MGMT404

V2005

Lesson #1 - Basics of Project Scheduling - Part One

Due Date: Check Class Schedule/Syllabus

MS Project

Objectives

Understanding Project Scheduling

Introduction to Microsoft Project
Working with Project Tasks
Basic views, time scales and reports

Whether you are a project manager or not, project management techniques are extremely helpful in meeting
goals and objects. Project management techniques define a path to a specified goal and then supervise the
implementation.
MS Project can help you establish your initial plan as well as monitor progress. MS Project can quickly
produce reports and other information that will help keep management, customers, and your project team
informed. To get the most from MS Project, not only do you need to understand project management
terminology, you also need to be familiar with the software itself. Therefore, do not attempt to quickly
finish the lab, but take your time and read all instructions carefully.

MS Project 2002
When you first start MS Project, a blank project file is displayed in Gantt Chart View. (If you need to
open an existing MS Project file, the file extension is .mpp.) Let's take a look at the main window:

Entry Table

Gantt Chart

Divider

Task Pane

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Lesson #1 - Basics of Project Scheduling - Part One

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MS Project

Pay particular attention to this layout. The Entry table is where we enter our tasks and durations. The
Gantt chart will eventually show our tasks and durations in a graphical bar chart. The other part of
significance is the divider. This allows you to show more or less of the Entry table/Gantt chart. When you
start Microsoft Project, the startup task pane appears by default. This task pane also appears when you
select New from the File menu.
1. To immediately close the Task Pane, from the View menu, select Toolbars and click on Task
Pane. You can also click on the close button for the task pane.
2. You can modify this behavior so that it does not appear automatically: From the Tools menu, click
Options, then the General tab. Uncheck or clear the Show Startup Task Pane checkbox. Then
restart MS Project.
You may also notice that upon closing the task pane, another pane may appear. By default, Microsoft
Project displays the Project Guide, presenting instructions and wizards in a side pane to help you define
your project, work with tasks and resources, track progress, and report project information. While this can
be handy at times, the screen shots for these labs will not show this guide.
1. To immediately close the Project Guide, click on the close button for the guide.
2. To permanently hide this Project Guide, From the Tools menu, click Options, then the Interface
tab. Under the Project Guide settings, Uncheck or clear the Display Project Guide checkbox.
Then restart MS Project.

Project Guide

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Lesson #1 - Basics of Project Scheduling - Part One

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MS Project

A more helpful tool is the View Bar. This graphical menu allows for quick access to the most common
views you will need to complete most projects. To activate this tool, select View Bar from the View menu.
If you have made all the changes to the configuration of MS Project indicated above, your screen should
look like the screen captures in these lessons. Your final screen should look as indicated in Figure 1.
Again, please do the following:
1. Uncheck the Show Startup Task Pane under the General tab from the Tools/Options.
2. Uncheck the Show Project Guide under the Interface tab from the Tools/Options.
3. Select the View Bar from the View menu.

View Bar

Figure 1

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Lesson #1 - Basics of Project Scheduling - Part One

Due Date: Check Class Schedule/Syllabus

MS Project

Project Basics
A typical project is composed of tasks and resources. After tasks are identified, you organize the tasks in a
logical hierarchy, also called a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). Eventually, this sequence will show
the interdependencies of each task. Then each task is given a duration. In MS Project, this can be in
weeks, days, hours or minutes. You can also specify a milestone, which will represent an event that marks
the completion of a group of related tasks.
To accomplish any task, you need resources. Resources can include people, equipment, material or special
facilities necessary to complete a task. Resource availability and scheduling are important constraints to
completing a task.
Once you establish a plan, complete with tasks and resources, you will often need to refine the plan before
saving it as a baseline. The baseline is your guideline to help manage the project.
To understand the overall project management philosophy, let's take a tour using MS Project On-line help:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Log onto Windows.

