Understanding Microsoft Project Scheduling

Microsoft Project Scheduling is a powerful software designed to assist to track a project in terms of running cost and timeline. The purpose of this article is to create awareness of the important settings to make and mistakes to avoid in order to create a working schedule.

In order to develop a schedule, there are a few pertinent points to remember which I will highlight below.

Firstly, project information must be entered before beginning any schedules. This can be done by first entering file tab, under project options key in the relevant information on general, display and scheduling option.

Then the project calender must be set in project tab under project information and change working time. This is very important as the wrong calender used will create a lot of problems when keying in duration. IT IS IMPORTANT TO ENSURE THE AUTO SCHEDULING is enabled for all new tasks at the bottom left hand side of the screen. Otherwise there will be no links to the tasks AND THIS DEFEATS THE USAGE OF MICROSOFT PROJECT.

Then we can start to work on the work break down structure with detailed project tasks. We can assign duration and resources to it. Resources can be added in the resource tab, resource sheet view. There are 3 types of resources mainly work resources, cost resources and material resources. Work resources are still available after the completion of tasks but material resources will be depleted as tasks are completed. Standard rate and overtime rate can be entered for work resources if required. Cost resources can be assigned to task and each task can carry different value, it can be applied at start of task, pro-rated or end of task. As such, cost resources can be used to build project s-curve.

After assigning duration and task, the task can be linked, taking care not to overallocate same resources to a few tasks CONCURRENTLY. MS project will then auto schedule the tasks. There are few type of links, ie finish to start, start to start, start to finish, not earlier then a certain fixed date. The most commonly used are finish to start and start to start. Finish to start means the predecessors must finish before the task can begin. By adding days to finish to start relationship, we can create a lag between two tasks.

To track the project, you need to go to project tab again, set the baseline, update the status date (ie date to report the project). Then go to task bar. Then you need to key in completion by percentage, remaining duration or actual start. You need 2 out of these 3 fields data to update the project. If project task is completed on time, then use the mark on track button.

The view can then be adjusted by clicking the format bar, we can show critical tasks, format the link layout, format the bar layout and insert new field columns. As you experiment with the software more and more, you will get to know the other fields available apart from the standard fields of task mode, task name, duration, start, finish, predecessors. Once you start to manage resources, you can add in the cost and once you start to update and track your project, you can add in the actual cost column, actual start, remaining duration, etc.

This is just a simple overview of Microsoft Project scheduling. The following links are youtube contents on Microsoft project scheduling. If you wish to master Microsoft project, we would like to suggest to go for paid courses in udemy that can be a little as usd10 dollars per course.