Extra Case MS Project

Adjust, Track and Communicate Your P= roject

Objective: Make Adjustments to an existing Project, Save the Baseline, Track the Proje= ct and Communicate Progress.

Assignment: Download the file Apartments6 from the course website. Follow the step-by-step instructions below. Resave and name the file th= at you will turn in to your instructor as Apartments6-Your Initials.mpp.

Suggestions and Observations: Perform each instruction in the exact order specified below or your results will differ in some areas. Save your work often!=

There will not be a= s much step-by step instruction at this stage. Try to do these steps without looking anything up, and when you need= to try the online help files.

Costs and resources= have been entered for you to save you some time. In addition, a Notice to Proceed Task has been added and a General Conditions Task has been set up to coincide with the duration of the project. To this task, personnel a= nd equipment have been assigned for what will be required for the duration of = the project, such as a Superintendent, laborers, trailers, vehicles, a warehous= e, etc. These were entered as work resources, since they have time-sensitive costs. For example, trailers, leased vehicles,= field office overhead and the warehouse have either weekly or monthly recurring c= osts that are assigned to the project; in other words, their usage is measured in time, much like the labor resources. Material Resources are used more for items that are measured in quantities other than time, such as length, each, gallons, etc.<= /span>

Subcontractors are performing most of this project, so the costs for performing certain work a= re entered as fixed costs per task, rather than by resource per use or per/hour costs. On a construction project, = most progress pays are based on how much work has been performed, and not necessarily how long it took or how many people it took to do it; that is t= he subcontractor’s problem and should have been factored into their estimates = for billing on their tasks. Typically,= you may bill on a project for items in the schedule either wholly completed, or in-progress. This is contract-dependent. For this case,= most of these fixed cost items and resources are set up to be paid on a prorated basis, except for the material resource of the Metal Stairs, which has a co= st that is accrued for payment when the manufacturing is complete. If you had a contract that allowed for payment only after a task on the project schedule was 100% complete, you wo= uld probably break your schedule down into smaller parts, to allow for higher c= ash flow on your progress payments.

Think of this anoth= er way: if you set up your schedule with only 5 or 6 main deliverables, and your customer will only pay as each deliverable is complete, you would be stretc= hing out your payments quite a bit on a large project. If, however, you had set up 30 or so incremental and smaller duration deliverables over a 6-month period, you wo= uld be able to receive progress pays more often, thus improving your cash flow. For many projects in the Information Technology industry, a schedule with a small set of deliverable= s is agreed upon and bills are submitted weekly for hourly consulting fees. As long as you are performing to schedu= le, the customer agrees to pay the periodic billings. Every scenario is a little different. Many times, contractual payment rules d= rive the granularity of the schedule as much as other factors do. These are just some things to consider = as you build your own schedules.

A couple of problem= s have been left out in the file and you are asked to correct them in ways that may req= uire you to research the solution in the help files.

Before beginning th= e steps below, familiarize yourself with the Project file, paying attention to the Gantt Chart Entry and Cost tables, the Resource Usage view, Task usage View= and the Resource Sheet. Review the pha= ses of the project and look at the Network Diagram to see the logical flow of the project.

Step-by-step Instructions to complet= e:

1.&n= bsp; Add a Pro= ject Summary Task to the Project file. = (Hint: Use the Options Dialog Box)=

2.&n= bsp; Go to the resource sheet and see who is overallocated. You should find the carpenter as overallocated. Go to the Resource Usage view and find the carpenter. In the spreadsheet column insert a “Cost” column between the “Resour= ce Name” and the “Work” column.

3.&n= bsp; Stay in t= he Resource Usage View after step 2. = On the yellow detail grid, scroll to the right to find where the carpenter is overallocated. You should see that there is an indoor task and an outdoor task that are overlapping on the same day. Go ba= ck to the Gantt Chart view and apply the Schedule tabl= e and determine the task that is least critical. For the task that is least critical, add a 1 ed= ay leveling delay in the Leveling Delay column of the appropriate Gantt View.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Verify that the carpenter is no longer = overallocated. (Hint: The task that is the least crit= ical is the one with the most Total Slack.)

