Question: Is it possible to have the color of the task bar change on the Gantt Chart based upon input in a cell.

Answer: Yes, here are the steps

1.  Within your project, Insert Flag 1, Flag 2 columns
2. Use the <Tools, <Customize, <Fields, <Options to rename Flag1 to Aqua, Flag 2 to Red

 
3. Ensure Aqua (Flag 1) is highlighted, right click, Customize, then click on Formula
4. Type in the following formula: IIf([Text1]="1",Yes,No)
5. Click on OK
6. Ensure Red (Flag 2) is highlighted, right click, Customize, then click on Formula
7. Type in the following formula: IIf([Text1]="2",Yes,No)
8. Click on OK
9. Right click on the Gantt chart portion of the screen and click on Bar Styles
10.Click on Task (under Name)
11.Click on Cut Row
12.Then Click on Paste Row 3 times

13.Click on second Task and rename to “Aqua Flag”. Rename third Task to “Red Flag”
14.Click on the Show For…Tasks column in the second Name
15.Click on the drop down, remove Name and Insert Flag 1
16.Click on Appearance for Flag1 and change the color to Aqua
17.Click on the next line down and remove Name and insert Flag 2
18.Click on Appearance for Flage2 and change the color to Red - click OK

 
19.As a final step, you may now hide the two Flag fields from your plan
Now when you input a 1 in Text1, the color of the task on the Gant chart will change to Aqua. If you input a 2, it will change to Red. No value, it will remain as the default Blue bar.

These are the basic steps for setting up an MS Project schedule to have the color formatting of the Gantt Chart task bars to change based upon values input in a cell.  Given this basic knowledge, you are now only limited by your own imagination and creativity on how to utilize this function of the tool.

It's official, you can now sign up and take the IT Professional Exam 70-632: TS: Microsoft Office Project 2007, Configuring!!

Microsoft told us the certification exams were coming:

Article 1

Article 2

Here are the skills being measured and the portion of the exam each category covers:

Configuring Tools and Options (13%)

Set up Schedule options.

Set up Calculation options.

Set up Interface options.

Set up View options.

Set up General options.

Set up Calendar options.

Set up Security options.

Setting Up a Project (10%)

Create and modify a template.

Select a template.

Enter project information.

Manage calendars.

Import and export data.

Estimating, Scheduling, and Budgeting Tasks (29%)

Create a WBS.

Create and modify tasks.

Estimate and budget tasks.

Sequence tasks.

Identify and analyze critical tasks and critical path.

Manage multiple projects.

Resourcing Project Plans (24%)

Forecast time-phased generic skill or role requirements.

Create, modify, and use resource pools.

Add, change, substitute, or remove resource assignments.

Predict durations and work calculations.

Optimize resource utilization.

Updating and Reporting on Project Performance (24%)

Save and modify baselines.

Enter task updates.

Reschedule incomplete work.

Track project progress.

Analyze variance.

Create, modify, and delete objects.

Create reports.

Find out more information about the exam here.

Self Paced Training Products here.

More help for MS Project here.

Stay abreast of the latest developments in the project management profession by signing up for PMConnections monthly Newsletter.

Sure enough!!

I started using MS Project 98, and have grown up with the tool over the years.

I never thought about performing spell checking on my project schedules until a student caught a typo in one of the schedules I was demonstrating during class.  This could have been even more embarrasing had this been a member of upper management!!

I have vowed to perform spell checking on all project schedules in the future!

Although similar to Spell Checking within the other Office applications, Spell Checking within MS Project is slightly different.  (Please note that I am working with MS Project 2003)

Here is how it works:  Click on >Tools, >Spelling

Spell checking then begins.  If a word is located within the project schedule that is not recognized, the following dialogue box will appear:

Like the other Office applications (Word, Excel, Powerpoint), the wizard finds words that it believes are misspelled and then offers Suggestions.  You can select the proper suggestion and then choose Change on the right side.

If the proper spelling is not in the list of Suggestions, like other Office applications, you can type it in and select Change.

However, unlike the other Office products, the wizard does not take you directly to the misspelled word.  But note that it does display the "Found in" box.  If you would like to see how and where you are using this word, you will need to take note of the location where the misspelling was found, then cancel out of the wizard and inspect that location.

Once Spell Checking is complete, you will see the following dialogue box:

For more tips on MS Project, try this link

Below are the top 5 most visited articles from each category within our Research Center for 2006.

If you missed any previous newsletters, this is a great way to catch up!!

Click on the category heading to review any of these articles.

