Msproject Course Ware Part 1

Microsoft Project 2003 Training Courseware
Note: As Lesson 1 and 2 are not essential for learning Ms-Project, the same are not published here
Lesson 3: Project Management Overview
This Softcopy of this courseware may be given on special request (discretion of the MD) with a password for our website, for those students with a course fee of Rs.4000/-
Microsoft Corporation June 2003
ENGINEERS CADD CENTRE (P) LTD-F10-EUREKA COURT, AMEERPET, PH.98661-31068
Microsoft Project 2003 Training Courseware (for Reference only)
Lesson 3: Project Management Overview

Published: June 2003 Applies to: Microsoft Project Standard 2003 Microsoft Project Professional 2003 Microsoft Project Server 2003 Contents Objectives Project Management Overview Exercises and Labs
Objectives
What You Will Learn
After completing this Lesson you will be able to: Define a Project List the key parts of Project Management Define the role of the Project Manager Describe the Critical Path Method (CPM)
Recommended Reading
For a thorough discussion of Project Management and related fields, see the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK), a widely-accepted standard reference for Critical Path project management.
Project Management Overview

Definition of a Project
The Project Management Institute defines a project as a unique undertaking with a defined starting point and duration directed at achieving defined objectives, utilizing finite or infinite resources.
ENGINEERS CADD CENTRE (P) LTD, AMEERPET, HYD, PH98661-31068
(reference material only)
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The key parts of this definition: 1. A project has a unique objective. 2. A project has a definite start, duration, and finish. It has a temporary rather than open-ended duration. Some examples of projects are: Building a house Relocating a data center Writing a book Developing a software program
Project Management
Project management is the management of an organized set of activities directed toward a common goal, using specialized management structures and techniques. It includes:
Determining project objectives

What is the goal (or goals) of the project? Examples of project goals include building a bridge, relocating the MIS department to a new site, or installing a new phone system. More importantly, some examples of things that are not projects include scheduling the usage for a training facility or scheduling engineers in a technical service department. These are not projects because they do not meet all the criteria of a project. They do not have a definitive start, finish, and duration.
Managing manpower, budgets, and resources

Projects do not get done without people and other resources to do them. To ensure successful completion of a project, it is important to estimate correctly the number of personnel and the amount of equipment needed. It is also important to estimate the cost of the project. Some projects can be completed in a shorter time by increasing the manpower on the project. However, doing this also increases the cost. One of the project managers jobs is to maintain a balance between reducing costs and reducing the time to complete the project.
Reporting Progress
A key to project management is reporting progress. It is essential that key players in a project know what is happening, and whether they are behind or ahead of schedule. By reviewing progress on a regular basis, you can avoid possible problems in advance. For example, if you notice that a certain task was scheduled to take 10 days to accomplish, but on day 5 only 25% of the work was finished, you could try to reallocate resources to that task in order to complete it on time.
Evaluating efficiency and effectiveness

During and after a project, it is important to review and analyze the performance of the project. This information can provide valuable insight into possible changes to make for future projects. For example, your project was to build a house, and one of those steps was landscaping. After the project is finished, you notice that it took less time to do the landscaping than you originally planned. If you build another house, and the scope of the landscaping is comparable in both projects, this information could be valuable because you could reduce the time allocated for landscaping. By constantly reviewing the efficiency and effectiveness of your project, you can more accurately plan future projects.
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Project Managers
Project managers are responsible for managing projects. They coordinate projects and related tasks, and sometimes have direct management responsibilities for resources assigned to their project. The resources involved in one project may not be the same resources involved in another project. Project managers focus only on work that is specific to their project or projects, and are primarily task and time-constrained. How do I ensure my project gets finished in the shortest amount of time? is a question on every project managers mind each day.
Critical Path Method

The definitions and calculations in this section assume a simple project consisting of a set of tasks, task dependencies, and task constraints. Task dependency. This occurs if the start or finish of one task (the successor task) depends on the start or finish of another task (the predecessor task). For example, if Task B can start when Task A finishes or later, then Task A is a predecessor of Task B with a Finish-to-Start relationship. Other relationships are Start to Start, Finish to Finish, and Start to Finish. Lag time or lead time (negative lag time) can be specified in a relationship to allow the successor to start later or earlier than the original plain relationship. For example, a Start to Finish relationship with negative 2 days of lag time means that the successor can start 2 days before the predecessor finishes, or later. Task constraint. This limits when the task can occur, independent of other project tasks. For example, if a task cannot start any earlier than 1/1/02, then it would have a Start No Earlier Than (SNET) type of constraint with a constraint date of 1/1/02. Critical Path Method (CPM).This is a method of calculating the total duration of a project based on a specified project start date and on the individual duration of tasks and on their dependencies. CPM also provides information about how far a task can slip into the future before it moves other tasks or makes the project finish later.
For a specified project start date and a set of tasks along with their dependencies and constraints, the CPM method calculates the following: The earliest each task can start and finish, and the earliest the project can finish. The latest each task can start and finish, without causing the project to finish later. How far into the future each task can slip without causing any other task to finish later, and how far into the future each task can slip without causing any other task to finish later. Which tasks are critical, for example which tasks will cause the project to finish later if they slip.
Before looking at how the CPM works, here are a few related definitions from Microsoft Project Help: Table 1. Terms and Definitions Microsoft Project field definitions can be found in the online Help (see Table 1). To find these, click the Help menu and select Contents and Index. Click the Index tab and type the name of the field or select Reference on the right side of the Help screen and drill down to field definitions.
Term Critical path Definition The series of tasks that must be completed on schedule for a project to finish on
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schedule. Each task on the critical path is a critical task. Most tasks in a typical project have some slack and can therefore be delayed a little without affecting the project finish date. Those tasks that cannot be delayed without affecting the project finish date are the critical tasks. As you modify tasks to resolve over allocations or other problems in your schedule, be aware of the critical tasks and recognize that changes to them will affect your project finish date. Critical Path Method (CPM) Critical task A project management method of calculating the total duration of a project based on individual task durations and their interdependencies. A task that must be completed on schedule for the project to finish on time. If a critical task is delayed, the project completion date is also delayed. A series of critical tasks makes up a project's critical path. This is the earliest date that a task could possibly finish, based on early finish dates of predecessor and successor tasks, other constraints, and any leveling delay. This is the earliest date that a task could possibly begin, based on the early start dates of predecessor and successor tasks, and other constraints. The amount of time a task can slip before it delays another task. A delay between tasks that have a dependency. For example, if you need a two-day delay between the finish of one task and the start of another, you can establish a finish-to-start relationship and specify a two-day lag time. You enter lag time as a positive value relationship. This is the latest date that a task can finish without delaying the finish of the project. This date is based on the tasks late start date, as well as the late start and late finish dates of predecessor and successor tasks, and other constraints. This is the latest date that a task can start without delaying the finish of the project. This date is based on the tasks start date, as well as the late start and late finish dates of predecessor and successor tasks, and other constraints. A task whose start or finish determines the start or finish of another task. The amount of time a task can slip before it affects another task's dates or the project finish date. Slack is sometimes referred to as float time. A task that cannot start or finish until another task starts or finishes. 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. By using these dependencies effectively, you can modify the critical path and shorten your project schedule slack. The amount of time a task can slip before it delays the project finish date. When the total slack is negative, the duration for a task is too long for its successor to begin on the date required by its constraint.
Early Finish Early Start Free Slack Lag Time
Late Finish
Late Start
Predecessor Slack (or float) Successor Task Dependency
Total Slack
Microsoft Project field definitions can be found in the online Help. To access, click the Help menu and select Contents and Index. Click the Index tab and type the name of the field or select Reference on the right side of the Help screen and drill down to field definitions. CPM produces results by doing a Forward Pass calculation followed by a Backward Pass calculation (see Table 2). Table 2. Definition of Forward and Backward Pass Forward Pass All tasks are calculated to start as early as possible for the specified task dependencies and constraints, and the specified project start date. The latest finishing task(s) determines the project finish date. The Early Start and Early Finish dates for each task are calculated during this pass All tasks are calculated to finish as late as
Backward Pass
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possible for the specified task dependencies and constraints, and the project finish date calculated from the Forward Pass. The Late Start and Late Finish dates are calculated for each task during this pass.
Example
A project starts on Jan. 1, 2003 and every day is a working day. The four columns in Table 3 are the specified task ID, Duration (in days), Predecessors, and Successors. All the relationships are Finish to Start, and there are no other constraints (like Start No Earlier Than). Table 3. PM Overview Exercise Task
ID 1 2 3 4 5 Duration 2d 4d 3d 2d 3d 4 1,2 5 Predecessor Successor 3 3
Forward Pass
In Table 4, the cells filled with the letter E show how the task Early Start and Early Finish dates are calculated during the Forward Pass. Notice that tasks with no predecessors start at the specified project start date (Jan. 1), and other tasks are scheduled as early as possible for the specified relationships. The calculated project finish date is Jan. 7. Table 4. PM Overview Early Start/Early Finish Dates
ID 1 2 3 4 5 Dur. 2d 4d 3d 2d 3d 4 1,2 5 E E E E E Pred. Succ. 3 3 Jan 1 E E Jan 2 E E E E E E E Jan 3 Jan 4 Jan 5 Jan 6 Jan 7 Jan 8 Jan 9 Early Start Jan 1 Jan 1 Jan 5 Jan 1 Jan 3 Early Finish Jan 2 Jan 4 Jan 7 Jan 2 Jan 5
Backward Pass
In Table 5, the cells filled with the letter X show how the task Late Start and Late Finish dates are calculated during the Backward Pass. Notice that tasks with no successors start at the project finish date that was calculated during the Forward Pass (Jan 7), and that other tasks are scheduled as late as possible for the specified relationships.
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Table 5. PM Overview Late Start/Late Finish Dates

ID 1 2 3 4 5 Dur. 2d 4d 3d 2d 3d 4 1,2 5 L L L L L Pred. Succ. 3 3 L L Jan 1 Jan 2 Jan 3 L L Jan 4 L L L L L Jan 5 Jan 6 Jan 7 Late Start Jan 3 Jan 1 Jan 5 Jan 3 Jan 5 Late Finish Jan 4 Jan 4 Jan 7 Jan 4 Jan 7
A comparison of the Early and Late dates for a task is used to compute its Total Slack and to determine if the task is critical (zero Total Slack). From the Table 6, you can see that the only critical tasks are task 2 and 3, and that they form a single critical path from the start to the end of the project. Table 6. PM Overview Slack
ID 1 Dur. 2d Pred. Succ. 3 Jan 1 E Jan 2 E L 2 4d 3 E L 3 3d 1,2 E L E L L E L E L 4 2d 5 E E L 5 3d 4 E L E E L L L 2d No E L E L 2d No 0d Yes 0d Yes Jan 3 Jan 4 Jan 5 Jan 6 Jan 7 Total Slack 2d Critical No
More complicated projects can have more than one critical path. These project management principles form the basis for the way that Microsoft Project operates and you will see them utilized as you move through this manual.
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Lesson 3: Exercises and Labs

Exercises
1. Which of the following best fits the definition of a single project? A. The activities required to build a convention center. B. The cases a law firm works on year after year. C. A law firm preparing for a specific case. D. Daily activities during the life of a person. E. Creating a new video game 2. What is the acronym and name of the procedure in which a Forward Pass and a Backward Pass are used to calculate slack? A. DPM - Double Pass Method B. CPM - Critical Path Method C. FBM - Forward Backward Method 3. If the Early bar (from Early Start to Early Finish) exactly matches the Late bar (from Late Start to Late Finish), and each bar is 5 working days long, then which of the following are true (identify all correct answers): A. The Total Slack of the task is 5d B. The Total Slack of the task is 0d C. The task is critical D. No such task can exist 4. Is the Backward Pass used to calculate the Early bar or the Late bar?
Lab 1. Calculate Early Start and Finish, Late Start and Finish, Total Slack, and if Critical for tasks
Figure 1 shows a project with three tasks with no constraints. The project is scheduled from start and the relationships are all simple Finish to Start. A standard 5 day work week is used (Mon-Fri, 8 A.M.12 P.M., 1 P.M.-5 P.M.) and each task starts at 8 A.M. and ends at 5 P.M.
Figure 1. PM Overview Three Task Exercise A. Based only on what you see in Figure 1, complete the table below by filling in values for tasks T1 and T3 (without actually creating the project). Don't include the time of day with the dates.
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Table 7. PM Overview Three Task Exercise Table

Name T1 T2 T3 8/15 8/18 8/15 8/18 0d Yes Early Start Early Finish Late Start Late Finish Total Slack Critical
B. Verify your answers by creating the above project in Microsoft Project. You'll need to set the Project Start date to 8/11/97 (by clicking Project Information from the Project menu). You'll also need to insert the appropriate columns in a task table in Microsoft Project.
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Answers to Exercises
1. The following best fits the definition of a single project: B. The activities required to build a convention center. C. Law firm preparing for a specific case. D. Creating a new video game. 2. What is the acronym and name of the procedure in which a Forward Pass and a Backward Pass are used to calculate slack? B. CPM, (Critical Path Method) 3. If the Early bar (from Early Start to Early Finish) exactly matches the Late bar (from Late Start to Late Finish), and each bar is 5 working days long, then which of the following are true (identify all correct answers): B. The Total Slack of the task is 0d C. The task is critical 4. The Backward Pass is used to calculate the Late bar.
Lab 1. Answers
Name T1 T2 T3 Early Start 8/11 8/15 8/11 Early Finish 8/12 8/18 8/14 Late Start 8/13 8/15 8/11 Late Finish 8/14 8/18 8/14 Total Slack 2d 0d 0d Critical No Yes Yes
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Lesson 4: Project Base Functionality
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Lesson 4: Project Base Functionality

Published: June 2003 Applies to: Microsoft Project Standard 2003 Microsoft Project Professional 2003 Microsoft Project Server 2003 Contents Objectives User Interface Overview Toolbars Button Toolbars Exercises and Lab
Objectives
What You Will Learn
After completing this Lesson you will be able to describe: Startup Task Pane View Bar Default menus and toolbars; shortcut menus Drop-down, date picker, and spin controls The Replace command Fill commands Linking Tasks Interface Autotab Most Recently Used Filename List Microsoft Intellimouse
User Interface Overview

Microsoft Project provides easy to use menus, toolbars and help to get users started. Most of the features in the user interface are common to all Microsoft Office applications, which reduces the learning curve if users are familiar with those programs. And by making the default menus and
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toolbars customizable, users can change Microsoft Project to suit the way they like to work. This lesson describes the variety of features available in the Microsoft Project user interface.
Project Information Dialog Box

Microsoft Project will automatically open a blank project file if no other file has been opened on startup. When ever a blank project is opened the Project Information dialog box is displayed where data about the dates for the project are entered.
Figure 1. Project Information dialog box
Customizing menus and toolbars

Menu transitions can be customized by selecting Tools from the menu bar, then clicking Customize and Toolbars. The menus appear as tabs when selected.
Figure 2. Customize dialog box
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Startup Task Pane

When Microsoft Project is launched for the first time the Startup Task Pane will appear to assist the user in creating new files or open existing files. The Startup Task Pane is discussed in more detail in Lesson 5: Generic User Support Tools. The Startup Task Pane appears in the far left of the application window as seen in the figure below.
Figure 3. Startup task pane
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View Bar
Microsoft Project has a View Bar similar to the Outlook Bar in Microsoft Outlook. The View Bar displays icons for all of the task and resource views listed on the View menu, and in the same order, including a More Views icon. Up and down scroll buttons are displayed in the View Bar if there are more views than can be seen at one time in the bar. To remove an icon from the View Bar the view name must be removed from the View menu. To remove the view name from the View menu the view itself must be edited. To edit a view to keep it from displaying in either the View menu or View Bar: Select View from the menu bar and click More Views Select the name of the view to change and click the Edit button Clear the option to Show in menu
The View Bar command on the View menu toggles the hidden/visible state of the View Bar. If the View Bar is displayed, the button corresponding to the active view is displayed depressed.
Figure 4. View Bar and View Bar toggle The name of each visible view pane is displayed in the left border of the pane only if the View Bar is not displayed.
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Figure 5. View name in left pane border if View Bar not displayed
Toolbars
Microsoft Project has four toolbars and a menu bar that display on first launch. They are Menu bar, Standard, Formatting, Task Pane, and Project Guide. The Menu bar contains basic commands such as File, Edit, etc. and cannot be hidden. All other toolbars can be hidden by selecting View from the menu bar and then selecting Toolbar. Toolbars that are displayed will have a check next to them, clearing the checkbox will hide the toolbar. You can create other toolbars by selecting Tools on the menu bar, then Customize, then the Toolbars submenu command. You can also right-click the toolbar and choose Customize. Command buttons are added by dragging a button onto a toolbar. To customize the button, right click the button while the Customize dialog box is still open. If the Customize dialog box is closed, pressing down the CRTL key and clicking the command will bring up a Customize Tool dialog box. Toolbars can be moved from one .mpp file into another using the Organizer (select Organizer from the Tools menu). All toolbars are stored in the Global.mpt file. Toolbars in a project will not display unless copied or moved to the Global.mpt. Customization and the Organizer are discussed in Lesson 26.
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The figure below is the Toolbar submenu that appears when View and then Toolbars is selected from the menu bar.
Figure 6. Toolbar
Microsoft Project Default Menus

The sample pictures in this section are from the Gantt Chart, Task Usage, and Resource Usage views unless specified otherwise. Some of the features shown in this section are disabled in some views. If the Customize dialog box is active, then menu command names in brackets [ ] are dynamic and change based on your actions. A / is used to separate command names that change based on context.
File Menu
The figure shows the File menu and its submenus if the Customize dialog box is displayed.
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Figure 7. File Menu Send To - The actual submenu appears as shown.
Use the Mail Recipient command to send files without routing slips. The Route Recipient command is to forward files with a routing slip. When the document has a routing slip, this command displays a dialog box asking if you want to send the project to the next routing recipient.
Edit Menu
The picture shows the Edit menu and its submenus when the Customize dialog box is displayed.
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Figure 8. Edit menu Submenu for the Fill command.
Submenu for the Clear command.
Submenu for the OLE command.
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The Cut, Copy, Delete or Clear commands are appended with Cell, Task, Resource, Assignment, or Row depending on what is selected in the view and whether a Task, Resource, or Usage view is active. Assignment is used when the selection includes only assignment rows in a usage view. Row is used when a selection includes both resources and assignment rows or both task and assignments rows in a usage view. It also supports Delete Cells on the timescale portion of the Usage view. The Paste as Hyperlink command creates a hyperlink of the copied data, if the source of the copied data supports it. The hyperlink information is stored in the Hyperlink, Hyperlink Address, Hyperlink SubAddress, and Hyperlink HREF fields. On the Fill submenu, only the Down and Up commands apply to tables. All the commands apply to the timescale portion of Usage views.
View menu
Figure 9. Default View menu items
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Figure 10. Default Task Table submenu items
Figure 11. Default Resource Table submenu items The default Toolbars submenu can be seen in Figure 6.
Dialog Box vs. Submenu

Command options with ellipses after the name will display a dialog box rather than a submenu. These commands have more functionality than what can be displayed in a submenu. The commands in these dialog boxes will be discussed in more detail in future lessons. Those dialog boxes are displayed below.
Insert menu
The figure below displays the Insert menu when the Customize dialog box is displayed.
Figure 12. Insert menu
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The default Insert menu items available depend on the active selection. If a blank task record is selected, then the page break item is disabled. if a blank resource record is selected, then recurring task, project, page break, drawing and object are disabled. If a cell is selected in the timescale grid of a usage view, then the Drawing item is disabled for both Task and Resource Usage, Recurring task and Project are also disabled in the Resource Usage view.
Format menu
Figure 13. Format menu The Drawing submenu is pictured below.
The Layout Now option is available only in the Calendar view. This option is used when the view needs to be refreshed after format changes are made. The default Details submenu items are shown below for various views:
Task Form
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Task Usage
Resource Form
Resource Usage
Resource Graph Figure 14. Default Details submenu items
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Tools menu for Microsoft Project Standard

The Tools menu below is the menu as seen in Microsoft Project Standard. The Tools menu for Microsoft Project Professional has some additional features which will be discussed in detail in the training lessons for Microsoft Project Professional.
Figure 15. Tools menu
Figure 16. Resource Sharing submenu
Figure 17. Tracking submenu
Figure 18. Macro submenu
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Figure 19. Customize submenu
Project menu
The picture shows the Project menu and its submenus if the Customize dialog box is displayed.
Figure 20. Project submenu
Sort submenu
This is how the Sort submenu appears when the Customize dialog box is not displayed.
Figure 21. Sort submenu If a task view is active:
If a resource view is active:
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Filtered for: submenu This is how the Filtered for: submenu appears when the Customize dialog box is not displayed. If a task view is active:
Figure 22. Filtered submenu If a resource view is active:
Figure 23. Group by dialog box
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If a task view is active:
If a resource view is active:
This is how the Outline submenu appears when the Customize dialog box is displayed.
Figure 24. Outline submenu Only Show is available in Resource views.
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The Show/Hide Assignments and Show/Hide Outline Symbols commands toggle between the words Hide and Show. The Hide/Show Assignments command is only enabled in Usage views.
Figure 25. WBS submenu
Collaborate menu
This is how the Collaborate menu appears whether the Customize dialog box is displayed or not.
Figure 26. Collaborate menu
Figure 27. Publish submenu
Window menu
This is how the Window menu appears when the Customize dialog box is displayed.
Figure 28. Window menu
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Help menu
Figure 29. Help menu
Figure 30. Getting Started submenu
Button Toolbars
Toolbars are another way to access the same commands available on the Menu bar. When the mouse cursor hovers over the button a tool tip will display the name of the command. Below is a list of the toolbars available in Microsoft Project from the View menu.
Figure 31. View Menu toolbars The check mark indicates that the toolbar has been activated.
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Enumerated Field Drop-down Control

Microsoft Project has drop-downs in dialog boxes for enumerated fields such as Priority. When a cell is active, it has a drop-down list of choices.
Figure 32. Drop-down controls The drop-down arrow is displayed in the selected cell, and aligned with the top of the cell. When the cell with a drop-down is selected, the text in the cell is left aligned. Because the Resource Names field may contain very long resource names, the width of in-cell drop-downs is limited to the maximum of the current width of the cell or a width of 20 characters. An enumerated field in a table automatically enters edit mode if you type in the cell or display the drop-down list. To display the drop-down list, click the drop-down arrow button on the left side of the cell, or by pressing the F4 or ALT+Down keys. When the drop-down is displayed, if there are too many choices to display at the same time, you can use the scroll bar or the Up and Down keys to scroll through the list.
Date Picker Control

The date picker control for date fields in dialog boxes and in tables provides an easy way to set dates. Single dates can be selected with the date picker control, but not date ranges.
Figure 33. Date Picker control in a task table
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The Spin Control

Spin controls are used in several Microsoft Project numeric fields. A spin control allows you to increase or decrease the value in a numeric field by predefined increments. Each field type has its own spin increment. The Microsoft Project numeric fields that use spin controls can be grouped into the five types listed below, along with their increment sizes: Table 1. Numeric fields using spin control
Field Type Duration/Delay/Work Lag Percent Units Increment 1 1 5 0.5 (= 50%)
The increment for Duration, Delay, Work and Lag field types is 1 of whatever the current unit is for the active cell. For example, if the Duration value displayed in a cell is 10d, then the increment is 1d. If the Duration value displayed in a cell is 2w the increment is 1w. The picture below displays the spin control in a table and in a dialog box.
Figure 34. Duration field spinner in a task table
Figure 35. Lag field spinner in the Predecessors Tab of the Task Information dialog box If a field has a spin control, you still have the option of entering a value rather than using the spin control. When using a spin control, it always displays in whole multiples of its increment size. If the current value lies between two spin increments (perhaps because you entered a value without the spin control), then the next spin begins at the increment value closest to the current entered value. Spin controls do not decrease or increase below or above the minimum or maximum legal values for the active field. For example, the task %Complete field cannot spin below 0% or above 100%. Keyboard shortcuts: The ALT+Down and ALT+Up keys can be used to spin down and up if the active cell has a spin control.
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The Replace Command The behavior of the Find and Replace commands in Microsoft Project is similar to their behavior in other Microsoft Office applications. The Replace command can be accessed from the Edit menu directly, or from the Find dialog box.
Figure 36. Replace command on the Edit menu
Figure 37. Replace button in the Find dialog box
Figure 38. Replace dialog box
Figure 39. After clicking Replace All with the Office Assistant activated
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Figure 40. After clicking Replace All without the assistant
What can be searched

Find is enabled in all views, except the Network Diagram view. Replace is enabled in all views except the Calendar, Resource Graph, Network Diagram, and Form views. The Replace command can be used to find and replace data in any editable field in a task or resource table. The Find what and Replace with fields accept up to 255 characters. All fields that can be inserted into a table are available in the Look in field list, except the Indicators field. This includes non-editable fields such as ID and BCWP. If you search on a non-editable field, no replacements are made and no error messages display. If the field is editable for some records but not others, replacements are ignored on the non-editable fields and no error messages display. For example, replacing 1d by 2d in the Duration field is ignored for summary tasks. The Find and Replace commands only look at records that are displayed in the current table. For example, records that are collapsed under summary tasks and records that are hidden by the current filter are ignored by the Find and Replace commands. However, the specified Look in field is searched even if it is not part of the current table definition. Search Sequence The search begins with the record that is immediately below or above the active record, depending on whether the Search setting is Down or Up. When the search reaches the bottom or top of the project, it automatically wraps around to the opposite end and continues. If you are using the Find Next or Replace buttons (instead of Replace All) and if at least one match is found, then an alert is displayed when the search is completed:
Figure 41. Search complete If you are using the Find Next or Replace buttons (instead of Replace All) and if no match was found, then the alert below is displayed when the search is completed:
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Figure 42. No match found If you are using Replace All then the alert displayed when the search is completed has the same form whether or not a match was found. For example, if no matches are found, then the alert below is displayed:
Figure 43. Replace All search complete Note: When doing a Find Next or Replace (instead of Replace All), the cell containing a match is automatically selected if the search field is in the table; otherwise the entire record is selected. The Find and Replace commands take into account fields with special formatting, such as date, duration, and cost fields. For example, searching for 1d in the Duration field will match entries formatted as 1 day. If you do not specify a work or duration unit in the Find what and Replace with fields when the Look in field setting is a work or duration field, then the default unit specified on the Schedule tab (from Tools menu select Options) is assumed. For example, if you are searching the Duration field and if Find what is set to 1 and Replace with is set to 2, and if the default duration unit is days, then 1d is replaced with 2d, but 1w is not a match.
Rich Text Notes

If you automatically replace text in a Notes field, then any rich text formatting is lost without any alerts. This is the same behavior that occurs when you edit a Notes field in a table instead of in the corresponding information dialog box.
Invalid replacements
If a Replace or Replace All command is run, and the Replace with value is not valid for the Look in field then an alert is displayed as illustrated in the picture below.
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Figure 44. Alert when the replacement value is invalid
Fill Commands
The Fill submenu has choices for Down, Right, Up, and Left. The Fill commands in Microsoft Project supports discontinuous multiple selections across multiple rows and columns. Invalid data is ignored during fills. The Fill Left and Right commands are only available in the timescaled grid portion of the Task and Resource Usage views.
Linking Tasks
When using the Link Tasks button on the Standard toolbar or the Link Tasks command from the Edit menu, tasks will be linked together in the order in which they have been selected. To select tasks that are not next to each other, press and hold the CTRL key and select the tasks.
Result
Autowrap Text
Text can be wrapped in table cells and column headers for better readability and to save space as needed.
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Wrapping text in column headers is turned on by default. Dragging the right side of the header cell to the left will cause the text to wrap. If more space is needed vertically, drag the bottom edge of the row down. To wrap text in a table cell, four requirements must be met: The field must be a text field The row height must be at least 2 rows or more The field must be left aligned There must be spaces between text
The Resource Name field does not wrap because there are no spaces between one resource name value and the next. There may be spaces between a first name and a last name for a resource, but that is considered one value. If spaces are entered between resource names while entering data, they will be removed once the Enter key is clicked.
Autotab
The Tab/Shift+Tab keys wrap the cursor to the next/previous row in tables. If the cursor is at the end/start of a row in a table and you press the Tab/Shift+Tab key, then Microsoft Project automatically positions the cursor at the start/end of the next/previous row.
Figure 45. Cursor is at end of row three
Figure 46. Pressing the Tab key moves it to the start of row four
Outlining Interface
Microsoft Project supports 65,535 levels of outlining. In Microsoft Project, only summary tasks have outline symbols. The symbol is "+" if the summary task is collapsed to hide its project tasks, and it is "-" if the summary task is expanded to show its project tasks. Click an outline symbol to toggle its collapsed/expanded state. This is consistent with the use of the outline symbols in Microsoft Excel and in the Windows Explorer. Double-click a summary task to display the Summary Task Information dialog box.
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This example illustrates the use of the +/- outline symbols in Microsoft Project. After pressing the Show All Subtasks toolbar button
After clicking the outline symbol for task T2
After clicking the "+" outline symbol for task T3
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Figure 47. Outlining Interface
Outline symbols in Usage views

In the Task Usage and Resource Usage views, outline symbols are used to toggle between the collapsed/expanded state of the assignment records under their corresponding parent task or resource records. This example illustrates the use of the +/- outline symbols in Task Usage view. After pressing the Show All Subtasks toolbar button
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Figure 48. Outline Symbols in Usage Views Double-clicking task, resource, and assignment records The following table lists the results when double-clicking task, resource, or assignment records. Table 2. Double-clicking results
Double-click this type of record Summary Task Recurring Task Regular Task Project Level Summary Task Assignment Cross Project Linked Task Microsoft Project 2003 displays this Summary Task Information Dialog box Recurring Task Information Dialog box Task Information Dialog box Summary Task Information Dialog box Assignment Information Dialog box If the external Project is in memory Microsoft Project switches to the external Project with focus on the linked task. If the external Project is not in memory - Microsoft Project brings up the Task information dialog box using the stored external field information thats in the current project. Resource Assignment Resource Information Dialog box Assignment Information Dialog box
Expanding Inserted Projects

Table 3. Expanding Inserted Projects Inserted project tasks that are not currently open (in memory) cannot be expanded using the Show All Subtasks toolbar button. Instead, such tasks must be selected, and the Show Subtasks toolbar button must be used. This is for performance reasons. It prevents you from unintentionally opening all inserted projects. Expanding an unopened inserted project causes it to be opened, which can slow performance, so you must explicitly select inserted projects in order to expand them.
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Most Recently Used Filename List

As with other Microsoft Office applications, Microsoft Project has a setting for Recently used file list: <n> entries in the General Tab (from the Tools menu select Options) that controls the maximum number of files that can be listed on the MRU (Most Recently Used) list at the bottom of the File menu.
Figure 49. Most Recently Used Filename The checkbox turns the MRU on or off. If the checkbox is selected, then a number between 1 and 9 can be specified for the number of entries. The following table shows the types of naming syntax that can show up in the MRU, depending on how a project was opened. Table 4. MRU naming syntax
Scenario A full project opened from an MPP file A full project opened from an ODBC database (via a machine DSN) A full project opened from an ODBC database (via a file DSN) A full project opened from an MPD or MDB file A full project opened from a Microsoft Project 4.x/95 database Opening a template (MPT) file A selective import from a TXT, CSV, or XLS file A selective import from an ODBC database (via a machine DSN) A selective import from an ODBC database (via a file DSN) MRU List Display FileBasename.mpp <DataSource Name>\ProjectName <ODBC Driver Name>\ProjectName <FileBasename.ext>\ProjectName <Data Source Name>\ProjectName FileBasename.mpt FileBasename.ext (MapName) <Data Source Name> (MapName) < ODBC Driver Name > (MapName) Title Bar Text FileBasename.mpp ProjectName ProjectName ProjectName ProjectName (Read-Only) FileBasename FileBasename Projectx (where x = next unused number) Projectx (where x = next unused number)
In the case where two projects in different directories with the exact same name are opened, the full path is displayed in the title bar with the file name (once the second project is opened). In the case where two projects in different databases with the same project name are opened, (or when the same project is opened twice via two different DSNs), the data source name is displayed in the title bar with the project name (once the second project is opened).
Intellimouse
Microsoft Project supports the wheel features of the Microsoft Intellimouse. The Microsoft IntelliMouse comes with drivers that create new mouse wheel events. This section describes how Microsoft Project responds to various wheel events. The table lists the wheel events that Microsoft Project supports, and the physical actions that generate the events.
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Table 5. Intellimouse wheel events

Wheel Event Scroll Pan Action that causes it Roll the mouse wheel. Hold wheel button down and drag the mouse pointer up, down, left or right. This produces continuous scrolling while you drag. Special home and directional pointer icons indicate that panning is active and the direction of the panning. For example, if you hold the wheel button down and drag to the right in the timescaled pane of the Gantt Chart view, then the following icons are displayed: Hold the Control key down while rolling the wheel. Hold the Shift key down while rolling the wheel to expand and collapse records.
Zoom DataZoom
The rest of this section describes how Microsoft Project responds to the above wheel events, depending on what type of view is active.
Sheet views
The table describes the wheel behavior in sheet views, like Task Sheet, Resource Sheet, and sheet portions of combined views, like the left pane of Gantt Chart and Usage views. Table 6. Intellimouse sheet view
Event Scroll Pan Project Response Rolling the wheel scrolls the sheet as if you click the scroll bar arrow buttons. If you click the wheel and drag left, right, up, or down, it scrolls the sheet continuously in that direction. If the view has a timescaled right pane, vertical scrolling the sheet also scrolls the timescale pane. Not supported. If the data in the sheet supports outlining, such as in the Gantt Chart, Task Usage, Resource Usage views, then DataZoom expands/collapses the selected record.
Zoom DataZoom
Timescaled views
The table describes the wheel behavior in the timescaled pane of views such as Gantt Chart, Usage, and Resource Graph. Table 7. Intellimouse timescale view
Event Scroll Pan Project Response The timescale pane does not support the Scroll event directly, although it scrolls vertically when the left pane is a sheet that responds to a vertical Scroll event. If you click the wheel and drag left, right, up, or down, it scrolls the timescale pane continuously in that direction. If the view has a sheet in the left pane, vertical scrolling the timescaled pane also scrolls the sheet pane. Vertical panning of the timescale pane is not supported in the Resource Graph view. Zoom If the mouse pointer is in the timescale side of the view and you do a Control-roll, then it zooms the timescale as if you had pressed the Zoom In or Zoom Out buttons on the toolbar. Same as Zoom.
DataZoom
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Network Diagram view

The table describes the wheel behavior in the Network Diagram view. Table 8. Intellimouse Network Diagram View
Event Scroll Pan Zoom DataZoom Project Response Roll the wheel to scroll the sheet as if you clicked the corresponding vertical or horizontal scroll bar button. If you click the wheel and drag left, right, up, or down, it scrolls the Network Diagram view continuously in that direction. If you do a CTRL-roll then it zooms the Network Diagram as if you pressed the Zoom In or Zoom Out buttons on the toolbar. Not supported
Calendar
The table describes the wheel behavior in the Calendar view. Table 9. Intellimouse Calendar View
Event Scroll Pan Zoom DataZoom Project Response Rolling the wheel vertically scrolls the Calendar vertically as if you clicked the corresponding vertical scroll bar button. If you click the wheel and drag up or down, it scrolls the Calendar view continuously in that direction. If you do a CTRL-roll, then it changes the height of the date boxes as if you pressed the Zoom In or Zoom Out buttons on the toolbar. DataZoom is the same as Zoom.
Forms (Task and Resource)

The table describes the wheel behavior in the Form views. Table 10. Intellimouse Form Views
Event Scroll Pan Zoom DataZoom Project Response Scrolling is support for navigating ahead and back through the records. It is the same as if you click the Next or Previous buttons in the form. Not supported. Not supported. Not supported.
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Resource Graph
The Resource Graph view is made up of two areas, the resource name area in the left pane and the timescaled right pane. The timescaled right pane behaves the same as any other timescaled view, except that vertical panning is not supported in the Resource Graph view. The resource name area in the left pane supports only the scroll event that behaves as if you clicked the horizontal scroll bar button to move to the previous or next resource. This is similar to the scroll event in Form views.
Print Preview
The table describes the wheel behavior in print preview: Table 11. Intellimouse Print Preview
Event Scroll Project Response When in multi-page view, or when zoomed in on a single page, it is the same as clicking the arrow buttons on the vertical scroll bar. In single page mode, it is the same as clicking the Up or Down buttons on the toolbar (to move between pages vertically). Pan
When zoomed in on a single page, it is the same as if you click on the scroll bar buttons to scroll the page, except that when it reaches the end of a page, it jumps to the next page. When in the non-zoomed single page mode, it is the same as if you click the Up, Down, Left, and Right buttons on the toolbar (to move between pages).
In multi-page mode, it is the same as if you click the arrow buttons on the vertical or horizontal scroll bar.
Zoom DataZoom
Moves between zoomed in, single page, and multi-page views of the preview. DataZoom is the same as Zoom.
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Lesson 4: Exercises and Lab

Exercises
1. How do you show or hide the View Bar? 2. What controls which icons are displayed on the View Bar and the order in which they are displayed? 3. What is the single term used to describe the Menu Bar and all the toolbars in Microsoft Project? 4. Where are toolbars saved? 5. What can be searched when using the Find command? 6. What happens when you double click a record? 7. How are outline symbols used to show or hide tasks? 8. Can the Resource Name field use text wrap?
Lab 1. Create a new toolbar

1. From the View menu click Toolbars and select Customize 2. Click the Toolbars tab 3. Click the New button 4. Enter a name and click OK 5. Click Command tabs 6. Drag any icon to the new toolbar 7. Right click the icon on the new toolbar 8. Try different options to assign a Marco or change the icon
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1. To show or hide the View Bar select the View menu and then select or clear the View Bar command. 2. The View Bar contents is determined by the View menu. Whether or not a view name displays in the View menu is determined by the option to Show in Menu for each view. 3. The single term used for all menus and toolbars is Toolbar. 4. Toolbars are saved to the Global.mpt file. 5. Most views can be searched when using the Find command except for the Network Diagram, Calendar, Resource Graph, and Form views. All fields from the Look in field list can also be searched. 6. When you double click a record the Information form for that type of record will display. 7. Outline symbols when single click will expand or collapse the tasks, essentially hiding or showing them. 8. The Resource Name field cannot wrap as there are no spaces between resource name values.
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Lesson 5: Generic User Support Tools
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Lesson 5: Generic User Support Tools

Published: June 2003 Applies to: Microsoft Project Standard 2003 Microsoft Project Professional 2003 Microsoft Project Server 2003 Contents Objectives Shared Office Tools Office Assistant Exercises and Labs
Objectives
What You Will Learn
After completing this lesson, you will be able to: Discuss tools shared with other Microsoft Office applications. Discuss task panes available. Show or hide the Office Assistant. Describe the Pop-up menu. Discuss the Office Assistant Options dialog box. Recognize Office Assistant alerts format. Describe the interface for the Planning Wizard. Describe how feedback presents alternative actions. Recognize the spell checker and its options. Describe the AutoCorrect feature. Discuss the Input Method Editor. Describe what types of information the System Information Checker provides. Recognize that fatal errors can be reported via the Web. Discuss the Safe Mode feature.
Recommended Reading
Office Common Components
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Shared Office Tools

Microsoft Office applications share a number of tools that assist users with basic functionality and ease of use. Because these tools are shared between applications once a user learns the use in one application they can be used easily in all other applications. These tools will be discussed in more detail in this lesson.
Task Panes
Overview
Task panes are modules and docked dialog boxes set to the right of most Microsoft Office applications, except in the case of Microsoft Project where they are located on the left. Task panes provide a common area for those commands that require more information or options than a simple toolbar provides. Microsoft Project uses two task panes, File New or Startup task pane, and Search task pane.
Startup Task Pane

The Startup task pane is also referred to as the File New task pane because it is invoked whenever you select New from the File menu (not the icon) and displays on opening the application.
Figure 1. Startup task pane
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The Startup task pane is used to start new projects or to open existing project files. Links can be added to Internet or Intranet sites where other projects are stored by clicking Add Network Place. Additional links are added under the option Templates on my Web Sites. Because some users may not like the amount of space that the pane occupies the task pane can be closed for the session or kept from displaying on launch of the application. The Startup task pane will displayed whenever the New command from the File menu is used. The dialog box can be closed by clicking the X in the upper right hand corner of the dialog box, however, it will display again on launch. There are two methods that can be used to turn off the Startup task pane and keep it from displaying when launching Microsoft Project. They are: Method 1. Uncheck the Show at startup box at the bottom of the task pane Method 2. From the Tools menu select Options, then select the General tab. Uncheck the Show Startup task pane
The Startup task pane will still display when ever New is selected from the Tools menu.
Search Task Pane

In addition to specifying a value to search for, the Search task pane also enables the user to specify the data field, location and file type to search. The Search task pane can be displayed by selecting the File menu and clicking Search or by clicking the drop-down menu in the Startup task pane.
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Figure 2. Search task pane Indexing Services and Fast Search have been incorporated into the Search feature. Fast Search builds upon the Indexing Services of Microsoft Office XP to create database catalogs of the Office files available on the hard drive, mapped network drives, SharePoint Team Services from Microsoft Web folders and SharePoint Portal Server projects. Cataloging makes it possible to search any Office file for information. For example, you can search for a specific word or phrase from one Office document and use Indexing Services to search for that information in any file that is listed in your Fast Search File catalog.
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Note When searching SharePoint Portal Server projects, SharePoint Web folders, and network shares, it is possible to receive incomplete search results if you do not have the proper access rights to perform a full search.
Enabling Fast Search

Just above the Search Options link in Figure 2 is notification as to whether or not Fast Search is enabled. To toggle on and off Fast Search click the Search Options link. The following dialog box will display:
Figure 3. Indexing Service Settings If the Advanced button is selected a dialog box displays the indexing activity and catalogs created.
Search Results
The Search Results task pane replaces the Search task pane as soon as the Search button is clicked.
Office Assistant
Microsoft Project supports the Office Assistant; a small, separate window that contains one of a variety of animated characters (actors) that offers assistance to users. It can be hidden, visible without a balloon caption, or visible without a caption. Table 1. Office Assistant window and balloon Office Assist toolbar button. Clicking this displays the Assistant if hidden. Office Assistant window in rest mode (no "balloon" caption).
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The Office Assistant home balloon with IntelliSearch.
The Office Assistant is often referred to simply as the Assistant. There are a variety of animated actors to choose from. To change the actor or change the kinds of help the Assistant delivers, doubleclick the Assistant and then click the Options button to display the Office Assistant options dialog box. The Office Assistant communicates the following types of information to Microsoft Project users: Optional interface for alert messages. Optional interface for Planning Wizards. An interface to IntelliSearch. IntelliSearch is the natural language search. The IntelliSearch interface is the home balloon caption of the Assistant, as shown above. The only interface to the tip of the day. Animations to facilitate time consuming activities (for example, resource leveling) and provide amusement.
General Behavior
Shared Behavior
The Office Assistant behaves the same across all active Office Assistant-compatible applications. It is either visible in all or hidden in all. It has the same position in all. Its properties are persistent and shared across all Office Assistant compatible applications. There are registry settings that remember its properties, such as the actor being used and its screen position. The registry settings are under: HKEY_Current_User \Software\Microsoft Office\Common\Assistant (Also duplicated under HKEY_Local_User) The Office Assistant is visible only if the following two conditions are met: Some Office Assistant-compatible application is running visibly. The application is active (has focus).
The general shared behavior of the Assistant includes the following:
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If the Assistant is visible, its state settings were saved to the registry. The Office DLL starts the Assistant when the first Office Assistant-compatible application starts. The Office DLL closes the Assistant when the last Office Assistant-compatible application is closed.
Popup Menu
Click the Assistant window with the alternate mouse button to display the dialog box shown below.
Figure 4. Office Assistant Popup Menu The Hide Assistant command closes the Assistant window. See the Office Assistant Options dialog box section for explanations of the other menu commands.
Office Assistant Options Dialog Box

The Office Assistant dialog box contains various options controlling the behavior of the Assistant. To display the dialog box, click the Office Assistant toolbar button or double-click the Assistant window if it is displayed. Then click the Options button in the balloon message that it displays.
Figure 5. Office Assistant dialog box The Gallery tab is used to select an actor for the Assistant.
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Showing and Hiding the Assistant

Showing the Assistant
If the Assistant is hidden, it can be shown in several ways: Click the Office Assistant toolbar button. This displays the Assistant, or toggles the home balloon if the Assistant is already displayed. From the Help menu, click Microsoft Project Help. Press the F1 key - this only works if the Respond to F1 key options is selected in the Office Assistant Options dialog box
The default position of the character in the shared preferences file is in the lower right-hand corner of an application, just inside the scroll bars. The character can be moved, and its new position is persistent across all Office Assistant-compatible applications (its position is saved in the registry).
Hiding the Assistant

The Assistant can be hidden as follows: Click the Assistant window with the alternate mouse button and choose Hide Assistant from the dialog box. The Options tab (selected in the above picture) has various options controlling how much and what kind of help the Assistant gives, as described in the table:
Table 2. Office Assistant Option/Command

