EPM, Microsoft Project and You

By: Collin Quiring

This is an attempt to help clarify the differences between calendar interactions in Microsoft Project.  While there are very helpful “how to” files on www.microsoft.com/project on calendars I am often asked to explain how they are used and how they affect the timing of a schedule.

In Project 2007 there are four calendars.  Those are listed here with a quick definition.

Base Calendar:  standard working and non-working times.  It is the default calendar that is used if no other ones are specified.

Project Calendar:  the calendar that the project uses.  This can be viewed as “when work can happen” and is representative of the available times for the work to be done.  For example, if a company only works certain days or set hours then that should be represented here, as should a company that works a 24 hour schedule.  It is representative of when the company is working – when a scheduled item on this schedule COULD be worked on – based on the other calendars is when the task will ACTUALLY be worked on.

Resource Calendar:  the calendar that the resource uses.  This is used so that resource groups can be scheduled similarly and so that individuals can have their vacations or other scheduled “non-scheduling” times accounted for.  As an example, if a certain department always has a Tuesday morning meeting from 10-12 every week, you can enter that into their resource calendar so that you don’t expect scheduled work to happen during that time.

Task Calendar:  the calendar that the task uses.  This can be used to schedule a task during non-regular-working hours or if it can only happen during a certain time.  For example, if taking down the email servers, it is probably best to force that to happen during the evening or weekend rather than during peak working hours.

Now, what does that mean and how does it work in reality?

Here is how a schedule works in Microsoft Project when you schedule a task.  You enter a task and lets say you give it “1 Day” duration.  The system will look at these calendars to determine when that 1 day actually will fall to be able to schedule the task.  At a high level, this means that the system looks to see what calendars might affect the ability of that task to begin or end at a certain time.

Think of it from this perspective:

First, when the system tries to schedule the task, it is going to try and determine what the available working hours are for the entire schedule – by using the project calendar.  The project calendar is set up by you with the regular working hours for you organization.  But, for the moment, let’s assume that you do not modify the standard project calendar from the default working times of Monday through Friday, 8-5, with an hour lunch.  So, if the project calendar is based on the standard default calendar then the system will schedule the task between 8-5 on a Monday through Friday. 

Then, the system will check the resource calendar (if it exists) to determine what working hours the resource works.  Normally, you add resources to a standard default resource calendar that you create and then you modify each resource according to their unique schedule (vacation, departmental hours, etc).  Let’s assume for the moment that we have a “normal” resource that works from 8-5, Monday through Friday with an hour lunch.  So, the system will have reviewed the project calendar and now the resource calendar and will have determined that this task can happen between the hours of 8-5, Monday through Friday.

Third, the system will look at the task calendar (if it exists) and determine when the task can be done.  This is the calendar that you set up to determine when a specific task can be done.  Again, if not using a specific calendar the default calendar will be used.

In this example, on a brand new task that we have just added it will be put into the schedule starting at 8 am on the next day (Monday through Friday).  I am ignoring predecessors and other factors affecting this specific task – we are just looking at hour calendars work.

Now, a way to view this in a chart and to use a more difficult, real world example:

Our first example used Monday through Friday and 8-5 for each calendar so the task was scheduled for 1 day according to this chart:

Project Calendar    Resource Calendar       Task Calendar            Scheduled

M-F                           M-F                                M-F                        Next available M-F

8-5                            8-5                                 8-5                          Between 8-5

So, what if we have a situation where we work 24 hours a day (three shifts), seven days a week and our schedule could be worked on by somebody, on any one of those shifts during any day?  Well, we have to set up our project calendar to represent the 24/7 aspect – this allows work to be scheduled any time in that 24 hour, 7 day window.  But, we have to have three resource calendars – one for each shift – and we have to assign each resource to a calendar.  This will let the system determine when each resource is available.  And, as before, if we set one up, we will have to determine the hour(s) that the specific task can be worked on.  For purposes of this example, let’s leave the task calendar as open to anytime.  And, for purposes of this example, let’s say that our resource is on a calendar that is Tuesday through Saturday from 11 pm to 8 am with an hour break.

This would look like this:

Project Calendar           Resource Calendar      Task Calendar                    Scheduled

Any day                            T-Sa                            Any Day               Next available T-Sa

24 hour                            11pm – 8am               24 hour                 Between 11p-8a

This time, the system scheduled the task to fall between Tuesday through Saturday and 11 pm to 8 am.  Why?  It did this because this was the next available time that the task could be worked on – the project calendar said that it could be worked on anytime, but the resource doesn’t work anytime – they work between certain hours on certain days.  So, the system used the most restrictive time – when the resource was available.

In the example above, without any outside influence (predecessors, etc) if we were to enter this into the schedule Monday morning at 8 am (when we work) then this task would be automatically scheduled by the system to occur the next night (Tuesday) at 11 pm.

Now, let’s add one more level of complexity.  What if the resource had this Tuesday and Wednesday off as a vacation day?  The system would move the task to start on Thursday at 11 pm.

So, the next time that you schedule a task and it appears that it is starting at an odd time, take a look at your calendars and see what might be affecting the task.

In a recent CIO magazine, there was an article titled “hot jobs” where the position of Project Manager was discussed.  CIO magazine is about Information Management and Information Technology so it views the Project Manager through that perspective.  However, it still highlights the need for good Project Managers – ESPECIALLY during these tough economic times.