Project Management

1.  Quick Guide to Project Management - Free ebook
2.  25 Project Management Tips
3.  Free Project Management Guidebook
4.  10 best practices for successful project management
5.  Management's Guide to Project Success - Free ebook

MS Project

1. 25 Microsoft Project Tips and Tricks
2. 18 page MS Project crib sheet
3. Absolute MUST SEE presentation for beginners
4. 10 steps you should follow to successfully manage your workplan
5. Excel to MS Project

PMP Certification

Prepare

1.  FREE PMP Study Guide
2.  All About the PMP Certification

Questions

3.  100 Free PMP Exam Prep Questions
4.  200 Free PMP Exam Prep Questions

Other

5.  How many PMP's are there? Where are they located?

Program Management and PMO

1. Program Manager Cheat Sheet
2. Creating A PMO
3. Five Principles Of Program Management
4. Beneath the Buzz: Project Management Office
5. PMI's new Program Manager Certification

MS Project Server

1.  MS Project Server 2007 Demo
2.  Portfolio Management with Project Server 2003
3.  10 Things To Ponder When Implementing An Integrated Portfolio Management Application
4.  MS Project Server 2002 vs 2003 vs 2007
5.  Free Sharepoint 2007 Training Course

Portfolio Management

1.  Portfolio Server: A Tool to Support the Process
2.  Portfolio Management Software Evaluation Tool
3.  Case Studies in Portfolio Management
4.  5 Stages Towards Portfolio Management
5.  Effective Benchmarking for Project Management - from Microsoft and PMI

Other

1.  How To Speak In Public To A Group
2.  PM Humor
3.  10 Dumbest Things You Can Do To Your Computer
4.  25 qualities that will get you promoted
5.  11 Qualities of Successful IT Managers

Great Websites

1.  FREE MS Project Templates
2.  amakar.com
3.  MSProject Reporter
4.  PMProducts
5.  PM Tools

See our current Newsletter here.

Sign up for future Newsletters delivered via email here.

I remember opening MS Project for the first time, playing around in the tool for a while, then thinking “I can do all this in Excel”. I put the tool away and never touched it again. That is until I became an official Project Manager. My thoughts at that point were “I should probably learn how to use this tool”. Well after many years and many projects, I realize that MS Project is a powerful tool at helping me manage my work. I now work with MS Project the way most people work with Excel. I find various uses for the tool that may be outside the norm.

For example, I facilitate a number of meetings or training sessions. If you think about it, a training session (or meeting) is nothing more than a small project involving Scope, Cost and Time. You have specific information that you need to deliver in a fixed duration. These training sessions are anywhere from 2 to 12 hours in duration. So just like a traditional project, if you do not have a plan, you are likely to get off track and run out of time before the targeted completion. And also like a project, if you have a baseline plan, you can compare your current status to the baseline to ensure you stary on track.

The following article will demonstrate how to leverage MS Project to help you construct an agenda.

Step 1 – Open MS Project

Step 2 – Save file with meaningful name

Step 3 – Activate Project Summary Task

Click on >Tools, >Options, >View and place a check in the Show Project Summary Task option

Step 4 – Alter the Date format

Click on >Tools, >Options, >View and select the dropdown for the Date Format. Change this to 12:33PM

Step 5 – Change Duration format

Click on >Tools, >Options, >Schedule and change the option “Duration is entered in” to Hours

Step 6 – Change Project Start Time

Click on >Project, >Project Information and input the start time for your meeting.

Step 7 – Input your agenda items

This step would equate to PMI’s Time Management Process of Activity Definition.

Step 8 – Link Topics

This step would equate to PMI’s Time Management process of Activity Sequencing. Given that this is a meeting or training session, all tasks must occur sequentially. In other words we will use a Finish to Start type relationship between all tasks. We link these tasks together using the predecessor field. You could type in the predecessor for each task, but there is an easier way! To link a series of tasks together sequentially using MS Project, there is an option to Link Tasks. Here’s how to use it: first select all the tasks, then click on the Link Tasks option (chain link). Notice how all selected tasks are now joined together sequentially (Finish to Start).

Step 9 – Input Durations

AKA: Activity Duration Estimating. For each topic or agenda item, simply input the estimated duration it will take to cover that topic. By default, if we simply enter a number, MS Project will assume we are inputting hours. But in the case of a meeting, we need to input the duration in the form of minutes. In order to do that we simply type an “m” after the duration. For example, if we feel it will take 10 minutes to provide the Meeting Overview, we click on the Duration field for the Meeting Overview task and type “10m”. Then hit enter.

