Project Management Software Tools

Cheryl A. WilhelmsenLee Ostrom

Welcome to Project Management Software Tools

Basic Administrative Details Introductions Course Syllabus Projects

Course URL

http://www.if.uidaho.edu/~cherylw/em_486/

Does this look familiar?

Look at the difference after taking this class

Terms Activity – An element of work performed

during the course of a project. An activity normally has an expected duration, an expected cost, and expected resource requirements. Activities are often subdivided into tasks.

Actual Cost of Work Performed (ACWP) – Total costs incurred (direct and indirect) in accomplishing work during a given time period.

Terms

Actual Finish Date (AF) – The point in time that work activity ended on an activity.

Actual Start Date (AS) – The point in time that work actually started on an activity.

Terms

Bar Chart – A graphic display of schedule-related information. In the typical bar chart, activities or other project elements are listed down the left side of the chart, dates are shown across the top, and activity durations are shown as date-placed horizontal bars. Also called a Gantt Chart.

Terms

Budgeted Cost of Work Scheduled (BCWS) – The sum of the approved cost estimates (including any overhead allocation) for activities scheduled to be performed during a given period.

Terms Budget at Completion (BAC) –

The estimated total cost of the project when done.

Budgeted Cost of Work Performed (BCWP) – The sum of the approved cost estimates (including any overhead allocation) for activities completed during a given period.

Terms

Control – The process of comparing actual performance with planned performance, analyzing variances, evaluating possible alternatives, and taking appropriate corrective action as needed.

Terms

Cost Variance – (1) Any difference between the estimated cost of an activity and the actual cost of that activity. (2) In earned value, BCWP less ACWP.

Terms

Critical Path – In a project network diagram, the series of activities which determines the earliest completion of the project. The critical path will generally change from time to time as activities are completed ahead or behind schedule.

Terms

Current Finish Date – The current estimate of the point in time when an activity will be completed.

Current Start Date – The current estimate of the point in time when an activity will begin.

Terms

Earned Value (EV) – A method for measuring project performance. It compares the amount of work that was planned with what was actually accomplished to determine if cost and schedule performance is as planned.

Terms

Estimate At Completion (EAC) – The expected total cost of an activity, a group of activities, or of the project when the defined scope of work has been completed.

Terms Estimate To Complete (ETC) – The

expected additional cost needed to complete an activity, a group of activities, or the project.

Float – The amount of time that an activity may be delayed from its early start without delaying the project finish date.

Terms Program Evaluation and Review

Technique (PERT) – An event-oriented network analysis technique used to estimate project duration when there is a high degree of uncertainty with the individual activity duration estimates.

Resource Leveling – Any form of network analysis in which scheduling decisions (start and finish dates) are driven by resource management concerns.

Terms Resource Planning – Determining what

resources (people, equipment, materials) are needed in what quantities to perform project activities.

Scheduled Variance (SV) – Any difference between the scheduled completion of an activity and the actual completion of that activity.

Terms

Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) – A deliverable-oriented grouping of project elements which organizes and defines the total scope of the project. Each descending level represents an increasingly detailed definition of a project component.

What is Project Management

Project management is the process of planning, organizing, and managing tasks and resources to accomplish a defined objective, usually within constraints on time, resources, or cost

Project Plan

A project plan can be simple, for example, a list of tasks and their start and finish dates written on a notepad

Or it can be complex, for example, thousands of tasks and resources and a project budget of millions of dollars

Project Plan Most projects share common

activities, including breaking the project into easily manageable tasks, scheduling the tasks, communicating with the team, and tracking the tasks as work progresses. And all projects consist of three major phases: 1 Build the plan 2 Track and manage the project 3 Close the project

How Microsoft Project Schedules

It takes into account many factors, including task dependencies, constraints, and interruptions, such as holidays or vacation days

Most importantly, Microsoft Project schedules each task using the formula duration=work/resource effort

Schedule Terms Duration is the actual amount of time

that passes before the task is done Work is the effort required over a

period of time to do the task Resource effort is the amount of effort

resources are assigned to the task and their allocation

Example For example, if:

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

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

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

Example (cont)

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

Understanding this formula is

important to understanding how changes you make to tasks affect the project schedule

Create a Project Plan When you have defined project goals

and thought out the major phases of your project, it's time to begin creating your plan

We will Enter Key Project Information, and Set up the Project Calendar

Create a New ProjectStep by Step

1) Click New

2) In the Project Information dialog box, type or select a start date or a finish date for your project, and then click OK

3) Click Save

4) In the File name box, type a name for your project, and then click Save

Enter Key Project Information

1) On the File menu, click Properties, and then click the Summary tab

2) Enter any information you’d like about your project, such as the people who will manage it and maintain the project file

3) Click OK

Set Up The Project Calendar

1) On the View menu, click Gantt Chart

2) On the Tools menu, click Change Working Time

3) Select a date on the calendar To change one day of the week for the entire

calendar, for example, to have Fridays end at 4:00pm, click the abbreviation for that day at the top of the calendar

Set Up The Project Calendar (cont)

To change all working days, for example, to begin working days Tuesday through Friday at 9:00am, click the abbreviation (such as T for Tuesday) for the first working day of the week. Hold down SHIFT, and then click the abbreviation for the last working day of the week (such as F for Friday)

4) Click Nonworking time for days off, or Nondefault working time to change the hours worked

Set Up The Project Calendar (cont)

5) If you clicked Nondefault working time in step 3, type the times you want work to start in the From boxes, and the times you want work to end in the To boxes

6) Click OK

Assignment

Complete lesson 2 in the textbook

Decide on the project each of you will complete by the end of the course, and email it to me