MSProject Exercise4
MSProject Exercise4
Exercise 4
Formatting and Sharing Project Plan
and Tracking Project Progress
2019-2020
Contents of this document are based on material in Microsoft Project 2016: Step-by-Step by C. Chatfield and T. Johnson
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Note: Depending on how the date format of your PC is set up, the date shown in the figures in
this document may appear different from what you see on your PC, e.g., Tue 06-02-18 instead of
Tue 06/02/18.
File template required in this exercise is provided on LumiNUS. Please download a copy to
the local PC and use it for this exercise.
For Part I, you will learn how to customize the layout of different types of views and how to share
them with others by copying and pasting or printing. For Part II, the skills involved in working
through this exercise are for checking and updating the project plan.
Part I:
Part II:
Part I
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Bar Styles
Add Tasks to Timeline
Display as Callout
Resource Cost Overview
Chart Styles
Table Styles
Copy Picture
Copy Timeline
Copy Report
Print
Page Break
Part II
Set Baseline
Task Sheet
Variance
Update Project
Completion Percentage
Tracking
Actual Work
key progress indicators
Update Tasks
Note that at the end of this exercise, you will need to upload to LumiNUS a
PowerPoint file in addition to 3 Project files.
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1. In the Gantt Chart view, scroll to the manually scheduled Task 9, Prepare book P&L
statement. The default formatting of the Gantt bars for manually scheduled tasks differs
from that of automatically scheduled tasks. For instance, the color of the Gantt bar for Task
9 (currently manually scheduled) is different from that of other tasks shown in the figure
below.
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2. Apply the predefined orange color style from the Presentation Styles area of the style
gallery.
1) Click on the Format tab to display a set of pre-defined color styles in the Gantt Chart
Style group. Click on the small downward arrow at the right edge of the style group to
display more pre-defined color styles for selection. Select the predefined orange color.
After the chosen style is applied, there is no formatting distinction between the Gantt
bars of manually and automatically scheduled tasks, as is illustrated below.
3. Task 6 is a milestone task that describes the end of the first phase of the “new book launch”
project at Lucerne Publishing. You would like to highlight this task by applying italic text
formatting and a yellow background color to the name of this task.
1) Choose Task 6, Planning complete!, in the Task Name column.
2) On the Task tab, in the Font group, click the Background Color button (as shown in the
figure below) and select the yellow color.
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3) On the Task tab, in the Font group, click the Italic button.
4. Note that a shape, instead of a Gantt bar, appears in the Gantt chart area for Task 6. This is
because this task is a milestone task. Format the Gantt shape of Task 6 to be a star.
1) Double-click a previously formatted Gantt bar.
Or
Click the name of the task (in this case, Task 6) of the previously formatted Gantt bar.
Then, on the Format tab, in the Bar Styles group, click Format, click Bar.
2) The Format Bar dialog box appears. In the Start group, select the star shape in the cell of
Shape.
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4) Select the tasks: Planning Phase, Planning complete!, Internal Launch Phase, Public
Launch Phase, Author travel and appearances, then click OK.
2. In the Timeline view, switch the display for the task Author travel and appearances to a
callout so its full title is visible.
1) Click anywhere in the Timeline view. Project shifts focus to the Timeline view and
displays the Timeline Tools label above the Format tab.
2) In the Timeline view, click on the task Author travel and appearances. A callout box
appears.
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3) On the Format tab, in the Current Selection group, click Display as Callout.
Customize reports
The Context: You want to share the Resource Cost Overview report with the team. However, you
would like to change the formatting of some elements in the report.
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The report shown below includes chart and table elements—both types of elements
support extensive formatting.
2. Apply the black background chart style (Style 7) to the pie chart.
1) Click anywhere in the pie chart.
2) Click on the Design tab (under the label Chart Tools). Hover the cursor over the small
image with a dark background in the Chart Styles group as indicated in the figure below.
A callout box with the text “Style 7” appears. Click on this small image.
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3. Apply the gray background table style (Themed Style 1, Accent 3) to the table.
1) Click anywhere in the table with the heading “Cost Details”.
2) Click on the Design tab (under the label Table Tools). In the Table Styles group, click the
small triangle with a bar on top as shown in the figure below.
A set of pre-defined table styles appears. Click on the Themed Style 1 – Accent 3 icon
located under Best Match for Document in the top row, as shown in the figure below.
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The overall formatted view of the selected report elements is as shown below.
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1. Display the Gantt Chart view so the Gantt bars of Task 7 through Task 14 are visible.
1) On the View tab, in the Task Views group, click on Gantt Chart.