Complete this step for all items.

We can now see that in order to cover all of these agenda items, it is going to take a little over 2 hours. But if your overall duration is fixed at only two hours, you realize some tweaks will need to be made to this schedule or plan. There are two options we can take. Option 1 is to reduce the duration of at least one item. Option 2 would be to remove an item from this meeting.

We will select Option 1. Topic Two can probably be covered in only 10 minutes.

Notice that the overall duration is now 2 hours. We have a do-able plan!!

But wait….you just realize that the coffee and bagels are not scheduled to arrive until 9:30am. You must adjust the Break time so it begins at 9:30AM. No worries!!!! Simply highlight the entire task for Break and drag it down. MS Project will automatically recalculate and re-establish the links.

Step 10 – Add Resource Names

If different people are responsible for covering the various topics, you can leverage the Resource Names field to identify these individuals.

Step 11 – Save and print the plan

Step 12 – Manage to the plan

Distribute copies of your agenda at the beginning of the meeting. Just like a project, you want your team to know the objective, timing and assignments. Leverage your agenda just as you would a project schedule. Watch the time to make sure you stay on track. If you get off track, you will be able to tell how far off track you are and assess what needs to occur in order to get back on track.

This approach may seem like overkill for a short meeting, but if you have a long meeting or training session with a number of topics that need to be covered, I’m sure you will find this approach to be very beneficial.

5 Tasks + 3 Years = 60 PDU’s

So you passed the PMP exam and have been applying all those fundamental principles on your projects. Perhaps you’ve gotten a new job, promotion or even received an increase in salary as a result of the additional knowledge. In a nutshell, you realize the PMP is of value and you would like to remain PMP certified.

You know that in order to maintain your PMP certification you must acquire 60 PDU’s over the course of 3 years. You’ve ventured to PMI’s CCR site and perhaps even logged a few PDU’s. But you realize that you are still far from having 60. How will you ever get there?

Well, if money is not an object, then acquiring 60 PDU’s is easy. All you have to do is find a find a few project management related seminars or training classes, pay your money and attend. 60 PDU’s will come quickly.

But if you are searching for a more economical approach to acquiring your PDU’s, all you have to do is follow the 5 following steps. This approach will not be easy, as it may require considerable time and effort. But the there are two major benefits. One is that there will be very little direct costs to you. The second benefit is this economical approach will place you in great networking situations. You will have the opportunity to interact with others in the project management field. These contacts can help you resolve your difficult project issues or provide you an inside track to those un-advertised open project management positions.

Step 1 – Do Your Job

That’s right, simply performing your job as a project manager for 1500 hours per year is worth 5 PDU’s. 5 PDU’s per year for 3 years is 15 PDU’s. Do the math. Already, you are 25% there!! These PDU’s should be logged into sub-category 2H.

Step 2 – Do A Little Research

Sub-category 2SDL grants us 1 PDU for each hour of “Self Directed Learning”. There is a limit of 15 PDU’s, but why not claim them all. Pick a topic that you would like to learn about and begin your research project. For example, perhaps you would like to know more about Program Management, Portfolio Management, or Using MS Project to help you better manage your projects. The Research Center at PMConnection provides a great online source for your research.

There is no formal tracking form that PMI requires one to fill out, but it is advised to keep a personal record of all books or articles read. It might even be a good idea to produce powerpoint presentation summarizing your research or perhaps a nice article. Your tracking form and summary report may prove beneficial if PMI would ever audit your PDU records. Producing an article can actually help you with step 3.

Step 3 – Get Published

So if you elected to produce an article from your 15 hours of research, most of your work is complete. All you have to do now is get it published. Try submitting your article to MPA for publication in “The Project Network” or PMI for publication in “PM Network”. If they elect to publish your article, you have just earned another 15 PDU’s!! These get recorded into sub-category 2B, which is getting published in a non-refereed journal.

Step 4 – Become a Committee Member

Find your local PMI Chapter and volunteer a little time. Being a committee member of a project management organization for a year is worth 5 PDU’s. If your closest chapter is too far for a convenient commute, you might want to check out this page of PMI’s website as they are always performing some type of research and rely upon volunteer committee members. These PDU’s get logged into sub-category 5B.

Step 5 – Become an Officer

One notch above a committee member is becoming an officer of a project management organization. Again, your local PMI or MPA chapter provide this opportunity. Being an officer for one year is worth 10 PDU’s. These get logged into sub-category 5A.

