project information up to date, you can always see the latest status of the project. That way, you can identify problems early that might affect your project's success and use Microsoft Project to find solutions.

The lessons in this section will show you how to track and manage work on your project.

Lesson: How do you track the actual progress on tasks?

Once you've set up your project and work has begun, you can keep track of actual start and finish dates, tasks' percentage of completion, and actual work. Tracking actuals shows you how changes affect other tasks and, ultimately, the project's finish date.

When you've completed this lesson, you'll know how to enter actual task information and see its effects on the schedule.

This lesson has seven procedures.

Check if tasks are progressing according to plan

To keep your project on schedule, make sure that tasks start and finish on schedule. The Tracking Gantt view helps find trouble spots, tasks that vary from the baseline plan. You can then adjust task dependencies, reassign resources, or delete some tasks to meet your deadlines.

The Tracking Gantt view pairs the current schedule with the original schedule for each task. When you've saved the project with a baseline, but before you've entered actual data on progress, the Tracking Gantt view shows tasks with the baseline bars and the scheduled or actual bars synchronized.

As you enter actuals, the top bar may move to show a departure from plan. For example, if the start date of "Inventory artifacts" moves by two days and is over half complete at 55%, the red scheduled bar extends two days beyond the lower baseline bar.

Note You must have saved a baseline in order to have variance information.

Enter actual start and finish dates for a task

Tasks that start or finish late can throw an entire project off schedule by delaying the start or finish dates of related tasks. Tasks that start or finish early can free resources to work on other tasks that are behind schedule. Microsoft Project uses the actual values you enter to reschedule the remaining portions of your project.

Note Entering an actual start date or actual finish date for a task changes the corresponding scheduled date for that task. Baseline dates, however, are not affected.

Enter the actual duration of a task

If you know the number of days a task has been in progress and if it is progressing as planned, you can track progress by entering the duration that the resource has been working on the task.

When you enter the actual duration of a task, Microsoft Project updates the actual start date, the task's percentage of completion, and the duration of the task remaining in the schedule.

Tip If you think the task is going to be finished sooner or later than originally scheduled, you can enter a new value in the Remaining dur box.

Note If you enter an actual duration longer than or equal to the scheduled duration, the task becomes 100% complete, and the scheduled duration then equals the actual duration.

Update a task's progress as a percentage

You can indicate how much progress has been made on a task by entering the percentage of the task duration that is complete. For relatively short tasks, it may not be worthwhile to track progress in such detail; but for long tasks, indicating the percentage of completion for the task helps you track actual progress against the baseline plan.

Notes

Microsoft Project calculates the summary task's percentage of completion based on the progress of its subtasks. You can also manually enter the summary task's percentage of completion, which Microsoft Project will use to calculate the percentage of completion for its subtasks.

By default, Microsoft Project indicates the task's percentage of completion as a thin, black line drawn horizontally through the middle of each Gantt bar on the Gantt Chart.

When you mark a task as 100% complete, Microsoft Project displays a check mark in the Indicators field.

Tip You can use the buttons on the Tracking toolbar to update progress on a task and to perform other tracking activities. To view the Tracking toolbar, point to Toolbars on the View menu, and then click Tracking.

Update actual work by time period

You can track actual work using the timephased fields in Microsoft Project. Tracking using the timephased fields helps you keep your project up to date periodically because you can enter information for a particular day in your schedule.

Tips

If it makes no difference which of the resources assigned to a task performs the work, in the Actual Work field for the task, type a value for the combined work done on the task by all the resources. Microsoft Project divides the actual and remaining work among the resources based on when they are scheduled on the task and the remaining work for each assignment.

You can also type actual work for a week at a time. On the View menu, click Zoom, and click 1 month to display the timescale in weekly increments. Then, type actual work for the week in the Actual Work field.

See if tasks have more or less work than planned

If you're managing resource assignments in your project, you need to make sure resources complete tasks in the time scheduled. If you've saved a baseline for your project, you can check the variance information.

Variances in your schedule can be good as well as bad, depending on the type and severity of the variance. A task with less work than planned, for example, is usually good news but may indicate that your resources are not allocated efficiently.