Option/Command Respond to F1 key Action If this option is selected, then pressing the F1 key displays the Assistant's search balloon, even if the Assistant was previously hidden. If this option is not selected, then press the F1 key to display the old rectangular Help Topics: Microsoft Project dialog box with the Content, Index, and Find tabs. Help with wizards If this option is selected and if the Assistant is already visible, then Planning Wizards are displayed in an Assistant balloon If this option is not selected or if this option is selected but the Assistant is not visible, and then the Planning Wizards are displayed in the old rectangular dialog boxes The Planning Wizard settings in the Tools Options General tab still apply. Display alerts If this option is selected and if the Assistant is already visible, then alerts are displayed in an Assistant balloon. If this option is not selected or if this option is selected but the Assistant is not visible, and then Alerts are displayed in the old rectangular dialog boxes. Search for both product and programming help when programming Move when in the way Guess help topics Make sounds Using features more Not used in Microsoft Project.
Automatically tries to move the Assistant away from the part of the screen you are working in. Not used in Microsoft Project. Assistant makes various sounds when displaying messages. Not used in Microsoft Project
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effectively Using the mouse more effectively Keyboard shortcuts Only show high priority tips Show the Tip of the Day at startup Not used in Microsoft Project Not used in Microsoft Project Not used in Microsoft Project If this option is selected, then the Tip of the Day is displayed in an Assistant balloon when Microsoft Project starts, even if the Assistant was previously hidden. Also, the Tips button in the Assistant home balloon is enabled. The Assistant is the only way to display these tips. If this option is not selected, the Tip of the Day is not displayed at startup, and the Tips button in the Assistant home balloon is disabled. Reset my tips Resets the tips so that tips you have already seen can appear again.
Alerts/Help Messages
In Microsoft Project many alerts and help topics have been combined so that Microsoft Project can support the Office Assistant search capability. The Search button is a natural language search based on what you enter in the edit box. The Tips button displays a tip, but only if the Show tip of the day at startup option is selected in the Office Assistant Options dialog box. You can choose to display various alerts and messages in the Office Assistant Options dialog box. For example, if you try to copy data from a blank row and the Office Assistant is not visible or the above Display Alerts option is unchecked, then the following plain alert is given:
Figure 6. Plain Alert Nothing to Cut or Copy But if the Office Assistant is visible and the above Display Alerts option is checked, then the following alert is given:
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Figure 7. Office Assistant balloon alert Nothing to cut or copy For some complex and important topics, the Assistant will offer a Learn more about this subject (Help) button in the message. For example, the message that follows is displayed when you type the same value down the Duration field for several rows:
Figure 8. Planning Wizard balloon
Office Assistant Alerts Format

Office Assistant alerts have three different parts: Heading icon (some alerts have no heading icon)
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Heading text Alert text
Heading Icon. The table illustrates three general types of alerts and their heading icons. Note that the third type has no heading icon. Table 3. Three general types of alerts and their heading icons
Alert Style Information Description Provides information about the results of a command. Offers no user choices; the user acknowledges the message by clicking the OK button. Sample
Warning
Alerts the user to a condition or situation that requires the user's decision and input before proceeding, such as an impending action with potentially destructive, irreversible consequences. The message may be in the form of a question.
Critical
Informs the user of a serious problem that must be corrected before work can continue.
Heading Text (or Alert Title)

This is a brief description of the problem (usually one sentence). It is displayed at the top of the alert in bold. All Office alert heading text styles are the same. The font size is non-adjustable.
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Alert Text
The alert text is what normally is covered in a Help topic. It gives background about the problem and proposes resolutions, and is displayed below the alert title. The alert text style is non-bold, left aligned, and has the same font as the heading text. It supports bullets and numbered lists. There may be arbitrarily many paragraphs. A blank line (carriage return) separates paragraphs within a text block. Graphic elements may flow in the text stream, as well as character phrases. Character phrases are randomly selected from a list of character-specific phrases. Many alerts provide resolution options for an issue. For example, if a task start date is currently after the project start date and then you change the task start date to be before the project start date, the following alert is displayed:
Figure 9. Alert if a Task Start is after the Project Start Many common alerts (such as the alert to save changes) use the same text as other Office applications.
Planning Wizard
Interface for Planning Wizard
The Planning Wizard has an option in the Office Assistant dialog box to use the Assistant as the interface.
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Figure 10. Planning Wizard without the Assistant
Planning Wizard with the Assistant
Figure 11. Planning Wizard with the Assistant
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Kinds of Planning Wizard Messages

There are settings in the General tab (from the Tools menu select Options) that control what categories of advice Planning Wizard will give:
Figure 12. Planning Wizard settings in the General tab Planning Wizard messages belong to subgroups of messages corresponding to the three subcheckboxes shown above. The example above containing the phrase "You moved 'T2' just after 'T1' belongs to the Advice about Scheduling subgroup. Another example from that subgroup occurs if you try to move a task to a nonworking day, for example:
Figure 13. Planning Wizard alert if task moved to nonworking day
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Controlling Which Planning Wizard Messages are Displayed

There are three levels of control over which Planning Wizard messages are displayed. Unchecking the Advice from Planning Wizards checkbox, in the General tab (from the Tools menu select Options) stops all Planning Wizard messages from displaying. If you later reselect Advice from Planning Wizards, the subgroup checkboxes are restored to their previous state they are not automatically selected. Checking or unchecking a subgroup checkbox enables or disables all messages in that subgroup. Individual Planning Wizard messages contain a Don't tell me about this again checkbox, as shown in the pictures above. Unchecking this checkbox only disables that specific message. If any message in a subgroup is disabled this way, then the checkbox for that subgroup is filled with a grey pattern as illustrated in the Planning Wizard section of the General tab (from the Tools menu select Options).
Note To reactivate a specific message that was disabled using the Don't tell me about this again checkbox, you must reactivate the whole subgroup it belongs to (by clicking the grayed subgroup checkbox until it has a check in it). Then all messages in that subgroup are reactivated.
Smart Tags
Microsoft Project uses smart tags to explain project scheduling engine calculations and advise of alternate actions that may be more desirable. This feature is similar to the scheduling messages the Planning Wizard displays, the difference is that smart tags are less intrusive in the workspace. A red triangle in the edited cell will indicate that the edit just performed has made a change to the task that has scheduling ramifications. The indicator appears in Gantt Chart, Sheet, and Usage views. Hovering over the indicator will display a notice of a scheduling change. Clicking on the indicator will display alternate choices. The indicator in most cases will display as long as the edit is undoable, once a new edit is made the indicator will disappear. Edits for which feedback indicators will display are: Resource assignment Edits to Start and Finish Edits to Work, Units, or Duration Deletion in the Name column
Smart tags can be tuned off by going to the Tools menu and clicking Options, then select the Interface tab. Smart tags in Microsoft Office XP can be programmatically modified using the Smart Tags Software Developers Kit (SDK); however the SDK for Office XP will not work with Microsoft Project. Changes or creating custom smart tags in Microsoft Project is not available. Here is an example of how smart tags display in Microsoft Project when a task with a resource is assigned and the duration for the task is changed, affecting the work on the task:
Figure 14. Smart Tag display when duration is changed When a task name is deleted the indicator will be an in place of the indicator.
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Spelling Checker
The Spelling tab in the Options dialog box under the Tools menu, allows users to specify which Project text fields they want to search when performing a spelling checking.
Figure 15. Spelling Check options The list of fields to check is saved in the Microsoft Windows system registry, using the following line: Spelling="YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY" Each Y represents a particular field being set to Yes. Fields set to No would be indicated by an N instead.
Installation
The Spelling file, MSGR3EN.DLL, will be installed in the \Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Proof\1033 directory and used across all Microsoft Office applications.
Custom Dictionaries
Microsoft Office applications use the same zero byte CUSTOM.DIC file in the PROOF directory. The size of the file increases as words are added to the dictionary.
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Autocorrect
You can use the AutoCorrect feature to automatically correct words you often misspell or to insert text you use frequently. For example, you can create the entry qcp for the phrase Quality Check Phase. Whenever you type qcp followed by a space or punctuation mark, Microsoft Project automatically replaces qcp with the phrase Quality Check Phase. AutoCorrect is not available in Visual Basic lessons or in text boxes created by using the drawing toolbar.
Figure 16. Autocorrect dialog box AutoCorrect entries are added to a binary database file with a .acl file extension. The filename will be comprised of MSO and the number that corresponds to the language version you are using, such as MSO1033.ACL for English (United States). This file will be saved in the \Document and Settings\<user name>\Application data\Microsoft\Office directory and is shared with all Microsoft Office applications.
Input Method Editor

The Input Method Editor (IME) is like an add-on utility to the operating system that converts English keystrokes into foreign language characters. There are many different types of IMEs available, some through Microsoft and some through third-party vendors. For Office XP and Microsoft Project 2003 the IME is available with Language Pack Kits and Proofing Tools Kit. When IME is installed the fonts needed, will also be installed along with language support and Proofing Tools. There is a Language toolbar associated with the IME, when minimized it resides in the System Tray. Microsoft Project implements IME in the same way as Microsoft PowerPoint and Microsoft Access. Microsoft Project passes characters to a wrapper (AIMM 1.2) for regular API calls and then to another layer, Cicero, which in turn communicates with whichever Text Input Processor (TIP) is
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being used. There are three types of TIPs, one for speech, one for keyboards and one for handwriting. Microsoft Project 2003 will support the TIP for keyboards. Table 4. Language Packs available for Microsoft Project 2003 Standard
English Chinese (Simplified) Chinese (Traditional) Czech Danish Dutch (Default) Finnish French (Default) German (Default) Hebrew Italian (Default) Japanese Korean Norwegian (Bokmal) Polish Portuguese (Brazilian) Spanish (Modern Sort) Swedish Russian (NEW)
System Information
System Information (MSINFO32) is an application that provides detailed information about a users Microsoft Windows environment and may be a useful troubleshooting tool. The executable file, MSINFO32.EXE, is installed in the \Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\MSINFO directory and to the <windows directory>\system32\dllcache. This program can be executed directly, or from within Microsoft Project. To launch MSINFO32 from within Microsoft Project, select About Microsoft Project from the Help menu, then click the System Info button. This brings up the System Information dialog box.
Figure 17. System Information dialog box The Save button saves the information from all categories to a file name that the user specifies with the extension NFO. The Save Text Report button saves only the current selected node. The Print button allows the user to select All, Pages from and to, and the current Selection.
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Microsoft Office Application Error Reporting

Microsoft Office Application Error Reporting (MOAER) is an error-reporting tool that can provide Microsoft with reports when Office applications encounter failures as they occur in real time. It also gives users an opportunity to restart Microsoft Project and report this information to Microsoft for diagnosis. The basic design for the error-reporting feature is for a client program (DW.exe) to gather the information about the error and via the link in the dialog box the error can be sent directly to a Microsoft Server. This information in then used to understand customer issues and improve the next release of Microsoft Project.
Figure 18. MOAER dialog box for Microsoft Project If the user chooses click here then the following dialog box is displayed, which discusses the contents of the error report and how it will be used. There are options to view the technical information or to get more detail on Microsofts data collection policy via the Web.
Figure 19. MOAER Error Report information
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Figure 20. Safe Mode Error Report contents
Response from Microsoft

Once the report is received, if Microsoft has information that will assist the user to correct or work around the error, a link to the information will be sent back to the user. The reports that come into Microsoft are automatically handled for response and routing to the appropriate development group.
No Internet access
If no Internet access is available the information on the error can be retrieved from System Information. To access the information in System Info 1. Open the application, and click the Help menu then select System Info. 2. Click on the + sign next to Office Applications. 3. Click on Office Event/Application Fault.
Corporate Application Error Reporting

For corporate users with security and privacy issues there is another tool, Corporate Application Error Reporting (CAER), which gives corporate administrators complete control over errors that occur in their environment. Instead of the reports coming directly to Microsoft the reports can be sent to a corporate server. The Office Resource Kit (ORK) contains the CAER and information on how to implement it.
Safe Mode
Safe Mode is a feature that has been added to Office Applications in order to allow a user to start the application with certain parts of the application disabled in the case of unexpected error and/or file/registry corruption. Safe Mode is a collection of intelligent choices and work-arounds that Microsoft Project will automatically make as the application is launching in order to allow the application to start. It will also give the user suggestions about how to fix or repair the problem if the problem cannot be automatically repaired. For example, if a file caused Microsoft Project to shut down, the name of the file would be recorded in the registry on a Pending list, so that action can be taken the next time Microsoft Project is launched. The next time Microsoft Project is opened, the registry list is checked. Since the name of the file is
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found in the registry a dialog box will display to inform the user that the file caused problems the last time it was opened and are they sure they would like to open it now. If the user chooses not to open the file then the name of the file will be written to a Disabled Items list in the registry. Next time Microsoft Project is launched both Disabled and Pending Item lists will be checked. Disabled items will not be loaded and Pending items will be displayed for the user to take action on. The registry keys used to hold the lists are: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\10.0\MS Project\Resiliency\Pending HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\10.0\MS Project\Resiliency\Disabled
Failure During Safe Mode launch

If Microsoft Project fails during a Safe Mode then all parts that can be disabled for the application will be.
Manually Entering Safe Mode

Safe Mode can be entered manually by holding the CTRL key while starting the application.
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Exercises
1. What are the five roles that the Office Assistant can play in Microsoft Project? 2. Suppose that the Office Assistant is not showing in Microsoft Project and then you switch to Microsoft Excel and show the Office Assistant. Will the Office Assistant be showing when you switch back to Microsoft Project? 3. Which options in the Office Assistant dialog box Options tab are used by Microsoft Project? 4. What are smart tags and when will they display? 5. What are the two task panes the Microsoft Project employs? 6. When using the Search command only the local hard drive is searched. T or F 7. What is the IME used for?
Lab 1. Create your own AutoCorrect entries

1. Start Microsoft Project. 2. From the Tools menu select AutoCorrect. 3. Enter your initials in the Replace box and type your full name in the With box and click OK. 4. Enter your initials in either the Resource or Task Name cell.
Lab 2. Experience Smart Tags when modifying data for tasks

1. Create a project plan with three tasks and a resource assigned to each. 2. Change the duration of one of the tasks. 3. Select the Task Name and click the DELETE key. 4. Enter percent complete on a task and enter. 5. Then change the finish date for the same task.
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1. Alert messages Planning Wizard IntelliSearch Tip of the Day Provide amusement 2. Yes, if the Office Assistant shows in one Office application it shows in all. 3. Respond to F1 key Help with Wizards Display Alerts Move when in the way Make sounds Show Tip of the Day Reset Tips 4. Smart tags are another way to display Planning Wizard messages that are less intrusive to the user. They display when edits are made to resource assignments, start or finish dates, work, units or duration or if a task name is deleted. 5. The two task panes in Microsoft Project are Startup and Search. 6. False. Mapped network drives and SharePoint Web sites and SharePoint Portal projects are all searched in addition to the local hard drive. 7. IME is used to convert keyboard stokes in one language into another language
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Lesson 6: User Assistance
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Lesson 6: User Assistance

Published: June 2003 Applies to: Microsoft Project Standard 2003 Microsoft Project Professional 2003 Microsoft Project Server 2003 Contents Objectives Help Tutorial Project Map Project Guide Wizards Exercises and Labs
Objectives
What You Will Learn
After completing this lesson, you will be able to: List Help options in Microsoft Project. Use the tutorial to create a plan. Use the Project Map as a general guide to project planning. Use the Project Guide to track and manage a project plan. List the five wizards in Microsoft Project.
User Assistance Overview

Microsoft Project has content and tools for both novice and experienced project managers, which assists users with learning project management concepts as well as accomplishing goals. People have different ways of working and learning so Microsoft Project provides several different ways of offering help to suit individual needs. In addition to the extensive Help contents, there are tutorials and wizards. The latter half of this lesson will focus on these options.
Help
All Microsoft applications have extensive Help options that can be accessed by selecting the Help menu as seen in the following figure.
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Figure 1. Help menu Selecting Microsoft Project Help displays a separate window from the Microsoft Project 2003 application window; this allows the Help window to be minimized or closed without interfering with the project file. There are links in this window to some of the same features listed in the menu. They are: Whats New. A descriptive list of updates from the last Microsoft Project version. Project Map. Quick reference to Microsoft Project activities. Tutorial. Step-by-step scenarios for using Microsoft Project. Reference. Extensive README files on all aspects of Microsoft Project usage, setup, and programming; Troubleshooting; All Abouts; field references; andmore.
Items not in the Microsoft Project Help window but listed in the Help menu are: Microsoft Project on the Web. A link to Microsoft Project Home page. Office on the Web. A link to Microsoft Office Home page. Detect and Repair. Scans files, directories, and registry settings for correctness and repair any problems it detects. About Microsoft Project. In addition to licensing information, product version number and Product ID number there are three feature options, System Info, Tech Support and Disabled Items. Disabled Items and System Info are both discussed in Lesson 5: User Support Tools. Tech Support lists ways for a user to contact Microsoft directly if they exhaust Help and need further assistance.
The Microsoft Project Help window is divided into two sections, search window on the left and content on the right. If only one pane appears use the Hide button on the toolbar to expose the search window (second button from the left as seen in fig 4-2 below) Three tabs are located across the top of the search window beneath the toolbar; Contents, Answer Wizard, and Index.
Figure 2. Help toolbar
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The following table provides a list of the toolbar button names and their function. Table 1. Help Toolbar definitions Auto Tile Hide Back Forward Print Options Toggles the Microsoft Project application window and the Help window from side by side to overlapping. Closes the tabbed or left hand side of the Help window Pages back from last selection Pages forward from last selection Prints Help contents. Contains navigation commands, Refresh and Internet Options when accessing Help on the Web.
The tabs in the left side of the Help window provide three different ways to search for needed information. The Contents tab is similar to a table of contents to find general topics; the list can be browsed and expanded. The Answer Wizard uses a natural language search engine so the user can type in their question and click the Search button and topics closely related to their issue will be returned. The Index tab, like in the back of a reference book, directs users to specific information. Once a topic is selected the information in the contents pane on the right.
Topics of interest
Some of the most valuable Help topics are: All about Help topics Field reference Views, tables, filters, and groups
They can be easily accessed choosing Content and Index from the Help menu, then select Reference, and click on Microsoft Project reference.
Tutorial
Those new to project management or Microsoft Project may have questions about creating and managing a project. The tutorial provides information about basic project management and Microsoft Project concepts, and then leads users through lessons in which they'll learn how to create a plan, track its progress, and communicate the results. Each lesson for creating a plan, tracking progress, and communicating results contains a set of stepby-step directions with simple navigation to lead users through the process. The tutorial is accessed by selecting the Help menu, then selecting Getting Started and clicking Tutorial.
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Project Map
The Project Map provides links that describe common project management activities. Clicking one of the links will display more detailed information on a specific topic; the links include procedures and project management practices. Project management is a complex process, and not all of the activities may apply to a specific situation. The map can serve as a general guide or it can provide details about setting up, managing, and completing a project plan. Clicking the Map button anywhere in Help will return the user to the Project Map. The Project Map can be accessed by selecting the Help menu, then selecting Getting Started and clicking Project Map. If you are browsing Help you can reactivate the Project Map by clicking the Map button at the top of the Help screen.
Figure 3. Map button to display Microsoft Project Map.
Project Guide
The Project Guide assists users with Projects core functionality, and introduces them to key project management principles and application knowledge. This will allow them to successfully use Microsoft Project to create a project plan, and then track and manage their project based on that plan. The Project Guide will guide a user through the main tasks they need to do, and actually help them accomplish those tasks. The Project Guide steps are simple to follow and easy to complete. What makes the Project Guide different from other Help is that being an HTML frame the information can change dynamically with user input. Not only does the content in the frame change but the view where project data is displayed will also change to match the activity in the Project Guide. The view is actually a second frame in the HTML page and ActiveX controls are making the transitions possible. Additionally, there are many companies and organizations that have their own project management methodology that differs from what Microsoft Project might present in the Project Guide. Therefore a key goal in the design of the Project Guide was to make it easily customizable and extensible. Making it possible for a Solution Provider, IT professional or consultant, to modify the Project Guide to reflect the methodology specific to a particular company. Because the Project Guide is built on ActiveX controls, new steps or pages can be added to existing content, default steps can be deleted or modified to reflect or enforce the philosophy or goals of the business. Customizing the Project Guide can reduce or even eliminate the need for employees to go through special training on corporate project management methodology because it can all be found in the tool itself. Information about customizing the Project Guide can be found in Lesson 52.
Project Guide User Interface

Once a project file has been opened from the Startup menu the Project Guide is displayed to the right of the View bar and left of the Project view.
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Figure 4. Partial view of screen with Project Guide displayed There is also a Goal Bar associated with the Project Guide used for navigation.
Figure 5. Project Guide Goal Bar The Project Guide can be closed using the X in the upper right of the frame. It will reopen when a button from the Goal Bar is selected. The Project Guide display can also be toggled by clicking the Show/Hide Project Guide button on the Goal Bar .
Also at the top of the Project Guide frame there are forward and back buttons for navigation between activities or steps in a wizard and the title of the activity.
Project Guide Usage

The Project Guide has broken down the process of creating and managing a project into four main areas. These areas can be accessed from the Goal Bar by clicking Tasks, Resources, Track, or Report. A complete list of all four areas and their activities is accessed by clicking Next Steps and Related Activities. As different goals are selected from the Project Guide the view to the right will dynamically change to suit the activity. For example the Gantt Chart displays for most activities selected in the Tasks functionality area. When the first activity in the resources area is selected the view changes to Resource Sheet. When the project file is saved the Project Guide is also saved in its current state. When the project file is reopened the user can continue using the Project Guide from where they left off, even in between steps of a wizard.
Disabling the Project Guide

Experienced users may not want the Project Guide to display automatically upon opening a project file, or users may want to gain more space for working with project views. The Project Guide can be disabled so that it will not display.
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To disable the Project Guide. 1. Select the Tools menu and click Options. 2. Select the Interface tab and clear the check box next to Display Project Guide. The Goal Bar is not hidden when the Project Guide is disabled. It is a separate toolbar whose display can be toggled on and off via the View menu. To hide the Goal Bar. 1. Select the View menu and click Toolbars 2. Clear the check mark next to Goal Bar
Wizards
A wizard is a set of two or more screens, sometimes called steps, that are used to lead a user through complex activities. Wizards are based on a decision tree, meaning the next step displayed in a wizard is determined by the selection made in the previous step. For example in Microsoft Projects Import Wizard, at one point the user might be asked if they wish to import the entire contents of a file or only selected data. If selective data is chosen, then a different screen will be displayed than if the full file were chosen. Generally, steps in a wizard will also include the right level of detailed information to assist in making the right choice for the users situation. Because wizards are self-explanatory their content will not be discussed in detail. There are five wizards in Microsoft Project as displayed in the following table. Table 2. Microsoft Project Wizards
Wizard New Project How to Access Under Tasks select Define the project From the Startup Task Pane under the heading New Calendar Under Tasks select Define general working times Under Resources select Define working times for resource then click Define additional calendars. Tracking Setup Import/Export Wizard Under Track select Prepare to track the progress of your project Under Tasks select List the tasks in the project, then click Import Wizard. When opening a XLS, XML, MDB, text or CSV file the Import Wizard uses similar screens to the Export Wizard when saving a file format other than a Microsoft Project file format.
If the user requests to navigate away from wizard before the wizard has completed the following dialog box will display:
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Figure 6. Warning when wizard has not completed This message is displayed when the user makes any selection that would end the wizard, such as changing views or Project Guide pages.
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Exercises
1. What are the main four user assistance features within Microsoft Project? 2. What makes the Microsoft Project Guide different from other Help options? 3. Which user assistance feature can be customized to suit business needs?
Labs
The object of this lab is to discover the Project Guide wizards. Lab 1 1. From Tasks section select Define the project. 2. Can you choose to schedule your project from finish? Lab 2 1. From Tasks select Define general working times. 2. Can you choose a new name for your calendar? Lab 3 1. From Resources select Define working times for resources then select Define additional calendars. 2. How do Define general working times and Define additional calendars differ?
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1. The four main user assistant features are Microsoft Project Help, Tutorial, Project Map and Project Guide. 2. Project Guide is an interactive tool that assists users in accomplishing specific goals. 3. Project Guide can be customized to suit business needs.
Answers to Labs
1. There is no option to schedule from finish the default is schedule from start. 2. New calendars can be created with unique names. 3. Define general working times modifies existing calendar templates, while Define additional calendars allows new calendars to be created.
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Lesson 7: Scheduling
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Lesson 7: Scheduling
Published: June 2003 Applies to: Microsoft Project Standard 2003 Microsoft Project Professional 2003 Microsoft Project Server 2003 Contents Objectives Project Scheduling Exercises and Lab
Objectives
What You Will Learn
After completing this lesson, you will be able to: Discuss the options that affect how Microsoft Project schedules tasks. Describe the difference between scheduling from Start vs. from Finish. Describe the options in the Project Information dialog box. Define different kinds of constraints. Describe task dependencies. Recognize how constraints and dependencies affect task scheduling. Define lead and lag time. Understand how deadline dates effect scheduling. See the effect of Tasks will always honor their constraints option setting. Calculate multiple critical paths.
Related Topics
Calendars Entering tasks and durations Resources and costs User interface
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Project Scheduling
Overview
Microsoft Project uses the Critical Path Method (CPM) of scheduling. However, there are features that affect scheduling or the way that a projects schedule is perceived. Here we will present an overview these features and briefly discuss how they relate to scheduling as a whole.
Figure 1. Scheduling Diagram The following symbols are used in this section: Table 1. Table of Symbols
[SS] = Scheduled Start [ES] = Early Start (FS) Finish to Start (SF) Start to Finish FNET- Finish No Earlier Than FNLT Finish No Later Than
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[LS] = Late Start [SF] = Scheduled Finish [EF] = Early Finish [LF] = Late Finish
(SS) Start to Start (FF) Finish to Finish ALAP As Late as Possible ASAP As Soon As Possible
MFO Must Finish On MSO Must Start On SNET Start No Earlier Than SNLT Start No Later Than
Project Level
Project Information
This dialog box displays by default when a blank project is opened. The options in this dialog box are very important in determining how tasks will be scheduled, how resource assignments will affect task scheduling, and project information even plays a role in tracking progress on the project plan. If the same default options will be used for subsequent project plans this dialog box can be suppressed by deselecting the option Prompt for project info for new projects in the General tab (from the Tools menu select Options). It can always be displayed again by selecting the Project menu and Project Information.
Figure 2. Project Information dialog box Start Date. The project start date specifies the first day of the first task. By default tasks are scheduled from or after this date. Finish Date. The project finish date specifies the date when all tasks should be complete. Schedule from. This option designates how a project is scheduled. There are two options Project Start Date and Project Finish Date. The differences in behavior are outlined below.
When scheduled from start, the following is true:

The projects finish date is calculated Delay values are positive and applied at the start of a task ALAP tasks ignore any Leveling Delay values as the task is already as late as possible Calculations are conducted as follows: For MSO and SNLT tasks: [LF] = [LS] + Duration For the predecessor task of an (SS) link: [LF] = [LS] + Duration
On the forward pass (performed first when scheduled from start): [EF] = [ES] + span of task + task leveling delay [SS] = [ES] + task leveling delay
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[SF] = [SS] + span of task
On the backward pass: [LS] = [LF] span of task Predecessor [LF] = successor [LS] successor task leveling delay (if finish is linked) Predecessor [LS] = successor [LS] successor task leveling delay (if start is linked)
When a project is scheduled from finish, the following is true:

The projects start date is calculated. Delay values are negative and applied at the finish of a task. ASAP tasks ignore any Leveling Delay values as the task is already as soon as possible. Calculations are conducted as follows: For MFO and FNET tasks: [ES] = [EF] Duration For a successor task of an (FF) link: [ES] = [EF] + Duration
On the backward pass (performed first when scheduled from finish): [LS] = [LF] span of task + task leveling delay [SF] = [LF] + task leveling delay [SS] = [SF] span of task
On the forward pass: [EF] = [ES] + span of task Successor [ES] = predecessor [EF] predecessor task leveling delay (if start is linked) Successor [EF] = predecessor [EF] predecessor task leveling delay (if finish is linked)
Current Date. This setting specifies the current date. It is used in place of the status date for the complete-through date in the Update Project dialog box if the current date is later than the status date, or the status date is set to NA. Status Date. Microsoft Project uses the status date to identify the complete-through date in the Update Project dialog box unless it is earlier than the current date setting. If you set the status date to NA, Microsoft Project uses the current date as the status date. Calendar. The specified calendar will be used to schedule tasks. The Standard calendar is a five days a week, eight hours a day with an hour break at noon. Priority. Priority sets the leveling order of importance for the project as a whole. It is used when using a resource pool or leveling a project with inserted projects. Priority may be set from 0 to 1000 with 1000 being the higher priority.
Calculation Tab
The options on the Calculation tab have effects on how Microsoft Projects scheduling engine will calculate. To access the options on the Calculation tab, select the Tools menu and then click Options.
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Figure 3. Calculation Tab Calculation mode. Setting this option to Automatic specifies that the project will automatically recalculate when information within the project changes. Setting this option to Manual allows the user to choose when to recalculate the information. Calculate. Identifies what projects to calculate. Calculate Now. Pressing this button will invoke a recalculation. Pressing F9 will also recalculate. These two settings persist for all project file opened on the client machine. Updating task status updates resource status. This option allows Microsoft Project to automatically calculate the actual and remaining work for resources assigned to a task as task percent complete information is entered into the project plan. If this option is selected, Microsoft Project recalculates actual work whenever information is entered into the %Complete, Actual Duration, or Remaining Duration fields. If this option is not selected, all Actual Work values for resources must be manually entered. This is a local setting saved with the active project. There is more information on this option in the lesson on tracking. Move end of completed task parts after status date back to status date and Move start of remaining parts before status date forward to status date. These options use the status date to determine on what date actuals are to be applied to a task and where the remaining work for that task will be scheduled. The options are: 1. Move end of completed task parts after status date back to status date. And move start of remaining parts back to status date.
2. Move start of remaining parts before status date forward to status date. And move end of completed parts forward to status date.
Option 1a is not available unless option 1 is selected, like wise option 2a is not available if option 2 has not been selected.
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If remaining work is to be rescheduled then the option Split in progress tasks on the Schedule tab must also be selected. If status date is NA (not set) then the current date will be used. Constraints on tasks will be ignored if these options are selected; actual start always overrides a constraint. The options will not apply when actuals are set on summary tasks. These options only apply when making total actual value edits such as: task total actual work, task actual duration, total %Complete, and %Work complete. For example, if timesheet actuals for a resource are sent via Microsoft Project Web Access the options will not apply. However, if %Work Complete is sent then the options will apply. There is more information on these options in Lesson 18: Tracking. Earned Value. There is more information on this topic in Lesson 19: Earned Value. Edits to total task % complete will spread to the Status date. This options when selected will task the total % complete for a task and divide the values evenly from the actual start of the task to the status date. Example: A five day task with 40 hrs of work, starts on Monday 8/13 at 8:00 am. The status date is 8/15 at 5:00 pm. If 50% is entered into % complete, actual work will be filled in as 8 hr for 8/13 and 8/14 and 4 hr for 8/15.
This topic is covered in detail in Lesson 18: Tracking Progress. Inserted projects are calculated like summary tasks. Microsoft Project calculates the Summary Level %Complete value based on its immediate subordinate tasks (summary and detail tasks). This method of calculation can cause the percent complete for a higher-level summary task to differ from a calculation done by hand if only the detail tasks and not the subordinate summary tasks are used. The %Complete for a summary task is a weighted average of its immediate subordinates. Actual costs are always calculated by Microsoft Project. When selected, Microsoft Project will use the actual work and/or actual duration to calculate actual costs. When deselected, all actual costs must be entered manually. Edits to total actual cost will be spread to the Status date. This option is only available when the above option is selected. This will fill in the actual costs up to the status date. Default Fixed costs accrual. This option determines when fixed costs will be calculated for tasks. There are three values for this option, Start, Prorated, and End. Calculate multiple critical paths. This option determines if multiple critical paths should be calculated. Tasks are critical if slack is less than or equal today. By default Microsoft Project considers a task as critical when slack equals zero. By entering a new value the critical path will be calculated based on the new value.
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Set Default. selecting this button will save these settings in the registry and new projects will take on the same options.
Schedule Tab
The Schedule tab also has options that will affect the way Microsoft Project calculates. Those options will be discussed below.
Figure 4. Schedule tab options Show Schedule Messages. Enabling this option displays warnings regarding problems with your projects schedule. If this option is disabled, you will not be alerted to potential problems with your schedule. Additionally scheduling messages may suggest alternatives as how to workaround the issue and accomplish the operation. Show Assignments Units. There are two options, show resource assignments as a percentage or a decimal. The default setting is percentage. New tasks. There are two options for when newly added tasks should be schedule to start; Start On Project Start Date or Current Date. Duration is entered in. This specifies the default unit of time (minutes, hours, days, weeks, or months) used in the work field. Microsoft Project uses this time unit when ever it displays work values, regardless of the unit used to enter the work. This is a local setting saved with the active project. The default setting is hours. Default task type. This option determines how Microsoft Project will calculate work on a task when resources are assigned. Task type will be discussed in more detail later in this lesson. New Tasks are effort driven. If this task is selected then as additional resources are assigned to a task the total work on the task will remain constant and the duration will decrease. If not selected as resources are assigned the work increases and duration remains constant. More information on this setting can be found in Lesson 15: Resource Assignment.
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Autolink inserted or moved tasks. Select this option to automatically re-link tasks when they are cut, moved, or inserted. If you clear this check box, Microsoft Project does not create any task dependencies when you cut, move, or insert tasks. This option only works for FS relationships. This is a local setting saved with the active project. Split In-Progress Tasks. Select the Split in-progress tasks checkbox to allow rescheduling of remaining duration and work when a task slips. If you select this check box, when you update tasktracking information, you can enter the date you stopped work on the task and the date you resumed work. Microsoft Project reschedules the remaining duration and work. If the checkbox is cleared, you cannot edit the Stop and Resume fields when you update task-tracking information. This is a local setting saved with the active project. For more information see Lesson 10: Split Tasks. Tasks will always honor their constraint dates. When this option is selected, two things occur. First, leveling cannot make adjustments to tasks that would violate their constraints. Second, a successor task must honor its constraint even if it means violating a relationship with a predecessor. When this option is not selected, Leveling can adjust tasks regardless of their constraints. Also, a successor can be scheduled as its predecessors dictate, even if it means that the successor constraint will be violated. Show that tasks have estimated durations. Displays a question mark (?) after the duration unit of any task with an estimated duration. New tasks have estimated durations. Specifies that all new tasks have estimated durations. To remove an estimated duration, click Task Information, and then clear the Estimated checkbox, or edit the duration of the task and omit the question mark. Set as default. This will save the settings to the registry so that new projects will take on the same options. Other options in this dialog box have more to do with how data is displayed and will be covered in other lessons.
Calendars
Project Calendar. The project calendar is used to schedule summary tasks, fixed duration tasks, tasks with no task calendar, and tasks with no assignments. Task Calendars. Task calendars affect the dates that a task is scheduled. For example, setting Wednesday as a nonworking day in a task calendar day will cause a 5 day duration task that starts on Monday to finish the following Monday. This is true even on a fixed-duration task. Task calendars are covered in more detail later in this course. Resource Calendars. Resource calendars affect the dates of fixed units and fixed work tasks. For example, you cannot edit timephased work for days specified as nonworking in these calendars. Note You can edit actual work on these non-working days. For detailed information see Lesson 13: Calendars.
Tasks
Outline Level. Tasks that are sub-tasks (or child tasks) to summary tasks (or parent tasks) are limited in how they are scheduled. A summary task gets its start and finish date from the earliest start and the latest finish of its sub-tasks. If a sub-tasks start is held in place by a scheduling factor then so
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is the summary task. Or vise versa, if the summary task cannot reschedule then the sub-tasks will be affected. Constraints. Constraints allow you to set the way you want to constrain the start or finish date of a task. When a date is manually entered into the schedule, either by typing a date or dragging a Gantt bar constraints are set. It is not always obvious when a constraint is set on a task. However, if a constraint is set on a task then an indicator will display for that task. More detailed information on constraints can be found later in this lesson. Dependencies. Dependencies specify the manner in which two tasks are linked. Because Microsoft Project must maintain the manner in which tasks are linked, dependencies can affect the way a task is scheduled. Dependencies may also include lead or lag time. This value may insert time into the relationships above. There is more detailed information on dependencies later in this lesson. Actual Start. Denotes the actual start date and time of a task. If this date exists for a task, the task is started on that date and Microsoft Project will not move the task unless a new Actual Start is entered. Percent Complete. Percent Complete specifies the amount a task that has been completed. Giving a task a percent complete value automatically sets it an Actual Start date. Thus they behave similarly. More information can be found in Lesson 18: Tracking Progress. Deadline Date. Unlike the Finish No Later Than constraint, the deadline date is not used when calculating the schedule. However, it does affect the late finish date of a task and its slack. An indicator is displayed if a task is scheduled beyond its deadline date. Task Type. Tasks innately have three interrelated variables: Duration, Units, and Work. A change in one of these affects the other two variables. In order to predict the change to these variables, Project allows you to fix one of the variables. This allows you to change a second variable and predict the change in the third. Task types are merely the fixing of one of the three variables. The three types of tasks and the way a change effects that task are shown in the table below: Table 2. Task Type Variables
Field that you change Work Duration Units Field Calculated if the task is Fixed Duration Units are recalculated Work is recalculated Work is recalculated Field Calculated if the task is Fixed Units Duration is recalculated Work is recalculated Duration is recalculated Field Calculated if the task is Fixed Work Duration is recalculated Units are recalculated Units are recalculated
For more information on the Type field see Lesson 15: Resource Assignments. Effort Driven. The effort driven setting specifies for Microsoft Project to keep the total task remaining work value at its current value as resources are assigned or removed from the task. Effort driven has no impact unless a task has remaining work greater than zero. Timephased Edits. Tasks may be manually edited on a timephased basis. These edits directly impact the schedule of a task. Sometimes these edits are not readily seen because of the timescale settings in the Task Usage or Resource Usage view. Priority. Affects the order that tasks are leveled in. Settings can be from 0 to 1000 with 1000 being the higher priority task.
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Leveling Delay. This field shows how much time a task is delayed over its regularly scheduled start. This value may be changed when a project is leveled or may be changed manually.
Resources
Resource Type. Microsoft Project 2003 includes both material and working resources. Material resources behave differently than working resources. For example, effort driven settings have no effect as material resources are added or removed from a task. Because material resources act differently than working resources, users may not get the behavior they expect as they assign or remove tasks. Material Resources are covered in more detail in Lesson 14: Resources. Units. When resources are assigned, the units setting for the assigned resource can affect the schedule of a task. For example, changing the units of an assigned resource on a fixed units task from 100% to 50% can double the length of your task. Availability. Resource Availability settings allow you to specify that a resource is available for an entire project or for a specific date range. Availability settings do not directly affect a tasks schedule, nor do they effect nonworking days for a resource. (for example, changing a resources availability dates does not affect its calendar.) Availability can change a tasks schedule, however, when combined with resource leveling. This is because a resource assigned to a task outside the resources availability dates is treated as over allocated. (for example, a resources max available units are set to 0 for non-available time.) Thus leveling may try to adjust tasks and/or assignments to resolve over allocations introduced by the availability settings.
Assignments
Contours. Contours allow you to shape the distribution of assigned work to a predefined pattern. If non-timephased work values for an assignment are then changed, Microsoft Project can change the schedule of a task to accommodate the predefined pattern. Manually editing the timephased assignment values on a task is then considered a custom contour. Actual Start/ Work. The actual start date of an assignment and/or the actual work of an assignment will fix the schedule of a task to match the values entered in the actual fields. This is similar to task actual start behavior. Delay. Delay may be manually edited to adjust individual assignments. For example, if you want a resource to work only the last half of a 10-day task, you may delay the resources assignment 5 days. When an assignment on a task has some delay, it does not necessarily change a tasks start date, but rather just the start date of the individual assignment. Leveling Delay. This field shows how much time an assignment is delayed over its regularly scheduled start. Delaying an assignment on a task may (or may not) delay the task as a whole. This value may be changed when a project is leveled or it may be changed manually. Leveling delay is added to any delay value on an assignment.
Scheduling a Project from Finish

Most project plans are scheduled from start even when there is a known delivery date, deadline or end of the project. However for some users scheduling from finish relates better to the way they do business.
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As you work with your project scheduled from a finish date, you should be aware of differences in the way Microsoft Project handles some activities. For example: When you enter tasks in a project scheduled from a finish date, Microsoft Project automatically assigns the As Late As Possible constraint. You should set other constraints only when necessary. If you change your project to schedule from a finish date, and it was previously scheduled from a start date, you will remove all leveling delays and leveling splits from tasks and assignments. If you drag a Gantt bar to change the finish date of a task, Microsoft Project automatically assigns a Finish No Later Than constraint. If you use automatic leveling to reduce resource overallocations in your project, Microsoft Project will add leveling delay after a task, rather than before a task.
Task Leveling Delay

The Leveling Delay field contains the amount of time that a task is to be delayed from its early start date (when the project is planned from start date) as a result of resource leveling. Task leveling delay is expressed in elapsed duration units, while assignment leveling delay is expressed in regular duration units. It supports negative delay values in schedule from finish projects. This causes a task or assignments finish date to occur earlier in time as the delay is applied from the finish end of the task or assignment. It only uses positive delay values when leveling a project that is scheduled from start and only uses negative delay values when scheduling a project that is scheduled from finish. When Microsoft Project performs resource leveling that requires tasks to be shifted, a delay value is entered in the Leveling Delay field to reflect this shift. The next examples will show the difference between schedule from start and schedule from finish when the project is resource leveled. Example 1. Project plan scheduled from Start. There are 3 tasks A, B and C as shown, and all days are working days.
Figure 5. Schedule from start Example 2. In a Schedule From Start Project with a positive 3 day task leveling delay on B, the tasks are scheduled as follows:
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Figure 6. Schedule from start with delay In the forward pass, the delay is added to Bs Early Start to give a new scheduled start and a new Early Finish date. In the backward pass, the delay is applied to the Bs predecessor link with A, giving A the Late Finish that is 3 days earlier than would normally have been calculated. Example 3. In a Schedule From Finish Project with a negative 3 day task leveling delay on B, the tasks are scheduled as follows:
Figure 7. Schedule from finish with negative delay In the backward pass (which is performed first) the negative delay is added to Bs Late Finish date to produce an earlier scheduled finish and earlier last start date than would have normally been calculated. In the forward pass, the negative delay on B is subtracted from Bs Early Finish date (subtracting a negative number results in addition), giving C a later Early Start date than would normally have been calculated.
Constraints
Constraints provide some flexibility in how tasks are scheduled within Microsoft Project. It allows control of the specific Start or Finish dates that may not be controlled by the availability of a resource
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or predecessor. Constraints allow time limits to be imposed for such things as contract milestones, deliverables or funding start dates. Misconception occurs when users dont realize a constraint has been placed on a task and do not understand why a task is being scheduled at an unexpected date. An indicator will display when a constraint other than As Soon As Possible is on a task. Below is a picture of the indicator and the tooltip that appears when you hold your mouse over it.
Figure 8. Indicator for Start No Earlier Than constraint With a hard constraint the indicator will be red in color instead of blue. A constraint is considered hard when it restricts tasks to starting or finishing on a specific date. Every task in Microsoft Project has a constraint. If you create a task in Microsoft Project and dont specify a start or finish date then Microsoft Project will assign an As Soon As Possible constraint to the task. If you were to type in a start date for a task, Microsoft Project will assign a Start No Earlier Than constraint. If you were to type in a finish date for a task, Microsoft Project will assign a Finish No Earlier Than constraint. The constraint must be assigned for the task to be scheduled at the date you specify. If you must assign a constraint to a task, Start No Earlier Than is probably the best choice since this will still allow a task to be delayed forward in the schedule. Constraints can also be assigned to tasks through the Task Information dialog box on the Advanced tab. The following table lists and describes the constraints available in Microsoft Project: Table 3. Constraint types
Constraint As Late As Possible (ALAP) As Soon As Possible (ASAP) Finish No Earlier Than (FNET) Finish No Later Than (FNLT) Must Finish On (MFO) Must Start On (MSO) Start No Earlier Than (SNET) Start No Later Than (SNLT) Description Schedules the task as late as it can occur in the schedule without delaying subsequent tasks. Do not enter a constraint date with this constraint.. Schedules the task to begin as early as it can occur. This is the default constraint for tasks. Do not enter a constraint date with this constraint. Schedules the task to finish on or after the constraint date. Use it to ensure that a task does not finish before a certain date. Schedules the task to finish on or before the constraint date. Use it to ensure that a task does not finish after a certain date. Schedules the task to finish on the constraint date. Sets the early, scheduled, and late finish dates to the date you type, and anchors the task in the schedule. Schedules the task to start on the constraint date. Sets the early, scheduled, and late start dates to the date you type, and anchors the task in the schedule. Schedules the task to start on or after the constraint date. Use it to ensure that a task does not start before a specified date. Schedules the task to start on or before the constraint date. Use it to ensure that a task does not start after a specified date.
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Tasks will always honor their constraint dates