If you’ve been keeping a running total, you’ll realize we have now accumulated 60 PDU’s. Below is a nice little scorecard that summarizes our 5 steps.

Summary

Remember that these 5 steps are merely suggestions for earning PDU's economically. Visit PMI’s CCR site for a comprehensive list of categories for earning PDU’s. Here are a few more suggestions:

• Regardless of how you plan to earn PDU’s, get started now! The longer you wait, the greater pressure you put on yourself and the more likely you are to have to attend an expensive event to meet your PDU requirements.
• Log your PDU’s on PMI’s site as you acquire them
• Keep a hard copy of all records in case of a PMI audit

With the release of MS Project 2003, Microsoft thought they were doing us a favor by introducing a new option to the tool.  This option by default is set to "only show the full menus after a short delay".   This may have sounded like a good idea, but in reality, it limits our learning of all the other features the tool can do.  Here is an example;  say when I am working with the tool, I frequently need to change the working time on my projects.  Using the default options, when I click on Tools, here is what I see:

Only a few options!  To see all the options under the Tools menu, I either need to wait a few seconds for them to be displayed, or I must click on the double down arrows.  In my opinion, not showing the full menu immediately, limits our ability to learn other things that the tool can do.

With the option turned on to "Always show full menus", this is what we would see:

Notice how many more options are now displayed.  I may have only clicked on the Tools menu to change working time, but now I get to see that there is also an option to Import Outlook Tasks.  I may not need to do that today, tomorrow, or any time soon, but if the need arises in the future, I will now that is possible using the product.

How to "Always show full menus"

To turn on the option to "Always show full menus", click on >View, >Toolbars, >Customize

A dialogue box will be displayed.  Now click on the >Options tab and enable "Always show full menus"

I'm sure this title gets all the PMI^® big wigs a little edgy!  And for all of those PMBOK toters, you can now pick up your book (as I'm sure it just hit the floor!) and read the following article about real world project management.

What is a WBS?

WBS stands for Work Breakdown Structure.  Examining PMBOK^®, we see that the WBS should be created after the scope of the project has been defined.   Creating a WBS involves subdividing the major project deliverables and project work into smaller more manageable components. (PMBOK pg 49)

The planned work contained in the lowest-level WBS components are called Work Packages (PMOK^® pg 112)

We can all agree with this, right?

But here's the piece that most people miss, or don't fully realize when talking about developing a WBS; the Work Packages should be decomposed one level farther to determine the Activities. (PMOK^® pg 127)  This step is like "the missing link"; connecting the WBS to your Schedule Network Diagram (or MS Project).  This is formally called Activity Definition.

What is Activity Definition?

Activity Definition is the process of identifying and documenting the work that is planned to be performed. (PMOK^® pg 127)  And once we know the scope of our project, isn't this the next biggest question; "What do we have to do to complete this project?"

So why is the WBS Over-Rated?

Well, if you are studying for the PMP exam or about to undertake a large project, it is not.  It is very important.

But the WBS is nothing more than a tool.  A tool to help you determine the activities that need to occur to complete the project.

So now lets examine this scenario;  You have been assigned as the project manager for some project.  The scope is well defined and the project sponsor as well as management believe this project could be completed in 3-6 months.  Your team of 6 Subject Matter Experts has been determined.  You have transferred the vision (scope) of this project to your team and are now about to hold your first planning session.  All SME's will participate in this meeting.  Given this scenario, a formal WBS may be over-kill.  A simple brainstorming session with the team could allow you to determine all the project activities.  In short, you will be performing Activity Definition without the need for a formal WBS.

You may even be able to perform Activity Sequencing during the same session!  This is the process of putting all of the activities in sequential order by establishing the logical relationship between the various activities.  And inevitably, this process of Activity Sequencing (especially when completed with the team), will uncover more activities that need to occur.

Closing

In closing, I'd just like to state that I'm not advocating eliminating the development of a WBS, I'm merely stating that in many real world projects, a formal WBS may not be needed.  I believe project management tools and processes should be scaled to fit the project.  And if the detailed activities of the project can be determined without the need for additional work, then why do it?

What is a Contingency Reserve

According to PMBOK^® (page 166 of the Third Edition), "Contingency Reserves are estimated costs to be used at the discretion of the project manager to deal with anticipated, but not certain, events. These events are "known unknowns" and are part of the project scope and cost baselines."

PMBOK goes on to say "One option to manage cost contingency reserves is to aggregate each schedule activity's cost contingency reserve for a group of related actities into a single contingency reserve that is assigned to a schedule activity."