Compare actual task information to the baseline

When you save a baseline plan and then update your schedule, you can compare the baseline plan to your actual progress to identify variances. Variances alert you to the areas of the project that are not going as planned.

To keep your project on schedule, make sure that tasks start and finish on time as much as possible. Every project has variances, but it is important to find tasks that vary from the baseline plan as soon as possible so you can adjust task dependencies, reassign resources, or delete some tasks to meet your deadlines.

Note You must update tasks' actual start and finish dates, actual work values, or actual durations before variances will appear. Microsoft Project calculates the other task information based on the information you enter.

Lesson: How do you track the actual work by resource?

You may need to track how much work each resource on your project completes task by task or cumulatively for the project. Then you can compare the planned and actual amounts of work. This comparison can help you keep track of your resources' performance and plan workloads for future projects.

When you've completed this lesson, you'll know how to enter actual work done by a resource and see the variance between a resource's planned and actual work.

This lesson has three procedures.

Enter the total actual work done by a resource

If you schedule tasks based on the availability of resources, track the progress of your tasks by updating the work completed on a task. Using this approach, you can track the work that each resource is performing.

When you update the actual work a resource has done on a task, Microsoft Project automatically calculates the work remaining by subtracting the actual work done by the resource from the total work the resource is scheduled to do.

Tip If it makes no difference which resource assigned to a task performs the work, then type a value for the combined work done on the task by all the resources in the Actual field for the task. Microsoft Project divides the actual and remaining work among the resources based on when they are scheduled on the task and the remaining work for each assignment.

Update a resource's actual work by time period

You can track actual work for individual resources using the timephased fields in Microsoft Project. Tracking resources' actual work by using the timephased fields can help you keep your project up to date by time period because you can enter information for a particular day (or other time period) in your schedule.

See the variance between a resource's planned and actual work

If you schedule tasks based on the availability of resources and you track actual work, you can analyze how much total work a resource is accomplishing by looking at the variance between the baseline work and actual work. You can also compare those figures to the baseline work and actual work over time to see how the resource's work is progressing in greater detail.

Lesson: How do you compare actual costs to budget?

You may want to track cost overruns in a phase of your project or learn how much a particular resource costs you on a certain day. Or you may simply need to see how much total cost has accrued.

Tracking costs for your project can help you see where changes need to be made to finish your project on time and within budget and can help in planning budgets for future projects.

When you've completed this lesson, you'll know how to enter and view actual costs.

This lesson has five procedures.

Enter actual task costs manually

Microsoft Project automatically updates actual costs as a task progresses based on the task's accrual method and the rates of the resources. But if you want to track actual costs separately from the actual work on a task, you can enter costs manually instead.

To update costs manually you must first turn off the automatic updating of actual costs and then enter your own actual cost for an assignment after the remaining work is zero.

Tips

You can set the fixed cost for a task to accrue at the beginning or the completion of a task or to be prorated for the length of the task. Click Gantt Chart on the View menu. On the View menu, point to Table, and then click Cost. In the Fixed Cost Accrual field, type or select the accrual method you want.

In addition to a standard rate, sometimes assignment costs include a fixed amount charged for a resource each time the resource is assigned to a task, such as equipment costs, setup charges, delivery, or rental fees. You can enter this per-use cost by clicking Resource Sheet on the View menu, and then typing a new cost in the Cost/Use field for the resource whose per-use cost you want to change.

Update actual costs by time period

You can track actual costs using the timephased fields in Microsoft Project. Tracking actual costs using the timephased fields can help you keep your project up to date by time period because you can enter information for a particular day or other time period in your schedule.

Tip You can enter actuals in other time increments, such as weeks. On the View menu, click Zoom, and click the increment you want.

See if tasks cost more or less than budgeted

If you assign fixed costs to tasks or specify wages for resources, you may want to see tasks that cost more than budgeted. By creating a budget using a baseline plan and closely tracking your project costs, you can catch cost overruns early and adjust either your schedule or your budget accordingly.

Microsoft Project calculates the cost of each resource's work, the total cost for each task and resource, and the total project cost. These costs are considered scheduled or projected costs, which reflect the latest cost picture as the project progresses.

Tips

To see the total cost, baseline, and variance information for the entire project, you can display the project summary task. On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the View tab. Under Outline options, select the Project summary task check box, and then click OK.