In Microsoft Project the option Tasks will always honor their constraint dates controls whether or not constraints can be violated in order to obey predecessor/successor relationships, or to resolve overallocations during leveling. From the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Schedule tab.
Figure 9. Honor Task Constraints This setting is selected by default and is a per project setting. The setting behaves as follows: If selected, then leveling cannot make adjustments to tasks that would violate their constraints, such as MSO (Must Start On), MFO (Must Finish On), FNLT (Finish No Later Than), and SNLT (Start No Later Than). Also, a successor task must honor its constraint even if it means violating a relationship with a predecessor. If not selected, then leveling can adjust tasks regardless of their constraints. Also, a successor can be scheduled as its predecessors dictate, even if it means that the successor constraint will be violated. In cases where a constraint is ignored to satisfy a relationship, the successor still has negative slack, although it is scheduled as the relationship dictates.
When the setting is on, it can impact the behavior of the MSO and MFO constraints, whether the project is scheduled from finish or start. It impacts the behavior of the future limiting FNLT and SNLT constraints only if the project is scheduled from start, and it impacts the past limiting FNET and SNET constraints only if the project is scheduled from finish. The following example illustrates the impact of the new Tasks will always honor their constraint dates setting in a project scheduled from start. Figure 7 displays the original schedule with no scheduling problems. Task T2 is the predecessor of task T3, with a Finish-to-Start relationship with no lag time, and T3 has the future limiting constraint of FNLT 6/4.
Figure 10. Original schedule before moving the predecessor The bar for the predecessor T2 is dragged into the future to 6/6 (giving it an SNET constraint); giving T2 an Actual Start date of 6/6 would have had the same impact. After dragging T2 to 6/6 and dropping it, the following alert displayed in Figure 8, regardless of the Tasks will always honor their constraint dates setting:
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Figure 11. Planning Wizard After OK is clicked, the result depends on the Tasks will always honor their constraint dates setting, as shown in the two figures below:
Figure 12. Tasks will always honor their constraint dates' setting is ON
Figure 13. Tasks will always honor their constraint dates' setting is OFF
Deadlines
Deadline dates can be added to any task, with the exception of the project summary task, a summary task representing an inserted project, or the summary task of a recurring task series. Deadlines are entered in the Constrain task grouping on the Advanced tab of the Task Information dialog box. To assign a deadline to a task: 1. Double click the task that will be assigned a deadline date. 2. Click on the Advanced tab of the Task Information dialog box. 3. In the Deadline field, set a deadline date. Click OK. With a deadline date assigned, an indicator will be displayed if a tasks finish date is later than the deadline. No indicator displays if a task finishes before the deadline. This provides the user with a
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visible yet unobtrusive notification that the current scheduled Finish is later than the planned deadline. The indicator tip reads as follows:
Figure 14. Deadline indicator tip
Additional Deadline Features

A column for the Deadline field can also be added to any task table. Like other date fields, if no deadline date has been entered, the field contains NA. In addition a bar style for deadline date is also visible in the Bar Styles definitions for the Gantt Chart.
Figure 15. Bar Styles/Deadline Styles Notice that the bar is defined at the lowest position in the Bar Styles list, so that it will always draw on top of other bars for the same task. Because the Show For Tasks column is left empty, the definition will be applied to tasks, summary tasks, and milestones. The Deadline field is available in the From and To columns of the Bar Styles dialog box, as well as in the Text tab. The first task in the Gantt Chart below shows a 5-day task as originally scheduled. The tasks deadline marker appears as a downward pointing open arrow, and appears at the rightmost end of the tasks Gantt bar. In the second task in the Gantt Chart, the tasks Finish date has moved past the deadline date, so the deadline now appears at a midway point on the tasks Gantt bar.
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Figure 16. Deadline Indicator It is also possible to filter tasks as, Tasks With Deadlines.
Effect of Deadlines on Scheduling

Deadline Not Used When Calculating Schedule The Deadline field affects only the Late Finish date, and is not used when calculating the project schedule. However, because Late Finish is used in the calculation of total slack, deadlines can affect the critical path. Comparison of Deadlines and Constraints A constraint tied to a specific date is used when calculating the schedule, and, depending on the constraint type and option settings, can contribute to the scheduling conflicts that generate scheduling error messages. Deadlines, on the other hand, are not used when calculating the schedule, and do not generate scheduling errors. Also, the user is not notified if a deadline conflicts with a tasks constraint date, even when originally entering the deadline or the constraint. How a Deadline Affects Late Finish Microsoft Project Help defines the calculation of Late Finish as follows: When you first create a task, its Late Finish date is the same as the project finish date. As you link the task to predecessors and successors and apply any other constraints, Microsoft Project calculates the late finish date as the latest possible date this task could be finished, if all predecessor and successor tasks also start and finish on their late start and late finish dates. These calculations are based on a fixed task duration. If there is a leveling delay on the successor task, this delay is also figured into the date in the Late Finish field. When a deadline is added to the task, Late Finish equals the earlier of the deadline date or the date calculated according to the preceding definition, except for the following special cases: When a task has a MSO or MFO constraint and the option Tasks will always honor their constraint dates is set to ON, the Late Finish equals the Early Finish. When one of the tasks successors Late Start minus lag is earlier than the deadline, the Late Finish equals that successors Late Start minus the lag. When a task has a SNLT or FNLT constraint, Late Finish is the earliest of Early Finish, Deadline, and any successors Late Start minus lag. When a task has no successor and the option Calculate Multiple Critical Paths is set to on, the Late Finish equals the Early Finish.
Slack may be increased or decreased according to the effect of the Deadline on Late Finish. This means that it is possible to have positive or negative slack that is greater than if the Deadline was not present. Start Slack and Finish Slack Fields The Start Slack and Finish Slack Fields are used to store and display the start and finish slack calculations of a task. These fields are also related to leveling.
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Start Slack and Finish Slack are calculated as follows: Start Slack = Late Start minus Early Start Finish Slack = Late Finish minus Early Finish For more information, see the Microsoft Project Online Help Topics Start Slack and Finish Slack.
Task Dependencies
Task dependencies provide a way to schedule tasks based on their relationships to other tasks independent of actual dates. That way, if a tasks schedule changes, tasks dependant on that task will also reschedule. In Microsoft Project these dependencies are called task links or task relationships. The driving task in the dependency is called a predecessor and the dependant task is called the successor. For example, the first task in a project plan starts on the project start date and all subsequent tasks are linked one to the next. If the project start date is rescheduled then all the tasks reschedule. The only date that needs to be reentered is the project start date (with the understanding that no progress has been reported on any tasks). However it is only that easy if all the tasks have the constraint As Soon As Possible. If tasks have constraints that limit them in the future, those constraint dates will have to be reentered or the constraint set back to ASAP. For more information see the section on Constraints earlier in this lesson. Dependency types There are four different types of task dependencies in Microsoft Project. The following list states the name of the dependency, the abbreviation for the dependency and how they affect Task 2 when Task 1 is the predecessor. Finish--to-Start (FS). Task 2 cannot start until task 1 finishes. Start-to-Finish (SF). Task 2 cannot finish until task 1 starts. Start-to-Start (SS). Task 2 cannot start until task 1 starts. Finish-to-Finish (FF). Task 2 cannot finish until task 1 finishes.
Creating Dependency Links To create a dependency between two tasks there are several methods as listed below: Method 1. Highlight two or more tasks and click the Link button the Standard toolbar.
Method 2. Highlight two or more tasks, form the Edit menu click Link tasks. Method 3. Highlight two or more tasks, hold the down the CTRL key + function key F2. Method 4. Double click the task that will be a successor, this brings up the Task Information form. Click the Predecessor tab, enter the task ID or task Name and click OK. Method 5. On the Gantt Chart click on the task that will be the predecessor and drag the mouse to the task that will be the successor, release the mouse.
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Method 6. In the Entry table insert the predecessor column. Enter the task ID number of the predecessor in the predecessor field for the successor task. Dependency type is set to Finish-to-Start by default. To set a different relationship, enter the dependency type into the predecessor field after the task ID. For example see the figure below.
Figure 17. Predecessor field showing type of dependency The dependency type can also be selected in the Task Information dialog box on the Predecessor tab as well. Select the type form the drop-down list in the Type field.
Figure 18. Task Information Predecessor tab Lead or Lag time In the above dialog box is the field for lag time is displayed. Lag time allows gaps to be created in a dependency. For example, supplies must be ordered one week before they are delivered. In order to reflect the gap between the order and the delivery, lag time of 1w is entered into the Lag field. Below is a picture of the notation in the Predecessor field in the Entry table after lag time is added. First the task ID is listed, and then the dependency type, plus the lag time of 1w.
Figure 19. Lag time as noted in the Predecessor field Lead time is entered by typing a negative number in the Lag field.
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Multiple Critical Paths

Microsoft Project has an option Calculate multiple critical paths setting from the Tools menu select Options and click the Calculation tab.
Figure 20. Multiple Critical Paths If this is selected then tasks that normally have slack to the end of the project (no successors or future limiting constraints) will instead have 0 slack. This makes it even more difficult to level if the Level only within available slack option is selected. The Calculate multiple critical paths setting works whether the project is scheduled from start or finish, however, the behavior of various constraints such as ASAP and ALAP are reversed. For the rest of this lesson, it is assumed the project is scheduled from Start. The Calculate multiple critical paths feature allows you to see multiple critical paths in a schedule. When this setting is selected, then any task that does not have a successor or a future limiting constraint, such as FNLT, has its Late Finish date set to its Early Finish date, so it has zero slack. Whether or not zero slack means the task is critical still depends on the setting, Tasks are critical if slack is less than or equal to ... days from the Tools menu select Options then Calculation tab.
Figure 21. Tools Options Calculation tab In the rest of this lesson, it is assumed that the previous setting is 0, so that a task is critical only if it has 0 slack. Calculate multiple critical paths is a per project setting. It is stored with individual project files, but you can use the Set as Default button in the Calculation tab so all new projects use the current setting. The option is set to OFF (not selected) by default. If the Calculate multiple critical paths setting is not selected, then the usual slack calculations occur. For example, any non-ALAP task that does not have a successor or a future limiting constraint has its Late Finish date set to its Early Finish date, and its slack is the difference between its early and Late Finish dates, zero. ALAP tasks An ALAP task has a special behavior in a project scheduled from start when the Calculate multiple critical paths setting is turned on. If it has no parent summary task other than the project summary task, then the previously mentioned setting has no impact and the ALAP task is scheduled as usual. The ALAP task moves as far into the future as possible, until it bumps up against the Microsoft Project Finish or against a successor task that can't move any farther. If it is indented below a parent summary task, (other than the project summary task) then its usual behavior is modified to be relative to its summary parent task, as though the parent summary task and its child tasks were a separate project.
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If the ALAP task has no successors, then the above behavior means its Late Finish date is set equal to the Finish of its parent summary task. If the ALAP task has successors, the ALAP constraint is ignored.
An ALAP task is scheduled relative to its parent task only if the Calculate multiple critical paths setting is turned on. Note If the project is scheduled from Finish, then the roles of ASAP and ALAP are reversed. Example This example illustrates the impact of the Calculate multiple critical paths setting on summary tasks, ALAP tasks, task relationships, and total slack. The project is scheduled from start. The before and after pictures below, show the schedule when the setting is off compared to when it is on. In both cases, the task spanning the entire project, T1, it is on the critical path. The summary task S1 is greatly affected because of its ALAP child task, s1c. Both summary tasks calculate slack like independent projects when the setting is turned on. Critical tasks are shown by the lighter colored bar style.
Figure 22. Calculate multiple critical paths setting is OFF
Figure 23. Calculate multiple critical paths setting is ON
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Lesson 7: Exercises and Lab

Exercises
1. What does the Project Information dialog box do? 2. What is the Calendar field at the Project level used for? 3. What is a task constraint used for? 4. What happens when a second resource is assigned to a task with the Effort Driven option turned on for the task? 5. What kind for leveling delay is added to tasks when the project is scheduled from finish? 6. Can a task that has actual work or an actual start date or a percent complete be rescheduled by Microsoft Project? 7. What kinds of scenarios are best suited for setting up a project to schedule from finish? 8. Why should Show Schedule messages option be enabled? 9. How is a deadline date different from a constraint?
Lab 1. Determine how different scheduling options and specific field values effect how tasks are scheduled
As a group, develop a project schedule that behaves unexpectedly using the scheduling areas discussed above. Exchange your schedule with another group and solve their scheduling problem. Get into groups as arranged by the instructor. Develop a problem schedule using elements listed in the scheduling diagram. Write down how your groups project is not scheduling as expected. Also write down each of the reasons it is not scheduling as expected. Exchange your project with another group. Tell them how you expect the project to schedule. DO NOT tell them why it is scheduling unexpectedly. Examine the project you received during the exchange. List the factors involved in the way it is scheduling. Discuss your conclusions with the group you exchanged projects with. Did your list match the other groups list?
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1. The Project Information dialog box determines how tasks will be scheduled, how resources assignments will effect task scheduling, and even plays a role in tracking progress on the project plan. 2. The project calendar is used to schedule summary tasks, fixed duration tasks, tasks with no task calendar, and tasks with no assignments. 3. Constraints allow you to set the way you want to constrain the start or finish date of a task. 4. With the Effort Driven option on the duration will decrease when a second resource is assigned to a task. 5. Negative delay is added to tasks when leveling a project that is scheduled from finish. 6. Tasks that have been started can only be rescheduled manually by the user. 7. Scheduling from finish works best when it matches the way business is conducted. 8. Scheduling messages should be turned on to alert users to conflicts and suggest alternatives. 9. Deadline dates are not used when calculating the schedule.
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Lesson 8: How to Build a Project Plan
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Lesson 8: How to Build a Project Plan

Published: June 2003 Applies to: Microsoft Project Standard 2003 Microsoft Project Professional 2003 Microsoft Project Server 2003 Contents Objectives Creating a Project Plan Exercises
Objectives
What You Will Learn
After completing this lesson, you will be able to: Describe the basic process for creating a project plan.
Related Topics Covered in this Lesson

Entering tasks and durations
Recommended Reading
All lessons included in this module Microsoft Project Microsoft Project 2003 Step by Step
Creating a Project Plan

Overview
This lesson was designed to give users a high-level view of the process used to create a project plan using Microsoft Project. For detailed information about all the options and features available in Microsoft Project and how the scheduling engine calculates dates, work, cost, and resource availability, it is recommended that the contents of these lessons for Microsoft Project Standard be reviewed.
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Basic Process
When creating a project plan, it is recommended that you follow the basic process for creating a project plan as outlined below:
BASIC PROCESS
1. Project Set Up 2. Enter Task Details 3. Enter Durations against tasks 4. Outline the plan 5. Link tasks 6. Check and adjust 7. Assign resources and costs 8. Resolve resource allocations 9. Baseline the plan 10. Manage - track progress 11. Share project information 12. Print
Stage 1: Project Set-up

Creating a New Project
When the New command is selected from the File menu and Blank Project is also selected in the New Project task pane, by default Microsoft Project will prompt for a start or finish date in the Project Information dialog box (also found by clicking on Project Information from the Project menu). Typically a start date would be entered and the system will calculate the finish date. Save and Name the Project Microsoft Project will always prompt for a filename before closing (if the file hasnt already been given a name). It is good practice to name the project and specify which directory it will be stored in before getting too deep in to the detail of the plan, so work does not get lost. It is also a good time to set the Auto Save feature by selecting Options from the Tools menu and click the Save tab. Define the look of the Gantt Chart Select the Gantt Wizard form the Format menu; it will assist the user in specifying for example, the color of bars on the Gantt Chart, whether resource names and/or links are displayed on the chart. This information can be changed at any time without affecting the data entered. For example, after baselining the plan it may be useful to show the baseline information against the current information. Define System and Project Defaults From the Tools menu, choose Options to define system defaults for the project. There are many options are available, such as setting a standard cost per hour for all resources and the hours in a working day.
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Most of the options affect the way all new projects are viewed. Options that are enclosed in a group box labeled with the same project name affect only the current project. For example, the setting for the default start time located on the Calendar tab, affects only the current project. Recommended adjustments are: 1. Select the View tab and click on Show project summary task. 2. Select the General tab and enter your name as the user name. This value will be used as the author of the project plan. 3. Select the Calendar tab and enter the default start and end time. Also if you intend to use months in entering durations insert your default month duration. 4. Select the Schedule tab and enter default unit of time used on the duration and work field. Define Calendars It is important to review and if necessary modify calendar(s) before assigning resources to tasks. From the Tools menu select Change Working Time to modify the Standard Project Calendar and to create new calendars. As a minimum, modify the Standard (Base) Calendar so that it reflects nonworking days such as public holidays and actual working day times. Generally, the default is 8 hours per day. Create new calendars as needed for groups of people who work different shifts. These are particularly helpful for example, if a group of electricians work during weekends. However, avoid the common mistake of over-engineering multiple calendars. Define Resource Pool Use View, Resource Sheet to define the resources to be used on the project. It is good practice to enter as much information as possible including the e-mail addresses and specify which calendar is to be used for each resource. Once resources have been defined, access Tools, Change Working Time to enter any nonworking days for an individual, such as vacation days. Save As a Template It is good practice to save calendar and resource pool information as a single project file or as a project template. This template can then be used to create new projects simply by opening up the file or template and then from the File menu, click Save As to enter a new file name. This will save considerable time and effort. Add to Organizer Use the Organizer (from the Tools menu, click Organizer) to copy across any customized views, toolbars, calendars, etc. from the current project into the Global file for use with other project plans. Define Page Layout It is not critical that the page layout be amended at this stage. However, it could prove to be less frustrating to make changes now rather than waiting. Select File, then Page Setup and as a minimum, check that the default is to print to landscape with the correct, header, footer, and legend so that the author and the project title will be printed on the project plan.
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Stage 2: Enter Task Details

To help organize the project plan, tasks can be grouped into phases. Examples of common phases or summary tasks would be; project initiation, analysis, design, build, implement, and evaluate. The Copy and Paste options or drag and drop feature can be used to move tasks into logical phases. Under each phase, enter the name of each task in the order that it is expected to be completed; also remember to include milestones, meetings and signoffs. Use the commands New Task and Recurring task from the Insert menu, to perform this more quickly. As task names are entered, the system automatically allocates a duration of 1 day. (To change this default select Options from the Tools menu, and then choose the Schedule tab). Durations can be entered at any time and the user may want to wait until all the tasks are listed before entering durations. Formatting the style of text at this stage is premature (for example, a different font/color for headings and tasks). Outlining will automatically show the difference between headings and tasks (called summary and sub-tasks in Microsoft Project). After outlining is completed and additional formatting is desired, using the Gantt Chart Wizard is a quick way to accomplish this. For more information on entering tasks please refer to Lesson 9: Tasks and Durations.
Stage 3: Enter Durations Against Tasks

At this point entering durations or outlining the plan (stage 4) can be done. Durations are entered against each task but not against each phase or summary. Microsoft Project will calculate the earliest start and latest finish of all tasks under a summary automatically (during the outlining and linking stages). Enter durations for the length of time that the job is expected to take rather than the length of time it would take to be completed. For example, if a job takes two days to complete but might be done over a four day period, enter the duration as two days. In addition to days, Microsoft Project allows durations to be specified in months, weeks, hours, and minutes. Best practice is to produce a detailed plan that is only as detailed as needed, to avoid a maintenance nightmare. Use elapsed days (or minutes, hours, weeks, months) to indicate durations that ignore the working hours in a day. For example, running a test program on a machine may take duration of 16h (16 hours non-stop). Again, saving the task names, durations, and the outline as a separate project file or template is a useful way of ensuring accuracy and consistency across projects and is particularly useful to personnel who are new to a department.
Stage 4: Outline the Plan

Outlining is a special feature that allows groups of tasks to display together as summary tasks and sub-tasks. after completing stage 2, summary tasks will have been identified as phases. When tasks are indented, Microsoft Project will automatically display the phases in bold as summary tasks. There can be multiple levels of summary tasks, 65,535 to be exact.
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Any action applied to a summary task also applies to the related sub-tasks (subordinates). If a summary task is deleted, copied, indented, or outdented all of the subordinate tasks (including any subordinated summary tasks) are deleted, copied, moved, indented, or outdented along with the summary task. Once a plan has been outlined, the summary tasks can be collapsed and expanded to hide or show the various levels of summary and sub-tasks. This is very useful for reviewing and/or for printing views for progress reporting etc.
Stage 5: Link Tasks

Auto-Linking
Once the plan is outlined, tasks can be linked together to define the task relationships. Sub-tasks should be linked sub-tasks. Using the Link button on the Standard toolbar is the quickest way to link tasks and the user is less likely to make mistakes. Tasks can also be linked by using the mouse to drag a link between tasks or by entering the ID number for a task in the predecessor or successor fields manually. As sub-tasks are linked, the system will automatically calculate the duration of the summary task. If all tasks in the project are selected, Microsoft Project will link each summary task to the next summary task and under each summary task link the sub-tasks together with a finish to start relationship.
Manually Enter Predecessors

Task relationship can be entered using the Predecessor column in the Entry table or in the Task Information form. This can be used in addition to or instead of auto linking.
Stage 6: Check and Adjust

Summary and Sub-Tasks
Check to see if any summary tasks (phases) or sub-tasks have been omitted. Copy and paste are quick ways of editing information. Typical omissions include milestones and review checkpoints.
Critical Path/Task Relationships

Check the critical path to see that all instances of tasks been included which must have a built in lead or lag time. For example, paint must be allowed to dry for 4 hours before any dependant tasks can begin. Review the task relationships for instances where a start-to-start or a finish-to-finish relationship could be applied instead of the default finish to start. The Indicator column of the plan can be checked to see if any tasks have constraints imposed on them, for example Must finish on , or Start no earlier than, and determine if such constraints are necessarily. Constraints can be set by mistake; this is often caused by dragging the task bar on the Gantt Chart to a new location.
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The Notes field can be used to document anything about a task, double clicking on a task name, and then choosing the Notes tab will display the field. For example, assumptions that have been made about a particular task relationship.
Stage 7: Assign Resources and Costs

If there is a group of people who are going to be assigned to a project (or used again in another project) it is quicker to first define the resource pool before assigning resources to tasks. Resource can always be added or deleted from the list or pool later on. If multiple calendars are being used in the project plan, assign each resource to the relevant calendar as required. Then, as nonworking dates (for example, vacation) they should be included on the resource calendar for the individual. Each sub-task can be assigned to one or more resources. It is recommended that resources not be assigned to summary tasks. If there are gaps between tasks then work and costs may be calculated incorrectly. If the number of resources to complete the project is not known, it is better to allocate one resource per task first and then review the situation to see which tasks could benefit from having additional resource. If a resource pool has not been defined, care must be taken when assigning resources to tasks. If the option Automatically Add New Resources is switched off, (found by selecting Options from the Tools menu, then select the General tab) each new resource must be confirmed before Microsoft Project can add them to the pool. If a resource is added, Microsoft Project requires that the details about the resource be completed when the resource is assigned. If Automatically Add New Resources is switched on, Microsoft Project will automatically add that resource to the pool, but the details about the resource will have to be filled in later by going to the Resource Sheet view.
Stage 8: Resolve Resource Allocations

Filter Overallocated Resources
Applying the overallocated resources in a Resource view, will filter the view to only show resources that are overallocated. Switching any resource view will display overallocated resources and their hours in red. Frequently there are some key personnel who are always in demand. It may be more effective to reassign some of their less important tasks to other resources, and it may also help to minimize costs.
Assign Additional Resources

Assigning 200% or two units of programmers (rather than one) is only possibly if the user has defined a group of programmers in the resource pool (1 Unit = 1 programmer, 2 Units = 2 programmers etc.). This is done by entering the value for the total number of resources in the Max Units field. The first time a resource is assigned to a task the effort or work on the task is calculated based on the duration multiplied by the resource units. As additional resources are assigned or removed from a task, the duration is recalculated. This default can be changed on a task-by-task basis by deselecting the Effort Driven option, which can be found in the Task Information dialog box on the Advanced tab. To change the default for all new tasks by selecting Options from the Tools menu, then clicking the Schedule tab and deselect New tasks are effort driven.
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Assign Overtime/Delay
To assist in reducing duration while maintaining the same effort some of the work can be assigned as overtime. For example, to condense 1.5 days work into a single day, assign the resource to work 8 hours plus 4 hours as overtime. Microsoft Project will recalculate the duration as 1 day.
Change Working Time

Changing the working time for an individual will have the same effect on the duration of a task as assigning overtime. The Change Working Time option for a resource can be used to specify when the resource is available to work and the additional hours will not be calculated as overtime.
Level the Plan

Leveling is a feature that aims to resolve resource allocation by delaying overlapping tasks. Take care when using this option, it may not deliver the expected results - the project finish date may be unacceptable. If leveling is used, the best practice would be to identify and mark those tasks that should not be included in the leveling process. In the Task Information dialog box change the task priority to Do Not Level.
Stage 9: Baseline the Plan

Applying the Baseline
At some point you will get to the stage when you have planned as far as you can go and are ready to start the project. It is at this stage that you should baseline your entire project (tools, tracking, save baseline, and entire project). Creating a baseline is like taking a snapshot of your project. It doesnt stop you from adding to the plan; indeed you will need to add detail to the plan in the form of tracking progress. As your project progresses you will enter actual data so that the plan can be updated to compare actual against planned data and also update your schedule with revised duration etc. It is good practice to baseline your plan, even if you do not have to formally track and report on progress. The data it provides can help you evaluate the effectiveness of your planning for future projects.
Stage 10: Manage - Track Progress

Why Track
Tracking and reporting are two very powerful features within Microsoft Project. Used correctly the information provided can be invaluable both to the project manager and to the project stakeholders. Before tracking progress a couple of questions must be answered; why am I tracking this information? and what is going to happen with this information? Tracking and reporting should be planned into your project at the outset - when outlining your plan. This will assist in determining the frequency and method of update. Microsoft Project Professional and Microsoft Project Enterprise editions have the capability to use Microsoft Project Server, a Web-based collaboration tool that simplifies reporting and updating progress on your project plan. The decision to use Microsoft Project Server is best made before plans are created but is not a requirement.
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What to Track
Generally speaking, a user should aim to track actual start and finish dates and actual durations. This provides them with two vital pieces of information: Immediate effect on the rest of the project. A late start on just one task may result in having to rescope the project, particularly if key resources are affected. This information is used during project meetings to help educate other team members and to discuss tactics. Accurate information with which to estimate the next similar project. Going one step further, the history can also help users preemptively solve problems on future projects.
How to Track
If Microsoft Project Server is used, resources can report progress on tasks via the Web. The progress can then be automatically updated in the project plan or the information can be reviewed before the plan is updated. Either way the need for manual data entry is eliminated. Otherwise, estimates of %Complete and actual information on start and finish dates etc can be entered the Update Tasks option (from the Tools menu, select Tracking, and Update Tasks). This allows updates to individual tasks. A quicker way of updating information is to enter the information in the Tracking table (from the View menu, select Table:<table name>, and then Tracking). This screen has been used by team leaders as a form to write on, by printing off the screen, and requesting it be used to manually record the actual start, finish, and duration of each task say on a weekly basis. Changing the view to display variances will help to communicate the progress of the project.
Stage 11: Share Project Information

Viewing Different files in one Window
There may be situations where information from multiple related projects needs to be reviewed or printed at one time. Using the New Window command under the Windows menu allows a user to select from all the currently open projects, which ones should be displayed in one new project window. In the new project window each project summary task will have a unique task ID, however, each subtask or resource in the individual files retains its native ID number. This means that more than one task will have ID number 1. Tasks can be sorted, filtered, or grouped in the merged list to display just the required information. The contents of the new window are treated as a new project, called a master project and can be saved as such. Views or reports can be printed from the master file and changes can be made to the individual files. Next time the master file is opened the user will see any modifications or the progress on the individual files that make up the master file because a link to the individual file or subprojects is saved in the master.
Inserting Subprojects into a Master project

Another way bring together several related projects into one window or master project so that they can be viewed, and/or printed, is to insert projects into a new file. This is done by selecting Projects from the Insert menu. Once a project is inserted into a master project it is called a subproject or source project. The differences between this option and viewing different files in one window (above) are:
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The project files do not need to be open already. The user can choose whether or not to maintain a link with the individual source files. If the option Link to Project (found in the Insert Project dialog box) is not selected, each task becomes unlinked in the new project file and is assigned a new ID number and changes to this file will not be reflected in the individual files.
Dividing Large Projects into Subprojects

If a project becomes so large that it is unmanageable, it can be divided it into smaller subprojects. Creating subprojects is also an effective way of delegating groups of tasks to others while maintaining overall control via the master project. Subprojects are created by cutting and pasting tasks from the master project into new project files, saving the files, and then inserting the new files into the master project. Related tasks can then be linked between inserted subprojects, these are called cross links. When the individual files are opened cross links are displayed as external or ghost tasks.
Sharing Resources
If resources are also expected to work on more that one project at a time, best practice is to share a common resource pool between related projects. This enables Microsoft Project to keep track of the resources assignments, therefore availability and overallocation across all related projects. To do this one of the project files is designated as the resource pool and the other project files are linked to share the resources defined in the resource pool file. The command to link files to a resource pool is found by selecting Resource Sharing from the Tools menu and is called Share Resources.
Stage 12: Print

Print Preview
Before printing a large document the Print Preview option from the File menu should be used to ensure that the correct columns are being displayed and the appropriate timescale has been selected before clicking Print. Half displayed columns will be ignored by Microsoft Project.
Change the View

There are many ways to change what is viewed on the screen and how it will print. For example, the formatting of the text and bars can be changed; a new view selected, a filter, sort or group can be applied, and collapsing the outline to view specific summary tasks only. The Page Setup command from the File menu also has features for adding header, footer, and legend information as well as scaling options, what pages to print and more.
When to Enter Data

Before starting to build a project a formally agreed upon project definition should be used. In addition, it is advisable to have: A sketch of the critical path. A sketch of the key activities/tasks that form the basis of the plan.
As users become more experienced they will be able to put their ideas onto Microsoft Project directly and/or use a previous project as a template. However, this is not necessarily the most effective way of learning - the focus should be to understand every stage of the process and be able to build a plan, which is manageable.
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Lesson 8: Exercises
Exercises
1. Where do you define default options for your project plan? 2. True or False? A project can be broken down into phases to help organize and group related tasks. 3. Outlining is a special feature that allows you to display groups of tasks together as ______ tasks and ______tasks. 4. Can you view more than one project in a project window? 5. What is a resource pool?
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1. You define default options for your project plan by selecting Options from the Tools menu. 2. True, a project can be broken down into phases to help organize and group related tasks. 3. Outlining is a special feature that allows you to display groups of tasks together as summary tasks and sub tasks. 4. Yes, you can view more than one project in a project window? 5. A resource pool is a list of the resources available to work on your project plan.
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Lesson 9: Entering Tasks and Durations
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Lesson 9: Entering Tasks and Durations

Published: June 2003 Applies to: Microsoft Project Standard 2003 Microsoft Project Professional 2003 Microsoft Project Server 2003 Contents Objectives Creating a Project Plan Project Information Dialog Box Entering Tasks Task Durations Summary Tasks The Project Summary Task Entering Milestones Recurring Tasks Task Information Form Exercises and Labs
Objectives
What You Will Learn
After completing this lesson, you will be able to: Create a Project Plan. Start a new project. Create, delete, edit, insert and move tasks. Create, delete, edit and insert recurring tasks. Create milestones. Create a project summary task and summary tasks.
Creating a Project Plan

Starting a New Project
When Microsoft Project is first launched a blank project is displayed with the Project Information dialog box on top. A project plan can be started from this screen by typing directly into the blank
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project. As discussed in Lesson 5: Generic User Support Tools, the Startup task pane displays many ways to start a new project. This section will discuss some of those options.
Starting a project from an existing file

If a project plan exists that is similar in task requirements to a project that is to be started, then using the old file can be very efficient. A new project plan can be started from an existing plan just by opening the file and using the Save As command to give the plan a new name. However, the old file most likely has dates that will not match the current timeline and will need to be changed. If the project has progress tracked against it, then the dates cannot be changed until the actual start, actual work, and percent complete are removed from the tasks. To start a project from an existing file 1. Open the old project plan. 2. From the View menu select Table:<table name>, then click Tracking. 3. Highlight the %Complete column. 4. From the Edit menu select Clear and click Contents. All actual fields will also clear. 5. Select the title of any column and right click. 6. Select Insert Column and choose Constraint Type. 7. Select the entire column by clicking on the title, then click Edit and choose Clear, then click Contents. All tasks will now have the As Soon As Possible constraint and are free to be rescheduled. 8. From the Tools menu select Tracking and Clear Baseline. (This is an optional step as resaving a baseline will overwrite any existing baseline.) 9. Next consider the calendars and the resources being used to make sure the meet the new projects requirements. 10. From the Project menu select Project Information. Enter new start date if scheduling from start, a finish date if scheduling from finish. All the tasks in the project will reschedule based on the new Project Start date. 11. Save the new project with a new name by selecting Save As from the File menu.
Working with a template

Working with a template is similar to opening an existing project plan except that there probably will not be any progress saved in the project. The file extension on a Microsoft Project Template is .mpt. This is helpful when the file is saved because the Save As dialog box will always display as it is looking for an .mpp file extension. This way the template will not be overwritten by a new plan. Creating a new file from a template 1. Open the template file and choose File; then click Save. 2. Enter a new file name and click Save. 3. From the Project menu select Project Information. 4. Enter new project date information and consider calendars in use as well as resources. Importing files and file formats will be discussed in more detail in Lesson 27: File System.
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Project Information Dialog Box

The Project Information dialog box is presented by default when a new project is opened. This dialog box is used to specify the scheduling mode, From Start or From Finish, the first step in creating a project plan.
Figure 1. Project Information dialog box Project Start Date. The project Start date specifies the first day of the first task. Tasks are automatically scheduled from or after this date. Current Date. This setting specifies the Current date. It is used in place of the Status date for the complete-through date in the Update Project dialog box if the current date is later than the Status date, or the Status date is set to NA. From Start/From Finish. This option designates how a project is scheduled. For detailed information on scheduling mode see Lesson 7: Scheduling. Priority. This sets the leveling order of importance for the project as a whole. It is used when using a resource pool or leveling a project with inserted projects. Priority may be set from 0 to 1000 with 1000 being the higher priority. Status Date. Microsoft Project uses the status date to identify the complete-through date in the Update Project dialog box unless it is earlier than the Current date setting. If you set the Status date to NA, Project uses the Current date as the Status date.
The Project Information dialog box can be turned off by going to the Tools menu and selecting Options. Then choose the General tab and clear the check mark from Prompt for project info for new projects option.
Entering Tasks
Overview
Tasks can be entered in many ways into a project file. Tasks can be entered in every type of task view using either the keyboard or a mouse. The most common way to enter tasks is in the table area of the Gantt Chart view (see diagram below). You can insert, copy, or delete tasks as required or change the font and format, as you would using other Microsoft applications.
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Figure 2. Task Entry Each task is a unique record in the project files database. The ID number of the task makes the task unique not the name.
Field Dependencies
When a task is created certain fields are required and populated by default. Microsoft Project uses the data in the default fields to calculate other information. For example, by default, all tasks start on the Project Start date and are 1 day in duration. The Finish date for the task is then calculated from that information. If the Finish date is edited then the Start date will recalculate. The constraint type of a task determines whether Start or Finish will recalculate when Duration is modified.
Constraint Type
The default constraint for tasks when the project is scheduled from start is As Soon As Possible. If you directly enter a start date for a task the constraint changes to Start No Earlier Than and if a finish date is entered a finish constraint is applied to the task. Be aware that constraints can get set on tasks inadvertently by the user and can then cause confusion when one of the three dependant fields is changed. Microsoft Project has eight different constraint types: As Late AS Possible As Soon As Possible Finish No Earlier Than Finish No Later Than Must Finish On Must Start On Start No Earlier Than Start No Later Than
The calculations are part of Microsoft Projects scheduling engine and the defaults are set by options that can be modified to suit your business needs.
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Tasks
There are different kinds of tasks to represent specific kinds of information. There are subtasks or normal tasks, milestones, project summary tasks, summary tasks, recurring tasks, split tasks, and tasks that appear grayed out. The first five will be discussed at length in this section. Split tasks are tasks that stop and then start again for various reasons a later chapter has been devoted to split tasks. The grayed out tasks represent relationship links to tasks in other project files and are discussed in a later lesson. To Enter a Task 1. In the Task Name field, type the name of your first task (or use the entry bar). 2. Press ENTER, or click the green check mark on the entry bar. 3. An estimated duration of one-day (1day?) will be displayed automatically when you enter each task. To Edit a Task Name 1. Click on the Task Name you want to edit. 2. Edit the name in the entry bar (or click a second time to edit the cell). 3. Click the checkbox on the entry bar or click the ENTER key to confirm the name change.
Figure 3. Edit a Task Name To Delete a Task 1. In the Entry table click on the grey area relating to the row of the task you want to delete. The whole row becomes selected in the table. 2. Press the DELETE key on the keyboard OR, click the Edit menu, choose Delete Task. If you select just the Task Name and select DELETE, a smart tag will appear to give you the option to just clear the Task Name or to delete the entire task.
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Figure 4. Delete a Task To Insert a New Task 1. On the Entry table, click on the field where a new task is to be inserted (for example, highlight task 4). 2. Click on the Insert menu, choose New Task. A blank row will be inserted above the highlighted row (for example, after task 3).
Figure 5. Insert a Task To Move a Task 1. In the grey area of the Entry table, click on the ID of the task that you want to move. This selects the entire row. 2. Point the mouse at the bottom edge of the box. The mouse pointer changes to a white arrowhead with a move cursor. Click, then drag and drop the task to its new position. A gray indicator bar displays to visually show where the task row will be positioned. This moves all the information about that task. To Move a Task Name 1. On the Entry table, click on the Task Name that you want to move.
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2. Point the mouse at the bottom left edge of the box. The mouse pointer changes to a white arrowhead. Click, drag, and drop the task name to its new position.
Task Durations
Overview
When entering task durations, enter the amount of time expected to complete the task and dont be concerned about the length of the project at this point. Later, as relationships between tasks are defined and resources are assigned, the finish date of the project will be adjusted. The default duration of tasks is one-day and one day equals 8 hours. To specify duration in a time unit other than day, type the number and the abbreviation for the time unit. Or change the default time unit, choose Options from the Tools menu and click the Schedule tab. You can change what one unit of time equals on the Calendar tab and you can change the default abbreviation used, on the Edit tab. To Enter a Duration 1. Click in the Duration field. 2. Type the number (and abbreviation if other than d for days). The available abbreviations are: M = Minutes H = Hours D = Days W = Weeks Mo, Mon = Months 3. Click the checkbox on the entry bar or, press ENTER. Continue until you have entered durations for all tasks. Note If you have more than one task with the same duration it may be quicker to select the tasks, click the Information button on the toolbar and then type the duration. Or use the fill down by dragging the bottom right corner of the cell and dragging down. The fill down command is also under the Edit menu.
Estimated Duration
All new tasks are automatically created with estimated durations by default to signal that a duration has not yet been entered. This is denoted by a ? after the duration. Users can enter a different duration followed by a ? to denote that this duration value is not certain. This allows a duration to be entered that is only an estimate, and it is easily recognized as such so that users know to come back later and confirm it or change it when they have a concrete value. Tasks with estimated durations are easily found using the Tasks With Estimated Durations filter, or by a quick visual scan for question marks in the duration column. The ? can be typed or selected in the Task Information form as seen below.
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Figure 6. Estimated Task Duration
Elapsed Duration
Type ed (or eh, etc.) to indicate an elapsed duration. Elapsed duration ignores the project calendar and nonworking time, 1ed equals a continuous 24-hour period. This is used where the work is to be continued or completed over non-working time e.g., over a weekend. For example, a process that needs to run for 72 hours uninterrupted, the duration can be entered as 3ed or 72eh.
Summary Tasks
A summary task is made up of subtasks and summarizes those subtasks. You can use the Microsoft Project outline feature to create summary tasks. Microsoft Project automatically determines summary task information (duration costs, etc.) by using information from the subtasks. A summary task Start date is the earliest start of its subtasks and the summary task Finish is the finish of its latest subtask. The duration for the summary is the total of the working days between its start and finish dates. The figure below shows what a summary task looks like in the Task Sheet view.
Figure 7. Summary Task in Task Sheet view To create a Summary Task 1. In a Gantt Chart view, insert a new task into the table above the tasks that will eventually become the subtasks. Or 2. You may already have entered task names that will represent phases in your project plan, if so, skip to Step 3 3. Type in the name of the task that will become the summary task
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4. Select the task(s) that you want to identify as subtasks 5. Click the Indent button to indent the task (s) (push it to a lower level of the hierarchy) As you indent tasks summary task formatting will be applied to appropriate tasks, as shown in the picture at the top of this page. To undo a Summary Task 1. On the View menu select Gantt Chart. 2. Select the subtask(s). 3. Click the Outdent button to outdent the subtask(s) (push it to a higher level of the hierarchy) 4. As you outdent the subtasks, summary task formatting will be removed from the appropriate task. To show / hide Subtasks With summary tasks created, it is possible to show or hide the subtasks beneath them. 1. On the View menu select Gantt Chart. 2. In the Task Name field select the summary task containing the subtasks that you would like to show/hide. Click show subtasks or Click hide subtasks
The Project Summary Task

The project summary task displays your entire project on a single row with its own summary task bar at the top of your project. It allows you to see at a glance the entire time line of your project. Projectlevel summary tasks are hidden by default. To show the Project Summary Task 1. On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the View tab. 2. Under Outline options, select the Project summary task checkbox. 3. A new task will appear at the top of the table. Type in a task name. Project summary tasks have some unusual characteristics: ID = 0 (doesn't show in ID field) Unique ID = 0 Outline Level =0
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Summary = Yes
Only project summary tasks can be created at Outline Level 0 The values of project summary task fields are calculated just as they are for any other summary task. These values will usually be the same as those shown in the Statistics tab under the File menu after selecting Properties. The Start or Finish date of the project summary task may vary from the Project Start or Project Finish if tasks are constrained to start or finish on dates other than those specified in Project Information. The Notes field of the project summary task is a reference to the same text string referenced by the Comments field in the Properties dialog box accessed via the File menu; changing one of these is equivalent to changing the other.
Entering Milestones
A milestone is generally considered to be a key event, typically a deliverable such as parts delivered. For progress meetings you may find it useful to filter your plan to display milestones only. Microsoft Project allows several ways of identifying milestones. For consistency, it is better to adopt one method only. Method 1: On allocating a task with duration of zero, Microsoft Project will automatically display the task on the Gantt Chart as a diamond symbol. Method 2: You can identify tasks that have duration as also being milestones. To do this: 1. Double-click on the Task Name to display the Task Information dialog box. 2. Select the Advanced tab, and then click in the checkbox to Mark task as milestone.
Figure 8. Marking a task as a Milestone Both methods set the Milestone field to Yes. Inserting the Milestone field into a task table and setting the field manually, is another way to identify a task as a milestone.
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Recurring Tasks
Recurring tasks enable the user to add regular recurring events, such as weekly or monthly meetings to the project plan. With this feature the user can specify the following: When the event will reoccur (for example, monthly, weekly, every 3rd Monday) The duration of the recurring event When the recurrence will start and end or how many times the event will reoccur
To insert a Recurring Task 1. From the Insert menu, select Recurring Task (this command is available anywhere that creating a single task is available). 2. The Recurring Task dialog box appears. 3. Specify the task name, duration, and recurrence details. 4. Click OK.
Figure 9. Recurring Task Information dialog box
Options in the Recurring Task Form and their Function

Task Name. The name of the recurring task. Each individual occurrence of the task is named as "Name "+ number. For instance, a recurring task named "Meeting" will have subtasks named "Meeting 1", "Meeting 2", etc. If the name+number combination would be greater than 255 characters, the name will be truncated to allow for the number. Duration. The duration of each occurrence of the event. Not the total duration of the recurring task itself. Recurrence Pattern. The primary period of time between task occurrences. Note that recurring periods of less than 1d are not allowed. The title and options of the adjacent group vary depending on the time period selected (daily weekly etc.) Daily. Can select occurrences with periods of either 1-12 days, or 1-12 workdays. Changing the Default Hours per Day on the Calendar tab has no effect on the daily scheduling; one day in this instance is always 24 hours
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Weekly. The number of occurrences each week is determined by the day(s) selected. The period can be 1-12 weeks. Monthly. The user can select tasks to occur on either: A particular day number, with a period of 1-12 months. The first, second, third, fourth, or last day of the month, with a period 1-12 months.
Yearly. Can select tasks to occur every year on either: A particular month and day or the first, second, third, fourth, or last occurrence of a particular day, of a particular month. Range of recurrence. These options determine the overall length of the recurring task. Start. The earliest possible start date for the first occurrence of the task. Default is the project start date. End after n occurrences. For n Occurrences: Number of task occurrences that should be created. End by. The latest possible finish date for the last occurrence of the task. Default is the Project Finish date. Either this date or the number of occurrences must be specified. Calendar for Scheduling this task. Allows the task to be scheduled based on the working times of the specified a calendar instead of the project calendar. Scheduling ignores resource calendars. This option will allow the subtasks to be scheduled without checking resource availability as long as a task calendar has been specified.
Properties of Recurring Tasks

The individual task occurrences are scheduled using the Start No Earlier Than constraint if the project is Scheduled from Start, or the Start No Later Than constraint if the project is Scheduled from Finish. The setting for project start is in the Project Information dialog box. The Roll up field is used to format the individual task bars to draw on top of the summary bar. The Hide field is used to format the summary task bar from drawing at all. These fields are automatically set to Yes when you use the Recurring Task dialog box. These fields can also be used to format other kinds of tasks on the Gantt Chart. The Priority of the subtasks for the recurring task is set to Do Not Level. This means that when resource leveling is invoked, recurring tasks will not be rescheduled by automatic leveling. For more information see Lesson 14: Resources. There is also an internal field that flags this task as a recurring task. This flag is not accessible, but the status can be determined by double-clicking the task, the Recurring Task Information dialog box displays instead of the standard Task Information form. It is not possible to change the status of this flag. If the subtasks are promoted or deleted so that a recurring task is no longer a summary, the Task Information command will display for a normal task. If any tasks are then demoted beneath that task, it will again be regarded as a recurring task.
Editing Recurring Tasks