Open MS Project by selecting the Start Button and choosing MS Project from the Programs menu. (It
may be listed under MS Office or separately).
If the Welcome dialog box appears when you start MS Project, close the dialog box.
From the Help menu, select Getting Started -> Tutorial. Read through all the subjects listed in the
left frame (Basics, Create a Plane, Track and Manage, and Communicate). Click on the vocabulary
words while reading, but do not do any of the lessons.
When you finish the Tutorial, choose Getting Started -> Project Map (or select Project Map from the
Help Welcome Screen). Read through all the subjects on the left hand screen, particularly focusing on
the Build a Plan section.
Once you have thoroughly read through these sections (remember some of the answers to questions
from the end of each lesson come from this material), close the windows and return to MS Project
main window.

Keep in mind this is a very brief look at establishing a project with MS Project. Over the next few lessons,
we will try to explore as many aspects as we can.

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Lesson #1 - Basics of Project Scheduling - Part One

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MS Project

The first step in creating a project is establishing the project information.

1.

Select Project Information from the Project menu

The Project Information is used for information that is critical to the scheduling of tasks and resources. It
contains the start date and finish date of the overall project, the current date (taken from the computer), and
which calendar you will be using. You must always enter this information when creating a new project.
2.

Enter the starting date of this project as October 3, 2005. (Note: you can only enter the start date or
the finish date, but not both!).

3.

Leave the other information as is and Press OK.

4.

From the File menu, click Properties. The Summary tab should be selected.

5.

In the Title box, type Maynard Furniture Company Project.

6.

In the Subject box, type New System.

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MS Project

7.

In the Author's and the Manager's box, type in your name. This information will be displayed on
reports. In the Company box, enter MGMT404 followed by your professors name. Click OK.

8.

Save the project as MyLab1_XXX.mpp (where XXX are your initials).

Entering tasks
1.

Click in the first field in the Task Name column. Type Inventory current equipment.

2.

Press tab. The information is entered and the selection moves to the Duration column for task 1.
Notice that 1 Day? is the automatic default for duration. (You may need to slide the divider to the
right to see the column). Also notice the task is represented on the Gantt chart.

3.

Change the duration to 3 days by typing 3 and press enter. Notice the duration "days" or the letter "d"
is automatically assumed. If different, you would enter m for minutes, h for hours, d for days, w for
weeks or mo for months after the number, such as 3w would be three weeks).

4.

Enter the following tasks and durations for this project:

Access current department needs
Design and diagram new system
Proposal to accounting
Research products and services
Issue RFPs
Evaluate bids
Award contract
Meet with vendor
Purchase equipment
Install wiring
Install hardware
Install software

2 days
5 days
3 days
7 days
7 days
5 days
1 day
1 day
4 days
3 days
2 days
2 days

(You should enter the 1 day)

(Do not use the default of 1 Day?)

(Note: it is very important that you make any changes to these durations BEFORE assigning
resources. If you need to change duration after assigning resources, you should unassign all
resources, change the duration and then re-assign the resources!)
5.

Notice as you enter each task and the duration, how the tasks are presented on the Gantt chart.
(Tip: You may not be able to read the entire task names after entering the name, not very
professional. To see the entire task name, position your cursor on the vertical line between the
Task Name column header and the Duration column header. When the cursor turns to a double
arrow, either drag the line to the right to increase the column width or double-click. Another
method is to double click on the Task Name column header and select Best Fit. To see the
Duration column, move the divider between the tasks and the Gantt chart).
.

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Lesson #1 - Basics of Project Scheduling - Part One

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MS Project

6.

Change the duration of the task Award Contract to 0 days. Notice the symbol on the Gantt chart.
This is a milestone task, which has no duration but is used to mark progress in a project.

7.

What if you need to insert a task later? Easy. For example, select task #13, Install Software, and
from the Insert menu, click New Task. A new task row will now be inserted above the current task.

8.

Type Test system as your new task and enter duration of 1 day. (Remember to always enter 1; do not
have the ? in your duration!)

9.

Since Test system actually should be our last task, we need to move it. Therefore click (but do not
hold down the mouse button) the task ID for task #13 - Test system. The entire row should be
selected.
Task ID

10. With the pointer still positioned on the task ID, drag down until a horizontal gray bar is displayed
after task #14. Then release. Test system should now be your last task.

11. What if you want to delete a task? Click anywhere in the row for the task Meet with vendor. From
the Edit menu, click Delete Task.