You can view the resources assigned to a task and the resource costs related to that task. On the View menu, click Task Usage. On the View menu, point to Table, and then click Cost. Drag the divider bar to the right and compare the values in the Total Cost, Baseline, Actual, and Remaining fields for the resources assigned to that task.

See the total project costs

You can view your project's current, baseline, actual, and remaining costs to see whether you're staying within your budget. These costs are updated each time Microsoft Project recalculates your project.

Analyze costs with the Earned Value table

When you want to compare your expected progress with the actual progress to date, you can use the Earned Value table. It compares, in terms of costs, each task's baseline schedule with the actual schedule.

You can also use the Earned Value table to forecast whether the task will finish under or over budget based on the cost incurred while the task is in progress. For example, if a task is 50% complete and the actual cost incurred to date is $200, you can see if $200 is more than, less than, or equal to 50% of the baseline (or budgeted) cost. The VAC field displays the variance at completion between baseline cost and scheduled cost for a task.

Tips

Move the mouse pointer over a field name to get a description of the field; for example, position the pointer over the VAC field and click Help on VAC for a description of the field.

In the Task Usage view, you can view earned value data over time periods such as daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or yearly. On the Format menu, click Detail Styles, and then click the Usage Details tab. In the Available fields list, hold down CTRL, click the earned value fields you want to display (such as ACWP, BCWP, CV, or SV), and then click Show. Double-click the timescale to change the time periods that you see.

To see cost variances for the entire project, you can display the project summary task. On the Tools menu, click Options. Click the View tab and under Outline options, select the Project summary task check box.

Lesson: How do you balance a resource's workload?

You should check your schedule for resources with too much or too little work. If some resources are overallocated, see if adding more resources to a task or reassigning a task will give you the results you want.

If this doesn't work, you can delay tasks assigned to an overworked resource until later in the schedule or reduce the amount of work for tasks.

When you've completed this lesson, you'll know how to manage workloads.

This lesson has five procedures.

Find overallocated resources and their task assignments

People and equipment are overallocated when they are assigned more work than they can complete in their scheduled working hours. Before you can resolve overallocations, you must determine which resources are overallocated, when they are overallocated, and what tasks they are assigned to at those times. To resolve the problem, the people and equipment must be allocated differently or the task must be rescheduled to a time when the resource is available.

Tips

If you see number signs (##) in the timescale portion of the Resource Usage view, the columns in the timescale are not wide enough to display the information. To change the width of the columns, click Timescale on the Format menu, and then increase the value in the Size box.

You can see how much of a resource's work is allocated to particular tasks and per time period. On the Format menu, click Detail Styles. Click the Usage Details tab and in the Available fields list, click Percent Allocation, and then click Show.

Reduce a resource's work

After you've assigned a resource to a task, you can change the total work values for the resource's work on the task or change work values for a specific time period when the resource works on the task. Tailoring work values this way can make your schedule more accurate at a finer level of detail.

Tip You can also use the Resource Usage view to see and edit work values for tasks grouped under the resources are assigned to them. On the View menu, click Resource Usage.

Note You can also change the individual work values (or hours) for the assigned resources on the timescale portion of the view.

Reassign work to another resource

If you have tried to resolve a resource overallocation using other methods and the overallocation persists, it may be time to reassign the task to another resource with more time. This is an alternate method of manually leveling your schedule by reassigning work rather than delaying work.

Delay a task

A simple way to resolve a resource overallocation is to delay a task assigned to the resource until the resource has time to work on it. You can add delay to a task, check the effect on the resource's allocation, and then adjust the delay further if necessary.

Delaying a task also delays the start dates of its successors and can affect the finish date of your schedule. To avoid this, delay tasks with free slack first (noncritical tasks) and only delay them up to the amount of slack that is available for each task. Experiment with adding delay to different tasks to see the effect on your schedule.

Change a resource's working days and hours

The project calendar designates the default work schedule for the project, but you can create a resource calendar to indicate work hours, vacations, leaves of absence, and sick time for individual resources.