Changes to individual occurrences of the recurring task can be made normally using the Task Information form. These individual tasks can be modified or deleted as needed. If just the recurring task summary is selected, then double-clicking the task brings up the Recurring Task form. Changes to the recurring task made in this form are handled as follows:
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Table 1. Changes to Recurring Task

Item changed Task Name Result All instances of the old task name will be replaced with the new task name. For instance, if the name changes from "Wed Meeting" to "Weekly Mtg", then "Wed Meeting 3" would change to "Weekly Mtg 3" on the subtask. The duration of any uncompleted task that has the old duration is changed to the new duration. If the recurrence pattern of task is changed, (e.g.,weekly to daily) Project alerts the user that all un-started occurrences of the task will be deleted and replaced with new occurrences. User can OK or Cancel. If the user changes the day of the week, month, or year that a task begins on, Project will not delete tasks, but rather just change the constraint date of any unstarted tasks. The Start date can only be modified if none of the subtasks have an Actual Start date. If modified, the constraint date of each subtask will be changed to reflect the new date. Project will add or delete tasks to or from the end of the group as necessary. If tasks that need to be deleted have Actual Start dates, Project will alert the user and provide an option to Delete or Cancel. Changing the calendar used may affect when the subtasks can be scheduled, Project alerts the user that all un-started occurrences of the task will be rescheduled. User can choose Yes, No or Cancel. This option will reschedule the subtasks without checking resource availability as long as a task calendar has been specified.
Duration Recurrence Pattern
Day change
Start
End after X occurrences or End by date Calendar for Scheduling this task Scheduling ignores resource calendars
Additional Notes on Recurring Tasks

Recurring Field
There is a Yes/No read-only task field, called Recurring that can be used to filter for recurring tasks. Only recurring tasks and their subtasks have a Yes in the Recurring field.
Recurring Tasks Default to Do Not Level

Because of the complexity of leveling all the subtasks in a recurring task, by default recurring subtasks are created with a priority of Do Not Level. The task Leveling Can Split and Level Assignments task fields are set to No. This means that all other tasks and assignments are leveled around recurring tasks. However, these settings can be changed to allow the subtasks of the recurring task to level.
Task Information Form

The Task Information form that appears on the screen as a dialog box, provides the user with information relating to the task and enables the user to make changes to the information in a single task or set of tasks. This tabbed dialog box is available from the pop-up menu that appears when right-clicking on a task, from the Information button on the Standard toolbar, or by double-clicking on a task.
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Figure 10. The Task Information dialog box
The General Tab

The Name, Duration, and Estimated fields are available in all tabs of this dialog box, including the General tab. The Percent Complete field can be modified in this dialog box, as can the Priority. There are 1000 priority values, where 1 indicates low priority and 1000 indicates high priority. Although the Start and Finish dates are available, the Baseline and Actual dates are not. These dates are not available in any of the Task Information tabs. The Rollup Gantt Bar to Summary checkbox corresponds to the Roll up field. This toggles whether specific task information, defined in the Gantt Bar Styles, rolls-up, and shows on its summary task. The Hide Task Bar checkbox corresponds to the Hide Bar field. Checking this box hides the Gantt bars associated with the task. Both these fields are used when a recurring task is created. They can also be used independently to format bars on the Gantt Chart.
The Predecessors Tab

The Predecessors tab provides a very useful interface for entering task relationships. The fields, ID, Name, Type of relationship, and Lead / lag for each predecessor is listed in a grid. Pull-down lists are provided for task names and relationship types.If only a single task is selected, the predecessors already linked to the task will be displayed in the grid. If multiple tasks are selected, the grid will be blank.
The Resources Tab

The Resources tab provides a grid for entering resource names and units that are assigned to tasks. If only a single task is selected, the resources already assigned to the task will be displayed in the grid. If multiple tasks are selected, the grid will be blank.
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The Units field is parsed just as it is in the Resource Assignment dialog. If only a number is entered, that number of resource units is assigned to the selected task(s). If a valid work value is entered instead, then Microsoft Project calculates the units using the formula: Units = Entered Work / Duration.
For example, if a task with duration of 8h is selected, and 2h is entered in the Units field for a resource, Microsoft Project will assign 25% Units of the resource to the task, and display 25% in the Units field.
The Advanced Tab

This tab provides access to the Constraint Type and Constraint Date fields. It also allows editing of the task type and effort driven fields; these fields play a large role in resource assignment and are discussed in a later chapter. A task calendar can be assigned to a task. This allows the task to be scheduled outside the project calendar. If a task calendar is assigned then the option scheduling ignores resource calendar is available. The WBS field can be edited here as well as the Earned Value method. The Mark Task as Milestone checkbox corresponds to the Milestone field.
The Notes Tab

The Notes tab provides a multi-line edit box for entering task notes, in addition to the Name and Duration fields. When the Enter key is pressed, the insertion point advances to the next line in the note, rather than closing the form. Selecting the Task Notes command from the default Project menu will bring up the Task Information form with this tab active.
Additional ways to create tasks

If you type a task name in any task table a task record will be created. Or double-click any row in a task table and enter data into the Task Information form. The mouse can be used to draw a new task in a Gantt Chart, Calendar, or Network view. To draw a task in a Gantt Chart or Calendar view 1. Click the left mouse button down and hold, the cursor turns into a + sign. 2. Drag the mouse and a task bar outline is drawn in gray. 3. Release the mouse when the task bar is drawn to the desired duration. The Start date is determined by which day the bar begins and the Finish is calculated from the Start and the Duration. Drawn tasks will have a constraint type of Start No Earlier Than, by default.
Creating tasks in a Network Diagram

1. Click the left mouse button down and hold, the cursor turns into a + sign. 2. Drag the mouse and a task box outline is drawn in grey, release at any time.
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All tasks boxes in this view are the same size and are added to the Network dialog box layout automatically. For best results turn off the automatic setting by going to the Format menu and selecting Layout, and then click the radio button for Allow manual box positioning. Double-click the task to bring up the Task Information dialog box to enter the task details.
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Exercises
1. What makes a task unique? 2. By default, on what date will a task start? 3. What does the ? next to the duration indicate? 4. What is elapsed duration and how is it indicated? 5. How is a summary task created? 6. How are summary task Duration, Start and Finish calculated? 7. Name two ways to indicate a milestone task. 8. Where are the options to change the duration abbreviations? 9. How can the Project summary task be displayed?
Lab 1. Familiarize yourself with the options that affect the defaults for entering tasks
1. On the File menu select New and choose blank project. 2. In the Project Information dialog box enter a Start date of Oct 1st 2001 and click OK. 3. Enter a task name, note the Start, Duration and Finish field display # signs. This indicates the column to be to narrow to display the data. Widen the column. 4. From the Tools menu select Options and click the Schedule tab. 5. Change New Tasks: to Start on current date. 6. Change Duration is entered in: to Hours, and click OK. 7. Enter a new task and note the start date and duration. 8. From the Tools menu select Options and click the Edit tab. 9. Under the View Options for time units, go to Hours and select h. 10. Uncheck Add space before label and click OK.
Questions for Lab 1:

1. What is the start date of the task before you changed the New Tasks option and after? 2. What is the duration abbreviation of both tasks entered?
Lab 2. Create and modify a recurring task to see how modifications can cause scheduling conflicts
1. In an open file select the Insert menu and click Recurring task. 2. For Recurrence pattern check every Monday. 3. For Range of recurrence select End after radio button and enter 4 in the occurrences box. Click OK.
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4. Click the + sign next to the summary task for the recurring task. Note task names for the individual tasks and their Gantt bars. 5. Drag the second occurrence of the task and move it to the next day. 6. Click the sign on the summary task, notice the Gantt bars are no longer symmetrical. 7. Double-click the recurring task and change the recurrence pattern to daily and occurrences to 8.
Questions for Lab 2

1. 1. What scheduling messages appeared after step 7 was completed?
Lab 3. Create a summary task with subtask Gantt bars rolled up to understand how the Hide and Roll up fields effect tasks. The finished task will look similar to the recurring task
1. Enter five tasks, each with the same name with a number after each from 0-4. 2. Highlight tasks 1-4 and indent them. 3. Drag each task out to start on a different day. 4. Highlight tasks 1-4 and double-click to bring up Task information. 5. On the General tab, click Roll up Gantt bar to summary and click OK. 6. Highlight the summary task, double-click, and check Hide task bar. 7. Click OK.
Questions for Lab 3

1. What did the summary task look like before step 6 was completed?
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Answers to Exercise
1. The Task ID makes the task unique. 2. The Project Start date is the default start for all tasks. 3. The ? stands for estimated durations. 4. Elapsed duration is indicated with the abbreviation ed and it stands for a continuous time period and ignores non-working time. 5. Summary tasks are created by using the outlining tools. 6. Summary task duration is calculated as the total working days between the earliest start of the subtasks and the latest finish. 7. Milestones can be either zero day duration or marked as a milestone using the task information form or entering yes in the milestone field. 8. From the Tools menu select Options and click the Edit tab. 9. From the Tools menu select Options and click the View tab.
Answer to Lab 1
1. The start date of the first task is Oct 1st 2001, the second task is todays date. 2. The duration for the first task is 1day? The second task is 8h?, no space.
Answers to Lab 2
Two dialog box boxes displayed when changing both recurrence pattern and the number of occurrences. They are:
and
Answers to Lab 3
1. Before Hide task bar was checked, the summary task appeared as a black summary bar with blue task bars on top.
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Lesson10: Split Tasks
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Lesson 10: Split Tasks

Published: June 2003 Applies to: Microsoft Project Standard 2003 Microsoft Project Professional 2003 Microsoft Project Server 2003 Contents Objectives Splitting Project Tasks Modifying Split Tasks Split Tasks and Resources Split In-Progress Tasks Stop and Resume Fields Baseline and Interim Plan Split Information Gantt Chart Bar Styles for Split Tasks Split Tasks in Calendar View Exercises and Labs
Objectives
What You Will Learn
After completing this lesson, you will be able to: Split tasks. Manipulate split tasks. Deal with split tasks and resources. Understand Stop and Resume fields. Manipulate split in-progress tasks. Understand baseline and interim plan information. Modify Gantt Chart Bar Styles for split tasks. Customize split tasks in Calendar view. Entering tasks and durations Calendars Tracking
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Splitting Project Tasks

Task splitting is a useful way to model interruptions to a task. For example, stopping work on a task for a period of time and starting up again. Or it can take more complex forms, such as assigning resources to different sections of the task, or to model a number of similar tasks as a single task. Microsoft Project supports relative splits, not absolute splits. The difference is described below: Absolute splits. An absolute split means that the split gap dates are fixed and if the tasks start date changes, the task "flows" around the fixed gaps. It may even move entirely beyond a fixed gap. Microsoft Project does not support absolute splits. Relative Splits. A relative split means that if the tasks start date changes, the gaps move with it. For example, if a 5-day break must occur in a task exactly 2 working days after the task starts, regardless of when the task starts, then a relative split could be used.
To Split a Task You can split a task so that the task is interrupted, and then resumes later in the schedule. 1. On the View bar, click Gantt Chart. 2. Click the Split Task button on the Standard toolbar. OR From the Edit menu, select Split Task OR In the Gantt Chart right click on the tasks in question and select Split Task from the shortcut menu that appears. 3. Move the cursor over the task bar you would like to split, and then click on the task bar under the date where you want the split to occur.
Figure 1. Splitting a Task You can use the Split Task tool repeatedly to split pieces into smaller pieces, creating multiple splits as illustrated below:
Figure 2. Multiple Splits The number of splits allowed per task is only limited by the memory on the machine.
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Splits are sometimes referred to as gaps. In the above figure, the splits are represented by the dotted lines. The length of each gap is called the span of the split, measured in working days. The date at the beginning and end of a dotted line segment are called the split start and split finish dates. You can use this method to split tasks only in views with timescales such as the Gantt Chart. There is an alternate method discussed later in this section on how to split tasks in Usage views. You cannot create splits in any other kinds of views and the Calendar view is the only other view that will display split tasks. Tip If you drag a portion of the split task so that it touches another portion, you will remove the split.
Split Behavior
A split is relative to the start of the task, so when the entire task is moved to another point in time, the split is moved with the task. If the units of an assignment change, the split is moved, but the span of the split does not change. The split span is based on working time and not elapsed time.
Modifying Split Tasks

To Change the Duration of a Split Task 1. On the View Bar, click Gantt Chart. 2. Position the cursor over the right end of any portion of the split task, until the cursor changes to an expansion arrow. 3. Drag to the left to shorten the duration, or drag to the right to lengthen the duration. If you click and move the last split section of a task without changing the duration of the task, Microsoft Project will insert zero work between it and the previous split section. Extending a task in this way does not increase the work on the task. When you drag the Finish of the last split section, an outline bar is drawn for the entire task:
Figure 3. Extending the finish of the last split section of the task However, if you drag the cursor back before the start of the split section, the outline bar snaps back to the Finish of the previous split section, because if you release the mouse button at that point, the new task Finish will be the Finish of the previous split section.
Figure 4. Dragging the task finish to the left of the last split section To change the duration of the entire task, type a new duration in the Duration field. You may want to move portions of the split task after changing the duration.
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Duration and Splits

Splits in a fixed-duration task count as part of the total task duration. Splits in a non-fixed duration task do not count as part of the total task duration.
The Before/After figures below illustrate the impact splits have on duration of the task types: Before splitting:
Figure 5. Effect of splitting on different task types section I After splitting:
Figure 6. Effect of splitting on different task types section II
Extending or Reducing Gantt Task Portions

You can use the mouse to extend or reduce the duration of individual pieces. When you adjust the duration of an individual piece, only assignments that have work at the end of that piece are impacted. If an assignment does not have work at the end of a piece, then increasing the duration of that piece doesn't impact the contour of that assignment, and decreasing the duration of that piece will not impact the contour of that assignment as long as it doesnt decrease earlier than the original finish of the assignment. The impact on the resource contour depends on whether the task type is fixed work or not.
Example
This example illustrates the impact of extending one of the pieces of a split task, and how it depends on task type. Split tasks T1 and T2 begin with identical schedules except that T1 is fixed work and T2 is not. The sequence of pictures below shows what happens when the first piece of each task is dragged to the right one day. Note that R2 on each task does not work to the end of the first piece on T1 and T2.
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Figure 7. Impact of extending one of the pieces of a split task and the effect on fixed work and fixed units task types section I Start with the same resource contours on split fixed work and fixed units task:
Figure 8. Impact of extending one of the pieces of a split task and the effect on fixed work and fixed units task types section II This is the corresponding Gantt Chart:
Figure 9. Impact of extending one of the pieces of a split task and the effect on fixed work and fixed units task types section III Next, drag the right end of the first piece of each task 1d to the right:
Figure 10. Impact of extending one of the pieces of a split task and the effect on fixed work and fixed units task types section IV
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Figure 11. Impact of extending one of the pieces of a split task and the effect on fixed work and fixed units task types section V Corresponding Task Usage: R1 had work at the end of the first piece of each task, so its contour was impacted when the duration of the first piece increased. For the fixed work task T1: R1 originally had 24h spread over the 3d first piece of T1. The duration of the first piece was dragged to 4d so now R1's 24h of work on the first piece of T1 has to be spread over 4d. That's 24h divided by 4d, which is 6h per day. For the non-fixed work task T2: Extending the duration of the first piece simply extends R1's contour, using R1's units (work rate) at the end of the first piece, which was a rate of 100% (8h per day). Extending 1d to the right at that same work rate gives 8h on Day4.
R2 on the other hand did not originally work at the end of the first piece on either task, so increasing the duration of each task didn't change either contour for R2. Notice that if you now drag the first piece of T1 and T2 back to the left to their original positions, the reverse impact occurs, and everything ends up as it was at the start.
To Move a Split Task

Two methods that can be used to do this: Method 1. Move the cursor over the first split section of a task until the cursor changes to the move cursor , Click and drag the bar to its new location. Method 2. Hold down the Shift key and click any split section of the bar and then drag the bar. As the task moves outlines of all the split sections move as well.
To Remove a Split from a Task

To remove a split on a task, drag a portion of the Gantt bar so that it touches another portion. If you use any calendar to specify the span as nonworking time instead of splitting the task, the nonworking time will not appear as a split task on the Gantt Chart.
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Linking and Split Tasks

You cannot create relationships where the predecessor, successor, or both are single sections of a split task. You cannot create links between split sections of different tasks or between a split section and another task.
Splitting Completed Portions

Typically, you do not want to split the completed section of a task, however, the Split Task command allows you to create task splits in completed portions of tasks and assignments. Splitting an in-progress task with no assignments behaves the same as a task without progress. Splitting a task with assignments similarly behaves the same as a task with progress.
Example
This example illustrates using the Split Task tool to split a completed portion of a task that has assignments. In each picture, the Gantt Chart is in the top pane and the task usage is in the bottom pane, showing timephased Work and Actual Work. The Split Task tool is clicked and then the bar is split after Day 1 and starts again on Day 4, creating a 2-day gap in work. Before splitting the task:
Figure 12. Splitting a completed portion of task with assignments section I After splitting the progress portion:
Figure 13. Splitting a completed portion of task with assignments section II
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Dragging to reschedule the remaining section of an in-progress task

The Split Task tool is not being used here; you are simply clicking on section of a bar and dragging. The feature of dragging the remaining portion of a task to split it without the Split Task command requires the following: Click the Schedule tab of the Options dialog box (Tools menu). Select the Split In Progress Tasks option. In the Bar Styles dialog box, there must be a progress bar defined to run From Start or Actual Start to %Complete or CompleteThrough.
If the Split In-Progress Tasks option in the Schedule tab of the Options dialog box (Tools menu) is not selected, then you will not be able use the drag method to reschedule uncompleted work. However, if the Split In-Progress Tasks option is enabled, then clicking on the portion of the bar that is not progressed and dragging it, creates a split at the end of the progress bar and the tasks resumes on the date where the bar is dropped. Progress bars use the %Complete or CompleteThrough (internal calculation), which are both related to Actual Duration. If the Tools Options, Calculation tab, Updating Task Status Updates Resource Status option is not selected, then %Complete and assignment Actual Work are independent, and you cannot split the task by manually dragging the uncompleted portion.
Creating a New Split Section

You can create new tasks by dragging the cursor while holding down the left mouse button. You can also create new split sections the same way. Dragging in an existing task row to create a new split:
Figure 14. Creating a new split section You can drag the outline of the new section to the left or right. If you drag the outlined bar until you hit an existing piece and then release the mouse button, the new section is appended to the existing one. You can cancel the drag operation by moving the cursor off of the task row and releasing the mouse button.
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How work is assigned to the new section

For tasks with assigned work, the following rules are used for assigning work to the new task section: 1. For split sections created before the start of a task, Microsoft Project assigns only the resources that were already scheduled at the previous start of the task and assigns them at the units they had there. 2. For split sections created between other split sections, Microsoft Project assigns only the resources that were already scheduled at the finish of the section on the left of the new section and assigns them at the units they had there. 3. For split sections created after the finish of a task, Microsoft Project assigns the resources that were already working at the finish of the task and assigns them at the units they had there.
Split Tasks and Resources

Assigning Resources to Split Tasks
You cannot assign resources to individual split sections in the Gantt Chart or Calendar view. If you assign a resource to a task it is assigned to all split sections of the task. You can, however, edit the assignment timephased work contour so that the resource does work only on specific sections. If the entire task is moved later, the contours move too.
Splits and Resource Contours

A split on a task automatically gives all of the task's resources zero work during the gap period. The Usage views show the zeroes in the timescaled grid. If a task has resources, a split is equivalent to giving all of its resources zero work during the desired split gap. To create a split in a Usage view, select where the split is to begin and drag to where it will resume. Then from the Insert menu select Cells or use the Insert key. If zeroes had been inserted for only one of the resources, then it does not create a split. Splits can also be removed in a Usage view by selecting a timescaled range in the grid in the task row, and then using the Edit menu, Delete Cells command, or pressing the Delete key.
Splits Caused by Leveling

Leveling can also create splits. The Tools Resource Leveling menu command displays the Resource Leveling dialog box, which contains the option Leveling that can create splits in remaining work, as shown in the figure below:
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Figure 15. Lower portion of the Resource Leveling dialog box With this option selected, leveling may create split tasks if necessary to help resolve overallocations more effectively. When split information is saved, splits created by leveling are flagged internally so that they can be distinguished from other splits. If you later click the Clear Leveling button, task and assignment leveling delay is cleared, and only the splits created by leveling are removed.
Storage of Split Dates

In addition to looking at zero work gaps, Microsoft Project internally stores pairs of split dates for all splits on a task. Splits created with the Split Task tool in the Gantt Chart view are rolled down to assignments if there are any, and edits to assignments are rolled up to the internal task split dates. The split dates can only be observed in a Usage view by looking at periods of zero work. There are no fields you can insert it a table to see these split dates.
Nonworking Time is not a Split

A split gap is different than specifying a nonworking period on project or resource calendars by using the Change Working Times command, or the Working Times tab in the Resource Information dialog box. It impacts the start and finish of tasks, but does not split them.
Split In-Progress Tasks

This setting is located in the Schedule tab; select the Tools menu and click Options. Selecting this option is required to enable the following features: Remaining work on an in-progress successor task that violates a relationship with a predecessor task is automatically rescheduled to honor the relationship with the predecessor. The Stop and Resume fields for non-summary tasks can be edited. If the Split In-Progress Tasks option is not selected, Stop and Resume fields are still calculated, but cannot be edited. These features, Tools, Tracking, Update Project, and Reschedule uncompleted work to start after, can split in-progress tasks to reschedule remaining work. Otherwise this feature can only move tasks that have not started (by giving them SNET constraints). You can click on the remaining portion of an in-progress task Gantt bar and drag it to reschedule it. This creates a split that runs from the original stop date to the new resume date, and you do not need the Split Task tool to do this.
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Stop and Resume Fields

Stop and Resume fields, are used to split the remaining portion of a task from the work done on the first portion. The Stop and Resume fields can be edited directly if the option to Spilt in progress tasks is on. Editing the Stop field has the same impact as using the Update Work as Complete Through, Set 0% - 100% option in the Update Project dialog box. Editing the Resume field has the same impact as using the Update Project, Reschedule uncompleted work to start option. In progress tasks are split when using the Update Project command form the Tools menu, click Tracking with the Reschedule Uncompleted Work to Start option.
Figure 16. Update Project dialog box There are two options that impact Stop and Resume dates and the use of the Update Project command as follows: Split In-Progress Tasks (available through the Tools menu, click Options then select the Schedule tab). If selected, then remaining work on an in-progress successor task that violates a relationship with a predecessor task is automatically rescheduled to honor the relationship with the predecessor. Also, the setting must be selected in order to have Stop and Resume dates, and for the Reschedule Uncompleted Work to Start feature to have any impact on in-progress tasks. Updating Task Status Updates Resource Status (available through the Tools menu, click Options then select the Calculation tab): If this option is selected, then edits to % Complete cause assignment Actual Work to recalculate, at that percentage of the assignment work. This is a two way setting. Edits to Actual Work and Stop dates cause %Complete to be calculated. When the setting is not selected, %Complete is independent of Actual Work and Stop dates.
There are also two options that impact Stop and Resume dates when editing %Complete or using the Update Project command as follows: Move end of completed task sections after status date back to status date (available through the Tools menu, click Options and select the Calculation tab). If this option is selected, this edits to %Complete move the completed section of the task to end at the Status date, which is the same as the Stop date. The Resume date equals the original scheduled Start. A subordinate option, And move start of remaining sections back to status date becomes available when the parent option is selected. When selected there will be no split in the task. The Resume date equals the status date.
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Move start of remaining sections before status date forward to status date (available through the Tools menu, click Options then select Calculation tab): If this option is selected, then edits to % Complete will reschedule uncompleted work immediately after the Status date. The Resume date equals the Status date + 1 minute. Stop date equals Actual Start plus Actual Duration. A subordinate option, And move end of completed sections forward to status date, becomes available when the parent option is selected. When selected there will be no split in the task. The Stop date is equal to the Status date.
Please note that setting a new Stop and Resume date does not impact existing Actual Work contours. Only remaining work is scheduled on or after the Resume date, after the current Actual Work already on the assignment. The following apply to both Stop and Resume: If Split In-Progress Tasks is not selected, then Stop and Resume are NA. If %Complete is 0, then Stop and Resume are NA. Assuming that Split In-Progress Tasks is selected and that %Complete is nonzero, then the following rules apply: If a task has no resources, then the task Stop is the date derived from Actual Start + Actual Duration. If a task has resources, then the task Stop is the earliest of all of the internal assignment stop dates. The Resume date is the first working day after the Stop date by default.
If you repeatedly reschedule uncompleted work, the split history is lost. Each time you reschedule remaining work in Microsoft Project it simply assumes the current Actual Work was done as scheduled.
Baseline and Interim Plan Split Information

Baseline Splits
When you save a baseline plan, the split information is saved with the baseline internally. This means that the baseline bars can be displayed on the Gantt Chart with the splits intact. Clearing a Baseline Start or Finish field clears the split information from the project. There are no fields that display scheduled, baseline, or interim split dates. You can use the task Baseline Start and Baseline Finish fields to move, truncate, or extend the baseline end pieces, but you cannot adjust individual baseline split pieces, either through task fields or with the mouse. You can also edit task timephased Baseline Work in a Usage view, but it has no impact on the baseline split dates and the appearance of baselines bars on the Tracking Gantt, because no calculations are done with baseline data.
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Interim Plan Splits

The Save Baseline dialog box (displayed by the Tools menu Tracking Save Baseline command) also includes an option to Save interim plan. This option by default saves scheduled dates into the Start1 and Finish1 fields. The Copy and Into drop-downs allow you to move saved plans between any combination of Start/Finish or Baseline fields. Save a baseline means to save scheduled information to corresponding baseline fields such as Baseline Start, Baseline Finish, Baseline Work, and so on. To save an interim plan means to save scheduled information to fields like Start1/Finish1 or to save one set of baseline data into another baseline.
Gantt Chart Bar Styles for Split Tasks

Each task has two sets of bar styles and formatting, one for the task sections, and one for the split gaps. All split sections use the one style of formatting and all split gaps use another.
The "Show Bar Splits" Setting

When the Gantt Chart is active, the Layout command on the Format menu and the Gantt shortcut menu displays the Layout dialog box, which contains the Show Bar Splits setting.
Figure 17. Gantt Chart Layout dialog box If this setting is selected, then task sections and split gaps are displayed. If this setting is not selected only whole task bars display. Even when the setting is not selected, you can still use the Split Task tool to create task splits in the Gantt Chart, but you can't see the gap you create. Also, you cannot drag individual split sections unless they are displayed. The Show Bar Splits setting is selected by default for new and imported projects.
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Bar Styles Dialog Box

When the Gantt Chart is active, the Bar Styles command on the Format menu and the Gantt shortcut menu displays the Bar Styles dialog box, which is used to defined categories of bar formatting. The Show For column determines to what category of task, task section, or split gap that the formatting should apply. The split can be used in conjunction with other conditions. If split is one of the conditions listed in the Show From column for a specific bar style definition, then that style can only be used to draw split gaps for tasks that satisfy the rest of the conditions for that style (if there are any). If split is not one of the conditions for a bar style, then that style can be used for tasks without splits and for tasks with split sections. As mentioned above, if the Show Bar Splits setting is selected in the Layout dialog box, then all tasks can only use bar styles that do not have the split condition, and those bars are drawn without splits whether they have any or not.
Figure 18. Bar Styles dialog box with Split condition in Show For Bar styles defined with the split condition can use the same Bars tab settings as any other bar style, however you cannot associate bar text with them. The Text tab is disabled (grayed out) when a bar definition is selected in the top half of the dialog box that uses the split condition.
Minimum Length for Drawing Splits

To avoid visual clutter in the Gantt Chart, split gaps are not drawn if they are under a minimum size. The minimum size depends on the base unit of the minor timescale if it is displayed, otherwise it depends on the base unit of the major timescale. The table below shows the minimums for various timescale base units. Table 1. Miminum length for drawing splits
Timescale Base Unit Minutes Hours Days Dont Display Splits Less Than 1 minute 10 minutes 2 hours
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Weeks Thirds of Months Months Quarters Years
1 day 1 day 2 days 1 week 3 weeks
Split Tasks in Calendar view

The Calendar view can display split sections but does not support editing them.
Split Task Sections
Split Task Sections
Split Task Sections
Figure 19. Calendar view showing split task sections and gaps
Bar Styles Dialog Box

Split sections are formatted in the Calendar view by using the Bar Styles command on the Format menu and Calendar shortcut menu. The Bar Styles dialog box contains a Split Pattern setting. Each category of bar in the Task Type list gets its own split pattern. Only the pattern of the split gap is controlled separately. Its shape and color are the same as the task section formatting for the category.
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Figure 20. Calendar view bar styles Some sample Calendar view bar styles follow. All use a dashed split pattern.
Bar Type is Line. Bar Type is Bar and bar pattern is a solid bar. Note that the split gap is always hollow. Bar Type is Bar and bar pattern is a hollow bar. The Shadow option is selected. Note that the shadows go separately with each task section, but no shadow for the gaps.
Calendar View Task Types that Support Split Patterns

The Calendar view only displays split sections for the following task types listed in the Bar Styles dialog box: Noncritical Critical Milestone Marked Highlighted External
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Exercises
1. In what views can you split a task? 2. If you split an assignment, can it still have a predefined work contour? 3. Can a task with no assignments be split? 4. For a fixed duration task: a) does the split gap count as part of duration? b) How about for a fixed units or fixed work task? 5. Describe situations in which Microsoft Project might automatically split a task. 6. In order to drag the remaining portion of a task bar to the right in the Gantt Chart, breaking it off from the completed section, what option setting must be selected? 7. What Show For ... condition in the Gantt Chart Bar Styles dialog box is used to show split gaps and what default fields are used for From and To? 8. Are there any fields in dialog boxes or tables that list all the split dates for a task? 9. Which of the following features are supported by individual split sections on the Gantt Chart (the sections where the task occurs)? a) You can drag them individually to the left or right, including the first section, without affecting other sections (assuming you don't drag one section into another). b) You can drag them individually to the left or right, except for the first section, without affecting other sections (assuming you don't drag one section into another). c) You can give each section its own predecessor. d) You can assign a resource to a specific section in the Gantt Chart view by dragging a resource from the Assign Resources dialog box and dropping it on a specific section. e) If the task is not a fixed work task, you can increase the duration of an individual section without affecting other sections (assuming you don't drag one section into another). f) Individual bar sections can be formatted independently from other bar sections by double clicking the bar section that you want to format. 10. Can you tell by looking at the timephased grid in a Task Usage view if an assignment has a split, or if instead the assigned resource's calendar has nonworking days in the middle of the assignment? 11. Suppose that the Bar Styles dialog box is set up correctly to show bar sections and split gaps, but that all tasks are currently displaying as single solid bars, including tasks that you know have splits. What setting is probably currently not selected? 12. a.) Is there a minimum length (duration) that a split gap must have in order for the split gap to be drawn on the Gantt Chart? b.) Does it depend on the timescale formatting? 13. Can split gaps be displayed in the Calendar view?
Lab 1. Creating a split from a Usage view

1. Create a project with a single task T with 4d duration. Edit the Standard calendar so that every day is a working day with the standard working hours 8a-12p, 1p-5p.
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2. Format the Gantt Chart view and enter the values shown in the picture below (no resources are assigned to the task, so you must enter the work value).
3. Use the Split tool to split the task into two sections with a three day split gap between them. 4. Switch to the Task Usage view with the timephased grid formatted to display timephased work. You should be able to identify the split gap. 5. Select the cells that make up the split gap and press the Delete key to remove the split. Switch back to the Gantt Chart, and you should see that the split has been removed. 6. Switch back to the Task Usage view and select the timephased cells for day two and day three and press the Insert key. This should create a one day section and a three day section separated by a two day split gap. Switch back to the Gantt Chart view to verify this.
Lab 2. Experiment with changing the duration of split sections

1. Create a project with a single task T with duration 4d. Edit the Standard calendar so that every day is a working day with the standard working hours 8a-12p, 1p-5p. 2. Use the Split tool to split the task into four one day sections with a three day split gap between consecutive sections. 3. Save the baseline for the project. 4. Use the mouse to move several of the sections individually and change the duration of several of the sections individually. 5. Use the Gantt Chart Wizard to show the baseline. You should be able to identify the baseline split sections and the currently scheduled split sections.
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1. You can manually create task splits in view with timescales such as the Gantt Chart and Usage views. 2. Yes 3. Yes 4. a) Yes b) No 5. Resource leveling will split tasks if the option to create splits is selected in the Resource Leveling dialog box. Also edits to %Complete or using the Update Task and Update Project commands will create splits when the option to split in-progress tasks is selected. 6. Split in-progress tasks option must be selected. 7. Split, start, and finish 8. No. 9. b and e 10. Yes, a split will show zero hours in the timephased cell, with a calendar exception the cell will be blank. 11. The option Show bar splits is disabled. 12. a) Yes b) Yes 13. Yes
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Lesson 11: Outlining
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Lesson 11: Outlining

Published: June 2003 Applies to: Microsoft Project Standard 2003 Microsoft Project Professional 2003 Microsoft Project Server 2003 Contents Objectives Outlining a Project Plan Overview Outlining Basics Outline Usability Outline Codes and WBS Defining WBS Codes Behavior of WBS Codes Sorting and Filtering Renumbering WBS Codes Defining Custom Outline Codes Putting It All Together: Grouping by Outline Codes Modifying WBS or Outline Code Masks Exercises and Labs
Objectives
What You Will Learn
After completing this module, you will be able to: Discuss the difference between outline number and Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). Describe outlining drag and drop capabilities. Create a complex outline code for a given scenario. Explain Smart Insert. Sort tasks effectively

Drag and drop Smart insert
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Outlining a Project Plan Overview

Hierarchical Structure in a Project
Creating a hierarchical structure in a plan allows you to group tasks together under summary tasks; these groups are also referred to as phases. This is Microsoft Projects method of creating a natural outline structure to your plan. An outline structure enables you to see your project plan in varying levels of detail from high to low level. Other outline structures are covered later. To create a summary task 1. From the View menu, select Gantt Chart. 2. In the Task Name field, click the first task that you want to be part of summary group. 3. On the Insert menu, click New Task. 4. In the Task Name field, type a name for the summary task. 5. Select the tasks that you want to be part of the summary task group. 6. To select multiple tasks, press CTRL, and then click each task. 7. Click Indent on the Format toolbar to indent the task or tasks beneath the summary tasks.
Note Placing tasks in a hierarchical order does not automatically create task dependencies. To create task dependencies, you need to link your tasks.
Outlining Basics
Promoting and Demoting Tasks
The Outdent and Indent buttons are available on the left-hand side of the Formatting toolbar and are used to create an outline in a project plan. The outline buttons allow the outline symbols to be toggled on and off. Options for displaying outline numbers, symbols, name indentation, and summary tasks are available in the View tab (from the Tools menu select Options). The equivalent outlining commands are also available from the Outline submenu on the Project menu.
Figure 1. Demote/Promote Task buttons
To Demote Tasks
1. Click on the task(s) to be demoted. 2. Click the Indent button on the Format toolbar. OR From the Project menu, choose Outline, then choose Indent.
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To Promote Tasks
1. Click on the task(s) to be promoted. 2. Click the Outdent button on the Format toolbar. OR From the Project menu, choose Outline, then choose Outdent.
To Undo Outlining
Outdent all your subtasks and next-level summary tasks until all your tasks return to the same outline level. The following figures show project plan before and after outlining.
Figure 2. Project plan before outlining
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Figure 3. Project plan after outlining
Collapsing/Expanding Task Outline Levels

Microsoft Project allows users to expand and collapse outline levels efficiently. To do expand and collapse outline levels. 1. Click on the summary task or outline level you would like to expand. 2. Click on the Show Subtasks button 3. Click on the Hide Subtasks button from the Formatting toolbar. to collapse the outline level.
These options can also be found on the Project menu by selecting Outline, then selecting Show Subtasks to expand the outline level. OR On the Project menu select Outline then click on Hide Subtasks to collapse the outline level.
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Outline Usability
Outlining by Drag and Drop
Microsoft Project allows users to outdent, indent, and reorder tasks in an outline by clicking and dragging on them. To change the outline level of a task using drag and drop 1. Moving the mouse over the task name until the cursor changes to an outline cursor 2. Click and drag the task to the right to indent, to the left to outdent. Horizontal dragging is used to promote and demote tasks. Tasks can be demoted or promoted more than one level at a time in this manner. Tasks can be dragged to a new outline level using the move cursor To move a task to a new outline level by dragging 1. Select the row of the task that is to be moved. 2. Move the mouse over the ID number until the cursor changes to the move cursor 3. Click and drag the task to the new location. When a subtask is moved from outline level to another, the task will take on the new outline level. When reordering the outline by dragging rows, subordinate tasks are moved with their summary task. . . .
Smart Insert
When inserting a new task, the new task will be created at either the outline level of the current task (or highest ID task, if multiple tasks are selected), or the outline level of the task immediately before the selection, whichever is greater.
Example
The user has the following hierarchy:
Figure 4. Smart Insert If the user has summary2 selected and performs an Insert Task, then the new task is created at level 2, as a peer to task t2. If task r3 is selected then the new task is inserted at outline level 3.
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Outlining in Usage Views

In Usage views, the assignments are shown indented under the parent record. In the Task Usage view, assignments are grouped under the task to which the resource is assigned. Tasks are displayed at their normal outline level and their assignments are shown indented under each task. Because tasks can appear at any outline level, it is possible to have assignments displayed at various outline levels in a Task Usage view. Assignments are indented about 1.25 times the normal task indention. This helps to distinguish assignment rows from task rows. When displaying tasks and their resource assignments, you can collapse and expand task outlines as well as indenting and outdenting the tasks. In the Resource Usage view, assignments are grouped under assignment summary tasks for each resource. You can collapse and expand an assignment summary task to show or hide the indented assignments. Resource records in resource tables cannot be indented or outdented manually to create a resource outline.
Outline Symbols
Outline symbols can be used with parent records in a Usage view, just like they can be used with summary tasks in a task table. They provide a convenient way to expand or collapse indented subordinate rows. The View tab, which can be accessed by selecting the Tools menu and clicking Options, has a group of Outline Options for <project name>, shown in the figure, that control the behavior of summary tasks and outline symbols.
Figure 5. Tools Options - View tab (Outline Options) All of these settings can be used with any views containing a task table, including the Gantt Chart, Task Sheet, and Task Usage views. These settings are inaccessible (grayed out) when any resource views are active, except that the Show Outline Symbol setting is accessible when the Resource Usage view is active.
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The Indent/Outdent toolbar tools cannot be used to create custom outlines from resource or assignment records, so these tools are disabled in the Resource Usage view. They are enabled in the Task Usage view, but don't do anything unless a task record is selected.
Outline Codes and Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

WBS Field
The Outline number and the WBS fields by default contain the same values, however while the Outline number is not editable the WBS field can be customized. The WBS field allows users to do the following: Create a mask for the field so only WBS codes can be entered that adhere to the outline structure and the format specified in the code mask. Renumber the WBS codes based on the outline and the mask. Maintain the codes so they are unique and will change only under specified circumstances. Verify uniqueness of any user-entered codes.
Outline Codes
Custom outline codes give users the following capability: Users can define a custom outline structure that is unrelated to the task outline. A mask can be created for the fields so the user can only enter codes that adhere to the code mask. Users can create a lookup table, and have the option to ensure that codes entered are one of the values listed in the lookup table. The lookup table provides a field picklist to help users assign codes to tasks or resources. Users can perform hierarchical grouping with rollups based on the codes entered.
Distinctions Between WBS and Outline Code Fields

WBS is a predefined task field, which always corresponds to the task outline structure. Because it is possible for each task to have a unique WBS code, the WBS field can be used much like the task Name or ID fields to refer to tasks. The project manager can specify that codes be verified as unique whenever a code is entered or modified on a task. (For more information on ensuring that codes are unique throughout a project, see Uniqueness of WBS Codes later in this lesson.) Custom Outline Code fields, on the other hand, allow users to outline tasks and/or resources in ways unrelated to the task outline structure or resource group codes. There is no provision to require a unique outline code for each task, but the project manager can specify that only codes that are predefined in a lookup table be used. The following are examples of scenarios in which each type of code might be used: 120A company requires that all project tasks adhere to a WBS code format used throughout the company, so the project manager creates a WBS code mask based on the companys WBS
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format. Whenever a new task is created, Microsoft Project generates a unique code for the task that adheres to the code mask. Different groups in the company want to view the Microsoft Project data in different ways. The project managers are most interested in the critical path, and have defined the project outline based on project phases. The accounting department wants to see a different set of rollups based on cost centers, and HR wants to see the information based on the companys organizational structure. The accounting department creates a custom task Outline Code field called Cost Code, and populates the lookup table with a hierarchical list of codes based on cost centers. They then use the field picklist to assign the appropriate code to each task, thus ensuring that only valid codes are entered. Once codes are assigned, they can use Group By (from the Project menu) to arrange the project by Cost Code with the desired outline and rollups. The HR department designs a custom resource outline code called Departmental Workload, and creates a lookup table corresponding to the companys organizational chart. They assign each resource the appropriate code so that they can view resource usage grouped by department and job category.
Sharing WBS and Custom Outline Code Across Projects

A tab labeled Fields, which is available from the Tools menu and select Organizer, allows WBS code definitions and custom outline codes to be copied from one open project to another or to the Global template. If an Outline code has been renamed, its new name will appear in the Fields tab in the Organizer. For outline codes only, code masks and lookup tables can also be imported from another project using the Import Outline Code command in the Outline Code Definition tab. To view this tab select the Tools menu, click Customize, then select Fields.
Enterprise Outline Codes

Available with Microsoft Project Professional are a set of Enterprise Outlines Codes that are essential to full feature functionality with the views available in Microsoft Project Server, such as Projects, Vision, and Modeling views. The enterprise outline codes are also used in creating generic resources for use in the Enterprise Resource Global and advanced resource assignment features such as resource replacement. These codes are created in the same manner as other outline codes in Microsoft Project 2003 but are stored in the Enterprise Global that resides on the Microsoft Project Server. For more information on how these codes are used and stored see Lesson 33: The Project Center.
Defining WBS Codes

WBS code masks are defined in the WBS Code Definition dialog box, available by selecting WBS then click Define Code from the Project menu.
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Figure 6. WBS Code Definitions The title bar of the dialog box includes the name of the current project, and all WBS code settings entered in the dialog box apply only to the current project. Note that the option checkboxes in the WBS Code Definition dialog box apply only to a defined code mask, and are disabled until at least one level of the code mask is defined. The total length of the code mask cannot exceed 255 characters. For purposes of calculating the total length, length is counted as the specified length plus the number of characters in its separator. A length of Any is counted as 1 character plus the length of its separator. If a code mask is defined that exceeds 255 characters, when the user clicks OK to close the dialog box, the following message is displayed:
Figure 7. Invalid Value Note Because validation of mask length in the WBS Code Definition dialog box is limited to verifying the length of the mask itself, it is possible to define a mask that in practice could exceed the WBS field limit of 255 characters The sections that follow describe the various parts of the WBS Code Definition dialog box and how they are used.
Code Preview
Code preview is a read-only textbox that displays the current code format selected by the user. The contents of the box change dynamically as the user changes either the project code prefix or an item in the code mask table. The code format is displayed using the project code prefix (if used), followed by preview display characters representing the level, sequence, length, and separators defined for each level of the code mask.
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Project Code Prefix

The Project Code Prefix textbox allows the user to specify a prefix that will be appended at the beginning of all WBS codes for every task in the project, so that in master projects, for example, the user can distinguish tasks of one project from another. Also, the Project Code Prefix will be used as the WBS code for the project summary task. Note that no separator will be inserted between the Project Code Prefix and the first level of the mask, so if a space or other separator is desired, the user must enter it as the last character(s) of the prefix. Microsoft Project can only use the Project Code Prefix if one or more levels are defined for the code mask. If the user enters a Project Code Prefix and then tries to close the dialog box without entering any code mask levels, the following message is displayed:
Figure 8. Code Mask
Code Mask (excluding prefix)