What would this look like in MS Project?

In this example, we will establish a contingency reserve for the entire project.  Note that this could also be performed at the work package level.

1.  You must have already completed the steps of Activity Definition, Activity Sequencing, Activity Resource Estimating, Activity Duration Estimating (which includes effort estimating for the individual tasks) and loaded all this information into MS Project.  You would have a schedule that looks something like this:

2.  Insert the Cost field

3. Insert the Contingency Reserve activity.  Make the duration of this activity .5 days less than the overall duration of the project (making it equal to the duration of the project will not allow MS Project to calculate the true critical path tasks within your schedule)

4.  Input the Contingency Reserve amount in the cost field.  Note that a detailed risk analysis would be preferred to help establish the true cost contingency reserve needed. But for our example we are going to assume the organization mandates a 10% Contingency Reserve be established for all projects.

  Note: Making the Contingency Reserve duration nearly equal the Duration of the project spreads the reserve amount out over the life of the project

5.  The schedule can now be baselined.

Managing Costs

6.  So now reality sets in.  We find it cost $1,000 more to perform a series of tasks than we had anticipated.  By inserting our Baseline Cost and Cost Variance fields we can easily see this variance.

7.  All we have to do to get the project back on budget is to deduct $1,000 from our Contingency Reserve cost amount.

1. Use a standard resource naming convention - The naming convention is not as important as keeping it consistent.  In other words, when you add resource names to your project, if you input them as "First Name Last Name", always enter them that way.  Not just in one project, but all project schedules.  Having a consistent naming convention will make the importing of projects into Project Server much smoother.  Using a standard naming convention could even help you in the stand alone world if you attempt to set up a shared resource pool.  So which naming convention should you use?  Based upon best practices in the industry, the recommended approach is "Last Name First Name".
2. Do Not use special characters in resource names - Notice in the naming convention above, that I did not insert a comma between Last Name and First Name.  Special character are BAD within the Project Server world.  They tend to cause problems within the database.  So what are the special characters?
   /";:<>|[],.'?~`!$%^&*()-+={}\,
3. Do Not use special characters in the project file name - Again, these will cause problems with the database.  The characters are the same as above.
4. Develop and use a standard template(s) - Every project is unique, right?  But that does not mean they don't follow standard phases.  Perhaps your organization has already documented a standard project life cycle.  Turn this into a MS Project template and use it as a starting point for all future projects.  If this does not exist, look across all the projects of your past to develop that standard template.  As a final alternative, simply use the PMI phases of Initiation, Planning, Execution and Closure (you could also add Control, but dealing with that phase in MS Project warrants another article!)
5. Baseline your schedule - Yes, I said it.  I know the word Baseline sends many people into a frenzy.  This frenzy is caused by fear.  Either fear of being punished for not meeting the baseline, or fear of the unknown for not fully understanding the baseline.  Either way, it is up to you to change the culture.  The baseline is nothing more than a snapshot in time.  Inevitably, projects will change causing us to drift away from our baseline.  It is up to the team to determine how best to get back on track.  But without the baseline, we will never know we are off track!  Changing culture takes time, but you can do it by being consistent; once you have an agreed-upon plan, baseline it! (Be sure to view a future article about "How to Develop a Realistic Schedule")
6. Manage the schedule - Don't just use MS Project to develop your initial plan then put it on the shelf once execution begins.  Keep it current.  The schedule is a living / breathing document.   Use it during status meetings with your team. You can filter it to examine tasks that should have completed, then update task completeness, and durations as needed.   You can look ahead to see what tasks are about to begin.  Finally, with the implementation of #5, you can compare your current schedule with your baseline to determine your progress.
7. Share your schedule - If you have been diligent with #6, then sharing your schedule should cause no worries.  The method for sharing your schedule may vary by organization.  You could copy and paste tasks into an email, create a PDF, save it to the web or send out as an .mpp attachment.  Either way, you want your team members to have the most current information about the project and their tasks. Sharing the schedule will also get team members more comfortable with looking at information within a MS Project format.  Being able to understand and manipulate data in a Project format will be valuable when you move to Project Server.  Within the Project Server world, each schedule is viewable through a web interface known as PWA (Project Web Access).  Any team member can view this version of the schedule online and manipulate it to get information that is valuable to them.  THE BEST PART IS they can not edit the data!

Realize that some of these things are tool related, while others are more process related.  But implementing any or all of these changes will help prepare you (and your organization) to move from Project on the desktop to Project Server.