Tip If a group of resources will have the same special working hours and days off, you can create a new base calendar for them. Click New in the Change Working Time dialog box, and type a name for the new base calendar. Click Create new base calendar to begin with a default calendar. Or, to base it on an existing calendar, click Make a copy of, and then click the calendar name in the Calendar box. Click OK, and then modify the days and hours on the calendar. On the View menu, click Resource Sheet, and select the new base calendar in the Base Calendar field for each resource you want to assign it to.

Communicating results

To manage a project effectively, you need to communicate and distribute project information. You might prepare reports or presentations; publish information on a Web site; or use Microsoft Project Central to communicate with your workgroup on the Web.

With Microsoft Project, you can format and publish views and print reports to meet the needs of a particular person or group. You can publish the information in Web format (HTML) or include it in a presentation using a program such as Microsoft PowerPoint.

The lessons in this section show how to communicate and distribute results on your project.

Lesson: How do you format the schedule to look the way you want?

When you have a large task list, it can be difficult to focus on areas that concern you. To emphasize what you need to see, you can customize the format of the task list and the Gantt bars.

You can format categories of information, such as all tasks that must end by a certain date. You can also make some tasks bold or use a different font for them.

This lesson has four procedures.

Use the GanttChartWizard for easy formatting

The GanttChartWizard is a series of interactive dialog boxes containing options that you select to format the Gantt Chart, such as highlighting the critical path. When you finish selecting the options you want, the GanttChartWizard formats your Gantt Chart for you.

Tip To undo the formatting you chose with the GanttChartWizard, click GanttChartWizard and reapply the default options by clicking Next for each step to return the Gantt Chart to its default settings.

Format a category of Gantt bars

To call attention to all tasks of a certain category, you can change the format of the Gantt bars that represent that category on the Gantt Chart. A category can, for example, include specific task types such as milestones or critical tasks or tasks that have finished.

Instead of selecting Gantt bars manually and applying formatting to them, you can create or modify a bar style. Any change you make to the style will affect all bars in the category.

Tip To change the formatting of an individual Gantt bar, select the task, and then click Bar on the Format menu. Click the Bar Shape tab, and format the Gantt bar.

Format a category of tasks in your task list

To distinguish a category of tasks, such as critical tasks, from other tasks in your project, you can change the text formatting for all tasks in that category by modifying the text style. You can also change the look of row and column headings, the timescale, and Gantt bar text.

You can change text styles in any view except the Network Diagram and form views. (In some views, however, not all formatting options are available.) Changes you make apply only to the current view.

If certain information in your view requires urgent attention, such as the completion date of a slipped task, you can call attention to that information by formatting it individually.

Tips

To change the format of an individual task, select the task, click Font on the Format menu, and then select formatting options for that text.

To quickly copy the text formatting of one task to another, select the task with formatting you want to copy, click Format Painter , and then select the task to which you want to apply that formatting.

Format text

If certain information in your view requires urgent attention, such as the completion date of a slipped task, you can call attention to that information by formatting it individually. In most views, you can change the font, font style, color, and size of the text.

To change the font, font style, color, and text size, select the text you want to change, click Font on the Format menu, and then select the formatting you want to apply.

You can quickly apply character formatting such as bold, italic, or underlining by using the Formatting toolbar. Select the text you want to format, and then click Bold , Italic , or Underline

To change text alignment, click Align Left ,
Align Center , or
Align Right

Note This type of formatting won't change if you change the data later. You'll need to individually change the formatting you added.

Lesson:

How do you print project information?

After you've entered the basic information about your project, you may want to print it and review the plan.

To make it easy to identify your project, you can add headers, footers, and page numbers. If you want to review certain areas of the plan, you can change to another view, customize the view to show only the information you need, and print it.

When you've completed this lesson, you'll know how to print the information you want.

This lesson has four procedures.

Add a title, page number, or other project information

You can add project information to the header, footer, or legend of a view. The project information can be data you entered (such as your company's name or manager's name) or data provided by Microsoft Project (such as the page number or project finish date). You can choose the project information that adds the most impact to your printed view.

Note To format project information, you need to select the ampersand (&) that precedes it, or select the entire line, and then click Format Text Font . Select the font, font style, size, and color you want; select the Underline check box if you want; and then click OK.