The code mask table is empty by default, and contains the following columns in which each level of the WBS code mask is defined: Level. Specifies each outline level. The numbers 1, 2, 3, etc., will appear in the Level column as the user enters information in the respective row. Sequence. Specifies, for each level, the type of characters that are acceptable for that level. To choose a valid character type, the user clicks a cell in the Sequence column and then selects from a picklist.
In the code mask, the sequence is represented as shown in the following table: Table 1. Code Mask
Sequence Numbers (ordered) Uppercase Letters (ordered) Lowercase Letters (ordered) Characters (unordered) Shown in Mask As 1 A a *
The first three choices are self-explanatory. Characters (unordered), means any characters (numbers, letters, other characters), in any order the user wishes. (For automatically generated codes, the default character used will always be an asterisk.)
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Length. Specifies the number of character positions allowed or required for a given level. A picklist available in the cell contains Any plus the numbers 1 through 10, but any other positive value can also be entered. The default value is Any. In all cases, a length of Any is represented in the code mask by a single character of the specified type. For a specific length, the mask will show the number of characters specified. For example, a level with a sequence of uppercase letters (ordered), a length of 4, and a single slash as Separator would be represented in the mask as AAAA/. The same level with a length of Any would be represented in the mask as A/. Separator. Specifies the character(s) that separates one outline level from the next; up to three characters can be specified. This is an editable combo box with a default value of period (.). The combo box drop-down also contains the hyphen (-), plus (+), and slash (/) characters, or the user can enter any other character they wish to use, except numbers or letters. If a number or letter is entered, the following message is displayed:
Figure 9. Code Mask Separators A separator character is not required unless the Length field is Any (otherwise it would be impossible to differentiate the levels in the code mask). If the user leaves the Separator column blank when the Length field is Any, the following message is displayed:
Figure 10. Required Separator Character
Generate WBS Code for New Task

When checked (the default), Microsoft Project will automatically generate a WBS code based on the code mask for every new task created in the project. If unchecked, no WBS code is generated and the WBS field for the task will be left blank. The exact code generated will depend on the factors described in the section Behavior of WBS Codes, later in this lesson.
Verify Uniqueness of New WBS Codes

When checked (the default), all new codes entered by the user will be verified as a unique code amongst the tasks siblings. If the code entered is not unique, the following message is displayed:
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Figure 11. Unique WBS Code Because Microsoft Project does not step through the WBS codes for all tasks in the project to verify uniqueness, only those of a tasks siblings, the performance overhead is not as severely impacted as might otherwise be the case.
Behavior of WBS Codes

Default Contents for New Tasks
No mask defined, no codes entered manually. The WBS field contents will be the same as the tasks Outline Number field. No mask defined, some codes entered manually. The user can edit the field to replace the default outline number with any combination of numbers, letters, or characters (up to the 255character maximum), and codes do not have to be unique. If the user clears the contents, the field will be refilled with the tasks Outline Number. Code mask defined. The default WBS field contents for new tasks depend on whether Generate WBS code for new task is checked in the WBS Code Definition. If checked, a code is generated that conforms to the code mask. If not checked, the WBS field is blank for new tasks unless the user types in a code. In either case, if the user clears the contents, it will be left blank.
Determining Code Value for Generated Codes

Validating Code Value for Entered Codes
Code values are generated or validated according to the following rules: Each tasks code consists of the value of its parent tasks WBS field with a value for its own mask level appended at the end. Each summary task has a counter, which keeps track of the highest code ever assigned to any of its child tasks, even if the subtask that had the highest code has been deleted. A generated code will always be one value higher than the value stored in its parent tasks counter. The user may not manually enter a code, which is equal to or lower than the value stored in the counter, but may enter any otherwise valid code whose value is higher than the currently stored code.
If the WBS codes are renumbered using the Entire project option, the counter is reset to the highest value of the subtasks after renumbering. No code value may exceed 255 characters.
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If the user manually enters a code, which violates the above rule for code values, the following message is displayed:
Figure 12. Incorrect Code Value
Entered Code Must Fit Mask Definition

When the user manually enters a code in the WBS field, the code entered is validated against the code mask according to the following process: Is the code entered valid according to the complete mask definition? If yes, it is valid. Otherwise, Is the code valid if the Project Code Prefix is appended (that is, did the user forget to type in the prefix)? If yes, it is valid. Otherwise, Is the code valid if the Project Code Prefix plus the parents WBS code are appended (that is, did the user enter only the text for the codes outline level)? If yes, it is valid. If not, it is invalid.
If the user enters a code that is invalid according to the above tests, the following message is displayed.
Figure 13. Code violates code rule
Parent Task WBS Code Is Blank

If the user tries to enter a code for a task whose parent task has a blank WBS code, the following message is displayed:
Figure 14. Parent Task has blank WBS
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Summary Task WBS Code Changes

If the WBS code for a summary task is changed, the WBS code will be changed for all of its subtasks. Each subtask will retain its current level value, with the new summary task WBS code appended in place of the previous code.
Parent Tasks WBS Code Changes

If a task is indented or outdented, Microsoft Project will automatically change the WBS code to fit its new outline level.
Figure 15. WBS Code Automatically Changes
Task Is Moved
If a task is moved from one summary task to another, Microsoft Project will update its WBS code as if the task had been deleted and reentered under the new summary task. If Generate WBS code for new task is checked, Microsoft Project will assign the next available code for the task according to its new level. If Generate WBS code for new task is unchecked, Microsoft Project will attempt to retain the tasks current code (after its current summary task code has been stripped), but if the current code would then violate another rule based on its new location (for example, duplicate code, or code value is lower than the summary tasks counter in the new location), then the code will be left blank. In this situation, no error message will be generated.
Code Exceeds 255-Character Field Limit

In either of the following situations the message shown below will be displayed. When a new task is created with Generate WBS code for new task selected, and its newly generated WBS code exceeds the 255-character WBS field limit, the error message is displayed. When an existing task is indented or moved and its newly generated WBS code would exceed the 255-character WBS field limit, the code will not be inserted, and the error message will be displayed.
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Figure 16 WBS Code exceeds 255 characters If the user clicks OK, the task will be created with a blank WBS field. If the user clicks Cancel, the task is not created. When the user manually enters a code which exceeds the limit, the message is a bit different:
Figure 17. Manually entered code exceeds 255 What Happens When a Code Mask Is Defined After Manual Codes Are Already Entered? When applying a newly created code mask, Microsoft Project will renumber the codes already in the project according to the mask, but will attempt to retain manually entered values at their appropriate levels within the structure of the renumbered codes. If the manually entered value is valid according to the mask definition for its level, it will be retained. If it is not valid, it will be replaced with the value that would have been applied if the entire project were being renumbered. For example, suppose a WBS field contains the value apple when a new code mask is defined, and in the new mask the level is specified as Lowercase Letters (ordered), Length Any. Its value would be valid according to the mask definition, so it would be retained. If in the new mask the level was Numbers (ordered), the value would be changed to a number. If any manually entered codes are changed when a new code mask is applied, no error messages are generated.
Sorting and Filtering

Sort Order
The sort order of both WBS and Outline Code fields is somewhat different than the normal sort order for alphanumeric fields in Microsoft Project. The normal sort order is by alphanumeric value only, whereas WBS and outline codes are sorted first by length of the individual level, and then by alphanumeric ordering. For example, suppose a mask level is defined as Uppercase Letters (ordered) with a length of Any. The ascending order of the codes would be sorted as A, B, Z, AA, AB, AZ, BA, BB, BZ, AAA, and so on. Microsoft Projects normal ascending order would have sorted similar values in a text field in the sequence A, AA, AAA, B, etc.
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Across the entire mask, sorting is done level by level, with the highest-level sorted first. This means, for example, that A.B.A. will come before AB.A.
Filtering
The WBS field can be filtered using the same operations used for any text field.
Renumbering WBS Codes

If a code mask is defined, WBS codes can be renumbered for selected tasks or for the entire project. If no code mask is defined, the Renumber option is disabled. Select Renumber from the Project menu, click WBS and the dialog box below will be displayed.
Figure 18. Renumber WBS Codes If at least two tasks are selected when the dialog box is opened, the default selection will be Selected tasks. Otherwise, Selected tasks is disabled and Entire project is selected. Note that Selected tasks will also be disabled if a sort or filter has been applied, or if AutoFilter is turned on even if no columns have been AutoFiltered. When the entire project is renumbered, the process is straightforward. Microsoft Project steps through each task in the project and resets the WBS code for the task in accordance with the WBS code mask. The code set for each task is based on the codes mask plus its parents code. Only a contiguous selection of tasks can be renumbered. When selected tasks are renumbered, the WBS code of the first task in the selection is used as a reference, and the remaining tasks in the selection are numbered incrementally starting with the first selected tasks code.
Examples of Renumbering
The following examples will help to illustrate the behavior when selectively renumbering. Each example assumes the following code mask is defined: Table 2. Renumbering
Level 1 2 3 Sequence Uppercase Letters (ordered Numbers (ordered) Numbers (ordered) Length Any Any Any Separator
Before each example is renumbered, the task list appears as follows:
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Name Task1 Task2 Task3 Task4 Task5 Task6 Task7 Task8
WBS B B.7 B.4 B.4.1 B.4.3 B.4.5 A A.2
When Task3, Task4, and Task5 are selected and renumbered, the result is:
Name Task1 Task2 Task3 Task4 Task5 Task6 Task7 Task8 WBS B B.7 B.4 B.4.1 B.4.3 B.4.5 A A.2
When Task5 through Task8 are selected and renumbered, the result is:
Name Task1 Task2 Task3 Task4 Task5 Task6 Task7 Task8 WBS B B.7 B.4 B.4.1 B.4.3 B.4.4 C C.1
Note that the code for Task7 changed to C because the reference task (the first task in the selection) had the letter B at that level of the mask.
WBS Codes May Not Always Remain Unique

It is important to note that it is not possible to guarantee that all WBS codes will always be unique within a project. Because of the behavior when selectively renumbering, non-unique numbers can be generated without the user being notified that this is the case.
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If a project manager wants to ensure that all WBS codes in the project are unique, the WBS field can be renumbered using the Entire project option.
WBS Predecessors and WBS Successors

Two read-only fields, WBS Predecessors and WBS Successors, are used to display the WBS codes of a tasks predecessors and successors. Multiple predecessors or successors are separated by the list separator (a comma by default). For a cross-project link, the full path name plus the WBS code of the predecessor or successor task is displayed.
Defining Custom Outline Codes

To create a Custom Outline Code 1. From the Tools menu, select Customize, and then click Fields. 2. Select the Custom Outline Code tab. Ten outline codes can be defined for tasks and for resources.
Figure 19. Customize Fields The Task and Resource options specify whether task or resource Outline Code fields are listed. The Rename command allows the selected field to be renamed.
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When the user selects one of the ten outline codes and clicks the Define Code Mask button, Outline Code Definition for Outline Code is displayed. The name of the selected field is displayed in the title bar of the dialog box. If the user has used the Rename command to rename the selected Outline Code field, the new name is displayed in the title bar.
Figure 20. Outline Code Definition The dialog box allows the user to specify a mask and other options for the outline code selected. The total length of the code mask cannot exceed 255 characters. Length is calculated the same as the WBS field. Note Since validation of mask length in the Outline Code Definition dialog box is limited to verifying the length of the mask itself, it is possible to define a mask that in practice could exceed the field limit of 255 characters. The sections Level, Sequence, Length and Separator of the Outline Code Definition dialog box function the same way as those in the WBS Code Mask.
Import Outline Code

Clicking Import Outline Code button displays the following dialog box.
Figure 21. Import Outline Code
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The user can select the Global template or any open project, and then select a task or resource Outline Code field to be imported into the current project. When the user clicks OK, the code mask and level definitions from the specified project are populated into the Outline Code Definition dialog box for the outline code currently being defined. Note that any levels previously defined for the current outline code will be removed,removed and no error message will be generated.
Only Allow Codes Listed in the Lookup Table

When checked, any code entered by the user must be contained in the lookup table. This option is unchecked by default.
Only Allow New Codes with Values in all Levels of Mask

When checked, any code entered by the user must have a value in all levels defined for the mask. For example, if the code mask is 1.1.1.1, and the user enters 1.1.1, the code would be considered invalid.
Edit Lookup Table

The Edit Lookup Table command opens the Edit Lookup Table dialog box shown below, where the user can define a list of valid outline code values.
Figure 22. Lookup Table When Only allow codes listed in the lookup table is checked in the Outline Code Definition dialog box, any values entered in the code field for a task or resource must be present in the lookup table. The lookup table provides a picklist that the user can choose from when selecting values in the Outline Code field for the tasks or resources in the project.
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Figure 23. Outline Code Column Picklist Outdent/Indent/Expand/Collapse/Expand All. These buttons perform the same functions in manipulating the outline levels as they do in Task views. Cut Row/Copy Row/Paste Row/Insert Row/Delete Row. These buttons behave in the same manner as in other definition dialog boxes where they are present, with the following additional behavior: If a summary code is deleted, all of its subcodes are also deleted. No error message is generated. If a summary code is copied and pasted, its subcodes are copied and pasted with it.
Display indenting in lookup table. When checked (the default), subcodes are shown in the table indented under their summary codes, similar to tasks in a task view. When unchecked, the indenting is removed, but summary codes retain their bold formatting.
Behavior of Codes in Lookup Table

The order of codes in the lookup table is always ascending. The user may enter codes out of order, but when the dialog box is closed and reopened, it is automatically resorted in ascending order. The lookup table will initially allow invalid codes (codes that do not conform to the code mask) to be entered, but invalid codes will be marked in red and will have a yellow exclamation point icon in the Level column.
Figure 24. Invalid Codes
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If the user attempts to close the dialog box when any codes are marked invalid, the following message will be displayed:
Figure 25. Codes do not match mask A code will also be marked invalid if its length plus its parent code length exceeds 255 characters. As long as they match the code mask, duplicate codes are allowed and will not be marked as invalid. If the user deletes a code in the lookup table, and if there are any tasks in the project that have the deleted code assigned, then when the user closes the Outline Code Definition dialog box, the following message will be displayed:
Figure 26. Codes become invalid If the user clicks OK, the dialog box closes and the codes are removed from the tasks.
Assigning Custom Codes to Tasks/Resources

To make it easier for users to add outline codes to a task or resource, the Outline Code field in a table contains a picklist of any codes, which have been added to the lookup table. The user can either type in a valid code manually, or select a code from the picklist. Items contained in the picklist are derived according to whether Only allow codes listed in lookup table is checked in the Outline Code Definition dialog box, as described below.
Effect of Only allow codes listed in lookup table

If Only allow codes listed in lookup table is unchecked in the Outline Code Definition dialog box and the user enters a code which is not currently contained in the lookup table, the code entered is first checked against the code mask. If it is a valid code according to the mask definition, then the new code is added to the lookup table, and will subsequently appear in the field picklist. If Only allow codes listed in lookup table is checked in the Outline Code Definition dialog box, the user cannot manually enter a code which is not contained in the lookup table for the
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particular Outline Code field. If a code is entered that is not in the lookup table, the following message is displayed:
Figure 27. Not a valid custom outline code When OK is clicked, the field is not added to the picklist, and the user is returned to the cell being edited, with the invalid code selected for editing. The user can then either select a valid code from the picklist, type in a valid code, or cancel editing of the field.
Using the Outline Code Picklist

Just as in the Edit Lookup Table dialog box, only the value of each sub code level is displayed in the Outline Code field picklist. When the code is inserted into the field, however, the entire code mask will be displayed. To make it easier for the user to distinguish the level of the codes in the picklist, they are displayed with indentation similar to that in the lookup table. The separator is also included for all except the lowest level in a given hierarchy. For example, suppose the following code mask is defined for Outline Code1 and that the lookup table for Outline Code1 contains the following entries: Table 3. Outline Code Picklist
Level 1 2 3 Sequence Uppercase Letters Lowercase Letters Numbers Length Any Any 2 Separator /
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Figure 28. Example Code The picklist for the field would appear as follows:
Figure 29. Outline Code Table Column Picklist
User Cannot Enter Code in Field If No Mask Is Defined

If the user tries to edit an outline code in a table when no mask has been defined for the field, the following message is displayed:
Figure 30. No Code Mask defined
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Field Cannot Exceed 255 Characters

The total number of characters contained in a given Outline Code field cannot exceed 255 characters. If a code is entered which would exceed the 255-character limit, the similar message seen in the following figure is displayed.
Level in Code Mask Does Not Have to Match Task Outline Level
Because there is no relationship between the task or resources outline level and any custom outline code, any item in the picklist can be assigned to any task in the project.
Unlimited Duplicate Codes Are Allowed

With outline codes, there is no validation for uniqueness of either the codes in the lookup table or in the field contents, so the user is allowed to enter any number of duplicate codes in the project. When the project is grouped by outline code, tasks with duplicate codes will be grouped together.
Field Value Must Match the Code Mask

Any value entered manually must match the code mask defined for the particular Outline Code field. If a value is entered that does not match the mask, the following message is displayed:
Figure 31. Value must match Code Mask
Effect of Only allow codes with values in all levels of mask

Suppose we have the following mask defined:
Level 1 2 3 Sequence Uppercase Letters Numbers Lowercase Letters Length Any Any Any Separator
If the option Only allow codes with values in all levels of mask is checked in the Outline Code Definition dialog box, and the user enters a code such as AAA.1, the entered code would not be considered valid because the mask is defined for 3 levels and only 2 levels were entered. In this case the following message will be displayed:
Figure 32. Values in all levels of Code Mask
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Putting It All Together: Grouping by Outline Codes

Custom outline codes allow you to sort, filter or group tasks or resources in your project. After you assign custom outline codes to tasks or resources, you can use those codes to group the tasks or resources into a hierarchy based on the hierarchy of the outline codes. You can group tasks or resources in sheet views to view summary (rolled up) information. In Resource views, applying grouping provides summary information that is unavailable otherwise. For a description of how to use the Group By dialog box, see Lesson 12: Sort, Filter, and Group. Lets look at an example of how the codes might be used in order to view a project grouped according to the companys cost codes: Suppose the project has the following tasks, and that Outline Code2 has been used for the Cost Code field. The mask for Cost Code is defined with one level that contains two numbers. The lookup table for the Cost Code field contains the following values:
Figure 33. Lookup Table for Cost Code If we perform a Group By on the Cost Code field, Microsoft Project will refer to the code mask defined for the custom field, parse the values for each of the tasks, and place them in a hierarchical grouping using the labels entered in the Description column in the lookup table. The result will be the following:
Figure 34. Group by Cost Code
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Modifying WBS or Outline Code Masks

If changes are made which cause some outline codes in the project to become invalid, the following message is displayed:
Figure 35. Changes to Outline Code alert
Levels Added or Removed

If new levels are added at the end of the mask, previously entered codes are unaffected. If new levels are added in the middle of the mask, or if levels are removed, some codes could become invalid.
Sequence Changed
If the sequence of a code mask is changed to characters, then previously entered codes are unaffected, because any combination of numbers or letters is allowed. If the sequence is changed from uppercase to lowercase letters, or vice versa, Microsoft Project will convert the case on previously entered codes. If the sequence is changed from numbers to letters or vice versa, some existing codes may become invalid. Microsoft Project will renumber the affected codes according to the tasks level in the code mask.
Length Is Changed
If the length of any level is changed to Any, then codes are unaffected. If the length is increased, Microsoft Project will left fill the code with characters appropriate to the levels sequence. If the length is decreased, some codes may become invalid. Microsoft Project will renumber the affected codes according to the tasks level in the code mask.
Separator
Most changes to the separator will not result in codes becoming invalid. The exception is if the levels length is Any and the separator is changed to include a character, which is currently used in any codes in the project, then the affected codes will become invalid.
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For example, if a code currently contains the value C++ and the separator for the tasks level is changed to +, then the code will become invalid.
New Mask Definition Will Cause Some Codes to Exceed 255-Character Limit
This is essentially the only situation that is not covered by the rules outlined above.
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Exercises
What is the purpose of outlining a project? What are the different ways to create, promote, or demote a task? If a new task is inserted into a project what level will it be inserted? Is outlining available in a resource view? How do you show outline symbols? What is the difference between Outline codes and WBS? Where can a WBS code be defined? Where can an outline code be defined? How long can a WBS or outline code be? Are WBS codes always unique? If a task is deleted do the WBS codes renumber automatically? If a code mask is defined the user must enter the text for a code only for that outline level. Any Project Code Prefix or parent WBS code will be appended. True or False? 13. Can Outline Codes be manually entered? 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.
Lab 1. Understand how WBS codes are entered, sorted, and renumbered
Make sure to insert the WBS field and the Outline Number into your table. 1. Insert the WBS field into a project plan with various levels of outlining. Note the default values. 2. Try to clear, delete, or backspace out a WBS value. 3. Now, define a WBS code that starts with letters. Note that the WBS codes automatically renumber. 4. Try to clear, delete, or backspace out the WBS value on a summary task. 5. Sort by WBS but do not Keep outline structure.
Lab 2. Experiment with creating a mask and then trying to manually enter codes to match the mask
Make sure to insert Outline Code1 field into your table. 1. Create a mask for Outline Code1 field with 2 Uppercase letters, 2 Numbers and 2 lowercase letters. 2. Try entering just one letter. 3. Try entering 2 letters and 1 number. 4. Now modify the mask so that the option Only allow new tasks with values in all levels of the mask is enabled. 5. Try entering 2 letters and 1 number. 6. Create a lookup table. 7. Use the picklist to enter values into the Outline Code1 field. 8. Sort by Outline Code1, do not keep the outline structure.
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1. Outlining allows the user to: 1) organize tasks into functional groups, 2) see the plan in varying levels of detail, and 3) helps to control the plan. 2. To create summary tasks: 1)use the Outdent/Indent button on the Format toolbar, 2) use the mouse to drag to demote and promote a task, and 3) from the Project menu chose Outline then Indent or Outdent. 3. When new tasks are inserted the outline level is at the same as the current task or the level of the task immediately before the inserted task whichever is higher. 4. In a Resource view assignment records can be expanded or collapsed under the resource summary record. 5. To show outline symbols go to Tools, select Options, and then the View tab. 6. WBS codes always correspond to the Outline Level, Outline Codes do not so that they can be used to group data in other ways. 7. WBS codes are defined by going to the Project menu, selecting WBS, and then Define Code. 8. Outline codes are defined by going to the Tools menu, selecting Customize, then Fields, then clicking the Custom Outline Codes tab. 9. WBS and Outline Codes can be a maximum of 255 characters. 10. WBS codes are only unique within their summary groups until renumbers. 11. WBS codes are not renumbered automatically. To renumber WBS go to the Project menu, select WBS and renumber. 12. Yes, just enter the test for the current level the rest is filled in automatically. 13. Yes if: 1) a mask has been defined, 2) the value must match the code exactly, and 3) the option Only allow codes listed in the lookup table must be deselected.
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Lesson 12: Sorting, Filtering, and Grouping
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Lesson 12: Sorting, Filtering, and Grouping

Published: June 2003 Applies to: Microsoft Project Standard 2003 Microsoft Project Professional 2003 Microsoft Project Server 2003 Contents Objectives Sorting Filtering Grouping Exercises and Labs
Objectives
What You Will Learn
After completing this lesson, you will be able to: Understand how to sort project data. Describe how to create a new sort. Define filters and use them in Microsoft Project. Define the 11 test criteria and how to use them. Describe how to create an interactive filter. Describe how to create a filter that compares two fields in a table. Describe how to create a grouping based on a scenario. Define rollup behavior when grouping. Define differences between filtering, sorting, and grouping.
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Sorting
Sorts
Sorting is a feature Microsoft Project uses for organizing and analyzing project plan data. Sorting can be used to organize tasks into different sequences. Tasks or resources can be sorted by fields, such as task name, deadline, or resource name. For example, sorting tasks by date, ascending will reorder the task list to show the earliest starting tasks to the latest. Task views have five predefined sorts fields that can be applied to the view and Resource views have three predefined sort fields. Custom sorts are created on the fly and cannot be saved to be used in other views or files. Sorting is not maintained when switching between views, however if a file is saved with a sort, even a custom sort, the sorted view will persist when the file is reopened.
Sorting in Task Views

To apply a standard sort in a task view On the Project menu, point to Sort, and then click a sorting option.
Figure 1. Sort menu and options for task views To apply a custom sort On the Project menu, point to Sort, and then click the Sort by option.
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Figure 2. Custom sort for task views In the Sort by dialog box, click a field on which to sort your data, and then click Ascending or Descending to specify the sort order. To set a secondary sort criteria click in the field Then by and select the field on which to perform the secondary sort. Click Ascending or Descending to specify the sort order. To set a third sort criteria, click the second field Then by box and select the sort criteria. Click Ascending or Descending to specify the sort order. To renumber your tasks based on the new sort order, select the Permanently renumber tasks check box. To renumber tasks, you must first select the Keep outline structure check box. New task ID numbers will be assigned to tasks. The task unique ID numbers will not be reassigned. This may be helpful if the original order needs to be reinstated. However, unique IDs are assigned at the time of task entry and therefore may not be sequential. To sort tasks within their outline structure so that subtasks remain with their summary tasks, select the Keep outline structure checkbox. To reset the sort order back to the default sort order, click Reset. This option works as long as Permanently renumber was not selected.
Note Clicking Reset only resets the sort options in the Sort dialog box to their default order. If your tasks were renumbered by using the Permanently renumber tasks checkbox, then clicking Reset will not reset the numbered order of the tasks.
Sorting in Resource Views

When a resource view is active, then the Sort submenu predefined sorts are by Cost, Name, and ID. Items cannot be added or removed from the submenu.
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Figure 3. Sort menu in a resource view
Custom Sort in resource views

The fields listed in the Sort dialog box are resource and assignment fields. The last checkbox in the Sort dialog box is labeled Sort resources with their assignments by project.
Figure 4. Custom sort in a resource view Resource tables have no outline structure other than the resource parent/assignment subordinate relationship in the Resource Usage view. One resource record cannot be indented below another resource record in a resource table, so there is no summary resource equivalent to a summary task. However, selecting the option Sort resources with their assignments by project will keep resources with their project and assignments with their resource. The resource field Project, lists the name of the project or pool to which a resource is assigned. Selecting the option Sort resources with their assignments by project checkbox groups resources by project or pool and then sorts within each group. This option also keeps assignments grouped under their parent resource during sorting in the Resource Usage view. When the Sort resources with their assignments by project checkbox is not selected, all records are sorted as a single group. The figure below is of the Resource Usage view, sorted by name with the option Sort resources with their assignments by project selected.
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Figure 5. Resource sorted by name and by project The following figure is the Resource Usage view sorted by name without the Sort resources with their assignments by project options selected.
Figure 6. Resource sorted by name only
Sorting by Assignment-Only fields

Some of the fields that can be inserted into a task or resource table are assignment-only fields, such as the Assignment Units field. These fields contain blanks for task and resource records, and are sorted accordingly when you sort by an assignment-only field. For example, sorting by Assignment Units in the Task Sheet or Resource Sheet view has no effect. In a Task Usage view, sorting by Assignment Units with Keep Outline Structure selected sorts the assignments under each parent task, and does not move the tasks. However, when the Keep Outline Structure is not selected, all the tasks are sorted to the top of the table, because they have blanks in the Assignment Units field.
Filtering
Filters
When you need to see a defined subset of your project information, you can apply a filter to any view so that only information meeting the filter criteria is displayed. When none of the filters provided with
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Microsoft Project meets the users information needs, they can create a new filter or modify an existing filter. When a filter is applied, Microsoft Project replaces the current filter with the new filter. When a filter is applied as a highlighting filter, all tasks or resources are displayed, but those tasks or resources that meet the criteria are highlighted with a different color, font, or font size. When a user applies an interactive filter, a dialog box appears, in which they can enter the value or range of values to be applied in the filter. For a filter that is not interactive, the test values are specified when the filter is defined. The advantage of an interactive filter is that the user can use one filter to test for a variety of values without having to define a new filter. A comparison filter can be created that allows for the comparison of the values in two fields for the same task or resource. For example, you could create a calculated filter to display tasks for which the Actual Start is earlier than the Baseline Start.To choose any of the supplied filters, select from either the; Filters drop-down list on the Formatting toolbar. Filtered For submenu on the Project menu. Filters list in the More Filters dialog box.
Figure 7. From the Formatting toolbar the Filtered For submenu expanded
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Figure 8. More Filters dialog box Resource filters can only be applied in a Resource view, and task filters can only be applied in a Task view.
Task Filters List

All Tasks. This shows all the tasks regardless of their characteristics. Completed Tasks. This shows only those tasks that have been finished. Microsoft Project considers a task complete when you mark it as 100% complete. Confirmed. This shows tasks that the assigned resource or resources have not declined. Cost Greater Than. This shows tasks that cost more than the amount that you specify. Cost Overbudget. This is a comparison filter that shows all resources or tasks that have a scheduled cost greater than the baseline cost. Created After. This shows tasks that were created in your project on or after the date you specify. Critical. This shows all tasks that are on the critical path. Date Range. This is an interactive filter that prompts for two dates, and then shows all tasks that start after the earlier date and finish before the later date. In Progress Tasks. This shows all tasks that have started but haven't been completed. Incomplete Tasks. This shows all tasks that havent finished, regardless of whether they have started. Late/Over Budget Tasks Assigned to. This shows the tasks assigned to a resource you specify that are exceeding the allocated budget or finishing after the finish date in the baseline plan. Linked Fields. This shows only tasks or resources to which information from another task, another project file or from other applications has been linked.
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Milestones. This shows only those tasks that are milestones. A task is a milestone if the task is marked as a milestone or if its duration is set to zero. Resource Group. This is an interactive filter that prompts you to enter the name of a resource group and then displays those tasks that are being carried out by the resources that belong to that group. Should Start By. This is an interactive filter that prompts for a date and then shows all tasks that should start by that date but havent. Should Start/Finish by. This is an interactive filter that displays those tasks that havent started and finished within the date range you specified. Slipped/Late Progress. This can be used in any of the task views, and displays tasks that have either slipped behind their scheduled finish date in the baseline plan or haven't been progressing on schedule. Slipping Tasks. This shows all tasks that have been delayed from their original baseline plan and haven't yet been completed. Summary Tasks. This shows all tasks that are summary tasks. Task Range. This is an interactive filter that works in task views. It prompts you for two ID numbers and then shows all the tasks between and including those two numbers. Tasks with a Task Calendar Assigned. This shows all tasks with a task calendar. Tasks with Attachments. This shows tasks that have objects attached or a note in the Notes box. Tasks with Deadlines. This shows all tasks with deadlines. Tasks with Estimated Durations. This shows all tasks with estimated durations. Tasks with Fixed Dates. This shows all tasks that do not have the constraint As Soon As Possible or that have an actual start date. Tasks/Assignments with overtime. This shows tasks whose resources have over time assigned. Top Level Tasks. This shows only the highest-level summary tasks. Unconfirmed. This shows tasks that at least one requested resource has declined. Unstarted Tasks. This shows tasks that haven't started. Update Needed. This shows tasks that have incurred changes, such as revised start and finish dates or resource reassignments, and need to be sent for update or confirmation. Using Resource in a Date Range. This prompts for a resource name then prompts for a start date and finish date for a range, then shows all tasks for that resource during that time frame. Using Resource. This is an interactive filter that prompts you for the resource whose tasks you want to view. Work Overbudget. This is a comparison filter that shows all tasks with scheduled work greater than baseline work.
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Resource Filters List

You can apply each resource filter to each resource view. All Resources. This shows all the resources regardless of their characteristics. Confirmed Assignments filter. This is applicable only in the Resource Usage view, and shows only those assignments that a resource has not declined. Costs Greater Than. This is an interactive filter that prompts you for two dates and then shows all tasks and resources with assignments that start after the earlier date and finish before the later date. Cost Overbudget. This is a comparison filter that shows all resources that have a scheduled cost greater than the baseline cost. Date Range. This is an interactive filter that prompts for two dates and shows all resources with assignments during the date range specified. Group. This is an interactive filter that shows all resources belonging to the group you specify. In progress Assignments. This is applicable only in the Resource Usage view, and shows the assignments that have been started but have not been completed. Linked Fields. This shows resources to which information from another task, another project or from other applications has been linked. Overallocated Resources. This shows all resources that are scheduled to do more work than they can accomplish in the time specified. Resource Range. This is an interactive filter that shows all resources with ID numbers within the range you specify. Resource Material. This shows material resources like wood, nails, or cement. Resource Work. This shows work resources like people and equipment. Resources with Attachments. This shows resources that have objects attached or a note in the Notes box. Resources/Assignment with Overtime. This shows all resources that have assignments where overtime is scheduled. Should start by. This prompts for a date then shows resources with assignments that should start by that date but havent. Should Start/Finish by. This is an interactive filter that displays those tasks or assignments that haven't started and finished within the date range you specify. Slipped/Late Progress. This displays tasks that have either slipped behind their scheduled finish date in the baseline plan or haven't been progressing on schedule. Slipping Assignments. This shows resources that have assignments that have not finished as scheduled. Unconfirmed Assignments. This shows resources that have not confirmed all assignments sent via workgroup features.
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Unstarted Assignments. This shows resources with assignments that have not started. Work Complete. This shows resources that have completed all assigned work. Work Incomplete. This shows resources that have not completed all assigned work. Work Overbudget. This is a comparison filter that shows all resources with scheduled work greater than baseline work.
Filter Definition
Filters can be created, edited or copied, in the Filter Definition dialog box. This dialog box allows you to determine the criteria for the filter.
Figure 9. Filter Definition
Filter Test Options

Microsoft Project provides 11 test criteria that can be applied to the fields in the Filter definition dialog box. Table 1.Filter Test Options
Test equals does not equal is greater than is greater than or equal is less than is less than or equal to is within is not within Criterion Example Select Critical tasks Task has started Task started after 8/1/92 Budgeted cost is $1000 or over Duration less than 1 day Task finishes before 9/1/92 Duration is 5 to 10 days Tasks that are not in the middle of production Field Name Critical Actual Start Actual Start Planned Cost Duration Actual Finish Duration % Complete Test Equals does not equal is greater than is greater than or equal is less than is less than or equal to is within is not within Value(s) Yes NA 8/1 $1,000 1d 9/1 5d,10d 25%,75%
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contains does not contain contains exactly
Resource assignment includes anyone named John Resource assignment doesnt include Frank Resource assignment includes Mary Logan
Resource Names Resource Names Resource Names
contains does not contain contains exactly
John Frank Mary Logan
Multiple Criterion in a Filter

Filters can be created that will test for more than one set of criterion by using the And and Or operators. For example the Date Range filter looks for tasks that start before one date And finish before another. The And/Or operator can be used before the second criteria or on a line of its own between two criterion lines.
Interactive Filters
With an interactive filter, different filter criteria can be specified each time the filter is applied. To create an interactive filter, in the Value(s) field in the Filter Definition dialog box, a message is typed enclosed in quotation marks and followed by a question mark (?). For example, type Enter date:? to create an interactive filter that requests a date to test for, or the Within test can be used. Two values for From?, To? are entered to create an interactive filter that requests a range of dates to test for.
Wildcards with the Equals or Not Equals Test

When the Equals or Not Equals test is used in a filter, the Value field can contain the characters * (any characters) or ? (any characters) as a wildcard. The field specified for Field Name must contain a text value, such as resource names, rather than a numeric value, such as duration.
Comparing Two Fields in a Filter

A filter can also compare the values in one field to the values in another. To create a comparison filter, in the Value(s) field in the Filter Definition dialog box, type a field name enclosed in square brackets ( [ ] ), or select one from the drop-down list. For example, type duration in the Field Name field, Is Greater than in the Test field, and [Baseline Duration] in the Value(s) field to display all tasks with scheduled durations that exceed baseline durations.
Calculations in Filters
The standard filter definitions do not support calculations of any sort. It is not possible to create filters that depend on variables, such as the current date. For instance, a user might want to create a variation of the Date Range filter that only shows tasks occurring within one week of the current date. Filtering of this type is only possible by using a Visual Basic for Applications macro.
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Using Resource filter
Figure 10. Using Resource dialog box The Using Resource filter is a special internal filter that cannot be edited or copied. It provides a drop-down list of the resources available in the project. This drop-down capability is provided internally by Microsoft Project and is not available in other filters.
AutoFilter
The AutoFilter provides a quick way to find a subset of data in a field. The AutoFilter can be applied to any view with the exception of the Calendar view, Resource Graph, Network Diagram view or form views. To apply AutoFilter, click the Project menu, then Filtered for: <filter name>, AutoFilter; or use the AutoFilter button located on the Format tool bar.
Figure 11. AutoFilter menu option and AutoFilter button The AutoFilter will display drop-down arrows in the column headings to select the information to be filtered.
Figure 12. AutoFilter drop-down arrows When a filter is already applied, the AutoFilter will further filter the list of tasks or resources. AutoFilter also inherits the Highlight mode and the Show related summary rows from an active task filter.
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To convert an AutoFilter into a standard filter, click the drop-down arrow for the column heading, click Custom, then click Save, choose the criterion for the filter, enter a filter name in the Name field and click OK.
AutoFilter drop-down choices

For each field there are four options available in the AutoFilter drop-down list. (All) (Custom...) Predefined choices specific to the field type A sorted list that contains the current filtered contents of the field, without duplicates
The contents in the AutoFilter drop-down list for a specific field is limited to contents from those records that satisfy the currently applied named filter and AutoFilter choices for all other fields. When filters are already applied, only the contents of the records that are showing are included. Note Not all of the fields have all of the above kinds of choices available.
Comma Separated Fields

For comma separated fields such as the task Resource Names field and Predecessors field, each item in the comma separated list in the cell for a specific record is listed separately in the AutoFilter list. When you select a resource name from the AutoFilter list, it matches all records that include that resource name in the Resource Names field. However, for other fields such as the Predecessors field, selecting a choice from the auto filter list, matches only records that have that single entry. All of the items in the comma separated list are included in the AutoFilter list. The Resource Names field for a particular task may appear to be too long and may be truncated followed by ellipses (...), however all the resources assigned to the task are listed separately in the AutoFilter drop-down list. In order to view the entire name the column can be enlarged (for example, best fit).
Example
The table shows an example of the Resource Names field and its AutoFilter choices.
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Figure 13. Comma delineated fields
Using AutoFilter on Multiple Fields

Selecting something other than All from the AutoFilter list for more than one field behaves like a sequence of And operations. The content in the AutoFilter list for a given field is limited only to records that are still showing. Selecting a criterion for one field may hide some records, indirectly limiting the selection in the AutoFilter list for other fields. The function of the '(Custom...)' choice in AutoFilter (Custom...) is a selection on all AutoFilter lists. When you click it, then it displays the Custom dialog box illustrated in the figure is displayed:
Figure 14. Custom AutoFilter It allows you to defined two conditions on the same field joined by And or Or. It also allows you to defined criteria on other fields.
Refreshing AutoFilter and Named Filters

If data is changed while a named filter is active or while AutoFilter is active with at least one criteria other than All, then the record edited may no longer satisfy the combined filter. This does not automatically cause the filters to recalculate.
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All active filters can be forced to recalculate by doing either of the following: Reapply the current named filter. Note the exception. The All Tasks and All Resources named filters have a special behavior when they are replied, they reset all AutoFilter settings to All, instead of doing an And operation with the current AutoFilter settings To display the AutoFilter list, click the drop-down arrow, then click again to close the list.
Resetting AutoFilter settings (to All) The AutoFilter can be reset to the default settings by performing one of the following steps: Reset the field AutoFilter to All. A filtered field displays a highlighted title. Click the down arrow and choose All from the AutoFilter list. Toggle the AutoFilter button on the Formatting Toolbar. Click the AutoFilter button on the Formatting toolbar to turn the AutoFilter off and then click it again to turn AutoFilter back on. Apply the All Tasks or All Resources named filter.
Keyboard access to the AutoFilter list To drop-down the AutoFilter list for a specific column using the keyboard, first move the cursor to any cell in that column, then press the CTRL + Spacebar key combination, and then press ALT + Down. You can then use the Up and Down arrow keys to move through the drop-down list.
Filters in Usage Views

Task filters can be applied in Task Usage views, and resource filters can be applied in Resource Usage views. Assignment records share the task or resource columns in a Usage view and are subject to evaluation by filters. In Usage views, assignment records share many fields with tasks or resources, for example the Start and Finish fields. Some fields such as % Complete and Duration are not used by assignments (they are blank for assignment records). Some fields are Assignment-only fields such as Assignment Units (these fields are blank for task and resource records). There is a special Yes/No field called Assignment that can be used in filter definitions to control whether assignments should be displayed by the filter, and to define conditions that you want to apply only to assignment records. The Completed Tasks filter definition is an example of a filter that uses the Assignment field. The fields available in the Filter Definition dialog box depend on the whether the Task or Resource option is selected in the More Filters dialog box. Assignment fields such as Assignment Units, are available in either case.
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Figure 15. More Filters dialog box, resource or task assignments
Show related summary rows

In a custom filter the option Show related summary rows when checked, will display summary rows that are related to the items meeting the filter criteria.
Figure 16. Filter Definition dialog box, Show related summary rows Example using the Show related summary rows option. The following sequence of pictures illustrates the effects of the Show related summary rows settings is used when filtering. The name of the summary task associated with each task has been entered in the Text1 field and the title of the column changed to reflect the contents. First the special predefined All Tasks filter is applied in the Task Usage view
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Figure 17. Standard Task Usage View, All tasks filter Next, apply a custom filter with the condition that Work equals 8h, and with the Show related summary rows checkbox checked:
Figure 18. Task Usage View, Work equals 8h filter, with Show related summary tasks checked Next the Show related summary rows checkbox in the above filter is unchecked and the altered filter is reapplied:
Figure 19. Task Usage View, Work equals 8h filter, Show related summary tasks not checked In the above figure, note that the task summary lines are not shown.
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Using "Assignment" Field in Filters

It is also possible to alter a filter so it displays only assignment records or only parent records, by adding the condition Assignment Equals Yes or Assignment Equals No to the filter definition. The figure below displays part of a Filter Definition dialog box defining a filter that is to show only assignment records that have Work equal to 8h, and that has Show related summary rows unchecked:
Figure 20. Filtering for Assignment field setup Applying this filter to the same set of data produces the following:
Figure 21. Filtering for Assignment field only Next, the filter is edited so the Show related summary rows checkbox is checked, and the filter is reapplied:
Figure 22. Filtering for Assignment field, Show related summary tasks checked
Using Assignment-Only Fields in Filters

Assignment-only fields, such as Assignment Units, are blank for non-assignment records (task and resource records). In non-Usage views, assignment-only fields are blank, because there are no assignments. Any filter condition based on an assignment-only condition is either True for all non-assignment records or False for all non-assignment records. For example, if a filter with the single condition, Assignment Units equals 100%, is applied in a Gantt Chart view, then no tasks will be displayed. When a filter with the single condition, Assignment Units does not equal 100% is applied in a Gantt Chart view, then all tasks will be displayed.
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Grouping
Grouping allows users to categorize and view rolled up information for their tasks and resources in a variety of ways, using up to ten fields. Grouping gives users the following capabilities: Allows multi-level grouping of tasks and resources based on fields specified by the user, in order to analyze and report project data in a variety of ways. Provides non-editable summary header rows for each value in the grouped field, containing rollup totals similar to a summary task. Allows grouping on interval ranges for a given field, to reduce the number of summary header rows in cases where fields contain a wide variation in values. Allows grouping by custom Outline Code fields. Intelligent grouping allows users to perform hierarchical grouping based on a single coding field.
Applying and Defining Groups

Grouping is applied or defined using the Group By submenu available from the Project menu. Similar to filters and views, a number of predefined groups are listed on the menu and can be applied simply by clicking on the desired group name. Predefined groups can also be applied using the new Group By drop-down available on the Standard toolbar. Groups defined by the user can be added to the default menu, and default groups that the user does not want to see can be removed from the menu.
Figure 23. Group by menu and submenu
More Groups/Group Definition

When More Groups is selected from the Group By submenu, the following dialog box is displayed, which behaves like the More Filters dialog box and other similar definition dialog boxes.
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Figure 24. More Groups When New or Edit is clicked in the More Groups dialog box, the following Group Definition dialog box is displayed. Each item in the dialog box is explained in greater detail below.
Figure 25. Group Definition dialog box Name:. The name to be used for the new group. When a default group is selected and the user clicks Copy in the More Groups dialog box, a copy of the default group will be created and the default group will remain unmodified. When a default group is selected and the name is modified, any modifications will be made to the default group. Show in menu. This displays the group on the Group by submenu on the Project menu. Field Name, Field Type, and Order. These columns display the fields to be grouped by and whether each field will be displayed in ascending or descending order. For a group definition that contains more than one field, the fields are listed in descending hierarchical order, similar to the Sort By dialog box. Up to 10 fields can be grouped.
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Group assignments, not tasks. This option allows grouping on assignment fields as well as rollup timephased data totals to group summary rows in Usage views only. The option checkbox in a Task Usage view will display Group assignments, not Tasks. In a Resource Usage view the option is Group assignments, not Resources. All assignment timephased fields will rollup excluding the following: cumulative percent complete, overallocation, peak units and percent allocation. Group by setting for. This allows the user to change the font formatting, cell background color, and cell pattern to be used for the display of the group heading summary associated with the field when the group is applied. Show summary tasks. Check this option to display summary tasks in the grouped view. For more information on the behavior of summary tasks in a grouped view, see Grouping and Rollup Behavior of Summary Tasks later in this lesson. Show summary tasks is unchecked by default, and is unavailable if the group is being defined for resources. OK. This saves the current group definition and returns the user to the More Groups dialog box. Cancel. This cancels any changes made to the current group definition, and returns the user to the More Groups dialog box. Define Group Intervals. For most fields, clicking the Define Group Intervals button opens the dialog box shown below, in which grouping intervals for the selected field can be defined.
Figure 26. Define Group Interval dialog box Define Group Intervals. This defines intervals for the groups and the starting value for the field selected under Field Name. This option is not available for: Boolean fields such as Flag and Summary fields. Fields that make do not make sense such as TeamStatus Pending. A field that might cause a conflict in connection with the application of a custom group order such as Outline Number.
The options in the Define Group Interval dialog box perform the following functions: Field name:. This displays the name of the field currently being used to group by. Group on:. This specifies whether group headings occur at each field value or at another data value for this field. Depending on the field type, he drop-down list displays content relevant to the field being edited, for example a duration field would list minutes, hours, days, weeks, and months. Start at:. This specifies the starting value for the grouping headers for this field. For date fields, this is a drop-down date picker control. For all other fields, this is a spin control with increments appropriate
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to the field being edited. This option is disabled until Each Value is removed and another option is selected. It will remain unavailable when the group on field is set to Prefix characters. Group Interval:. This defines the step interval for the grouping headers for this field. For more detailed information see Interval Grouping later in this lesson. When Group on is set to something other than Each Value, the selected interval will be displayed to the right of the Define Group Intervals button in the Group Definition dialog box, so that the user does not have to open the Define Group Interval dialog box in order to see the current setting.
Customize Group By
Selecting Customize Group By from the Group By submenu, displays a dialog box similar to the one viewed in the figure above, except that this dialog box has buttons to Reset and Save a grouping. The Customize Group By feature affects the currently applied grouping. When the customized group definition is not saved the settings in the dialog box will not be retained when a new group definition (or No Group) is subsequently applied. When a grouping is applied by clicking OK in the Customize Group By dialog box, unless the definition is saved, the currently applied group will be displayed as Custom Group in the Group By submenu and drop-down list. The behavior of the options in the Customize Group By dialog box is the same as those in the Group Definition dialog box. However there are also two additional command buttons, Save and Reset, described below.
Figure 27. Save Group dialog box Save. This opens the dialog box shown above, in which the user can enter a name for the new group and can optionally specify whether the new group should be shown in the More Groups menu: When the user clicks Cancel, the group is not saved and the user is returned to the Customize Group By dialog box. When the name entered is the same as for an existing group definition, the following message is displayed.
Figure 28. Warning when custom group name already exists
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Reset. This returns all settings to their default values; font and cell formatting are reset to the application defaults, and all field names are removed from the Field Name column. So the next time the group is applied the grouping will appear with the application defaults. If the OK button is clicked at this point, the effect would be the same as applying No Group, so to retain the previously applied groupings, the user should instead click Cancel.
General Grouping Behavior