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Lesson #1 - Basics of Project Scheduling - Part One

Due Date: Check Class Schedule/Syllabus

MS Project

Another type of task you may want to enter is a recurring task, such as a team meeting, etc. Generally
recurring tasks are not included on a project, but may help in resource scheduling.
12. Below the last task (task #13: Test System), click in the Task Name Column, but do not type anything.
13. From the Insert menu, click Recurring Task. The Recurring Task Information Box appears.

14. In the Name box, type Project Meeting.

15. Press tab and enter 2h for duration of 2 hours. Select Weekly for "Recurrence pattern" and check the
box for Friday. Leave "every". We have scheduled a weekly 2-hour meeting every Friday for the
duration of the project. Click OK. (Notice the circular arrows in the indicator column next to the task
name).
16. Save the project before continuing.

Displaying Project Information in Views

Before closing out this project, we need to spend a little time with views. A view is a format in which you
can enter and/or display information in MS Project. Your default view is known as the Gantt view: it is
made up of the Entry table on the left, used to enter task information, and the Gantt chart on the right,
which graphically represents the task information on a timescale.
Task and resource views in MS Project fall into three categories: sheet views, chart and graph views, and
form views. Each view displays combinations of project information in different ways. Understanding
what is your current view and changing views is critical in mastering MS Project.
Sheet views display task or resource information in a row and column format (similar to MS Excel). Chart
and graph views provide a graphical representation of task or resource information. Form views display
task or resource information in a format that displays a single task or single resource at a time. You use a
form view when you want to focus on detailed information about a specific task or resource.

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Lesson #1 - Basics of Project Scheduling - Part One

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MS Project

MS Project comes with many predefined views. Each view can be displayed using the View menu or the
View Bar located on the left side of the MS Project program window. To see some of these views:
1.

From the View Bar, click the Calendar icon. (Or select Calendar from the View menu). What do you
see?

2.

Now click the Task Usage icon. How is this different?

3.

Finally, click the Network Diagram icon. Graphical view of tasks

4.

Return to the Gantt Chart view.

5.

You can hide the View Bar if you need more room. On the View menu, click View Bar. Notice the
View Bar is replaced by a blue, active bar on the left side of the screen that displays the name of the
current view (Gantt Chart).

6.

To display the View Bar, on the View menu, click View Bar. Notice the Gantt chart icon is selected in
the View Bar.

7.

Another item to explore is the timescale for the Gantt chart.

On longer projects, you may not be able to see all the tasks on the Gantt chart. You can use the scroll
bars to the right and on the bottom of the Gantt chart or you can adjust the timescale of
the chart (shown above). The top line of the timescale is referred to as the Major
timescale (Oct 2,'05, etc.) and the bottom line as the Minor timescale (SMTWTFS). To
adjust the timescale, you can use the Zoom In and Zoom Out buttons on the Standard toolbar.
8.

On the Standard toolbar, click the Zoom In button (the one with the + sign). Notice the Major
timescale changes to a day and the Minor timescale changes to 6-hour increments.

9.

Now click on the Zoom Out button (the one with the - sign). The Major timescale returns to a week
and the Minor timescale changes to day increments.

10. Click on the Zoom Out button again. Notice the Major timescale changes to a month and the Minor
timescale changes to 3-day increments.
11. Click the Zoom In button again to return to the default of a week and one-day increments.
You can also specify your own timescale by selecting the Timescale dialog box on the Format menu or
selecting Zoom from the View menu.

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Lesson #1 - Basics of Project Scheduling - Part One

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MS Project

Printing Project Schedules and Reports

To manage a project effectively, you will need to communicate project information to a variety of people.
You can print views and reports that meet the needs of a specific person or group. MS Project comes with
26 predefined views and 25 predefined reports. Before you print a view or report, it should be previewed to
determine the number of pages that will be printed and if any additional information needs to be added.
Using the Page Setup dialog box, you can select page orientation, adjust scaling, change margins, and add
or change the headers and footers. You can also add page breaks to control the flow of information. You
can also create a legend at the bottom of the Gantt chart to explain the symbols used in the chart. (With the
exception of the Project Summary report, you must do this for each report/printout; it is NOT a
universal page setup!)
1.