Preview the printed schedule

Before printing a view, it is useful to see what the information will actually look like when printed. You can adjust the page orientation and size, edit headers, footers, and legends, and set print options.

To see what a project view will look like when printed, click Print Preview

Print the view that appears on the screen

Most often, a printed view includes only the information that's displayed on your screen when you use the Print command. When you want to print what you see on your screen, print a view. You can print sheet views, graph views, and most chart views, that is, any view except form views and the Relationship Diagram view.

To print a view using the default settings, click Print

Tips

To change options, such as printing notes or a specific number of columns, click Page Setup on the File menu, click the View tab, and then select the options you want.

If you preview a view and then decide to change the appearance of the view pages, click Page Setup in the Print Preview window, and then make the changes you want. To return to the Print Preview window, click Print Preview in the Page Setup dialog box.

Note To change the default print settings, click Print on the File menu, and then specify the printer and printer properties, the print range, the number of copies, and the date range. To see the results of your changes immediately, click Preview in the Print dialog box.

Print a standard report

A report is a predefined set of detailed information about a specific part of your plan. Microsoft Project provides more than 20 predefined reports; for example, the Who Does What report automatically includes each resource's task assignments, as well as the work, delay, and start and finish dates for each assignment.

Tips

You can change the appearance of your report pages and see the results before you print. Click Page Setup in the Print Preview window, make the changes you want, and then click Print Preview to return to the Print Preview window. You can switch between Print Preview and Page Setup as many times as necessary before printing your report.

You can print any report without using Print Preview. On the View menu, click Reports, click Custom, and then click Select. In the Reports list, click the report you want to print, and then click Print. Make any necessary changes to the print options, and then click OK.

Lesson: How do you distribute project information online?

Set up a workgroup system

A workgroup system allows you to electronically link team members in tightly knit workgroups, making it easier for team members to exchange information about your project. In Microsoft Project there are two ways to set up workgroup systems: using the Web with Microsoft Project Central, or using e-mail to communicate basic task information and update tasks.

Using the Web: Microsoft Project Central is a Microsoft Project companion product that enables in-depth collaborative planning among workgroup members, project managers, and other stakeholders.

Microsoft Project Central offers additional benefits and much more flexibility than an e-mail based workgroup system:

Workgroup members can view tasks for all of their projects at once. Workgroup members can see their tasks in a Gantt Chart and can group, sort, and filter their tasks.

Workgroup members can view the latest information for the entire project, and not just their assigned tasks.

Workgroup members can create new tasks and send them for incorporation into the project file, as well as delegate tasks to other workgroup members.

Project managers can request, receive, and consolidate status reports.

Project managers can establish message rules to automatically accept updates from workgroup members.

Anyone working with Microsoft Project Central needs a Microsoft Project Central license; however only the project manager/administrator is required to have a Microsoft Project 2000 license when maintaining a Microsoft Project Central database. All users must use duly licensed copies of either Microsoft Project 2000 or Microsoft Project Central.

Using e-mail:

Once connected electronically and linked, a workgroup can use special e-mail to:

Assign tasks.

Accept or decline task assignments.

Request and submit status reports.

Send and receive task updates.

While the requirements vary, to communicate on an e-mail system the project manager and all workgroup members must:

Be connected to a network.

Use a MAPI-compliant, 32-bit e-mail system.

Install WGsetup.exe on their computers.

For more information on using Microsoft Project Central or e-mail for your workgroup, see All about Microsoft Project Central, or All about workgroup messaging.

Publish information in Web format

You can include information from a Microsoft Project schedule in an HTML document for the World Wide Web. Microsoft Project uses import/export maps to determine which fields are exported to HTML format and may use a template to determine how and where the information is displayed in the HTML file. You can create or edit both the HTML import/export maps and the HTML templates.

Note You can edit the sample templates that Microsoft Project provides for creating formatted HTML files from exported data or you can create your own templates. For more information on using sample HTML templates, see HTML export templates and tags.

Publish information as a graphic

You can copy information as a static picture from the active Microsoft Project view and paste it into any program capable of displaying graphical information as images. You can also save the picture in a Web-compatible file format for use on the Web. In many views, you can copy a picture of the entire view or select and copy a portion of the view.