The general behavior that applies to most grouping is outlined in the following rules: 1. Group summary headers have no task numbers, the ID column is blank. 2. The Name column contains the heading for each level in a group definition. The text in the Name column consists of the field name and a colon, followed by the field value. For example, if the grouping is by Priority, there would be headings similar to Priority: <number> for each Priority value contained in the available tasks. For a grouping by Flag1, the heading would be either Flag1: No or Flag1: Yes. Because Flag fields are Boolean only two values are possible. When the grouping is based on intervals, the Name text will consist of the field name and a colon, followed by the interval grouping for the immediately following tasks. For example, if the field is Cost, the starting value is zero, and group intervals are $1000, the headings would be Cost: $0 - $999, Cost: $1000 - $1999, etc. When the grouping is by custom Outline Codes, the Name text will consist of the Description for each outline code level as defined in the Custom Field definition dialog box. When the description is blank, the name text will be the Outline Code itself. When the grouping is by custom fields other than custom Outline Codes, the Name text will consist of the value only.
3. The display of font formatting, background color and pattern (or data banding) for a group header row, as configured in the Group Definition dialog box, will begin wherever the Name column appears in the current view and extends across all columns to the right of the Name column. Formatting and banding will not be applied to columns that appear to the left of the Name column. The background color and pattern also appears as a vertical bar on the leftmost side of the Name column. Note The vertical color bar normally viewed in a grouping is controlled by the presence of the Name field, except in the Network Diagram view. When the Name column is not inserted in the current table, there is no indication that a grouping has been applied. The currently applied grouping name is listed in the Group By submenu and drop-down. 4. Tasks with a blank value for a specified grouping field will be grouped together at the top of the view, under a group header displaying the field name but indicating No Value. For example, if the field being grouped is Text1, any tasks having Text1 blank will be displayed together under the heading Text1: No Value.
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Figure 29. No Value Group 5. A separate group summary row is only created for those values that have at least one entry; no summary item is created if no task meets a particular value. In other words, if tasks are grouped by Priority, and no tasks have a Priority equal to 700, then no summary item will be created for Priority: 700. 6. Actions that can be performed on regular summary tasks are not available for group summary headers. For instance, the Task Information dialog box, is not available, nor is Publish or cutand-paste operations. Values for fields displayed in the group summary header cannot be modified. 7. Editing individual field formatting is not allowed for any fields displayed on a group summary header row. Users can only change the formatting for group summary rows, using options in the Customize Group By or the Group Definition dialog boxes. 8. A default bar style called Group By Summary is included in the Bar Styles dialog box. The formatting is the same as the default bar style for summary tasks. Users can change the default formatting, or can define criteria for new bars using the Group By Summary item in the Show ForTasks column of the Bar Styles dialog box only. Group By Summary bars cannot be individually formatted. 9. Indenting and outdenting are unavailable, both for group summary headers and for summary and subtasks. 10. Group summary headers can be expanded and collapsed, and the currently expanded or collapsed state of a group summary heading will be remembered when the grouping is reapplied. Summary tasks (if displayed) cannot be expanded or collapsed in a grouped view. 11. An interval can be set for each Group By field or level in a multi-level group definition. 12. When a view has been filtered, rolled up totals include values only for the filtered tasks or resources. 13. Grouping is view-specific, so the user can have different groupings applied in different views. Also, in the View Definition dialog box a Group item is included so that a predefined grouping can be accessed in custom view definitions. 14. A field, Group By Summary, is set to Yes for group summary headers and No for all other tasks. Also, the existing Summary field is set to Yes for group summary headers. This is for filtering and formatting purposes. 15. The principal difference between group rollups and summary task rollups is that while summary tasks can include values entered directly for the summary task, such as fixed costs, work, or
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priority, group rollups contain only those values. For the tasks in the group. Fields that can be edited on normal summary tasks are unavailable in group rollup headers. Grouping by Outline Number Because the Outline Number field always matches the projects task outline structure, using Outline Number as the primary grouping field allows the user to keep the projects outline structure but display rollup totals that would otherwise not be available. For example, suppose we have the following grouping of tasks:
Figure 30. Group by Outline Number When these tasks are grouped using the default Priority Keeping Outline Structure, the result is as follows:
Figure 31. Group by Priority
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First the plan is grouped on Outline Number, which maintains the outline structure, so the same values at that grouping level can be seen in both Figures 30 and 31. Then the plan is grouped on Priority under each outline number, displaying a group summary total for Priority but only for that outline level not on the entire plan.
Grouping Behavior for Inserted Projects

No distinction is made between tasks from inserted projects and those in the master project. When the inserted project is expanded, then all its tasks are grouped along with the other tasks in the project. This behavior is different for a regular summary task; its subtasks are still grouped regardless of the state of the summary task. When the user wants to see grouping project by project, the Project field can be included as the first grouping level.
Interval Grouping
In the Define Group Intervals dialog box, the drop-down choices available for various field types are as summarized in the following table: Table 2. Group Intervals defined Field type Currency Group on each value interval Start at Range any real number Interval Range any real number Notes When grouping by each value, $1.10 will be in a separate group from $1.20 etc. In order that they are in the same group, the user will have to group on interval set to 1.
Currency Rate Date
each value interval Each Value Minutes Hours Days Weeks Thirds of Months Months Quarters Years
any real number Jan 1, 1984 - Dec 31, 2049
any real number integer > 0 The date format used for display will be the format specified in View tab, by selecting the Tools menu and clicking Options. The default for Group on is 'day'. When the user chooses to group on each value, dates with different times are placed in separate groups. When the user is grouping on 'week', the starting day of week is defined in the Calendar tab, by selecting the Tools menu and clicking Options. 'Week starts on' setting. Also, for the display of the year, we will respect the 'Fiscal year starts in' as well as the 'Use starting year for FY numbering' settings also on the. Calendar tab.
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The 'Start at' datepicker for date fields sets the appropriate value depending on the 'Group on' item selected. For instance, if the user is grouping on 'month', the day and time entered does not matter - just the month and the year. The grouping intervals are then constructed forward and backwards from that month and year. The same applies to the rest of the 'group on' categories. Duration Each Value Minutes Hours Days Weeks Months Integer Each Value Interval Each Value Interval Each Value Level Each Value Interval 0, 1-99, 100 0,150, 51-99, 100 0, 1-25, 26-50, , 100 0, 1-10, 11-20, , 100 integer >=0 any real number NA integer > 0 any real number NA integer >= 0 integer > 0 This includes duration and work fields. The format for duration fields will be as specified in the Edit tab, from the Tools menu click Options. Also, in the calculation for duration and work fields, we will use the Calendar tab setting for Hours/day, Hours/Week and Days/Month.
Number
Custom Outline Code Percentage
integer >=0
integer > 0
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Percentage/Number
Each Value Interval Each Value Prefix Characters
integer >=0 NA
integer > 0 NA
Text
Note that when the Group on value is Each Value, the Group interval is set to 1 and is disabled. When the Group on value is anything other than Each Value (except as noted in the above table), the Group interval can be increased to any number that is valid for the field being edited.
Errors Associated With Start At Values

When the user enters an invalid value for Start at for a date field, the following message is displayed:
Figure 32. Invalid value for Start at Date field When an invalid Start at value is entered for any other field type, the following message is displayed:
Figure 33. Invalid value for Start at Other field type
Errors Associated With Group Interval Values

When a user enters a value for the Group interval that is out of the valid range or that does not match the field type (entering text for a number field, for example), the following message is displayed:
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Figure 34. Invalid Group Interval Value
Grouping By Custom Outline Codes

When one of the custom Outline Code fields is selected for grouping, the following rules will apply: 1. A grouping header will be created for every value in the lookup table for the specified Outline Code. 2. Tasks or resources that have a blank outline code value will be grouped at the top of the view. 3. Rollups for the non-Outline Code fields in the grouping header will behave the same as in other situations. When the Outline Code field is one of the displayed columns, the rollup value will be the value from the lookup table. 4. In a consolidated project, grouping will work across all tasks in all of the projects, ignoring the projects outline structure, except if a project is collapsed, only the collapsed project summary task will be included in the grouping. 5. The order of grouping will depend on whether the group is by ascending or descending order.
Group Summary Rollup Calculations for Summary Tasks

General Rollup Behavior for Summary Tasks
Users can choose whether to show regular summary tasks in a grouped view by selecting the Show summary tasks checkbox in the Group Definition or Customize Group By dialog boxes. When summary tasks are shown, they are treated like non-summary tasks, except that they retain their default summary task formatting (but not their indentation). Outline symbols are displayed for summary tasks in a grouped view, but clicking the symbol does not expand or collapse the summary tasks subtasks. Group rollup totals will include only the totals attributable to all individual tasks listed under them. When summary tasks are included, only the totals directly attributable to the summary task are included in the group rollup total. However, summary task fields will always include both the totals for their subtasks plus the totals for any values associated directly with the summary task, just as they do in non-grouped views. This can have the effect of displaying rollup group summary totals which do not appear to be the total of their subtasks. This behavior occurs because summary tasks do not store work and cost values separately for their own assignments; but group rollup totals are based on the assignment values for any grouped subtasks, regardless of whether the grouped subtasks are normal or summary tasks. For example, consider the figure below first grouped by Start date and then by Work. View the Group header Work:24hrs. Notice the Work header displays 16 hrs in the work field, however Summary 2s
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work field displays 24 hrs. Summary 2s group level work totals 24 hrs, this includes 16 hours attributable to R2s assignment on Summary 2 plus 8 hours work for task T1s assignment R1.
Figure 35. Group Rollup Summary Task
Sorting and Filtering combined with Grouping

All standard sorting and filtering operations can be performed along with grouping, either before or after grouping is applied. However the sorting options to Permanently renumber tasks and Keep outline structure are ignored and unavailable. When filtering is combined with grouping, the setting for Show related summary rows is ignored. Sorting or filtering performed applies only to the actual tasks or resources in the project, though the group summaries may be rearranged in order to keep them with their subtasks.
Sorting
When sorting is combined with a grouped view, the tasks or resources are sorted within each group. Group header rows always stay with their subtasks, and the last operation performed (grouping or sorting) takes precedence in the arrangement of the group headers.
Network Diagram View

Grouping and/or filtering can be applied to a Network Diagram view. When a filter is applied task nodes that do not match the criteria will be hidden. The Network Diagram view is a task view, therefore task fields can be used in grouping and filtering. Group Assignment, not Tasks is not an option in this view. When a grouping is applied, the group bands or group summary records will draw across the screen horizontally. The task nodes that fit that group will display beneath the band from earliest start on the left to latest on the right. The figure below displays part of the Network Diagram view, grouped by Complete and Incomplete tasks.
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Figure 36. Group bands in a Network Diagram view The dialog box to format grouping is the same user interface as in a Gantt Chart view. The color of the group banding, the font and whether to show summary tasks or not can all be modified. When grouping in the Network Diagram view the Layout Mode is set to Automatically position all boxes and grayed out. When you remove the grouping your custom layout will be displayed. To locate the Layout Mode, click Layout from the Format menu. Zooming into the view will not affect the group summary tasks size. When printing, the Group label display to the left so that you always know what the group band represents. In order to view field rollup information for a group, use the mouse to hover over a band and a ToolTip will display the rollup information. Edits can be made to tasks while in group mode but you will not be able to add new tasks.
Calendar View
The Calendar view cannot be grouped or sorted, however filters can be applied as in other views. AutoFilter is disabled as well.
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Exercises
1. When you sort one view will the same sort be applied when you switch to a different view? 2. How many levels of sorting can be applied to a view? 3. What is the option Permanently renumber tasks in the Sort by dialog box used for? 4. How does the option Keep outline structure affect a sort operation? 5. What is a calculated filter? 6. What is an interactive filter? 7. What does it mean in the Filter Definition dialog box when an And or Or operator is on a line by itself? 8. How do you save an AutoFilter as a named filter? 9. In a view with a task table, if the current named filter is not All Tasks, and then you apply an AutoFilter, which of the following is true? a. The named filter automatically changes to All Tasks. b. The named filter doesn't change, but is simply ignored. c. The combined effect is equivalent to combining the named filter and the AutoFilter with an And operator. d. The combined effect is equivalent to combining the named filter and the AutoFilter with an Or operator. e. AutoFilter is disabled if the current named filter is not All Tasks. 10. Describe at least two ways to show all the tasks in a task table when the current named filter is All Tasks and the current AutoFilter is showing only some of the tasks. 11. How many levels of grouping can you have in one view? 12. Can grouping be displayed if the Name column is hidden in the table view? 13. Can Group Summary rows be expanded and collapsed? 14. Can you group, sort or filter in the Network Diagram view? 15. Can you group, sort or filter in the Calendar view?
Lab 1. Develop a grouping based on a customer scenario

1. With a partner, write down a customer scenario where grouping is required. 2. Develop a grouping solution that meets the needs of the scenario developed in step one. 3. Exchange your scenario (and not the grouping) with another group. 4. Develop a grouping for the scenario that you received. 5. Discuss the results with the other group. Did your grouping meet the needs of the scenario? Was your grouping the same as that of the other group?
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1. No, sorting is only applied to the view in which it is set. 2. You can sort up to three nested levels. 3. When the Permanently renumber tasks option is selected when a sort is applied the ID numbers for the tasks or resources will be overwritten with new values corresponding to the new order. 4. When the option Keep outline structure is checked, tasks are sorted only under their summary task and not the entire project. 5. A calculated filter is one that compares two fields for the same task. 6. An interactive filter is one that prompts the user for a value and then filters using that value. 7. The operators And and Or operators are used when multiple lines of criterion are used in a filter. 8. To save a filter created when an AutoFilter is applied click on the drop-down for the AutoFilter and click Custom then click Save. 9. The combined effect is equivalent to combining the named filter and the AutoFilter with an And operator. 10. To show All Tasks when a combination of a regular filter and AutoFilter are turned on Click the AutoFilter button on the Formatting toolbar or reapply the All Tasks filter. 11. There can be up to ten levels of grouping per view. 12. When the Name column is not displayed in a table with a table then the Name of the group summary record will not display. 13. Group summary rows can be expanded and collapsed. 14. Grouping and filtering can be applied in a Network Diagram view. 15. In a calendar view you can only apply a regular filter, group, sort and AutoFilter do not apply.
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Lesson 13: Calendars
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Lesson 13: Calendars

Published: June 2003 Applies to: Microsoft Project Standard 2003 Microsoft Project Professional 2003 Microsoft Project Server 2003 Contents Objectives Calendars Exercises and Labs
Objectives
What You Will Learn
After completing this lesson, you will be able to: Describe the relationship between base calendars, resource calendars, and task calendars. Define predefined base calendars. Describe working time formatting. Describe cell formatting. Explain where calendars are stored.
Calendars
Overview
Calendars determine how resources assigned to tasks are scheduled and how tasks themselves are scheduled. Base calendars are sets of working and nonworking times and days that the three other types of calendars use. Those calendar types are: Project calendar Resource calendar Task calendar
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Base calendars can be used for the project calendar and task calendars, and provide the basis for resource calendars. Project and resource calendars identify when work on tasks can take place, ensuring that resources are scheduled only when they're available for work. Project calendars affect the default for when tasks are scheduled. Resource calendars affect a specific resource or category of resources. Task calendars make it possible for tasks to have a calendar different from the project calendar. These calendars are distinct from the Calendar view, which shows the project schedule in a calendar format. Resource calendars apply only to work resources, not material resources. When you first open a new project file, the Standard calendar is set as the default for the project calendar. You can modify the Standard calendar to meet your specific project calendar needs. You can also base the project calendar on a different base calendar, such as the Night Shift or 24-Hours calendar, or on another base calendar you create. Set the project calendar using the Project Information dialog box, available on the Project menu. There are three interrelated features when setting the base calendar: Project Information; Change Working Time; and the Calendar tab from the Options menu.
Project Information
Project Information is a dialog box that shows critical project scheduling information. The Calendar field in this dialog box is used to specify which calendar is to be used to schedule tasks in the project plan. To get to the Project Information dialog box click the Project menu, then Project Information.
Figure 1. Project Information dialog box
Changing Working Time

To view/change the project calendar working days/times: From the Tools menu, click Change Working Time. Changes made to the base calendar are called base calendar exceptions.
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Figure 2. Changing Working Time dialog box To create new base calendars, from the Tools menu, click Change Working Time, then click the New command button in the Change Working Time dialog box. Selecting the New button allows the user to create a new calendar or copy an existing one in the Create New Base Calendar dialog box.
Figure 3. Create New Base Calendar The Create new base calendar option will create a new calendar with working hours of 8 A.M.-12 P.M., 1 P.M. -5 P.M., Monday-Friday. The Make Copy of <calendar name> Calendar option creates a new calendar based on an existing one. The name of the new calendar can be modified in either case. Note In the Change Working Time dialog box, the New button in will not be available in Microsoft Project Enterprise edition by default. The Project Server administrator must select the option Allow projects to use local base calendars to enable the New button. If the option is not selected, only those base calendars listed in the Enterprise Global file will be available for use.
Calendar Options
Selecting Options from the Tools menu opens the Options dialog box. Select the Calendar tab.
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Figure 4. Change Working Time Options The Calendar options function as follows: Week Starts on. The day of the week that the week starts on. This applies to the Gantt Chart where a dividing line is displayed on the chart, with the start day immediately to the right of the line. The date of the starting day is displayed in the timescale panel when selected. It does not affect calendar working hours. Fiscal Year Starts in. The month of the year that is the start of the financial year. This enables you to display fiscal year settings in combination with calendar year settings on the timescale in a view to reflect the correct dates for overlapping fiscal year units. Default Start Time. This time is used for any start date times when no specific time is specified. This applies to the project start, task starts, and any start constraints. It does not affect calendar working hours. Default End Time. This time is used for any finish dates when no specific time is specified. This applies to the project finish, task finishes, and any finish constraints. It does not affect calendar working hours. Hours per Day. The number of hours in a working day. This does not affect, or depend on, any calendar settings. The default setting is 8 hrs. Hours Per Week. The number of hours in a working week. This does not affect, or depend on, any calendar settings. The default setting is 40 hrs. Days Per Month. This represents the number of working days in any given month where the Duration setting is month and time phasing is carried out in intervals of months. Care must be taken as the variance in the number of days in a calendar month over a long period can impact on the expected calendar completion time. Set As Default. These settings are for the individual project. If the Set As Default button is pressed, these values are saved to the Microsoft Windows Registry file and are then used as defaults when new projects are created.
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Working Time Options and Calendars

The working times project calendar and resource calendars are used to establish when resources are available to be scheduled for tasks. You can also use the calendars to establish a shorter work day or work week for all resources. For example, you might want to set up a 6-hour day and a 30-hour week to account for non-project tasks the resources are responsible for. However, if you change the working times, keep in mind that Microsoft Project will still operate on an 8 hour per day, 40 hour per week calendar basis until you change how Microsoft Project calculates the durations and other time abbreviations you enter. If you want Microsoft Project to interpret 1 day as 6 hours, or 1 week as 30 hours, you need to change the settings on the Calendar tab of the Options dialog box. On the Calendar tab, you can indicate the default start and end time for any dates you enter in Microsoft Project, for example, constraint or actual dates. You can also establish the number of hours in a day, the number of hours in a week, and number of days in a month. If you indicate that there are 6 hours to a day, when you enter a 1-day duration for a task, Microsoft Project schedules this as a 6hour day, regardless of whether resources are assigned. Likewise, when you enter a 1-week duration for a task, Microsoft Project schedules this as a 30-hour week. By synchronizing your task scheduling defaults with the calendars, you can ensure that your schedule accurately reflects the work days and work weeks of your project.
Saving Calendars
Calendars are saved as part of the individual project file (.mpp). The default Standard calendar, is contained in the Global.mpt file and copied to new project files as they are created. Any changes made to the Standard calendar, or any new calendars created, are then saved as part of the project file. The Organizer may be used to copy new calendars into the global file, or between project files. It may also be used to delete or rename calendars.
Selecting Weekday letters versus date cells

In the Change Working Time dialog box, if you select a weekday letter (S,M,T) and then choose working or nonworking or edit the working times, the changes for that weekday apply to all months. If you select one or more date cells, the changes apply only to the selected dates. Dragging to select multiple cells in different weeks automatically selects all the days in between. For example, continuous selections use continuous date ranges. You can use CTRL+Click to select discontinuous cells in the same or different weeks within the same month. You cannot select multiple dates from different months.
Working Time Formatting

Shading and bold underlining Shading is used in a consistent way, for all calendars, to make it easy to tell which weekdays or specific dates are working or nonworking, which are using the default setting, and which have modified shift hours. The legend at the bottom left of the dialog box shows how to interpret shading, bold, and underlining:
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All calendars have the same date cell shading and bold underlining formatting scheme: White: Working day Medium gray: Nonworking day Light gray: Working day with modified shift times Bold underline: Exception created in that calendar (not in the parent base calendar)
Exceptions created in calendars are indicated by bold underlined day letters or date cell numbers. If the exception applies to a day letter, then that day letter has the bold underline format, not the individual date cells below it. A resource calendar inherits the shading from its parent base calendar, but not the bold underlining from exceptions created in the base calendar. Calendar exceptions created in the resource calendar do use the bold underlining. Formatting from changes made in the resource calendar overrides inherited formatting.
Calendar Types
Base Calendars
The base calendar is a calendar that specifies working and nonworking time for a project, a task, a resource, or set of resources. You choose a base calendar to be the default project calendar, and you can apply a base calendar to tasks as a task calendar or to resources as a resources calendar. Three base calendars are provided with Microsoft Project: Standard 24-Hours Night Shift
The Standard calendar is the base calendar that is used as the default for the project, resource, and task calendars. This calendar reflects a traditional work schedule: Monday through Friday, 8:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M., with an hour break. The 24-Hours calendar reflects a schedule with no nonworking time at all. The 24-Hours calendar can be used when resources and tasks are scheduled for different shifts around the clock, or when equipment resources work on tasks continuously. The Night Shift calendar reflects a graveyard shift schedule of Monday night through Saturday morning, 11:00 P.M. to 8:00 A.M., with an hour break. You can also create your own base calendars. Creating your own base calendar is particularly useful if you have alternative schedules for multiple resources, such as a part-time schedule, a swing-shift schedule, a 12-hour shift schedule, or a weekend schedule.
Project Calendars
The Project calendar is the base calendar used for a project. By default, the Standard base calendar is the project calendar. The working time hours defined on the Standard calendar are the default working hours and days off for each resource. You can set up the working days and hours for your project calendar to reflect the working days and hours for everyone working on your project. You can specify regular nonworking time (such as
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weekends and evenings), as well as special days off (such as company holidays). You can also indicate other nonworking times to reflect periods when the entire team will be working on non-project activities, such as company meetings or departmental retreats. To specify which base calendar is the project calendar for the active project, from the Project menu, click Project Information, then select a calendar from the Calendar drop-down list in the Project Information dialog box. The list includes all the base calendars stored in Global.mpt and those stored in the active project. Note Choosing a project calendar does not change the calendar that exists or the calendar on which new resources are based. A discussion on how to select a base calendar for a resource follows.
Resource Calendars
Resource calendars are used for unique exceptions for individual resources. The working hours and days off defined on the Standard calendar are the default working times for each resource or resource group. In other words, the Resource calendar is initially identical to the Standard calendar. If you want, you can customize the resource calendars for individual resources to indicate specific working hours, vacations, leaves of absence, and planned personal time. This can help you create a more accurate schedule, especially if there are significant variations of working time among resources. Microsoft Project only schedules resources when they are available, according to their Resource calendars. If you have alternative schedules that a number of resources work, such as a part-time schedule, a swing-shift schedule, or a 24-hour schedule, you can set up and apply a separate base calendar. The base calendar you create becomes the resource calendar for the selected resources. You can then customize the individual calendars for the individual resource schedules. If you change working times on a resource calendar, and the resource is assigned to a task, the task is scheduled during the working time on the Resource calendar. If you're working with resources from a shared resource pool, or if you're sharing resources from another project, there are probably different calendars in effect. Take note of which project's calendars are in effect when sharing resources. To specify the base calendar for a resource, apply a Resource view, such as the Resource Sheet, select one resource record, click Project, click Resource Information, select the Working Time tab, then from the Base Calendar field, click on the drop-down tab, and select a calendar from the Base Calendar drop-down list. You may also double click the resource in the Assign Resources dialog box (use the Assign Resources toolbar button to display it) to display the Resource Information dialog box. You may also double click the resource record in a resource table (such as in the Resource Sheet view), or use the shortcut menu for resource information in a resource view. There is also a field on the Entry table in the Resource Sheet called Base Calendar. To view/change the resource calendar working days/times, select the resource calendar from the list of calendars in the Change Working Time dialog box, or display the new Resource Information dialog box Working Time tab as described above. Resource calendars inherit changes made to the parent base calendar, and can override the parent base calendar with resource calendar changes, called resource calendar exceptions.
Task Calendars
Task calendars allow you to schedule a task based on working and nonworking times that are unrelated to the Project Calendar. When a task calendar is assigned, resources will not be scheduled during either task or resource calendar nonworking periods. Thus it is not necessary to edit the
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resources' assignments in order to make them available for other tasks. If resources are assigned, tasks are scheduled according to the assigned resources calendar and the task calendar. There is, however, an option on the Task Information dialog box for scheduling to ignore resource calendars. For example, let's suppose the progress on a task depends on the availability of a particular piece of equipment. Every Wednesday morning, this equipment undergoes routine maintenance that takes 4 hours. During this time no other resources can do any work on the task. You can create a base calendar that shows the 4 hours as nonworking time and apply it to the task, allowing the other assigned resources to be automatically scheduled on other tasks during that time. Task calendars are not really a third type of calendar; rather they represent a new use for base calendars. If a suitable base calendar already exists in the project, it can be assigned as a task calendar. Otherwise, a new base calendar can be created to meet the needs of the task, using the Change Working Times dialog box just as for any base calendar. You create a task calendar in the Change Working Time dialog box as a new base calendar. You then apply the base calendar to a task using the Advanced tab in the Task Information dialog box. If you have a task calendar applied as well as resources assigned to a task, by default, the task is scheduled for the working times that the task calendar and resource calendars have in common. If you want the task to be scheduled using only the task calendar, also on the Advanced tab in the Task Information dialog box, select the Scheduling ignores resource calendars checkbox.
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Exercises
1. What is the name of the calendar used by default for both project calendars and resource calendars? 2. What option does Microsoft Project use to calculate how many hours one day will equal? 3. If you make a calendar exception to the Project Calendar the resource calendars: a. Will inherit the same exceptions. b. Are never affected. c. Will inherit the same exceptions as long as both the Project Calendar and the resource calendars are using the same base calendar.
d. Are always affected. 4. Task calendars allow you to schedule a task based on working and nonworking times that are unrelated to the Project Calendar. True or False. 5. In Microsoft Project Enterprise edition, can a project manager create a new base calendar?
Lab 1. Create a new base calendar that represents 10 hours a day by 4 days a week. Then apply this calendar to both the Project and resource calendars. Test the calendar by creating a task and assigning a resource to the task
To create a new base calendar follow these steps: 1. Open a new project file. 2. Go to the Tools menu and select Change Working Time. 3. Click the New button. 4. Enter a name for the new calendar. 5. Select F for the Friday column and then select the radio button next to nonworking time. 6. Select M-Th and then change the start time to 7:00 A.M. and the finish time to 6:00 P.M. 7. Click OK. Apply the new calendar to the project: 1. From the Project menu select Project Information. 2. In the calendar field select the new base calendar you created. Apply the new calendar to a resource: 1. From the View menu select Resource Sheet. 2. Create a resource called Res1. 3. Select the new base calendar in the base Calendar field. Create a task and assign Res1 as the resource.
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Now format your Start and Finish dates to show time of day, if they dont already. 1. Go to the Tools menu, click Options and select the View tab. 2. In the Date Format field, select a date that includes the time of day and click OK. 3. If pound signs display in the Gantt Chart Start and Finish fields, widen the columns so you can see the entire date and time. Insert the work column into the Entry table of the Gantt Chart. 1. Right click the Duration column and click insert column. 2. Select the Work field and click OK. 1. Does the calendar work as expected? 2. How many hours is Res1 working on the task? 3. What is causing the unexpected results?
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Answers to Exercises and Lab

Exercises
1. Standard 2. On the Calendar tab, the option for hours per day. 3. B 4. True 5. Yes, if the Project Server administrator has set the option to allow projects to use local base calendars.
Lab
1. The calendar is not working as expected. The start time is correct but the task is finishing 2 hours earlier than expected. 2. The resource is only working 8 hours instead of 10 hours. 3. The Calendar tab option for hours per day is still set to 8 hours.
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Lesson 14: Resources
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Lesson 14: Resources

Published: June 2003 Applies to: Microsoft Project Standard 2003 Microsoft Project Professional 2003 Microsoft Project Server 2003 Contents Objectives Entering Resources Adding Resources to the Plan or Pool Resource Information General Tab Resource Information Working Time Tab Resource Information Cost Tab Resource Information Notes and Custom Fields Tabs Resource Fields that Reflect Availability Material Resources Exercises
Objectives
What You Will Learn
After completing this lesson, you will be able to: Discuss the basic information associated with resources. Describe how to create a resource. Explain how work is calculated. List and explain the differences between work and material resources. Set up a material resource. Explain resource availability. Troubleshoot issues related to material resources. Create a resource contour. Explain the differences between a resource availability contour and resource calendar. Discuss the cost rate table and how it is used. Troubleshoot issues related to resource contours.
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Units calculator Resource leveling
Entering Resources
Overview
Until resources are assigned to tasks no work is associated with tasks in Microsoft Project, only an estimate of how long the task should take to complete. Microsoft Project calculates the work for a task when the resource is assigned. The distinction between work and duration is an important when it comes to bringing a project in on schedule. Duration is how long the task will take to complete and work is the amount of effort is needed to complete the task. For example, painting the interior of a room takes one person two days to complete. However assigning a second person to work along side the first, the job can be completed in one day. Its the same amount of effort, but now the duration is reduced. In this lesson we will discuss the kinds or resources available, the required data set by default, and the options that affect the work resource do, as well as what cost information is needed to calculate total costs for a project.
Adding Resources To the Plan or Pool

Resources need to exist in the project plan before they can be assigned to tasks. Creating a list of resources is also referred to as a resource pool. The pool can be created in the Resource Sheet view simply by entering names into the sheet or anywhere the Resource name field is presented. When a resource name is entered in Microsoft Project, a record is automatically created in the resources database with basic default information. The project manager can turn off the automatic addition of resource names, by selecting the Tools menu, click Options, and making the change in the General options <filename> section on the General tab.
Figure 1. General tab default settings If the option Automatically add new resources and tasks is not selected then the user will be prompted every time a resource name is added to the project plan. A default standard rate and overtime rate for a resource can also be set in this tab. If the button Set as Default is selected then all new projects will have the same default information. There are additional ways to add resources to projects, resources can be pulled into the plan using the Resource Assignment dialog box or by linking to a project plan that already has a resource pool.
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To link to an existing pool file

1. Open the file that contains the list of resources to be used. 2. Open the new file where the resources will be added. 3. From the Tools menu, select Resource Sharing, then click Share Resources 4. Select the file name that contains the pool and click OK. The resource names from the pool file will now appear in the new projects Resource Sheet view. For more information about working with resource pool files see Lesson 22: Resource Pools.
To Add Resource via the Assign Resources dialog box

To access the Assign Resources dialog box click the Assign Resources button on the Standard toolbar.
Figure 2. Assign Resource button on the Standard toolbar To access the Add Resources button the Assign Resources dialog box may need to be expanded, by clicking the plus sign next to Resource list options. Below is a picture of the dialog box expanded and the Add Resources button has been clicked and displays a submenu from which to choose where to add resources from.
Figure 3. Expanded Resource Assignment dialog box
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The submenu contains three choices for adding resources. Depending on the systems configuration all or none of these choices will be available. Add. Allows resource information to be selectively added into a project plan. This can save time in data entry and ensure consistent and accurate resource information. From Active Directory. This option is enabled if the system is connected to a network domain that has Microsoft Windows 2000 Active Directory services installed on its Domain Controller. Also, the Domain Controller must have access to a DNS (Domain Name Service) server that supports Service Location (SRV) resource records. This enables services to be mapped to servers. (A DNS server resolves computer names that end users understand to the IP addresses that computers understand.) Select a directory, the system will be searched for user names. Once the names are found, then select the name of a user (or users by holding down the CTRL key while selecting) and click the Add button. Click OK to merge them into the current project file. From Address Book. This option is available when the system has a MAPI compliant e-mail client installed. When clicked the global address book associated with the e-mail client will display. Search for a user name, select it and click the Add button. Repeat the process for each resource to be added. Click OK to merge them into the current project file. From Microsoft Project Server. This option is available when the project file is setup to access Microsoft Project Server. Microsoft Project Server and is a Web application that enables project team collaboration. Before this option will work a connection to the server must be established.
To add resources from Microsoft Project Server or ProjectCentral.com

1. From the Tools menu select Options and click the Collaboration tab. 2. In the Collaborate using field select Microsoft Project Server. 3. Enter the URL for Project Server or ProjetCentral.com. 4. Click the Test Connection button. If this is successful click OK, else see Lesson: 29 Server Overview. 5. In the Assign Resource dialog box, select the Add Resources button. 6. Click From Microsoft Project Server and a dialog box will display with a list of users. 7. Select user/s and click the Add button. There are radio buttons at the bottom of the dialog box that will either Merge the resources into the current project or Import resources into a new project. Then click OK. Resource names will now appear in the project plan in all Resource views. For more information on the Assign Resources dialog box see Lesson 15: Resource Assignments.
Resource Information General Tab

To enter or modify most resource fields there is a Resource Information dialog box (shown below). Each tab and its features will be discussed.
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Figure 4. Resource Information dialog box, General tab The features in this General tab of the dialog box functions as follows: Resource name. The name entered here can have spaces such as first and last name but will be treated as one value. Initials. This field will default to the first letter/s of value in the Resource name field. E-mail. Optional, e-mail address can be entered. The e-mail address is used with collaboration commands discussed in the tracking lesson. Group. Optional, a text value can be entered for grouping and filtering purposes. Collaborate using. This is the method selected for tracking progress data. The default is set by the project manager in the Collaboration tab. To access the tab select the Tools menu, select Options and click Collaboration. Code. Optional, for grouping and filtering purposes same behavior as group. Windows Account. This button will pull Microsoft Windows user account information from the address book of a MAPI compliant e-mail client. Type. This can be either work or material. Work resources are people and equipment. Material resources are supplies or other consumables used to complete a task of a project. The differences between work and material resources are discussed in detail later in this lesson. Material Label. This feature is available when the resource type is material and explained in more detail later in this lesson. Two options may be unavailable, Generic and Inactive. These features are only available with Microsoft Project Professional edition. Resource Availability. This grid allows dates to be entered for when a resource is available for working on this project plan and is independent of the resource calendar. This table is discussed in detail later in this lesson. Details. This button will access information from the address book.
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Help, OK and Cancel buttons behave as in other dialog boxes and Microsoft Office applications.
Resource Availability Table

Microsoft Project allows contouring a resources availability to reflect the maximum units of work that a resource may be available for over the course of a project. This feature will be most useful in defining available maximum units over time for a resource that represents a group of multiple available units, such as engineers, because resource calendars already provide this functionality for individual resources. Contoured resource availability is not available for material resources. For example, suppose a building contractor employs two electricians year-round. For May through September, they plan to hire three additional electricians to handle increased summer workload; and in August they know that one of them will retire. They need to reflect this in their resource list or pool so that their project plans will reflect this variable availability and flag over allocations, and so that the information will be available when leveling. Resource availability is entered in the Resource Availability table on the General tab of the Resource Information dialog box. The Maximum Units, Availability From, and Availability To fields are available to insert in a resource table. Up to 100 unit changes can be specified for each resource. In the table, the Date fields have date picker controls, and the Units field has a spin control that increments by 50%.
Figure 5. Resource Availability Table Units. This field represents the percentage of time that a resource is available to work on the project plan. The default is 100%, based on the standard calendar that equates to 8 hours per day. Likewise if 50% was entered the resource would be available time or 4 hours per day. This value can also be displayed as a decimal. To change the default select the Tools menu, select Options and click the Schedule tab and change Show Assignment units as a: from the drop-down list.
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Figure 6. Option to change default Units display method
Meaning of NA in the Resource Availability Table

Before the table has been edited, the first row contains NA in both the From and To fields. Units defaults to 100%, unless a different Units value has previously been specified. The units value can be edited in the Maximum Units field in the Resource Information dialog box or another Resource view. NA in the From date of the first row of the table implies that the units specified are applicable from the start of time until the To date specified. Similarly, NA in the To date of the last row of the table implies that the units specified are applicable from the From date specified to the end of time. If the first From date or last To date is not filled with NA, but rather has a date, then zero availability is assumed for the period before the From date or following the To date. If nothing is entered in the From or To date then NA is filled in by default.
Editing the Resource Availability Table

In the Resource Availability table, all From dates start at 12:00 midnight, and all To dates end at 12:00 midnight. You cannot enter a different time of day here. This is so that the resource can have its calendar working time set to any time of day. The user is allowed to enter rows out of sequence, but when the dialog box is closed or the user clicks another tab, the rows are automatically resorted by the Available From field. When a user enters a From or To date in a new row, Microsoft Project will try to interpret the users intent, supplying default dates according to the following logic: If the user enters a From date and then moves to another row, check whether there is a conflict with the date range in another row. If there is a conflict, the To date is left blank. If there is no conflict, the To date is filled with a date one day earlier than the earliest From date in the table that is later than the From date just entered. If there is no later From date, the To date is filled with NA.
If the user enters a From date and then selects the blank To date in the same row, the same rules as above are applied. If the user enters the To date first in a new row and then moves to another row, Microsoft Project checks whether there is a conflict with the date range in another row. 1. If there is a conflict, an alert will display (see the figure below). 2. If there is no conflict, the From date is filled with a date one day later than the latest To date in the table that is earlier than the To date just entered. 3. If there is no earlier To date, the To date is filled with NA.
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If the user enters a To date and then selects the blank From date in the same row, the same rules as above are applied. After both the From and To dates are filled, Microsoft Project fills the units with the same value as in the preceding row, or with 100% if there are no other rows. If there is a gap in the time periods entered, the gap will be considered as a period of zero availability for the resource, but no row representing the gap will show in the table. However, the user can enter a period specifying zero as the units, and a row entered in this way will be retained in the table.
Consistency Within Rows

When the user moves to another row and tries to exit the Resource Information dialog box, or clicks another tab within the dialog box, Microsoft Project checks the row just edited for a From date that is earlier than the corresponding To date. If this is not the case, the following message is displayed:
Figure 7. Conflict between Availability from and Availability to dates On clicking OK, the user is returned to the Resource Availability table, with the focus placed on the row containing the inconsistency.
Consistency Across Multiple Rows

When the user tries to exit the Resource Information dialog box, or clicks another tab within the dialog box, Microsoft Project first checks for consistency within the last edited row as described above. If no inconsistency is found, the entire table is next sorted by the Available From date and then checked for inconsistencies across multiple rows. If a row is found with a missing From or To value, the following message is displayed:
Figure 8. Missing To or From dates If the user clicks OK, the row is deleted and returned to the Application view. If the user clicks Cancel, they are returned to the Resource Availability table with the focus on the row containing the blank date. If an overlapping date range is found, the following message is displayed:
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Figure 9. Overlapping dates
Resource Information Working Time Tab

Generally resource calendars are used to determine how Microsoft Project calculates when work on a task can occur. If a resource has a day off in the middle of a week long task then the task duration will adjust to six days to accommodate the resources working time. There are exceptions; Microsoft Project will display scheduling messages when issues occur. The Working Time tab shows the resource calendar details. This is where the project manager can enter exceptions to the working time for a specific resource, such as time off or training schedule. If a resource or a group of resources have a schedule far different than the default Standard calendar represents, then assigning a new Base calendar is a more efficient option. For example if this resource works a night shift schedule, then change the resources Base calendar to the predefined Night shift calendar. If the calendars that ship with Microsoft Project do not meet your organizations need, then create a new base calendar. For more information on creating calendars see Lesson 13: Calendars.
Figure 10. Resource Information dialog box, Working Time tab Resource name. This field is for display only Base calendar. By default all resources are based on the Standard calendar, which represents working time for 5 days a week and 8 hours a day. A new calendar to base the resource working time on can be selected from the drop-down list. Once additional Base calendars are created they will then display in the drop-down list. Legend. The legend explains the kinds of edits that were made to the calendar.
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Select Date(s). This feature allows exceptions to be made to a Resources calendar, such as time off or extended working hours and works in conjunction with the next feature. Set selected Date(s) to. When a date/s is selected to the left, the radio buttons can be used to designate nonworking or nondefault working time. If nondefault working time is selected then the From and To fields should be edited to reflect the new working time. Help, Details, OK and Cancel are the buttons from the General tab.
Resource Information Cost Tab

As a project progresses over time the cost of resources may change. In order to reflect that change in the project the ability to enter multiple costs for one resource is needed. Another case where different costs may be required is when a program manager wants to keep track of one cost internally and another cost for billing purposes or a resource has more than one skill and gets a different pay rate depending on which task they are performing. Microsoft Project allows each resource five cost rate tables, labeled A through E. In each rate table, you can define up to 25 custom time specific rates (a cost rate for a specific date range). For each resource's assignments, you can choose one of that resource's five rate tables. This is done through the Assignment Information dialog box discussed in Lesson 15: Assignments. Cost rate tables can be customized in the Resource Information dialog box Costs tab as shown in the example that follows:
Figure 11. Resource Information dialog box, Costs tab Note that the Resource Sheet field, Cost/Use, is labeled Per Use Cost in the Resource Information Cost tab.
Rate Tables and the Resource Rate Fields

The resource Standard Rate, Overtime Rate, and Cost per use fields, as listed in a resource Entry table, have a two-way link to the row in the resource's rate Table A that corresponds to the current
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date (in the Project Information dialog box). As the current date changes, the rates listed in the Resource Sheet change to match the appropriate row in the resource's Rate Table A In the above figure, the current date falls between 02/04/02 and 03/04/02. The resource sheet shows the rates from rate table A relative to the current date. Because the current date is between 02/04/02 and 03/04/02, rates from the second row of rate table A are listed in the Resource Sheet. When the current date changes to 03/04/02, the Resource Sheet will list the rates from the third row of rate table A. When you assign a resource to a task, the assignment uses rate table A by default.
Default Resource Cost Rate Tables

When a resource is created, it is given the default standard and overtime rates as defined in the General tab (from the Tools menu select Options). This default rate only affects cost rate table A for the resource. The other cost rate tables, B through E, have their first line of rates set to zero.
Figure 12. Bottom of the Options dialog box
Editing Rate Tables

Each of the rate tables for a resource in the Resource Information dialog box Costs tab consists of up to 25 sets (for example, rows) of date and cost rate fields. The default display for the grid is blank, except for the first row. For rate table A, the default first row corresponds to the Standard Rate, Overtime Rate, and Cost per use fields as viewed in the Resource Sheet. For rate tables B-E, the first row defaults to $0.00. In the first row of a rate table, the Effective Date column always has "--" and cannot be edited. The other three fields can be edited. You cannot delete the first row. All other rows in the rate table can be edited or deleted.
Editing the Effective Date