2. Copy a picture of Task 7 through Task 14. Render the picture for the screen.
1) Select Task 7 through Task 14 in the Gantt Chart view by clicking on the label “7” of the
left-most column and then drag the cursor down to “14”.
2) On the Task tab, in the Clipboard group, click the arrow next to Copy, then click Copy
Picture.
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3) In the Copy Picture dialog box, under Render image, select For screen. Then click OK.
4. Copy a full-sized image of the detailed Timeline, and paste it into a new slide in the same
PowerPoint document.
1) Click anywhere in the Timeline view. With the focus now on the Timeline, the label of the
Format tab changes to Timeline Tools.
2) On the Format tab, in the Copy group, click Copy Timeline. The Copy Timeline options
appear. Select Full Size.
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3) Paste the full-size Gantt chart picture (using the “Picture(U)” option) into a new slide in
the same PowerPoint document created earlier. Resize the picture in PowerPoint to fit
within the slide. The Gantt chart picture appears as shown below.
5. Copy the Resource Cost Overview report, and paste it into the same PowerPoint document.
1) On the Report tab, in the View Reports group, click on Cost and select Resource Cost
Overview.
2) Click anywhere in the report. On the Design tab (under the label Report Tools), in the
Report group, click Copy Report.
3) Paste, using the “Picture(U)” option, the Resource Overview Report onto a new slide in
the same PowerPoint document created earlier. Resize the picture in PowerPoint to fit
within the slide.
Save the PowerPoint document. Make sure to use your Student Number as its filename.
Upload the PowerPoint document to the folder Exercise 4 submission under the “Files”
section of the ME4103 module page on LumiNUS.
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1. Display the print preview of the full Gantt Chart view, set to multiple pages.
1) On the View tab, in the Task Views group, click on Gantt Chart.
2) Click File on the top menu bar. Click Print. Various printing options and a preview of
what is to be printed are displayed. When previewing a large view or report, use the
page navigation and zoom controls (in the lower right corner of the Project window) to
manage what is displayed, as is illustrated in the figure below.
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2) Click the Design tab (under the label Report Tools). In the Page Setup group, note the
four commands available.
3) Click Page Breaks to see where the page breaks will occur in the report based on your
currently selected paper size.
You can show page breaks in multipage reports outside of the print preview, as is
illustrated in the figure below.
Use the “Save As” option to save a copy of the Project file that you have been working on for this
part of Exercise 4. Make sure to use your Student Number plus a tag “_a” as the file name, i.e.,
XXXXXXXXX_a.mpp
where “XXXXXXXXX” is your Student Number. Upload the saved file into the folder Exercise 4
submission under the “Files” section of the ME4103 module page on LumiNUS.
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1. Save the baseline for the entire plan; use the default baseline settings.
1) On the Project tab, in the Schedule group, click Set Baseline, then click Set Baseline in
the dropdown menu.
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2) The Set Baseline dialog box appears. To use the default setting, click OK.
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3. Display the Variance table to the see scheduled and the baseline values.
1) On the View tab, in the Data group, click Tables, then select Variance.
Since at the moment, the scheduled dates in this plan match the baseline dates, the
variance values are zero, as shown in the figure below.
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During project execution, baseline can be saved at different times as the project
progresses. When referring to a baseline, it is important to know the time at which a
particular baseline was saved.
The procedure to check when a baseline was saved is as follows. On the Project tab, in the
Schedule group, click the Set Baseline button, then select Set Baseline. The Set Baseline
dialog box appears. In the Set Baseline field of the dialog box, any previously saved
baselines in the plan will be indicated by the dates they were saved. Click Cancel to exit the
dialog box.
A critical path is the series of tasks that will delay the end date of the overall project if any of those
tasks are delayed. The word “critical” in this context has nothing to do with how important these
tasks are to the overall plan. It refers only to how their scheduling will affect the finish date of the
project. Project automatically recalculates the critical path in response to schedule changes even if
you never display the critical path. A detailed discussion on the topic of critical path is presented in
the supplementary note (entitled “Introduction to Microsoft Project 2016”) available on LumiNUS.
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2) Project draws slack lines from the finish dates of the Gantt bars of the noncritical tasks.
3. The default slack value for a task to be considered as critical is 0. However, this value can be
changed if needed.
1) Click the File tab to display the Backstage view, and then click Options.
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3) On the Advanced page, scroll down to see the Calculation options of this project
section. In the field for the Tasks are critical if slack is less than or equal to option, enter
the number of days you want.
Use the “Save As” option to save a copy of the Project file that you have been working on for this
part of Exercise 5. Make sure to use your Student Number plus a tag “_b” as the file name, i.e.,
XXXXXXXXX_b.mpp
where “XXXXXXXXX” is your Student Number. Upload the saved file into the folder Exercise 4
submission under the “Files” section of the ME4103 module page on LumiNUS.