4.&n= bsp; Switch to= the Task Usage View. In the spreadsheet column insert a “Cost” column between the “Task Name” and the “Work” column= .

5.&n= bsp; Set the P= roject Status Date to 4/2/2001.

6.&n= bsp; Save the Baseline.

7.&n= bsp; Create a = new filter called “High Level Tasks” that shows only Summary and Milestone Tasks. Ensure the “Show in menu” option is selected so the new filter appears in menus! (Hint: Remember, we want to see both Summary and Milestone Tasks. Think about what the logical operator n= eeds to be in order to do so. Trial and= error will show you if you are not sure. Review the section in the book on making your own custom filters or consult online help. Review the ex= isting definitions of the “Milestones” and the “Summary Tasks” filters as a refere= nce or a starting point.)

8.&n= bsp; Create a = new Table called High Level Stats. Rev= iew the book or online help about making your own custom tables. Be sure to select the “Show in m= enu” option. Show the following fields = in the table in the following order from left to right:
8.1 ID (far left hand column, “loc= ked” like the other tables do it)
8.2 Name
8.3 Start
8.4 Finish
8.5 Duration
8.6 Duration Variance
8.7 Total Slack
8.8 Cost
8.9 % Complete

9.&n= bsp; Create a = new view named High Level Gantt (Hint: base it on a copy of the Gantt Chart View). Ensure that the “Show in menu” option is selected. Use the “High = Level Stats” table for its default table and the “High Level Tasks” filter as its default filter. There will be no grouping and be sure that the “Highlight filter” checkbox is NOT checked. Once complete, the High L= evel Gantt will show up in the menu and in the View Bar.

Click back and forth between High Level Gantt and Gantt Chart view. If you applied the new table= or filter you created to the regular Gantt Chart vi= ew as you created them, one or the other may still be applied to that view. When on the Gantt C= hart view, be sure to choose the Entry table again and apply the “All Tasks” fil= ter to it. Now, when you switch back a= nd forth between the Gantt Chart and High Level Gan= tt views, you should notice the changes on the screen when the filter is appli= ed and unapplied and how the column names change from view to view.=

10.&= nbsp; Remember = that each view has its own timescale and Page setup settings. Return to the High Level Gantt view and change the timescale major scale to Quarters and select the label titled “Q= tr 1, 2000”. Set the minor scale to M= onths and use the default label of “Jan, Feb, …”. Set the “Size” entry to 125%.

11.&= nbsp; Go to the= Page Setup settings for the High Level Gantt view. (Hint: Most of these can be found under the drop down box called “General” and then added to the section by clicking the “Add” button”)<= br> 11.1 For the center Footer section, adjust it to read “Page &[Page] of &[Pages]”
11.2 For the left Footer section a= dd the File Name and path.
11.3 For the right Footer section,= put in the Current Date (NOT the “Project Current Date”)
11.4 In the center Header section,= add the general item called “Project Title”
11.5 Change the font for the Proje= ct Title to be Arial, Bold, 11.
11.6 In= the right Header section, type in “Project Status Date: “ and then add the Proj= ect Status Date from the General drop down box. It should look like this when you are done: “Project Status Date: &[Status Date]”.

After you save your changes, look at the Print Preview for the High Level G= antt view and the regular Gantt Chart view and you ca= n see the page settings are view-dependent and not automatically the same for all views.

12.&= nbsp; Now we are ready to track the project and communicate results! Set your Project Status Date to June 1, 2001. Remember that the calendar d= rop down will default to today’s date, so depending upon when you do this exerc= ise, your current date and June 1, 2001 may be far apart. In these cases, it is often easier just= to type the date in the entry field. = So far, all that should have taken place is the Notice to proceed and the star= t of your general conditions. Go ahead = and Update (the project) as Scheduled (= Hint: Use the appropriate tracking toolbar button or use the menus to get to the option to “Update work as complete through 6/1/2001”).