The Effective Date column in a rate table specifies the date on which the new rates in that row take effect. Dates can be typed or the date picker control used to edit the Effective Date. It uses the Date Format setting View tab (from the Tools menu select Options). If dates are entered out of order, they are automatically sorted the next time the dialog box is displayed. If duplicate dates are entered in the Effective Date column, the following alert is displayed when you click OK.
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Figure 13. Duplicate Effective Date alert
Default Values
If you enter some values in a row (other than the first row) in a rate table but leave some rates blank, they get their values from the row above. If you enter some values in a row in a rate table but leave the Effective Date blank, it uses the Effective Date from the row above, plus one year later, but not past the end of project time, 12/31/2049.
Selections
You can select a cell or block of cells, whole rows, whole columns, or the whole grid, the same way you can in a spreadsheet, except that discontiguous blocks are not supported (no support for CTRL+click).
Copy, Cut and Paste

You can use the keyboard to cut, copy or paste (CTRL+X, CTRL+C, and CTRL+V) data within or between rate tables for the same resource while the dialog box remains open. In particular, copied data is not saved to the clipboard, so you can't copy rate table data and paste it outside of the dialog box, or copy data outside of the dialog box and paste it into a rate table. You can paste a cell or block of cells, whole rows, whole columns, or the whole grid within or between rate tables while the dialog box remains open. Data is pasted into those cells where the data is the correct data type. Invalid data types are ignored without an alert.
Insert and Delete

You can insert a blank row into the grid using the Insert key. If you attempt to insert a row before the first row of the grid, then the following alert is displayed:
Figure 14. Insert warning You can also delete any row except the first row using the DELETE key. No alert is given if you attempt to delete the first row.
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Deleting a Cell Value

If you try to enter a blank in a specific cell, then the previous value is simply reassigned.
Using Percent to Enter a Rate

In addition to entering a numeric value for a rate, you can enter a positive or negative percentage change, which converts to a rate when you press the ENTER key or move out of the cell. The percentage is converted to a rate as follows: The new rate is 100% plus the entered percentage multiplied by the rate in the corresponding cell in the row above.
Figure 15. Rate Table Instructions, Resource Information Costs tab The ability to enter a percent change is a shortcut for entering a rate value. The percentage you enter is not remembered once it has been converted. There is no permanent link to the cell above the one in which the percentage was entered.
Cells cannot be linked

Changing the value in one cell in the grid has no affect on any existing values in other cells.
Resource Cost Accrual Setting

At the bottom of the Resource Information dialog box Costs tab is the Cost accrual setting:
Figure 16. Cost Accrual setting on the Resource Information dialog box Do not confuse the resource Cost Accrual setting with the Task Fixed Cost Accrual setting. They are completely independent. Fixed costs will be discussed in Lesson 16: Costing. If the resource costs accrue at Start or End, the total cost of the assignment is still calculated using all of the appropriate time specific rates across the span of the assignment. Microsoft Project does not use the rate at the Start or the rate at the End but rather uses all rates for the time period. The resulting cost displays at either the Start or End of the assignment. Note The accrual of cost is relative to the assignment, not the task. For example, if the assignment does not begin when the task begins, then accrue at start means the start of the assignment, not the start of the task.
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Example
This example illustrates how timephased cost distributes for variable resource rates and different accrual settings. The resource R is assigned to the task T, using rate table A as shown below.
Figure 17. Rate Table example The figures that follow show the distribution of timephased cost for the three different resource accrual settings. Note that in all three cases, the total cost of the assignment is the same.
Figure 18. Cost accrued at Start
Figure 19. Prorated Cost
Figure 20. Cost accrued at End
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Resource Information Notes and Custom Fields Tabs

There are two more tabs in the Resource Information dialog box. The Notes tab is a place to enter comments that pertain to the selected resource. This is a memo type field that supports rich text formatting. The Custom fields tab is a place to enter values for custom fields. This tab will contain any resource custom fields created in the project. To create custom fields see Lesson 26: Customizing the User Interface.
Resource Fields that Reflect Availability

Resource Availability
Resource availability can be viewed in Resource Usage view by inserting unit avail. and/or work avail. details in the timephased portion of the view. These fields are for reference only.
Figure 21. Resource Usage Changing availability dates do not affect a resources calendar. Changes to resource availability settings do not cause tasks to reschedule automatically, but will be taken into account when leveling. If resource availability changes such that fewer units are now available than are required to complete tasks for that period, the resource will become overallocated and require leveling.
Unit Availability
Unit availability is a read-only field available in the Resource Usage view, containing the percentage or number of maximum units that a work resource is available to accomplish any tasks during any selected time period, as distributed over time. When inserted in the timephased area of the Resource Usage view, this field shows a timephased representation for any changes in unit availability for different time periods, as established in the Resource Availability table of the Resource Information dialog box.Because the resource availability periods do not always coincide with the periods represented by the resource usage timescale, the units displayed for unit availability are calculated as average availability for the timescale period, calculated against working time periods only and using minute values rather than hours in order to account for small changes in the resource calendar.
Work Availability
The Work Availability field is also a read-only field in the Resource Usage view and contains the maximum amount of time a work resource is available to be scheduled for work during any selected time period, as distributed over time. When inserted in the timephased area of the Resource Usage
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view, this field shows a timephased representation for any changes in unit availability for different time periods. The displayed amount of work is based on the resource calendar and the Resource Availability table in the Resource Information dialog box, and is calculated as follows: Work Availability = Unit Availability x Time in Resource Calendar (that is, 4 hours = 50% x 8 hours).
Max Units Field

If there is no resource availability contour (the From and To dates in the top row of the Resource Availability table both contain NA), the Maximum Units field in the Resource Sheet will contain the same value as the Units column in the Resource Availability table. If the value is edited in either location, the other location will reflect the change. If there is a resource availability contour, then the Maximum Units field contains the current Units value derived from the Resource Availability table and the current date as shown in the Project Information dialog box. If the current date is outside the range of any period currently shown in the table, then the Maximum Units field will contain 0%. If the user edits the Maximum Units field, then Microsoft Project will update the Units value of the corresponding row in the Resource Availability table. If the current date is outside the range of any period currently shown in the table, then the behavior is as follows: If the current date is before any shown period, then a new row will be added to the table with a From date of NA and a To date equal to the latest From date minus 1. If the current date is after any shown period, then a new row will be added to the table with a To date of NA and a From date equal to the latest To date plus 1. If the current date is between two shown periods, a new row will be added between the two rows, which chronologically bracket the current date. The new row will have a From date that is one day later than the To date on the previous row, and a To date that is one day earlier than the From date on the following row.
Default Units For New Assignments

When a resource is assigned to a task, the default assignment units value is the lesser of either the value of Maximum Units or 100%. The value of Maximum Units for the assignment is calculated as the value from the Resource Availability table for the period, which corresponds to the Start date of the assignment. The exception is when the value from the table is 0%, then the last known Maximum Units or 100% whichever is less, will be used (because it makes no sense to have a default assignment of 0%). Note If a resource is based on a split shift calendar such as the night shift base calendar, there may be cases where the unit assignment value is not calculated as desired. A calendar must be set up with the earliest period in the day listed first even though the resources workday really begins before midnight, whereas the From and To dates in the Resource Availability table always begin/end at midnight.
Availability From and Availability To Fields

These two fields are read-only in the Resource Sheet view, and will contain the values of the period in the Resource Availability table corresponding to the current date. If there is no contour, or if the current date is outside the range of any period currently shown in the Resource Availability table, then these fields will both contain NA.
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Microsoft Project offers two types of resource designations, Work and Material. The selection is made from the Type field which is found on the Resource Sheet. Work resources are people and equipment. Material resources are supplies or other consumables used to complete a task of a project.
Material Resources
As mentioned, material resources are supplies or other consumable resources such as concrete, steel or cable. The Type and Material Label fields on the Resource Sheet enable Microsoft Project to identify and manage material resources. Material resources are designated through the Type field. The Type field allows the user to specify one of two valid resource types, Work or Material, while the Material Label field indicates the type of units by which the material resource is measured.
Setting Up a Material Resource

Resource type can be specified either in a resource table or in the Resource Information dialog box. When resource type is material, the Maximum Units field in a resource table is blank and unavailable. When the user clicks in the Type column, a drop-down list is enabled with Work and Material as the two options to choose from, as shown in the figure below. Once Material has been selected as the type, the Material Label column is enabled for that resource. For more information see the Material Labels section later in this lesson.
Figure 22. Resource Type field in the Resource Sheet view When resource type is Material, the Maximum Units field in a resource table is blank and unavailable. The Units field will be used when the material resource is assigned to a task. This is explained in detail in Lesson 15: Resource Assignments. Material modifications have also been made to the Resource Information dialog box to accommodate setup of material resources. The modified dialog box appears as shown below when a material resource has been selected. Resources can also be added or modified through the Resource Information dialog box.
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Figure 23. Resource Information dialog box Items in the Resource Information dialog box are further described below: General tab. Contains general information related to the material. Here the Type and Material Label fields can be entered, as well as initials, group, and code. When the resource type is material, the E-mail, Workgroup Collaborate using, Windows Account, and Resource Availability grid items are all unavailable. When the resource type is Work, the Material Label item is unavailable. Working Time tab. Because Resource calendars are not available for material resources; the Working Time tab in the Resource Information dialog box is unavailable if the resource type is material. Costs tab. All items in the cost rate table are available for material resources, but the functionality is different than for work resources in the following ways: Standard Rate. Does not include the time value. Time value has a different meaning for material resources, and is specified when assigning the resource. For more information, see Material Labels and Assigning Material Resources in Lesson 15: Resource Assignments. Overtime Rate. Unavailable in the cost rate table for a material resource. Cost per Use. Cost per use is only charged once, regardless of the number of units of the material resource that are assigned.
Otherwise, editing of the cost rate table is the same as for a work resource. An example of the Costs tab, in the Resource Information dialog box, filled in for a material resource appears in the figure below.
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Figure 24. Resource Information Cost Tab Notes tab. This tab shows any notes made related to the resource. Custom fields tab. This field shows any customized resource fields built for the project.
Material Labels
The Material Label field indicates the kind of units or materials that the material resource is measured in, for example, gallons, feet, tons, or reams. After a resource is assigned, Material Labels are displayed in the Units column of the Assign Resources and Task Information dialog boxes, and are viewable in the Resource Names column in a Gantt Chart view or Task Usage view, and in the Work column in Resource Usage view. The labels are also appended to the detail style headings in the Resource Usage view, but are not displayed in the timescaled columns of the Resource Usage view. Labels must adhere to the following rules: Cannot exceed 32 characters in length. Cannot contain square brackets or the list separator character. Cannot consist solely of duration, work, or other reserved time units, although these can be used in a modified form, such as by adding a period.
If a Material Label is entered that does not follow the above rules, the following message is displayed:
Figure 25. Invalid Material Label When the user clicks OK, they are returned to the dialog box or table where the Material Label was entered, with the focus on the cell containing the entry.
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Figure 26. Example of Material Labels The next figure shows the Gantt Chart with these resources assigned to tasks. One unit of each resources was assigned to each task.
Figure 27. Example of how Material Labels display
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Lesson 14 Exercises
Exercises
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. What are the two types or resources? What default information is entered for a work resource automatically when the resource name is added to the project plan? How are resources added to a project file? In the Assign Resource dialog box the Add Resources button pulls resources into the project from what three sources? How is work availability calculated? What is the main difference between the two types of resources? What are two methods to indicate when resources are available to work on a project? What is the difference between the two methods mentioned in question 7? How is the cost rate table used?
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1. 2. The two types or resources are work and material. The default information automatically entered for a work resource when the resource name is added to the project plan are resource initials, max units, standard rate, overtime rate, cost per use, accrual method, and base calendar. Resources added to a project file by entering a name into the a Resource view, or the Assign Resources dialog box, the Resource tab in the Task Information form or by sharing resources with a resource pool. In the Assign Resource dialog box the Add Resources button pulls resources into the project from Active Directory, Address Book, and Project Server. Work availability is calculated using the following equation: Work Availability = Duration x Units. The main difference between work and material resources is that work resource put out effort on tasks while material resources are consumed. The two methods to indicate when resources are available to work on a project are Resource Availability table and Resource calendar. The difference between Resource Availability table and Resource calendar is that the calendar is used to specify exceptions to an individual resources working time and the resource availability table is used to represent how many units of a group of resources is available over time. The cost rate table used is used to indicate a change in resource cost over time, or to substitute one cost rate for another.
3.
4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
9.
###
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Lesson 15: Resource Assignments
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Lesson 15: Resource Assignments

Published: June 2003 Applies to: Microsoft Project Standard 2003 Microsoft Project Professional 2003 Microsoft Project Server 2003 Contents Objectives Assigning Resources Assignment Contours Overtime Work Exercises and Labs
Objectives
What You Will Learn
After completing this lesson, you will be able to: Discuss how to assign resources. Describe the features in the Assign Resources dialog box Describe how task type and effort driven settings effect resource assignment. Describe assignment contours. Describe how a contour will change based on varying criteria. Discuss material resources and how they differ from work resources. Understand how overtime work is assigned.
Related Topics Covered in This Lesson

Resources and costs Leveling
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Assigning Resources
Assigning Resources
Microsoft Project provides a couple of methods for assigning resources to tasks. The Resource Assignment dialog box and the Task Information form, or splitting the screen and using the Task Form, each make the process of assigning resources to tasks much easier.
Resource Assignment Dialog Box

The Resource Assignment dialog box is a floating dialog box that can be moved anywhere on the screen. Once the dialog box appears, it will remain in the same place on the screen, which is on top of the current view until closed or moved. It is available by choosing the Resource Assignment button from the Standard toolbar.
Figure 1. Collapsed Resource Assignment Dialog box This is a collapsed view of the Resource Assignment dialog box. It is best used when there are a small number of resources in the file or if additional options are not needed. This dialog box will display the names of resources already created in the project file. Resources can be added to the project file by entering the names in this dialog box. Because this is equivalent to entering names in the Resource Sheet, the user will not be prompted for new resource information when the Automatically add new resources and tasks option is off (From the Tools menu select Options and click the General tab to find the option Automatically add new resources and tasks). Resources can also be added to the project file by clicking the Add Resources button not displayed in the collapsed dialog box. To access the Add Resources button the dialog box needs to be expanded. To expand the Resource Assignment dialog box, click the plus button next to Resource list options. Below is a picture of the dialog box expanded and the Add Resources button has been clicked and displays a submenu from which to choose where to add resources from.
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Figure 2. Expanded Resource Assignment Dialog box The submenu contains three choices for adding resources. Depending on the systems configuration all or none of these choices may be available. The Add Resources feature allows resource information to be selectively added into a project plan. This can save time in data entry and insure consistent and accurate resource information. From Active Directory. This option is enabled if the system is connected to a network domain that has Microsoft Windows 2000 Active Directory services installed on its Domain Controller. Additionally, the Domain Controller must have access to a DNS (Domain Name Service) server that supports Service Location (SRV) resource records. This enables services to be mapped to servers. (A DNS server resolves computer names that end users understand to the IP addresses that computers understand.) Select a directory, the system will be searched for user names. Once the names are found, then select the name of a user and click the Add button. Repeat the process for each resource to be added. Click OK to merge them into the current project file. From Address Book. This option is available when the system has a MAPI compliant e-mail client installed. When clicked the global address book associated with the e-mail client will display. Search for a user name, select it and click the Add button. Repeat the process for each resource to be added. Click OK to merge them into the current project file. From Microsoft Project Server: This option is available when the project file is setup to access Microsoft Project Server. Project Server is a Web application that enables project team collaboration. From the Tools menu select Options and click the Collaboration tab. The URL for Project Server is entered here. Select From Microsoft Project Server and a dialog box will display with a list of users. Select all the user names and click the Add button. There are radio buttons at the bottom of the dialog box that will either Merge the resources into the current project or Import resources into a new project. Then click OK.
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The options in the Assign Resources dialog box function as follows: The name of the selected task will display in the upper left of the dialog box. If multiple tasks are selected or no tasks selected, that will be displayed instead. Resource list options. A minus sign will display to the left when the dialog box is expanded and a plus sign when collapsed. Filter by. A filter can be applied in the dialog box as in a Resource view. Resources that meet the filter criteria will be displayed as well as any resources that may be already assigned to selected tasks. Checkbox next to filter name. The filter named in the entry field will be applied if the checkbox is ticked, or else All Resources will display. When the check mark is selected again, the filter named will be reapplied. More Filters. When clicked the list of all available filters will display. New filters can be created or added to the file via the Organizer. All other options are disabled. Available to work. This is a calculated filter that compares the working hours available for a resource on a selected task, with the value entered in the box to the right. Resources with a number equal to or less than the value selected will be shown in the list along with the resources already assigned to the selected task. Available to work hours for a resource on a selected task is calculated as follows: For each resource, the calendar and availability contour is known. The duration for the task is known. Based on the resources calendar, the number of working hours for the resource on the selected task is calculated. However, the availability contour may increase or decrease the number of working hours, and availability is further reduced by concurrent assignments for the resource on the same days. So the available working hours are multiplied by the availability contour numbers and then the existing assignment work is subtracted. This calculates the total remaining Available to work hours. Below is the equation for the calculation:
(( AWH AC ) ExAW ) = AtoW

Where AWH is available working hours, AC is available contour units in decimal, ExAW is existing assignment work and AtoW = available to work. Below are examples to illustrate the calculation: Example 1. A task starts at day 1 and finishes at day 12. Days 6 and 7 are the weekend and day 8 is a holiday in the project calendar, hence the duration for the task is 9 days or 72 hours. The resource is assigned at 100% or 1 unit and is not assigned to any other tasks. The Available to Work value would be 72 hours.
((72 1) 0) = 72
All resources available 72 hours or more will be listed in the Assignment dialog box. Example 2 Using the same task and resource, but the resources availability contour is set to 50% or .5 units, this reduces the Available to Work to 36 hours.
((72 .5) 0) = 36
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All resources available 36 hours or more will be listed in the Assignment dialog box. Example 3. Use the same task and resource with resource availability contour at 50%. If the resource is already assigned to another task at 50% or .5 that spans day 1 and day 2 (8 hour total), the total remaining hours available to work is then 28 hours
((72 .5) 8) = 28
All resources available 28 hours or more will be listed in the Assignment dialog box. If both filters are selected then resources that meet both criteria are displayed. Name. This column lists each resource available in the project based on the filters applied. Resources are listed in the Resource Assignment dialog box in alphabetical order. Checkmark. A checkmark next to a resource name indicates that the resource is already assigned to the currently selected task(s). If the resource is assigned to some, but not all, of the selected tasks, then the checkmark is grayed. No checkmark is visible if the resource is not assigned to any of the selected tasks. Units. This represents the units of the resource assigned to the selected task(s). This field will be blank if the resource is not assigned to the currently selected task(s). If multiple tasks are selected and a resource is assigned at different units to those tasks then -.- will display in the units field. Project does a special parsing of values entered in the Units field. If only a number is entered, that number of resource units is assigned to the selected task(s). If a valid work value is entered instead, then Microsoft Project calculates the units using the formula: Units = Entered Work / Duration For example, if a task with a duration of 8h is selected, and 2h is entered in the Units field for a resource, Microsoft Project will assign .25 Units of the resource to the task, and display 25% in the Units field. Assignment Units can be displayed in percentage or decimal by selecting the option Show assignment units as from the Tools menu click Options and choose the Schedule tab. Assign. Selecting this button assigns the selected resource(s) to the currently selected task(s). Resources can also be assigned from this dialog box by dragging and dropping them on a task. Remove. Selecting this button removes the selected resource(s) from the currently selected task(s). Replace. Selecting this button allows a user to replace one resource assignment with another on all selected tasks. This is equivalent to deleting the assignment for the resource being replaced, and then assigning the new resource to the task. Any actual information associated with the original resource's assignment is lost. Graphs. This feature displays graphs of Work, Remaining Availability and Assignment Work for the selected resource(s). This feature will allow a project manager to look at how a selected resource(s) is being used in the project plan before assigning the resource, there by mitigating overallocations before they can occur. Below is a picture of the Gantt Chart with resources assigned to tasks and then examples of the graphs available based on the project plan.
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Figure 3. Project plan with resources assigned to tasks
Figure 4. After clicking Graph button with three resources selected This graph is showing Res1 and Res2 work per day on all tasks in the project plan. This is because only their resource names are checked under Resources on the right side of the dialog box. Res3 can also be checked and then Res3 data will be shown on the graph. Total work and individual work is listed in the table below. This graph cannot be formatted, for instance to show different bars types or other fields of data. The features in the resource Graph dialog box function as follows: Select graph. From the drop-down menu Work, Remaining Availability, and Assignment Work can be selected. Zoom buttons. Clicking the Plus button will change the timescale to smaller time units. Clicking the Minus button makes the time units larger. Resources. This is a list of all the resources that were selected in the Assignment dialog box. The check box adds or removes resource data from the graph. Graph data lines and table. The X axis displays the timescale across the top and is independent of the Gantt Chart timescale. Two time tiers are always displayed in the graph view. The Y axis will automatically scale to the max units needed to display the total work the individual resource with the largest values. The table below the graph displays individual totals per time unit. This data varies on what data has been selected to display. Close. Selecting this button closes the dialog box.
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Help. Selecting this button will display the Help menu.
Task Information Form

The Resources tab in the Task Information form allows resources to be assigned to a single task, or a group of selected tasks. Resource Name. Resources can be created by directly entering names into the Resource Name field. The dialog box provides a drop-down list of resource names already in the project plan, as seen in the below picture. When a name is selected, the resource is assigned to the task.
Figure 5. Task Information form with Resource tab selected Name. This field displays the name of the task selected. If multiple tasks are selected then no name is displayed. Duration. This is the task duration. Estimated. If checked then the duration is an estimate. Units. The Units field in this dialog box is parsed in the same way as the Units field in the Resource Assignment dialog box. Work values can be entered in the Units field, and Project will calculate the units based on the formula, Units = Entered Work / Duration. If only a single task is selected when the dialog box is displayed, the resources assigned to that task will be listed in the Resources tab. If multiple tasks are selected, the list will be empty.
Task Form Views

The Task Form view can be displayed in the bottom half of most task views by splitting the window. When a task is selected in the top half of the window the Task Form will display only information for the selected task in the bottom.
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Figure 6. Task Form default view In the gray area of the Task Form is information about the selected task. The fields below display a variety of fields that can be edited on the assignment level. To change which fields display select the Format menu and click Details.
Figure 7. Details submenu Selecting Resource Work will display the Overtime Work field (among other work fields) where the amount of total work that will be charged at overtime rates can be entered. Selecting Resource Schedule displays the Assignment Start and Finish fields, for editing. No changes to tasks will take effect until the OK button is selected. The Previous button will change to an OK button when edits are made to the view. Previous and Next buttons navigate through the list of tasks in the project.
Editing Assignment Start and Finish Dates

The information in this section applies to projects that are scheduled from Start. The process in this section is reversed between Assignment Start and Finish if the project is scheduled from Finish. Microsoft Project remembers if you edited the Assignment Start and Finish dates and uses this information intelligently when you make future edits. The Assignment Start, Finish, and Duration fields are related by the equation: Assignment Finish = Assignment Start + Assignment Duration When one of these three fields is edited, which one of the other two changes depends on previous edits.
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If you edit an Assignment Start date (but not its Finish), then Microsoft Project adjusts the Assignment Finish. If you edit an Assignment Start date after editing its Finish, then Microsoft Project adjusts the Assignment Duration, unless you make the Start greater than the Finish, in which case it calculates the Finish. If you then edit the Finish date (regardless of whether you ever edited the Start), then the Assignment Duration is calculated, unless you make the Finish smaller than the Start, in which case it calculates a new Start.
Assignment Start Date Before The Task Start Date

Entering timephased assignment work for a date before the current task Start, or entering an Assignment Start earlier than the current task Start changes the task Start to this earlier date, and any assignments without actuals move back in time too. There are no warning messages pertaining directly to this change. There may be other warning if the new task Start will be before the Project Start date, or the task duration must change to accommodate the assignment duration, etc.
Assignments Overview
Assignments and assignment contours can be confusing, so it is important to gain a firm understanding of them. Before we look at assignment contours, lets take a look at assignments and break them down into some simple parts that we can use to discuss assignment contours.
Parts of an Assignment
An assignment is created when a resource is assigned to a task. An assignment consists of two levels: the assignment level and the assignment timephased level. Within each level exists fields that display essentially the same information. For example, there is a work field in both levels. The way the fields of each level are calculated, however, is different. At the assignment level, we have three fields that we are concerned with for this discussion: Duration, Units, and Work. As we know from Lesson 7: Scheduling, these three fields are interdependent and a change in one can affect the others. At the assignment level, we can summarize the interaction of these three fields via the following equation:
D = U W
Where D is duration, U is units, and W is work. Note For the purpose of our discussion, when we refer to the assignment level, we are not referring specifically to assignment fields. The assignment level is referring to that area that is not timephased. In other words, it incorporates task, resource, and assignment fields. At the assignment timephased level, we have timephased information that essentially displays the information displayed at the assignment level in more detail. Contours, by definition, exist at the assignment timephased level. However, to preserve predefined contours, changes can only be made at the assignment level. When changes are made at the assignment timephased level, a contour instantly changes to an edited contour. Edited contours are discussed later on in this lesson. To understand how changes at the assignment level affect contours, we must first understand the changes that happen at this level. We shall then look at how Microsoft Project recalculates the assignment timephased level based on this data.
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Assignment Contours
What is an Assignment Contour?
An assignment contour is the timephased distribution of resource units on an assignment. (Note: In most cases, assignment contours refer to the distribution of work. However, in order to better understand how Microsoft Project calculates the work distribution in a contour, we will define it as the distribution of units.) There are two main categories of contours in Microsoft Project; predefined contours and edited contours.
Predefined Contours
Understanding predefined contours and their behaviors will help us in understanding edited contours, so lets take a look at them first. Microsoft Project has eight predefined contours. Each contour takes an assignment and divides it into ten segments. In each segment, work is calculated using the units predefined per that contours definition. Below are the eight predefined contours and a table showing how each distributes units in each of the ten segments. Note Tables show the percentage of the units a resource is assigned for a particular timephased segment in relationship to the units a resource is assigned to a task as a whole. Example. If a resource were assigned to a task at 50%, it would be shown as being assigned at 5% for the first segment of an assignment with a back loaded contour applied. (See table for back loaded contours.) The eight predefined contours and their contour definition tables are: 1. Flat
1 Units 100%
2 100%
3 100%
4 100%
5 100%
6 100%
7 100%
8 100%
9 100%
10 100%
2. Back Loaded
1 Units 10%
2 15%
3 25%
4 50%
5 50%
6 75%
7 75%
8 100%
9 100%
10 100%
3. Front Loaded
1 Units 100%
2 100%
3 100%
4 75%
5 75%
6 50%
7 50%
8 25%
9 15%
10 10%
4. Double Peak
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
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Units
25%
50%
100%
50%
25%
25%
50%
100%
50%
25%
5. Early Peak
1 Units 25%
2 50%
3 100%
4 100%
5 75%
6 50%
7 50%
8 25%
9 15%
10 10%
6. Late Peak
1 Units 10% 2 15% 3 25% 4 50% 5 50% 6 75% 7 100% 8 100% 9 50% 10 25%
7. Bell
1 Units 10%
2 20%
3 40%
4 80%
5 100%
6 100%
7 80%
8 40%
9 20%
10 10%
8. Turtle
1 Units 25%
2 50%
3 75%
4 100%
5 100%
6 100%
7 100%
8 75%
9 50%
10 25%
How Assignment Contours Work

Assignment contours work in the following manner: First, Microsoft Project takes the duration of a task and divides the assignment into 10 equal contour segments. This is done on a minute-by-minute level. Next, Microsoft Project applies Units to each contour segment per the contours definition as shown in the tables above. Remember, the contour definition tables show the percentage of the units a resource is assigned for a particular timephased segment in relationship to the units a resource is assigned to a task as a whole. The work for each contour segment is then calculated based on units and duration for the segment. Finally, the above figures are calculated for display in the timephased segment that is specified.
What Happens When Changes Occur

Understanding the definition of a contour and its basic functionality is important, but seeing how it really works when changes occur in a project is where we really begin to understand assignment contours. And to understand this, its important to remember the two levels of an assignment: the assignment level and the assignment timephased level. Because predefined contours, by definition, cannot be edited at the timephased level, we shall only look at the assignment level.
Making a Change at the Assignment Level

At the assignment level, making a change to duration, units, or work will cause a change in one of the other two variables, depending on the task type. This is accordance with the following equation:
D = U W
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Where D is duration, U is units, and W is work

The changes that can occur when a variable is changed are reflected in the three tables below. Each table represents a task type as denoted in the upper left hand corner. The leftmost column shows the variable that is changed by the user. Each subsequent column shows status of the variable upon making the change. A changed variable is denoted by the Greek symbol delta () that is generally used in mathematics as the symbol to denote change. When delta () is followed by the variables first letter, it denotes the variable that has been changed by the user. When delta appears alone, it means that Microsoft Project has calculated that variables value based on the change by the user and the task type.
Fixed Duration Task D U W
Duration D No Change No Change
Units No Change U
Work W
Duration D
Units No Change U No Change
Work No Change W
Duration D
Units U No Change
Work No Change No Change W
Calculated Changes at the Assignment Time phased Level

At the assignment time phased level, there are three possible scenarios. These are reflected in the table below.
When this situation occurs Duration and Units have both changed at the Assignment Level (D & U)
Microsoft Project does the following for contours. 1. The 10 Contour Segments are re-calculated. 2. Units are applied to each contour segment per the contour definition. 3. Work for each segment is recalculated.
Duration and Work have both changed at the Assignment Level (D & W)
1. The 10 Contour Segments are re-calculated. 2. Units are applied to each contour segment per the contour definition.
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3. Work for each segment is recalculated. Units and Work have both changed at the Assignment Level (U & W) 1. Units are applied to each contour segment per the contour definition. 2. Work for each segment is recalculated.
Other Possible Changes at the Assignment Level Changing one of the three variables (duration, units, work) is not the only thing that can affect a predefined contour.
Assigning Additional Resources to a Task

Assigning additional resources to a task can also affect a current assignment contour. Assignment contours will only be affected if a task has the Effort Driven option turned on for the task (double click the task, in the Task Information dialog box click the Advanced tab, check Effort Driven). Assigning additional resources to a non-effort driven task does not affect an existing resource contour at all When new resources are assigned to an effort driven task, the first thing Microsoft Project must do is distribute work on the task amongst the assigned resources. To divide up the work amongst each resource (or to calculate each assignments work), Microsoft Project does the following:
First, Microsoft Project calculates a temporary value for the newly assigned resources assignment work by assuming it was assigned without the effort driven option being turned on. It does this by using the following equation next to the equation is the same equation with values to demonstrate the calculations:
Wat =
Dt Ua
40hr =
40hr 1
Where Wat is the temporary assignment work, Dt is the task duration, and Ua is the assignment units. Next, Microsoft Project calculates a temporary value for the total work on the task by summing all temporary assignment work values. This gives a value that we will call the temporary task work, or Wtt. Microsoft Project then calculates a temporary value for the assignment units (or Uat) by using the following equation:
Uat =
Wat Wtt
.5units =
40hr 80hr
Where Uat is the temporary assignment units, Wat is the temporary assignment work, and Wtt is the temporary task work. Next, the effort driven assignment work is calculated using the following equation:
Wa = Uat Wt
20hr = .5 40hr
Where Wa is the assignment work, Uat is the temporary assignment units, and Wt is the original task work.
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Once the assignment work is calculated, Microsoft Project then makes the following calculations depending on the task type: For a fixed duration task, Microsoft Project recalculates the assignment units using the following equation:
Wa Dt Ua = Usa
20hr 1unit = 40hr .5units
Where Ua is the assignment units, Wa is the assignment work, Dt is the task duration, and Usa is the assignment units scaled average. For a fixed units or fixed work task, Microsoft Project recalculates the task duration using the following equation:
Wa Ua Dt = Usa
20hr 20hr = 1unit 1unit
Where Dt is the task duration, Wa is the assignment work, Ua is the assignment units, and Usa is the assignment units scaled average. Note The Assignment Units Scaled Average (Usa) is the variable that takes predefined contours into account. When assigning new resources to a task that has an assigned resource with a predefined contour, this value maintains the contoured assignments relevancy when calculating duration or assigned units. This value is calculated by taking the average value of the units from each predefined contour segment. Once the new values are calculated, Microsoft Project calculates the new assignment contours as noted above, using the new values.
Changing Working Times

Changing working times may also appear to affect assignment contours. However, when working times change, assignment contours remain essentially unchanged. That is to say, when working times are changed, the contour is simply moved around non-working times. For example, if you had a two-day task with a flat contour, inserting a non-working day (day two) between the two working days leaves the contour setting at flat. It does not change to contoured. However, that in a literal sense (and too many users), the contour has changed. This is because units have gone from being distributed over two days at 100%, to being distributed over three days in the following manner:
Day One 100% Day Two 0% Day Three 100%
Actually, the value for day two is blank in Microsoft Project. However, it is important to understand how other users of Microsoft Project may view contours. As noted before, many users define assignment contours as the timephased distribution of work. If viewed from this viewpoint, the contour appears to have changed. It is important to be able to understand both views in order to explain Microsoft Projects behavior to others.
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Moving a task
When a task start date is changed the entire task will be moved to the new start date and the contour will remain the same because the duration has not changed. The same is true for changing the finish date. However, if the finish date is changed by dragging the task, this does change task duration and therefore the assignment contour.
Assignment Information dialog box

In a usage view when an assignment is double clicked an Assignment Information dialog box will display.
Figure 8. Assignment Information The features function as follows: Task. Displays the task name of that the currently selected assignment belongs to. Resource. The resource name associated with this assignment. Only one name will ever display. Work. The total work for the assignment over the duration of the task. Work contour. Names the predefined contour selected. Start. The assignment start or the date when the resource is scheduled to start work. Finish. The assignment finish or the date when the resource is scheduled to finish. Cost. The total cost calculated of the task as scheduled based on work x standard rate. Units: The effort at which this resource has been assigned to the task. Cost Rate Table. The current Cost Rate Table applied and used in cost calculations for this resource. OK and Cancel buttons. Click OK to apply changes and close, click Cancel to close dialog box without changes.
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Edited Contours
So far weve taken a broad look at predefined resource contours and what happens when we make changes at the assignment level. On many occasions, however, we may want to make changes to an assignment at the assignment timephased level. Doing so changes our contour from a predefined contour to an edited contour. In other words, an edited contour is, by definition, a contour that has been edited at the timephased level.
Making Changes at the Assignment Level

When a change is made at the assignment timephased level, we are actually creating a new edited contour. Once a contour is an edited contour, it has different behavior when responding to changes made at the assignment level. To understand these changes, we must first understand how edited contours differ structurally from predefined contours. (That is, we need to understand how contour segments behave in edited contours.) As discussed earlier, predefined contours are divided into ten equal contour segments. Each contour segment has a predefined level of units that is applied to that segment based on the contour definition table. Edited contours, however, differ in that they are not divided into ten segments of equal duration. First, the number of contour segments in an edited assignment contour depends on the actual edits made. The duration of each contour segment depends on the timescale in which the edit was made. For example, suppose you had a 12-day task and you edited the assignment contour as follows:
1 20% 1.6h
2 15% 1.2h
3 20% 1.6h
4 15% 1.2h
5 20% 1.6h
6 25% 2h
7 40% 3.2h
8 25% 2h
9 40% 3.2h
10 25% 2h
11 15% 1.2h
12 20% 1.6h
Note In the timescaled view, you cannot directly edit the units assigned to each timephased segment; instead you would directly edit the work. However, to better understand edited contour segments, we will look at the units assigned. In this example, you have 12 contour segments of equal duration. However, if you changed your minor timescale to weeks, you would end up with the following:
Week 1 20%
Week 2 40%
Week 3 25%
At this point the assignment contour still consists of 12 segments of equal duration. However, if we then make an edit to Week 2, our contour segments change. The five segments that make up Week 2 become one segment with a five-day duration, and we are left with a total of eight contour segments. In our example, if we change Week 2 to 38%, we are left with the following contour segments.
Contour Segment Number Units Duration
20% 1d
15% 1d
20% 1d
15% 1d
20% 1d
38% 5d
15% 1d
20% 1d
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Notice that Contour Segment Number 6 has a five-day duration. If we subsequently were to change our timescale back to days, we would see that units are spread evenly over the segment. In other words, each day of the second week would have 38%. It is important to recognize that contour segments are independent from the timescale units that we view timephased information with. When we change our timescale units to days, we do not suddenly have additional assignment contour segments. We are simply viewing existing segments differently. This will be shown in more detail in the following example. Now that we understand how edited contours deal with contour segments, lets take a look at what happens when we begin to make changes to assignments with edited contours. If both duration and work are changed at the assignment level, contour segment length proportionality will not be maintained. Instead, Microsoft Project will simply extend or truncate the right most contour segment as needed. All other contour segments will maintain the same length. The way that changes at the assignment level affects contour segments of edited assignment contours is detailed in the following table. There are three distinct scenarios for edited contours when making changes at the assignment level. They are as follows:
Changes at the Assignment Level D, U D, W U, W
Reaction of Contour Segment Lengths Segment lengths recalculated, proportionality maintained. Last Segment Extended/Truncated Segment Length doesnt change.
Example
Lets look at an example that shows some of the possible changes and calculations. Suppose we had a fixed units task with a three-day duration and that we edited the assignment contour as shown below.
Day One 38% 3.03h
Day Two 88% 7.03h
Day Three 50% 4h
If we increase the assignment units from 88% to 100%, we get a timephased assignment information as shown in the following table:
Day One 100% 4h
Day Two 100% 7.17h
Day Three 57% 2.9h
At first glance, it may appear that Microsoft Project is randomly changing our assigned units. In fact, however, it is being very consistent in how it maintains our assignment contour. Because the task is a fixed units task and we are changing units at the assignment level, duration must be recalculated. This will cause contour segment lengths to change, but their proportionality to be retained.
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This gives us a situation where our timescale units (days) overlap our contour segments as shown in the following table:
Day One 100% Contour One 42.94% 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Day Two 100% Contour Two 100% 1 2 3 4 5 6
Day Three 57% Contour Three 56.5% 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Now lets look at how Microsoft Project makes the exact calculations to come up with the scenario shown in the above table. The first thing that Microsoft Project does in this situation is calculate duration. To do this, Microsoft Project first calculates the assigned units scaled average (Usa) for the edited contour by using the following equation:
Usa =
Us
Ns
Where Usa is the units scaled average, Us is the sum of all of the segments units, and Ns is the number of segments. Note Contour segments units are usually not the units for the assignment during a period of time. In other words, Us does not usually correspond to the % allocation values found in the time-phased portion of the Task Usage view. Rather, Us values correspond to the values shown in the definition tables for predefined contours. In equation form:
Us =
%A Ua
Where Us is the units for the contour segment, %A is the % allocation for the time period and Ua is the units for the assignment. In our scenario, calculating the Usa value gives us the following:
Usa =
OR
42.94% + 100% + 56.5% 3
Usa = 66.48%
When segments are of unequal duration, Usa should be calculated as follows:
Usa =
(Usx Dsx )
Da
Note Where x is the segment number, Usx is the Units of the segment number x, Dsx is the duration
( ) ( ) duration that is, Us1 Ds1 + Us 2 Ds 2 ... , and Da is the duration of the assignment.
of segment number x,
(Usx Dsx ) is the sum of all segment units multiplied by their segment
Once Usa is calculated, Microsoft Project then recalculates the duration of the assignment according to the following equation:
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Where Dt is the task duration, Wa is the assigned work, Ua is the assigned units, and Usa is the units scaled average. In our example, this works out to the following:
14.07 h 100% Dt = 66.48% OR Dt = 21.16h OR Dt = 2.64d

Because duration changes, Microsoft Project is forced to recalculate the assignment contour segments while maintaining their proportionality. This it does in two steps. First, it calculates a ratio for the change in duration. This is done using the following equation:
R=
Dt Do
.88 =
2.64d 3d
Where R is the ratio, Dt is the new task duration calculated above and Do is the old task duration. In our scenario, R = 0.88. Then Microsoft Project multiplies each contour segments duration by this ratio to determine the new contour segment duration. In this scenario, all contour segments are equal and end up being 7 hours in length. Note When both duration and work change, contour segments are not recalculated. Instead, the rightmost contour is extended or truncated. In such a scenario, if duration is increased, the rightmost segment is extended. If duration is decreased, the rightmost contours are truncated as needed. Once segment durations are recalculated, Microsoft Project calculates a multiplier by which to proportionately adjust our contour segments units. This is done using the following equation:
M =
Uan Ua
1.13 =
100% 88%
Where M is the multiplier, Uan is the new assigned units and Ua is the assigned units. In our scenario, M = 1.13 or Next, Microsoft Project recalculates the assigned units for each contour segment by multiplying the assigned units for each segment by the multiplier. The results for our scenario are shown in the following table:
Contour One 42.94% Contour Two 100% Contour Three 56.5%
Microsoft Project then calculates what is displayed to the user based on what timescale is selected. In our example, we are showing days. Because our contours are only 7 hours in duration, segment contours overlap timephased contours. Microsoft Project averages the contour segments units as they overlap the timephased segment and displays the value as the timephased segments units. This is demonstrated in the following table:
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Day One 100% Contour One 42.94% 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Day Two 100% Contour Two 100% 8 1 2 3 4 5 6
Making Changes at the Assignment Timephased Level

When changes are made at the assignment timephased level, the change only affects the timescale segment in which that edit was made. Note however, that the timescale segment may overlap contour segments. Take the following table for example:
Day One 100% Contour One 42.94% 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Day Two 100% Contour Two 100% 8 1 2 3 4 5 6
If you changed the units on day two to 50%, you would end up with the following:
Day One 50% Contour One 42.94% 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 C2 100% 8 1 Day Two 50% Contour Two 100% 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Day Three 36% Contour Three 56.5% 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Notice that there are now have four assignment contours of varying length. All edits to the timescale segment are spread evenly throughout the segment. For example, if you assigned 50% units to a day and then changed the timescale to hours, you would see 50% units for each hour as well.
Adding/Removing assignments on task with Actual Work

If the task already has some actuals entered against it and then assignments are added or removed, Microsoft Project keeps the task work at its original value and tries to preserve the Actual Work values as well.
Adding an Assignment to an Effort Driven task that has Actual Work

Regardless of the Effort Driven setting, the new assignment starts at the task current Resume date (which is the earliest assignment resume date). No actual work is added to the new assignment. Only remaining work is distributed among the assigned resources. The task original remaining work value is distributed to the assignments based on the ratios of their remaining work values.
Example
This example illustrates the impact of the Effort Driven setting in combination with the different Type settings, when adding an assignment to a task that already has actual work.
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Resources R1 and R2 have already been assigned to the task T. Their timephased work and actual work contours have been edited as shown in the Task Usage view below.
Figure 9. Original Task Assignments Notice that the assignments for R1 and R2 have resumes dates of Day4 at 8am and Day2 at 8am respectively, so the task Resume date is Day2 at 8 A.M. (the task resume date is always the earliest assignment resume date). Next, resource R3 is assigned to the task without specifying the amount of assignment work or units. Microsoft Project gives the new assignment the default units of 100% and gives it the default amount of work, 24h, based on the current task resume and finish dates. It then calculates the proportions of total task remaining work that each assignment would have had if the task had not been Effort Driven. The picture below shows what the result would have been for a fixed duration or fixed units task that is not Effort Driven. This picture is for illustration purposes only. It is not displayed by Microsoft Project during its internal Effort Driven calculations. Results if the task had not been Effort Driven.
Figure 10. Illustration of internal calculations Microsoft Project internally uses the above hypothetical case to calculate the ratios that it uses to distribute the original task remaining work value (48h remaining work, not the 65h work): For R1: 8h/48h = 1/6 For R2: 16h/48h = 1/3 For R3: 24h/48h = 1/2 Because the task really is Effort Driven, the task remaining work does not change from 24h to 48h after R3 is assigned, but instead stays at 24h. Microsoft Project uses the above internally calculated factors to distribute the original 24h of remaining work across the three assignments: For R1: 1/6 of 24h = 4h
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For R2: 1/3 of 24h = 8h For R3: 1/2 of 24h = 12h Once the assignment remaining work values are calculated, the final result depends on the task Type as shown in the pictures below:
Figure 11. Task Type Effort Driven and Fixed Duration
Figure 12. Effort Driven and Fixed Units or Effort Driven and Fixed Work Removing an assignment with actual work from an effort driven task Microsoft Project displays an alert if you try to delete an assignment that has actual work. You can choose to proceed with the operation or cancel it. If you proceed, Microsoft Project removes the resource assignment and adds all of its work (actual and remaining) to the task remaining work, which is then distributed to the other resources in proportion to their remaining work. If all of the other assignments are already completed, then the removed work is assigned as remaining work to all the resources in proportion to their actual work.
Example
This example illustrates the impact of the Effort Driven setting in combination with the different Type settings, when removing an assignment that has actual work from a task. Resources R1, R2 and R3 have already been assigned to the task T. Their timephased work and actual work contours have been edited as shown in the Task Usage view below.
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Figure 13. Original task assignment Next, the assignment for R3 is selected and the Delete key is pressed, causing the alert shown below to be displayed.
Figure 14. Alert when deleting an assignment with actual work After clicking Yes to the alert, Microsoft Project then calculates the proportions of total task remaining work that each assignment would have had if the task had not been Effort Driven when R3's assignment was deleted. The picture below shows what the result would have been for a fixed duration or fixed units task that is not Effort Driven. This picture is for illustration purposes only. It is not displayed by Microsoft Project during its internal Effort Driven calculations.
Figure 15. Results of internal calculations Microsoft Project internally uses the above hypothetical case to calculate the ratios that it uses to redistribute R3's 12h of work. For R1: 8h/24h = 1/3 For R2: 16h/24h = 2/3 Because the task really is Effort Driven, the task work does not change from 53h to 41h after R3 is removed, but instead stays at 53h. Microsoft Project uses the above internally calculated factors to redistribute the original 12h of work (actual and remaining) that R3 had before it was removed. This increases the remaining work of R1 and R2 as shown below: Remaining work for R1 increases by: 1/3 of 12h = 4h
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New remaining work for R1 is its original plus the increase = 8h + 4h = 12h Remaining work for R2 increases by: 2/3 of 12h = 8h New remaining work for R2 is its original plus the increase = 16h + 8h = 24h Once the new assignment remaining work values are calculated, the final result depends on the task Type as shown in the pictures below:
Figure 16. Results on Effort Driven and Fixed Duration tasks
Figure 17. Effort Driven and Fixed Units or Effort Driven and Fixed Work tasks Restrictions When Assigning a Resource to an Effort Driven Task If you attempt to enter a work value when creating an assignment on an Effort Driven task, the following alert is displayed:
Figure 18: Alert when specifying work For example, the above alert is displayed in the following cases for an Effort Driven task: In the Task Form view, you type an assignment resource name and assignment work before clicking OK. In the Assign Resources dialog box (displayed by the Assign Resources toolbar button), you type a work value in the Units field before clicking the Assign button (if the task were not Effort Driven, Microsoft Project would calculate the units for you based on the entered work).
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If you attempt to enter a units value when creating an assignment on an Effort Driven task that has the fixed duration type, the following alert is displayed:
Figure 19. Alert when specifying units
Assigning Material Resources