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1. Use the options in the Update Project dialog box to record that work that has been
completed as scheduled through January 17, 2018.
1) On the Project tab, in the Status group, click Update Project.
2) The Update Project dialog box appears. Change the entry for the Update work as
complete through field to January 17 2018. Click OK.
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Project records the completion percentage for the tasks that were scheduled to start
before January 17. It displays the progress by drawing progress bars inside the Gantt
bars for those tasks.
In the chart portion of the Gantt Chart view, the progress bar shows how much of each
task has been completed. Because Task 2, Task 3, and Task 4 have been completed
100%, a check mark appears in the Indicators column for those tasks, and the progress
bars extend through the full length of the Gantt bars of those tasks. Note that Task 5 is
only partially completed.
1) In the Task Name column, select Task 5 for which you want to record a percent
complete value.
2)
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3) On the Task tab, in the Schedule group, click the 100% Complete button.
Repeat 1) and 2) for Task 6 and Task 8. The result is as shown below. Note that Project
records the actual work for the tasks as scheduled and extends progress bars through
the length of the Gantt bars. Recording 100%-complete is a quick “check-list” way of
indicating that a task was completed as scheduled with no variance.
2) On the Task tab, in the Schedule group, click the 50% Complete button.
3) Move the mouse to the chart portion of the Gantt Chart view. Hover the cursor over the
progress bar (i.e., darker line inside the thicker Gantt bar) of Task 9 to see its key
progress indicators in a ScreenTip, as is illustrated below.
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Note that although 50% of the work on Task 9 is completed, the progress bar does not
span 50% of the length of the Gantt bar. This is because Project measures duration in
working time but draws the Gantt bars to extend over nonworking time, which in this
case includes Thursday, January 25, a nonworking day.
1. Use the Tracking table to record that Task 9, Prepare book P&L statement, required a total
of 24 hours of actual work to complete.
1) On the View tab, in the Data group, click Tables, then select Tracking.
2) In the Act. Work column, enter 24 hrs in the cell for Task 9. If the Act. Work column is
not visible, move the vertical divider bar to reveal it.
Because 24 hours is greater than its original duration of 16 hours, Project marks the task
as completed and extends the Gantt bar of the task to indicate its longer duration, as
illustrated below. Note that in the figure below, the cells whose contents have been
affected by this change are highlighted in a different color (see, for example, the cell of
Task 7 in the Act. Work column). This is referred to as change highlighting. When you
record actual duration, the change highlighting is a convenient way to see what other
changes in the plan are caused by it.
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2. Use the options in the Update Tasks dialog box to record that Task 10, Plan author’s travel
itinerary, started one working day ahead of schedule (the Tuesday before its scheduled start
date) and required a total of seven days to complete.
1) In the Task Name column, select Task 10.
2) On the Task tab, in the Schedule group, click the arrow to the right of Mark on Track,
then click Update Tasks.
3) The Update Tasks dialog box appears. Enter 7d in the field for Actual dur, and enter the
date of January 23 2018 in the field for of Start in the Actual section.
3. Click OK.
Project records the actual values for the task and marks it as complete. The updated values
roll up to the Internal Launch Phase summary task (Task 7) and the project summary task
(Task 0), as indicated by the change highlighting (i.e., the change in the color of the affected
cells).
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4. Use the options in the Update Tasks dialog box for Task 11, Channel Sales prep. This task
started on time and currently has three days of actual duration; it still requires five days of
remaining duration to complete.
1) In the Task Name column, select Task 11.
2) On the Task tab, in the Schedule group, click the arrow to the right of Mark on Track,
then click Update Tasks.
3) In the Update Tasks dialog box, enter 3d in field for Actual dur. Click OK.
4) Repeat 2) and 3) to bring up the Update Tasks dialog box again. Enter 5d in the field for
Remaining dur. Click OK.
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This gives the task a new total duration of eight days: three days actual of duration plus
five days of remaining duration, as illustrated in the figure below. Unless you record an
actual start date, Project assumes the task started as scheduled.
Because you did not specify an actual start date, Project assumes that the task started
as scheduled. However, the actual duration and updated remaining duration value you
entered caused Project to calculate a new finish date.
Use the “Save As” option to save a copy of the Project file that you have been working on for this
part of Exercise 5. Make sure to use your Student Number plus a tag “_c” as the file name, i.e.,
XXXXXXXXX_c.mpp
where “XXXXXXXXX” is your Student Number. Upload the saved file into the folder Exercise 4
submission under the “Files” section of the ME4103 module page on LumiNUS.
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