13.&= nbsp; Task ID #= 4, Interior Demolition began on June 4^th, 2001 as scheduled but ran into a snag. There were unforeseen conditions in the building that will delay demolition. There is only a $10,000 increase in cos= t, according to your Demolition Subcontractor, but the task will now take 10 d= ays to complete. You received approval= from the owner for the change in cost, but they want to know what impact this de= lay will cause to the project’s finish date.
Change the scheduled duration to 10 days for Task ID #4. When prompted that this will cause a scheduling conflict, which is certainly no surprise since demolition was a critical task, do NOT cancel, choose the “Continue” option and commit the change in duration. The project fi= nish date should now be pushed back to 10/26/2001. Change the Fixed Cost for this task from $110,000 to $120,000 and ex= tend your general conditions duration to match the duration of the project (look= at the project summary task). Note th= at this will also increase project overall cost as personnel, equipment and re= al estate will be needed for a longer period.

It is now July 2^nd=, and the interiors work on the project is on schedule as of the demolition change. However, under site work, = the concrete subcontractor was delayed due to labor shortages and could not beg= in task 46 until June 25th. This is n= ot currently a critical task, but the delay does need to be reflected in the schedule, along with a written explanation to the owner of any task delayed longer than 5 working days. When y= ou enter the actual start date of June 25^th 2001 for task 46, this = will cause a scheduling conflict. As be= fore, Continue with the conflict, as we are entering actual data here and want the impact to the schedule to be seen. This change makes tasks 46 through 48 critical, with = task 48 finishing on 10/25/01. It is no= w much further behind, but still before the approved change in project finish date= of 10/26/01.

This update will be a little trickier. You will have to update many individual tasks. Use the tracking table to enter the act= ual start date for task 46. Here are s= ome hints:

Very first thing, Cha= nge your Project Status Date to July 2, 2001
Filter for a date range from 5/21/01 to 7/1/01 so you can focus on just the June tasks to update
For tasks that went according to the current schedule, use the Update as Scheduled button the only actual date you need to enter is the new Actual S= tart for task 46.
After entering the actual start for 46, and choosing to “Continue”, Project reschedules all impacted tasks
Be sure to make the remaining tasks scheduled fo= r June to be “Updated as Scheduled.”
Be sure to update all tasks that have any work to be done in June 2001 as described

The total Actual Cost to date is $491,190.48. If you have followed all of these steps in the correct order, this s= hould match the value in your file. Use = the Statistics Dialog box.

14.&= nbsp; Your tota= l cost variance to the project is now $15, 931.43, before adding any general overh= ead or profit. This was caused by the increased demolition cost and duration, which further extended the duration= of the project. Since this increase a= dded duration to the project, you must increase the duration of the General Conditions, which increases its cost as well. The resources must be used longer, so t= he cost to the project is greater. In= most cases, you would enter cost information as it applies to the customer and n= ot to yourself, since you are submitting a cost and resource loaded schedule.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> We will pretend for the sake of argumen= t that the increased values of General Conditions and Demolition include contracto= r’s labor burden, G&A and profit.

Export the Earned Value data to an excel file and call it Apartment6Earned-Your Initi= als.xls. Clean up your spreadsheet the same way = those exercises direct you to do and add a column for the CPI. Enter Your Name in cell B82 and copy the CPI formula from K2 down to cell K80. You will have some #D= IV/0! errors, but that is fine. On Page setup, set the orientation to Landscape and Adjust to 75% no= rmal size. With 1” margins, this should= all print now. Your results may vary slightly. Turn this file in to your instructor as well.

15.&= nbsp; Turn in y= our completed Project file and Excel file as well as any additional printed vie= ws or reports your instructor may require. If you have access to a plotter, you may wish to plot the Gantt Chart and/or the Network Diagram just to see what the graphics look like for a project that is in progress.