Material resources can be assigned in the same dialog boxes and views as work resources. This section discusses the general differences in behavior when a material resource is assigned. The option Show assignment units as a has no effect on material resources. Material resource assignments are always displayed as a decimal value. If the resource is assigned in the Assign Resources or Task Information dialog box, the number of units to be assigned are entered in the Units column. If the resource is assigned in the Resource Names column of a task view, the number of units to be assigned are typed in square brackets ([ ]) following the resources name; if no units are entered, 1 unit is assumed. When entering the units for a material resource, the user can simply specify the number of units, in which case the resources default Material Label will be appended. For example, if the material resource has the label tons and the user enters 4 in the Units field, the resulting assignment Units will display as 4 tons. If the resource has the label gallons/hour and the user enters 5 Units, the resulting assignment Units will display as 5 gallons/hour. Note, however, that this does not mean that a Variable consumption rate has been set for this assignment. For more information, see Consumption Rate later in this lesson. The user can also enter both the units and the label, but in this case the label must match the current value of the Material Label field; if the label does not match, an error message is generated. For example, if the Material Label is reams and the user enters Units as 4 boxes, the following message will be displayed:
Figure 20. Alert displayed for invalid unit lable
Consumption Rate
When a material resource is assigned, the user has the option to specify whether the units assigned are a fixed quantity regardless of the task duration (fixed consumption rate), or will change when the task duration increases or decreases (variable consumption rate).
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Fixed Consumption Rate

Fixed consumption means that no matter the duration of a task, the same quantity of material is consumed. The total work for the assignment will equal the units specified. To specify a fixed consumption rate, the user simply enters either the number of units, or the number of units plus the material label. The resulting assignment value will display as <units> <label>.
Variable Consumption Rate

Variable consumption means that the quantity consumed is based on the length of the task, that is, the longer the task, the more quantity is consumed. The total work for the assignment will be calculated as: Units x <time unit> x Task Duration To specify a variable consumption rate, the user enters the assignment units followed by a forward slash and a valid time unit. The resulting value will have the form <units> <Material Label>/<time unit>. For example, if the Material Label is gallons and the user enters assignment Units of 4/hr, the resulting assignment value will be 4 gallons/hr. In this example, if the task has a duration of 2 days and days are defined as 8 hours, the total assignment Work will be calculated as 4 gallons per hour times 16 hours, or 64. Note Because a slash is a valid character for a material label, it is possible that an assignment may incorrectly appear to be a variable consumption rate. For example, if the user creates a label such as feet/day and then assigns 4 units of the resource, the resulting assignment would have the value 4 feet/day but would still be a fixed consumption rate. For this same example, if the Units were entered as 4/day, the resulting assignment would have the value 4 feet/day/day and would then be a Variable consumption rate. Regardless of whether the consumption rate is fixed or variable, in the timephased assignment, the total calculated assignment work will be spread across the timephased segments according to the assignments preset contour, just as for a work resource.
Consumption Rate Examples

The following example illustrates a material resource assigned at a fixed consumption rate with a flat work contour, as it would appear in the Task Usage view:
Resource Name Concrete
Material Label tons
Assignment Value 5 tons
Task Duration 5 days
Assignment Work 5 tons
Figure 21. Material resource assigned at a fixed consumption rate The next example duplicates the above assignment, except a front-loaded contour has been applied:
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Figure 22. Material resource with fixed consumption front loaded The following example illustrates a material resource assigned at a Variable consumption rate with a flat work contour:
Resource Name Concrete
Material Label tons
Assignment Value 5 tons/hr
Task Duration 5 days
Assignment Work 200 tons
Figure 23. Material resource with a variable consumption rate, flat contour
Scheduling Issues and Calculations Related to Material Resources

Calendars
Material resources do not have a resource calendar. Material resources are scheduled according to the Project Calendar, unless a task calendar is assigned to the task, in which case the material resource is scheduled according to the task calendar.
Effect of Task Types

Task types affect only material resource assignments that have a variable consumption rate. Behavior according to task type setting when a field is edited by the user is summarized as follows:
Field that is changed Work Duration Units
Fixed Duration Units are recalculated Work is recalculated Work is recalculated
Fixed Units Duration is recalculated Work is recalculated Work is recalculated
Fixed Work Duration is recalculated Unites are recalculated Duration is recalculated
This is the only case where material resources are not treated like work resources with respect to task type. The assumption is made that users will regard the work value as a function of duration and units.
Effect of Effort Driven Setting

The Effort Driven setting has no direct relationship to material resources, because the work value for material resources is not included in total task work. Thus, if a material resource is assigned or removed, there is no effect either on task scheduling or on the assignments of any work resources. However, when a work resource is assigned or removed on a task that also has material resources assigned, if the task duration changes due to the Effort Driven setting, the material resource
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assignment duration will change. If the assignment units were Fixed consumption type, total assignment work value will remain the same and timephased work will be redistributed according to the assignment contour. If assignment units were variable consumption type, total assignment work will change and will then be redistributed according to the assignment contour.
Effect of Changing Definition of Day

If the definition of a day is changed (From the Tools menu select Options and click the Calendar tab), the unit value for a variable consumption material resource assignment will be recalculated to accommodate the new definition so that the total work value of existing assignments is kept constant. For example, if the definition of day is changed from 8 hours to 4 hours, that is, divided by 2, an assignment that was originally 80/day will be changed to 40/day, and an assignment that was originally 1/day will be changed to .5/day. If the definition is changed from 8 hours to 24 hours, that is, multiplied by 3, an assignment that was originally 80/day will be changed to 240/day.
Assignment Start and Finish

Assignment Start and Finish can be edited, but this will have no effect on total work or units for the assignment, only on when the start of the consumption will begin (see Effect of Task Types above).
Behavior of Work Field

Task Level Work (task views). At task level, work for a material resource is not included in calculation of the Work field. Only work values for work resources are included. If only material resources are assigned to a task, task level work will be 0 hrs unless the user has manually entered a Work value. Resource and Assignment Level Work (usage views). At resource and assignment level, the Work column displays the number of units assigned, with the material label appended if present. Resource-level work represents the sum of calculated work for all units assigned to all tasks in the project. Assignment-level work represents the calculated Work value for the assignment. Timescaled Work (usage views). Timescaled assignment work can be edited and manually contoured as for work resources, and edits will impact the resources total assignment work and assignment unit values if the sum of the edited values is different than the work value before editing. This is true for both fixed and variable consumption types. The underlying assumption is that if the user deliberately edits timescaled work, they want the manually edited values to take precedence over the previous values, even if this means new total work for a fixed-consumption assignment.
Leveling
Leveling does not apply to material resources. The Max. Units field and Resource Availability grid are not applicable to material resources, and the Overallocated field is always set to No for a material resource.
Importing material resource to a Resource Pool

When a project is connected to an existing resource pool or imported into a pool or inserted into another project plan, if a material resource has the same name as a work resource, they will not be merged into one resource. Similarly, two material resources with the same name but with different material labels will not be merged. In either of these cases, the following message will be displayed to alert the user that the duplicate names exist:
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Figure 24. Alert when duplicate resource names are found
Entering Actuals for Material Resources

Behavior when tracking progress for material resources generally works the same as tracking work resources, with the following exceptions: If there are both work and material resource assignments on a task, only work resources are considered in calculation of task %Complete, task Actual Duration, and task Actual Work. If there are only material resource assignments on a task, task Actual Work is set to 0%. task %Complete is calculated as the sum of all assignment actual durations divided by the sum of all assignment durations, and task %Work Complete is set to equal task %Complete and is readonly. At the assignment level, if a material resource assignment with a fixed consumption rate has Actual Work and the task Duration changes, the Remaining Work value will not change but will be redistributed over the new remaining contour.
Resource Graph View

How the Resource Graph view displays material resources are summarized as follows: Because they do not apply to material resources, the following details are disabled for material resources in the Resource Graph view: Overallocation Percent Allocation Availability Work Availability Unit Availability The availability line cannot be drawn for a material resource. If a graph is set to display any of the details listed above, and the user switches from a work to a material resource, all bars will be drawn with 0 values. Unit totals only (without the associated material label or time unit) will be shown for the following details: o o o Peak Units Work Cumulative Work
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For the following graph details, when in dual pane mode with a combination of resource types selected, material resources will be ignored when calculating the total value for the Selected Resources bar: o o o o o o o o Peak Units Work Cumulative Work Overallocation Percent Allocation Remaining Availability Work Availability Unit Availability
If the selection includes only material resources, total value for these details will be zero.
Overtime Work
The following tables show the various work related assignment total and timephased fields:
Assignment Fields
Scheduled Field Work Regular Work Overtime Work Corresponding Actual Field Actual Work Not exposed Actual Overtime Work Corresponding Remaining Field Remaining Work Not exposed Remaining Overtime Work
Timephased Assignment Fields

Scheduled Field Work Regular Work Overtime Wor Corresponding Actual Field Actual Work Not exposed Actual Overtime Work Corresponding Remaining Field Not exposed Not exposed Not exposed
The fields in these tables that are labeled not exposed, for example remaining regular work, can be useful in discussing editing behavior, but these fields or values cannot be displayed and accessed in any view. These unexposed values are mentioned in the following discussion. Refer to the above tables to avoid confusion about which fields are exposed and which aren't.
Equations
In general the following relationships exist in the above tables, across the rows ... Scheduled = Actual + Remaining and down the columns ...
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Total = Regular + Overtime Going across the rows in the Assignment Fields table: Work = Actual Work + Remaining Work Overtime Work = Actual Overtime Work + Remaining Overtime Work You can also say that Regular Work = Actual Regular Work + Remaining Regular Work Keeping in mind that the two fields on the right of the equation are not exposed. Going down the columns in the Assignment Fields table: Work = Regular Work + Overtime Work You can also say that Actual Work = Actual Regular Work + Actual Overtime Work Keeping in mind that Actual Regular Work is not exposed. Like regular actual work, overtime-actual values on the assignment level can be edited in non-working periods. For example, it is possible to give actual overtime work that occurs on a Saturday or other non-working days without first changing the resource calendar. If a task or assignment that has overtime is moved to another point in time, then the contoured actual overtime values are moved relative to the Start of the Assignment.
Overtime, Overallocation and Leveling

Overtime work is ignored when Microsoft Project determines which resources are overallocated. If Leveling moves an assignment, the overtime work moves with it.
Splits
If there is a split day on the Assignment contour, then that day does not get any overtime work.
Fixed Duration Tasks and Overtime

You can have overtime on assignments on a fixed-duration task. The overtime shortens the Assignment span, but wont impact the overall duration of the task. For example, if a task has a 5d fixed-duration task and Bob is assigned to the entire task, then giving Bob 8h of overtime work shortens his assignment to 4d with the 8h of overtime spread out over 4d. The duration of the task stays 5d. In a Usage view, there is a blank for the assignment on the last day, not a zero.
How Overtime is Scheduled

Unless specified otherwise, this discussion assumes no actuals. The last two examples in this section illustrate how remaining overtime work is scheduled when there are actuals. When you enter overtime work, the regular work is calculated from
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Regular Work = Work - Overtime Work As you increase overtime work (but not bigger than work), the regular work decreases and work is unchanged. The assignment span is adjusted to the lower regular work. Then the remaining overtime work is distributed evenly over the new assignment remaining regular work segments in proportion to their new spans, not proportional to their segment units For example, if due to calendar exceptions or detailed contour edits, an assignment is only working for half a day, then the overtime work for that day is half of what it would be on a day that the assignment is doing work over the entire day. If you enter a value for overtime work that is bigger than work, then the work is set equal to the overtime work and the regular work becomes zero. Remaining overtime work is normally spread evenly over the remaining span of the assignment. If there is no remaining regular work on an assignment, then the remaining overtime work is put onto the last minute of the assignment. The before/after examples below illustrate how overtime work is distributed, and how entering overtime work reduces regular work and can allow the task to finish sooner. Overtime work is distributed.
Example 1
Figure 25. Before entering Overtime
Figure 26. After entering 9h assignment Overtime In the above picture, note that the units on Day3 is 5h/8h = 63% and the units on Day1 and Day4 are both 8h/8h = 100%, but that the overtime work was distributed evenly across all the days that had work. Here's what happened:
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The increase in overtime work by 9h caused the remaining regular work to decrease by 9h to 21h. The reduction in remaining regular work truncated the contour from the right end, leaving only three nonzero segments, Day1={8h over 1d}, Day3={5h over 1d} and Day4 = {8h over 1d}. The units and work of each of the three segments doesn't matter when distributing the 9h of overtime work. It only cares that there are 3d total of remaining segment contours left and it spreads the 9h overtime uniformly across those 3 days.
In Example 2 the same task from the previous example was used and 8 hours of work is added to Day 5. Remaining overtime work will be redistributed over the new remaining duration of the task.
Example 2
Figure 27. Enter timephased assignment work in Day 5
Here's what happened

When the span of the assignment increased from 4d to 5d, the remaining overtime was redistributed over the new remaining assignment span. That's 9 hours of overtime spread over 4d of remaining assignment span which is 2.25 hours of overtime per day.
Example 3
The pictures below illustrate how assignment remaining overtime work is scheduled when actuals are involved. Only the assignment record is shown. Work, actual work, overtime work, and actual overtime work column titles are abbreviated.
Figure 28. Before the Actuals are entered
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Figure 29. After entering 16h for assignment Actual Work
Figure 30. Next enter 4h for Overtime Work
Here's what happened

After entering the 16h of actual work, there was 28h-16h = 12h of remaining regular work, spread over 3 days. When the 4h of overtime work was entered, the remaining regular work decreased by 4h leaving 8h. The 2h in Day5 and 2h on Day4 were truncated. That leaves a day and a quarter over which the remaining regular 8h of work is spread. The 4h of remaining overtime work is distributed evenly over the remaining regular work span of 1.25 days. Because Day3 has 1d of the 1.25 day span and Day4 has 0.25d of the 1.25 day span, the overtime work is distributed in a ratio of 1d to 0.25d over those two days. I.e. Day3 gets four times as much of the overtime as Day4. Also, the sum of overtime has to be 4h. That's where the 3.2h and .8h come from. Another way to look at this is that the 4h of overtime is spread over 5 quarter days. That's equivalent to 4h divided by 5 half days = .8h per quarter day. That's 4*.8 = 3.2h for Day3 and .8 for Day4.
How Changes to Task Duration impacts Overtime

If you change the task duration, then the overtime on an assignment only changes when the change in task duration impacts the span of the assignment. This does not impact the total amount of scheduled overtime work, but it impacts when that overtime work is done If the task duration is increased, Microsoft Project redistributes the remaining overtime evenly over the new longer remaining span of the assignment. If the task duration is reduced, then Microsoft Project truncates the regular work contour of the task.
How Changes to Assignment Units impacts Overtime

If an assignment has some overtime, and you change the units on the assignment, Microsoft Project redistributes the remaining overtime work over the new span of the assignment. This has the impact of keeping the overtime work and the regular work totals the same.
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How Overtime is Scheduled Within a Day

How overtime is distributed within days depends on whether that day is working or nonworking in the resource calendar for the resource involved in the assignment. Overtime is never scheduled on nonworking days, but actual overtime can be entered on a nonworking day. Working day. Calculated scheduled overtime and entered actual overtime are spread evenly over the resource worktime for that day. So if Monday 8:00am to 4:00pm is working time in the resource calendar, then any overtime on Monday is spread evenly over 8:00am to 4:00pm. Nonworking day. Entered actual overtime is displayed over the default task Start time and default task Finish time.
Actual Overtime
There are assignment total and timephased Actual Overtime Work fields. You can enter overtime actuals for the assignment as a whole or on a timephased basis. When you edit any regular Actual Work values, some of that Actual Work is given to overtime Actual Work, if any was scheduled on the assignment. The assignment Overtime and Actual Overtime fields can both be edited. The timephased Overtime field cannot be edited, but the timephased Actual Overtime work can. Edits to the %Work Complete or the %Complete fields impact the assignment Actual Work and Actual Overtime Work values. Note There are assignment total and timephased Actual Work and Actual Overtime Work fields, but no total or timephased Actual Regular Work fields.
How Overtime is related to other Assignment Fields

This section discusses how various assignment total and timephased fields are related to assignment overtime work and actual overtime work.
Editing Work
The Work field shows the sum of regular work plus overtime work on the assignment. Editing the Work field only impacts regular work data. The exception is when Work is set below the overtime work value, then regular work is set to zero and overtime work is set to the Work value. The table below shows sample data and a sequence of edits to the assignment Work field and the resulting changes to assignment overtime work or regular work. The Regular Work field is displayed in the table, but keep in mind that there is no timephased Regular Work field.
Sequence of Edits Original Work, Overtime Work, and Regular Work values entered. 30h is entered for Work. This causes Regular Work to change.. 4h is entered for Work This causes Overtime Work to change. 24h is entered for Work. This causes Regular Work to change.. Work 20h 30h 4h 24h Overtime Work 5h 5h 4h 4h Regular Work 15h 25h 0h 20h
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Editing Actual Work

The pictures below illustrate how editing assignment actual work impacts related assignment and timephased fields. Only the assignment record is shown. work, regular work, overtime work, actual work, and actual overtime work column titles are abbreviated.
Figure 31. Before any Overtime Work is entered
Figure 32. After 6h of Overtime Work is entered
Figure 33. Next 5h of Actual Work is entered
Figure 34. Next change Actual Work back to 0h, and then change it to 30h
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Figure 35. Next change Actual Work directly from 30h to 34h In all of the above cases, notice that if actual work is nonzero, then: Ratio of Actual Overtime Work to Actual Work = Ratio of Overtime Work to Work This is true for timephased values as well in the pictures, except for the picture Figure 13-30. In Figure 13-29, the task assignment is done (Actual Work = Work = 30h). In Figure 13-30, the actual work was then increased from 30h to 34h. The existing timephased actuals were left alone, and the additional 4h of actual work was placed after the current end of the assignment.
Editing Remaining Work

Edits to this field can impact the span of the assignment, causing any remaining Overtime Work to be redistributed over the new remaining span. If you enter remaining work that is lower than the current remaining overtime work, then the overtime work is set to the new lower remaining work, and the regular remaining work goes to zero. The pictures below illustrate how editing assignment remaining work impacts related assignment and timephased fields. Only the assignment record is shown. work, overtime work, remaining work, and remaining overtime work column titles are abbreviated.
Figure 36. Before any Remaining Work is changed
Figure 37. After Remaining Work is edited from 30h to 26h This causes the assignment work to be truncated by 4h. The remaining scheduled overtime changes in proportion to the scheduled remaining work.
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Figure 38. Next change Remaining Work back to 30h, and then change it to 34h This causes additional work to be added to the regular work after the current end of the task. The remaining scheduled overtime is redistributed accordingly.
Editing Actual Overtime Work

If you decrease actual overtime work, then remaining overtime work is increased. If you increase actual overtime work (but not greater than remaining overtime work) then the remaining overtime work is decreased. If you enter a value for actual overtime work that is larger than the current remaining overtime work, then the remaining overtime work goes to zero and remaining regular work will decrease %Work Complete: %Work Complete is actual work divided by (total scheduled) work. This is a task and assignment field. Edits to %Work Complete impact Actual Overtime Work and vice versa. If you edit %Work Complete, Microsoft Project sets actual regular work to be that percentage the total regular work, and sets actual overtime work to be that percentage of the total overtime work. Changes in these assignment fields impact the timephased fields as discussed in previous sections. Note Changing the %Work Complete may change timephased actual work values that were previously entered.
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Exercises
1. Name three ways to assign resources to tasks. 2. What options are available for adding resources into a project plan? 3. If a work value is entered into the units field of the Assign Resources dialog box what value will be calculated? 4. Name a way that a project manager can view resource assignment information, work or remaining availability without leaving the Gantt Chart view. 5. What is an assignment contour? 6. How many predefined contours are available in Microsoft Project? 7. How many timephased segments in a predefined contour 8. How many segments in an edited contour and how long is their duration? 9. What is the equation that represents the relationship between Duration, Work and Unit fields in Microsoft Project? 10. How does task type effect the above equation? 11. How is work affected when a second resource is assigned to a task that is not effort driven vs. one that is effort driven? 12. How can the Assignment Information dialog box be accessed? 13. What happens when a resource with actual work values is removed from a task? 14. What is consumption rate as it pertains to material resources? 15. How does task type effect material resources? 16. How is overtime work assigned to a task? 17. Does the resource calendar need to be modified to allow for overtime work to be completed? 18. How does changing work affect overtime work?
Labs Lab 1 - Graphs from the Assign Resources dialog box

The object of this lab is to explore the resource graphs available from the Assign Resources dialog box. 1. Create a project plan with 3 tasks and 2 resources. 2. Make the first and second tasks 2d and link them together. Assign one resources to each of the two tasks. 3. Make the third task 4d and assign both resources. 4. Click the Assign Resources button on the Standard toolbar. 5. Select both resources and click the Graph button. 6. Use the Select graph drop-down to cycle through the various graphs.
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Lab 2 Task Type

The objective of this lab is to play with task type and observe how Duration, Work and Units are interrelated calculated fields. 1. In the Gantt Chart view chose select the Window menu and click Spilt. 2. Create a 4d task and assign one resource. 3. In the Task Form at the bottom of the screen you will see that fixed units is the task type by default. Change Duration in the Task Form, click OK and note what happens to work. Change work, click OK and notice duration. Change units, what field is recalculated? 4. Change the task type to fixed duration. change units, change work, change duration. What field is recalculated. 5. Change the task type to fixed work. change duration, change units, change work. What field is recalculated?
Lab 3 Effort Driven

The objective of this lab is to assign multiple resource to effort driven tasks and observe the results. 1. Create a 10d task and assign one resource. The work should equal 80h. 2. Assign a second resource. The work is still 80h but divided equally to both resources. 3. Change the units for the first resource to 50%. Work for the resource is still 40h but the duration has now doubled. 4. Change the units for the second resource to 50%. Work stays constant, but why didnt the duration change this time? 5. Now assign a third resource. The duration decreases, work stays the same, but how is that work distributed between the resources? 6. Delete one resource at a time from the task and observe the duration. Keep deleting resources until all are removed. 7. This time assign all three resource to the task at the same time by selecting all three resource at once before you click Assign in the Assign Resource dialog box or OK in the Task menu
Lab 4 Overtime Work

The objective of this lab is to designate overtime work on assignments and observe how overtime is effected when changes are made. 1. In a Gantt Chart view, select the Window menu and click Split if its not already split. 2. Click in the gray area to the right of the Task Form view and right click. Select Resource Work from the Detail submenu. 3. Create a task that starts on a Tuesday with 10h duration and one resource assigned. Note the finish date and time. (To show time go to Tools on the menu bar and click Options then select the View tab. Select a label that shows the date and time). 4. Enter 2h in the Overtime field in the Task Form and click OK. What happens to the finish date for the task? 5. Change the duration for the task to 5d. What is the value in the overtime work field? 6. Increase overtime work to 10h and click OK.
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7. Now switch to the Task Usage view. Right click the timescale and select Detail Styles. Select overtime work, actual overtime work and actual work. 8. In the first timephased cell for actual work enter 10.5. Observe how the actual work is distributed. 9. In the second timephased cell enter 2.5 in actual overtime work. What happens to duration and remaining overtime work? 10. In the third timephased cell enter 11h in actual work and 4h in actual overtime work. 11. In the fourth timephased cell enter 9h in actual work. 12. Now on Saturday enter 6h in actual overtime work. Is there any remaining overtime work on the assignment?
Lab 5 Assignment Contours

The objective of this lab is to assign predefined contours, edit them and explore how changes to the task effects the contour. 1. In a Task Usage view, create a 3d task that starts on Tuesday and assign one resource. 2. Right click the timephased cells, click Detail Styles, then select Work and Peak Units and Assignment rows to display. Deselect other options. 3. Double click the assignment to display the Assignment Information dialog box. 4. From the Work Contour drop-down select Turtle. Notice the indicators column, hover over the indicator to see the message. What happens to the duration of the task? 5. Double click the timescale and for the bottom tier select hours and Count of 6. How many segments can you see for the assignment? Compare the peak units with the chart on Pg. 10 of this document. Is the chart the same? 6. Change the start date of the task. Does the contour remain the same? 7. Double click the timescale again and put the bottom tier count to 1 and units to weeks. 8. Select the assignment work cell in the first week where the units are 100% and increase it to 24h. Notice the indicators column the image has changed. Now double click the timescale again and set the bottom units back to days. Notice the peak units for the segments in the first week. Why are they all at 100%?
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Answers to Exercises and Labs

1. The three ways to assign resources to tasks are: Task Information dialog box, Assign Resources dialog box and in the Task Form view. 2. The options for adding resources into a project plan depends on the system configuration. The possible choices are Active Directory, Email Address Book, and Microsoft Project Server. 3. When a valid work value is entered into the units field the units are calculated based on the duration of the task (Units = Duration/Work) 4. Project managers can view resource assignment information by clicking the Graph button in the Assign Resources dialog box. 5. Assignment contours are timephased distribution of resource units at the assignment level. 6. There are eight predefined contours in Microsoft Project. 7. There are 10 timephased segments in a predefined contour. 8. The number of segments in an edited contour depends on the number of edits made to the assignment and the timescale in which the edits were made. 9. The equation D=UxW represents the relationship between Duration, Units and Work fields in Microsoft Project. 10. Each task type will fix one of the three fields in the equation D=UxW, if one of the other fields change then last variable will recalculate. 11. When a the Effort Driven option is not selected the work on the task will increase with additional resources. 12. The Assignment Information dialog box is accessed by double clicking an assignment in a Usage view. 13. When a resource is removed from a task that has actuals reported against it an alert will display letting the use know that the actuals will be lost. The actual work is then added back into the total work and redistributed across the remaining resources. 14. Consumption rate is the rate at which a material resource is used. Fixed consumption is a fixed number of units that will be used. Variable consumption changes with task duration, the longer the task the more material is used. 15. Task type only effects material resources with variable consumption rates when the duration changes. 16. Overtime work is a part of the total work value and is entered at the assignment level in a Task Form or Usage view. 17. No, the calendar for a resource does not need to be modified for overtime to be scheduled. Overtime is distributed evenly over the resource work time for the day. 18. Overtime work is not effected by changing the total work value for a task until the regular work reaches zero, then overtime will increase.
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Answers to Lab 2
Step 3 Duration Step 4 Work Step 5 Duration Answers to Lab 3 Step 4 When the first resource units were changed the duration increased based on the first assignments duration. The second resource duration also increases but stays within the start and finish dates of the task. Step 5 The first 2 resources are both at 50% or each of the total effort. The third resource at 100% will do the other of the work. Step6 No duration is not at the original 10d, work was recalculated as each resource was removed based on the units and work for the remaining resources.
Answers to Lab 4
Step 4 The task ends on Tuesday instead of Wednesday Step 5 Overtime work is still at 2h. Step 9 Duration increases and the remaining overtime is spread equally across the remaining duration. Step 12 There is no more remaining overtime work is has been used up and some added.
Answers to Lab 5
Step 4 The duration increases to 4.29d Step 5 We can see 9 segments. We can not set the timescale to display the segments as calculated internally (just under 6 hours each). So the first timephased cell is showing us the greater Units for the first 2 segments that fall in the first timephased cell. Step 6 Yes, the contour remains the same. Step 8 - Because the task is a fixed units task and we are changing units at the assignment level, duration must be recalculated. This will cause contour segment lengths to change, but their proportionality to be retained. Pg.17 of this lesson.
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Lesson 16: Costing
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Lesson 16: Costing

Published: June 2003 Applies to: Microsoft Project Standard 2003 Microsoft Project Professional 2003 Microsoft Project Server 2003 Contents Objectives Costing Exercises and Labs
Objectives
What You Will Learn
After completing this lesson, you will be able to: Discuss the fields associated with cost. Identify how costs on Summary tasks are calculated. Explain how costs are calculated. Describe the difference between the Accrue at and Fixed cost accrual fields. Identify which options affect cost calculations. Discuss Sorting, Filtering, and Grouping on Cost fields.
Costing
Overview
In the first lesson when the project budget was mentioned, we noted there are always costs associated with any project. The budget can determine the final scope of the project. If there are cost overruns then the project manager needs to take corrective action for the completion of a successful project. There are two general types of costs that can be tracked in Microsoft Project, costs associated with tasks, or fixed costs, and the cost of resources. Microsoft Project can calculate costs for the project or they can be entered manually by setting specific options in the application. This lesson will focus on how costs are entered and calculated; later lessons will discuss how to analyze cost information once it has been captured.
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Task Cost Fields and Calculations

Cost field. This field is the scheduled or estimated cost of the task. It includes task fixed cost and resource costs. Microsoft Project uses the Cost field to add up fixed cost and resource costs to display the total scheduled cost for a task, summary task or project summary task. The equation used to calculate cost is: Cost = remaining cost The Cost field is saved to the baseline for historical information. The Cost field will recalculate when changes are made to assignments or task duration. Remaining Cost. This field is calculated based on the following: Remaining Cost = (Remaining Work x Standard Rate) + (Remaining Overtime Work x Overtime Rate) + Cost per Use + Fixed Cost
Fixed Cost
Fixed costs can be associated with each outline level of a project for tasks. There is a Fixed cost field that can be edited for the project summary task, summary tasks, and subordinate tasks. Fixed cost can represent such items as renting a hall, travel by resources, or the cost for a permit.
Fixed Cost Accrual

The field Fixed cost accrual is used to determine when costs should be totaled. The options are Start, End, and Prorated. Fixed cost is prorated over the task duration. The Default fixed costs accrual can be changed on a per project basis. The Default fixed costs accrual setting in the Calculation tab (from the Tools menu select Options) allows the Default fixed cost accrual to be set for all new tasks in the project, and the Set as Default button changes the default setting for new projects.
Figure 1. Setting fixed cost accrual default When this value is changed, all new tasks created after the setting is changed, have their Fixed cost accrual property set to the default value.
Fixed Cost Accrual setting for individual tasks

The task Fixed cost accrual field allows the fixed cost accrual to be set for each task independently. This field is in the default task cost table.
Figure 2: Fixed Cost accrual for individual tasks
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Accrual Choices
Start. The entire fixed cost is allocated at the beginning (first minute) of the task. It is added to the actual cost as soon as there is an actual start date. End. The entire fixed cost is allocated at the end (last minute) of the task. It is added to the actual cost as soon as there is an actual finish date. Prorated. The fixed cost is uniformly allocated over all project calendar working days within the task, including over split task gaps, and regardless of resource calendars. These settings also affect the way the task timephased fixed cost is distributed in the Task Usage view.
Example
Figures 3, 4, and 5 illustrate how timephased fixed cost is distributed for the different accrual types. In each of the pictures, the Gantt Chart view is in the top pane, and the Task Usage view is in the bottom pane, formatted to show timephased fixed cost. The task has a split gap on Thursday, and the project calendar shows Saturday and Sunday as nonworking days. Note that the fixed cost in the prorated example includes the split gap in the calculation, spreading the $10 over 4 days instead of the 3d task duration.
Figure 3. Accrue from Start
Figure 4. Prorated
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Figure 5. Accrue from End
Prorated Fixed Cost Contribution to actual cost

There is no separate Actual Fixed Cost field. When fixed cost is prorated, the % Complete of each task is used to calculate the portion of fixed cost to be added to actual cost for the task. Actual Fixed Cost = Total Fixed Cost * % Complete
Resource Cost Fields and Calculations

Cost per use field. Resources have a Cost per Use field. This field shows the cost that accrues each time a resource is used. It is added each time a work resource unit is assigned to a task. It does not vary with the amount of time the resource is used. Standard Rate. This field value is entered for each resource and is used to calculate the cost of regular hours of work as follows: Regular work cost = Regular Work x Standard Rate Regular work cost is not an exposed field in Microsoft Project Overtime Rate. This field value is entered for each resource and is used to calculate the cost of overtime hours of work as follows: Overtime Cost = Overtime Work x Overtime rate Accrue at. This field determines when resource standard rate, overtime rate, and cost per use will be charged to the cost of the task. The options are Start, End, or Prorated. Remaining Overtime cost. This field is calculated based on the following: Remaining Overtime Cost = Remaining Overtime Work x Overtime Rate Remaining Cost. This field is calculated based on the following: Remaining Cost = (Remaining Work x Standard Rate) + Remaining Overtime Cost + Cost per Use Cost. This resource field is the scheduled or estimated cost of the resource. When a resource is first assigned to a task cost equals remaining cost. As progress is reported the equation used to calculate cost is: Cost = Actual cost + Remaining Cost.
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Actual Cost Calculations

Actual costs are calculated by Microsoft Project by default when updates to task % Complete or actual work are made. The defaults can be overridden using the following options. In Microsoft Project there is the option to edit task and assignment total and timephased actual cost (see Figure 6). There are three settings in the Calculation tab (from the Tools menu select Options) that affect actual cost calculations:
Figure 6. Cost Calculations tab settings on Options dialog box
Updating task status updates resource status

This option is selected by default. The Updating task status updates resource status option, allows edits to % Complete to affect actual work, which in turn affects actual cost.
Actual costs are always calculated by Microsoft Project

This checkbox setting is selected by default. It is a local setting and is saved with each individual project file. The Set as Default button can be used to change the default settings for new projects. If this option is selected then Microsoft Project calculates task and assignment total and timephased actual cost and you cannot edit them. The option, Edits to total actual cost will be spread to the status date does not apply and is inaccessible (grayed out). If this option is not selected, then Microsoft Project does not calculate task and assignment total and timephased actual cost (for example, when you change % Complete or actual work). This option allows edits to task and assignment total and timephased actual cost. Actual costs will have to be manually updated.
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Microsoft Project still calculates remaining costs based on the normal calculations of remaining work multiplied by resource rates. Microsoft Project continues to roll up entered actual costs appropriately from assignments to tasks and resources, and from child tasks to summary tasks.
Edits to Total Actual Cost Will be Spread to the Status Date

The option, Edits to total actual cost will be spread to the status date is used to control how timephased actual cost is distributed when you edit task or assignment total actual cost. If this option is selected then entered values will spread to the status date.
How Changing Options Affects Existing Data

Changing the option Actual costs are always calculated by Microsoft Project has the following effect on existing actual cost data: Changing the setting from on to off (selected to unselected) If the setting is currently selected, then any existing actual cost data is calculated by Microsoft Project. If the setting is unselected, existing data is unchanged, and edits are allowed to actual costs. Changing the setting from off to on (selected to unselected) If the setting is off, then any existing actual cost data was either calculated by Microsoft Project earlier when the setting was on, or the data was manually entered. If the setting is then selected, all existing actual cost is thrown out and Microsoft Project recalculates actual costs. The user will be alerted before any actuals are recalculated (see Figure 7).
Figure 7. Actual costs calculated by Microsoft Project alert
How edits to total actual cost are distributed

When the option Actual costs are always calculated by Microsoft Project is turned off, then edits to actual cost are allowed. If there are no timephased edits to actual cost, and a total actual cost is entered, then it is spread between the task and assignment start and stop date (stop date is the date where the actuals for a task end). When total actual cost is increased for a task or assignment and the current stop date is later than the latest date of existing entered or calculated timephased actual cost, then the increase in the total actual cost spreads between the latest date with calculated or entered actual cost and the task or assignment current stop date. However, if the current stop date is earlier or the same as the latest date with calculated or entered actual cost, then the total actual cost spreads between the task or assignment start and stop dates, overwriting existing actuals. If task or assignment total actual cost is decreased, then it is spread between the task or assignment start and stop dates, overwriting existing values.
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If the Edits to total actual cost will be spread to the status date option is selected: If there are no timephased edits to actual cost and you edit the total actual cost, then it is spread between the task and assignment start and the status date (as defined in the Project Information dialog box). If you increase task or assignment total actual cost, and the status date is later than the latest date with actual cost, then the increase in actual cost is spread between the latest date with actual cost and the status date. However, if the status date is earlier or the same as the latest date with actual cost, then the total actual cost is spread between the task or assignment start and the status date, ignoring existing values. If you decrease task or assignment total actual cost, then it is spread between the task or assignment start and the status date, ignoring existing values. In all cases, if the status date is before the task or assignment start date, then the total actual cost occurs on the status date.
Examples
Figure 8 illustrates the impacts of the Actual costs are always calculated by Microsoft Project option and the Edits to total actual cost will be spread to the status date option. All parts of the example involve the resource R assigned to the 4d task T. The resource has a Standard Rate of $10.00/hour. The Task Usage view is shown in each picture. A. Initially, the Actual costs are always calculated by Microsoft Project option is not selected, and the Edits to total actual cost will be spread to the status date option is not selected. No actuals have been entered yet.
Figure 8. Before entering actuals B. In Figure 9, 16h is entered for the assignment total actual work. Microsoft Project is now only calculating timephased actual cost corresponding to the Remaining Work.
Figure 9. Actual work entered
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C. In Figure 10, $150 is entered for the assignment total actual cost. Microsoft Project distributes it only over the part of the assignment that has timephased actual work, because the edits to total actual cost will be spread to the status date option is not selected.
Figure 10. Actual cost entered D. In Figure 11, $400 is entered for the assignment total actual cost. Microsoft Project again distributes it only over the part of the assignment that has timephased actual work.
Figure 11. Additional actual costs entered E. In Figure 12, the edits to total actual cost will be spread to the status date option is selected, and the status date in the Project Information dialog box is set to 02/08/02. Then $700 is entered for the assignment total actual cost. This time Microsoft Project calculates the amount of the increase, $700 - $400 = $300, and distributes that amount between the previous latest date that had actual cost (2/5) and the status date (2/8). So, the $300 increase is spread over 2/6, 6/7, and 6/8, resulting in $100 per day for those 3 days. Note that the assignment finish date is irrelevant. The actual cost gets spread to the status date, which happens to be greater than the assignment finish in this case.
Figure 12. Actual costs spread to the status date
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The finish date for the assignment and the task is still 2/7. But the status date is 2/8. The actual cost is literally spread to the status date even though no work is occurring on 2/8. F. In Figure 13, $0 is entered for the assignment total actual cost.
Figure 13. New actual costs entered G. In Figure 14, $700 is entered again for the assignment total actual cost. Now the increase is the full $700. Because there wasnt any previous timephased actual cost the $700 is distributed between the start of the assignment and the status date. That results in $140 per day for the five days from 2/4 to 2/8.
Figure 14. New actual costs entered H. In Figure 15, the Actual costs are always calculated by Microsoft Project option is selected, rendering the edits to total actual cost will be spread to the status date option irrelevant. An alert is displayed and then timephased actual cost is recalculated based on the distribution of actual work. Previous edits to actual cost are lost. Note that the assignment total actual cost is recalculated as $160.00 (8h of actual work multiplied by $10/h standard rate).
Figure 15. Actual costs calculated by Microsoft Project selected
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Edits to timephased actual cost

When you edit the value in a timephased actual cost cell, the value is distributed uniformly within the cell as follows: If there is working time in the cell, the value is distributed only over the working time. For example, if you are using standard working times, and if the timescale is formatted so one cell is one week long, then entering a value for timephased actual cost in a cell distributes the value uniformly across the five standard working days within the cell.
Task Start and Finish not considered

Unlike timephased work edits that take the task start and task finish into consideration, timephased edits to actual cost do not depend on whether or not a cell contains the task start and task finish, so you could end up distributing actual cost outside of the task. This is consistent with the fact that you are allowed to enter actual cost in a cell that is entirely outside the task or that consists entirely of nonworking time.
Actual cost calculations that roll up or down

Edits to assignment total or timephased actual cost, roll up to the parent task and from there up to parent summary tasks if any. Edits to task total or timephased actual cost roll up to the parent summary tasks if any and also roll down to the assignments if any. Task total or timephased actual cost rolls down to assignments in proportion to total actual work on the assignments, or in proportion to the total Work on the assignments if there is no actual work. This is true for both total and timephased actual cost roll downs. The proportion of assignment timephased actual work or work is never used to roll down task total or timephased actual cost. This is different from the way task timephased Work rolls down. Assignment timephased Work proportions are used to roll task Work down to assignments. For example, if there are three assignments on a task and only one of the assignments has actual work, then any edits to the task actual cost are only rolled down to the assignment that has an actual work value. If two assignments have actual work values, then the task actual cost is distributed to those two assignments in proportion to the amount of actual work that each has. Roll down calculations affect only existing assignments at the time of the edit to task actual cost. Roll down calculations do not automatically recalculate each time you add a new assignment to a task. If you remove an assignment that has actual cost from a task, the assignment costs roll up again to the task. The task ends up with a lower actual cost value. An alert is displayed to warn you that you are about to lose some actual cost data.
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Exercises
1. What is the difference between the fields Accrue at and Fixed Cost Accrual? 2. What is the option what allows for manual entry of actual costs and where can it be found? 3. When can the option Edits to total actual cost will be spread to the status date be used? 4. How is the option Edits to total actual cost will be spread to the status date used? 5. When does Cost equal Remaining Cost? 6. How are resource costs calculated by Microsoft Project? 7. What does the task Cost field represent?
Lab 1. See how costs are calculated

1. Open Microsoft Project and create a 5d task. 2. From the View menu select Table:Entry and click the Cost table. Then set the Fixed Cost to $6.00. What is the value in the cost field? 3. Create a resource and set their Standard Rate to $10.00 and an overtime rate of $5.00 for the resource. 4. Assign the resource to the task. What is the task Cost? 5. From the Gantt Chart click the Window menu and click Split. Then right click in the gray area and select Resource Work. 6. Enter 8h in Overtime Work. What is the Cost for the task?
Lab 2. See the effect of the calculation options on task actual cost
Start on page 8 of this lesson and walk through the examples A- H using Microsoft Project.
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1. The difference between the fields Accrue at and Fixed cost accrual is that Accrue at is a resource field used to determine when the resource Cost per use field will be calculated as actual cost. Fixed cost accrual is used to determine when task fixed costs will be calculated into actual cost. 2. The option that allows for manual entry of actual costs is Actual costs will always be calculated by Microsoft Project when it is not selected and it is found by selecting the Tools menu and clicking Options then the Calculations tab. 3. The option Edits to total actual cost will be spread to the status date can only be used when the option Actual costs will always be calculated by Microsoft Project is not selected. 4. The option Edits to total actual cost will be spread to the status date is used to spread any manual entries of actual cost to the status date? 5. Cost equals remaining cost before any progress or actuals are entered. 6. Resource costs are calculated from (Regular Work x Standard Rate) + (Overtime Work x Overtime Rate) + Cost per Use. 7. The task Cost field represents fixed cost plus resource costs.
Lab 1 Answers
2. $6.00 4. $406.00 6. $486.00
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Microsoft Project 2003 Training Courseware

Lesson 3: Project Management Overview

Microsoft Corporation June 2003

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Lesson 3: Project Management Overview

Project Management Overview

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Determining project objectives

Managing manpower, budgets, and resources

Evaluating efficiency and effectiveness

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Critical Path Method

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Early Finish Early Start Free Slack Lag Time

Predecessor Slack (or float) Successor Task Dependency

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Table 5. PM Overview Late Start/Late Finish Dates

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Lesson 3: Exercises and Labs

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Table 7. PM Overview Three Task Exercise Table

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Lesson 4: Project Base Functionality

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Lesson 4: Project Base Functionality

User Interface Overview

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Project Information Dialog Box

Figure 1. Project Information dialog box

Customizing menus and toolbars

Figure 2. Customize dialog box

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Startup Task Pane

Figure 3. Startup task pane

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Microsoft Project Default Menus

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Figure 7. File Menu Send To - The actual submenu appears as shown.

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