On the File menu, click Page Setup. Click the Header tab.

2.

The top pane is the Preview box and the bottom pane is the Text box.

3.

Select the Left tab next to Alignment. In the Text box, type Lab #1 on the first line. (The left corner
will always be the lab number, so make sure you change it in future labs!)

4.

Select the Center tab. Next to the General box displaying the text, "Page Number", click the down
arrow and select Project Title. Click Add.
Note: the project title is displayed in the Preview box (based upon the information you entered in
the Project Information earlier). The text box shows the & sign or the "place marker" for this
information. The nice thing here is that if you ever change the Project Information, the changes
will automatically appear on any reports that contain this information in the header.

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Lesson #1 - Basics of Project Scheduling - Part One

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MS Project

5.

Press Enter. (The cursor should now be on the second line for your center header information). From
the same drop-down menu, add Manager Name. Press Enter and add File name as your third line
and add Report Name as your fourth and final line.

6.

Select the Right tab. Notice the seven icons below the text box. Select the middle (or fourth icon) to
insert the current date in this section of your header.

7.

On your own, make sure Page Number is in your footer and it is center aligned. Then press Print
Preview to view the changes. What is missing? Notice that there is nothing displayed in the fourth
line of the header for report name? Why??? This is a view and not a defined report so there is nothing
to display in this field. In order to see the view name, the parameter in the fourth line of the header
would have to be changed to View Name we will NOT do this at this time. The fourth line will
display as a blank line when we are in a view format and not a report format.

8.

Click the Close button to return to the Gantt chart view.

9.

The above page setup must be on all your printouts for this and all future lessons! Failure to do
so will result in points subtracted from your lesson score !!

Previewing and Printing Views and Reports

10. On the Standard toolbar, click the Print Preview button. Place the mouse pointer over the preview
page. The pointer changes to a magnifying glass.
11. Click the lower-left corner of the preview page. The view is zoomed in so you can see the legend to
the Gantt chart. If you ever want to change the contents of this legend, you can go to the same Page
Setup in our previous steps and select Legend.

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Lesson #1 - Basics of Project Scheduling - Part One

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MS Project

12. Click on the magnifying glass again to return to normal view. Make sure the task names column and
the duration column can be seen in their entirety and the Gantt chart also appears in your window.
13. Click Print and print this view. We have just printed the Gantt chart view.
14. To view and print reports: From the View menu, click Reports.

15. The Reports box opens. Each icon represents a category of reports. The first five (Overview, Current
Activities, Costs, Assignments and Workload) represent 22 predefined reports. The last category,
Custom, allows you to create your own report.
16. Select Overview and then select Project Summary. The Project Summary report now opens in Print
Preview.
17. Select Page Setup for this report. Notice something interesting? The header and footer (and legend
and view) tabs are grayed out. For some reason, only known to Microsoft, this is the only report that
you cannot change the header and footer. To that end, it is imperative that you enter all appropriate
project information and project properties as discussed in the lab!
18. Print the Project Summary. This is a very important report! It lists all relevant summary
information as to project progress and achievement of your project objective.
19. On your own, find the report, Unstarted Tasks. Before you print this report, make sure your header
and footer contain the appropriate information! Print the report when all is well.
20. Save your file and exit MS Project.
In the next lesson, we will continue working with task information by outline and linking these tasks and
discussing interdependencies and constraints.

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1.

Lesson #1 - Basics of Project Scheduling - Part One

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MS Project

On the Project menu, click Project Information. In the Project Information dialog box, click
Statistics. The following screen should appear. Use this to check your progress

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Lesson #1 - Basics of Project Scheduling - Part One

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MS Project

Review Questions
Name ____________________________
Answer the following questions (you may need to use MS Projects Tutorial or Help). Write
legibly.
1. Define the following terms according to MS Project:
Project Objectives:

Task:

Constraint:

Schedule:

Tables:

Deliverables:

2. What is a milestone?

3. What predefined report can you not make changes to the header and footer?

4. Describe the three types of views.

Attach your three printouts, in print order, to the back of this sheet and submit by the
lesson due date.
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