A quote from the article:  “Poor project execution occurs when there is a breakdown in relationship management, communication, cooperation and poor problem resolution, he says. PMs get projects on track and ensure they are implemented properly and efficiently. This is important in today’s economy; only 35 percent of IT projects are completed successfully, according to The Standish Group”

Review the other blog entry about the amount of money being spent in 2009 on projects – and that is why we need good Project Managers.

BY: Collin Quiring

For people that view “Project Management” to be a strict discipline used only in formal settings or for those that regard “Projects” as a “thing that companies do” I submit that projects are all around us and that we need to have a larger viewpoint.  The official definition of a “Project” in the Fourth Edition of the PMBOK (Project Management Body of Knowledge) is: “A temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service or result.” 

This means that you could define a project as simply as the process for getting up in the morning and getting to work.  All the elements of a project are there – you have a goal (result) that you want to achieve.  And, there are items that must be completed to get that done – from waking up to arriving at your destination.  There are a number of choices about tasks that can be made and the order of which you can determine. 

You probably do not have a formal, documented process for the activities to accomplish the goal of getting to work.  This just demonstrates that the level of documentation and formal processes should be in accordance with the level of the project.  It is unrealistic to expect a Scope statement, Project Charter and task update process for a personal project such as this.  And, the amount of Project Management that is required should also be in accordance with the level of the project.

I think that we too often concentrate on the product part of the definition – thinking about a project as the work that goes into making something tangible.  And, these are the easiest types of projects to notice – we can see the physical results.  However, I think that we need to view the result part of the definition.  These are the types of projects that we tend to omit. 

What we often do is look at the parts of a project that are product oriented and view that as the entire project.  (Yes, there is Portfolio Management which deals with this but I am only talking about how to view a project.)  A great example of a result-oriented project is in an article that I ran across this morning about the military in Iraq.  Their project is looking to achieve a result of being able to “positively affect many contracts with Iraqi civilians in essential services” and to “deny the enemy places of blight and places of hopelessness”.   Those goals are result specific and result in numerous tangible products and services but the overall project is to achieve a non-tangible result – what we might generically call “a better Iraq”.  To achieve this result, they are working on the appropriate pieces of established Project Management that will best help their needs.

A project isn’t just a corporate based tangible product – it can be a goal.

The article I am referring to:

2nd HBCT PAO, 1st Inf. Div., MND-B

BAGHDAD – Multi-National Division – Baghdad leaders from the 2nd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, and supporting elements attended a class about the importance of project management at Camp Liberty.

The daylong course emphasized how the improved security in Baghdad can positively affect many contracts with Iraqi civilians in essential services.

“Services like sewer and electrical problems, medical clinic issues and emergency problems with schools are areas where we really need to make a lasting impact on the population to turn things around and improve quality of life,” said Maj. Andrew Attar, Joint Project Management Office, 2nd HBCT. “We want to deny the enemy places of blight and places of hopelessness where they can recruit members.”

Project management offices in the brigade focus on contracting jobs out to take care of the needed projects, stemmed from an agenda from Col. Joseph Martin, commander, 2HBCT, named the Commander’s Emergency Response Program.

The program is designed to establish community improvement projects with the local governance and the Iraqi Security Forces in northwest Baghdad.

“We help to try to turn around these neighborhoods through these projects; to give people hope in the Iraqi Government and the Iraqi Security Forces,” Attar said. “We want to make sure we are achieving the desired effects that our commanders need through these projects and becoming better project managers.”

In order to improve the process of project management, Attar added that the class was crucial for development in the brigade.

To give insight to the attendees, finance and civil military operations members from the 4th Infantry Division and the 926th Engineer Brigade also attended the class.

“We’re looking at the intermediate to the advance levels of project management; most of these guys have already gone through the basic training,” Attar said. “So what we are looking at here is sharing the lessons learned across the brigade and getting ourselves to that next level of excellence in terms of how we do projects across Baghdad.”

The class participants spoke about project operations, such as file management, how to write scopes of work and bills of quantity in contracting, how to do quality assurance and quality checks on projects, how to deal with contractors, the biding process of contracting and how to pay contractors.

“What we’ve learned so far is the process, we go through in project management and the paperwork we have to go through,” said 1st Lt. Fidencio Gamorano, 926th Eng. Bde. “I’m starting to learn a little bit more as far as how everything is set up so we can get on the right track.”

Gamorano added that partnering with the Iraqi government and ISF to reach out to the people of Iraq is very important for project management.

“We get to give something back to the Iraqi people,” he said. “A lot of these people want to work, and this is the best way so we can all learn from each other and work

From: http://newsblaze.com/story/20081229054358zmil.nb/topstory.html

By: Collin Quiring

How do you justify Project Management or Project Server in these tough times?  While looking for a document recently that I wrote about this, I came up with these thoughts.

Some business areas that are affected by Project Management are harder to quantify than others.  One of the biggest benefits that results from using Project Management principles is the increased flow of information and ability to make better informed decisions.  It is difficult to put a dollar amount on “doing things better” but there are some intuitive benefits.  Being able to make better decisions means fewer mistakes and a reduction in the number of times costly projects are started and then later stopped or completed without the expected gains.

Collaboration and easy to access real time information are business benefits that shouldn’t be underestimated.  The ability for everyone (with the appropriate security permissions) to see information from their own desktop, through a web browser, without having to request it from somebody else, or waiting for the “official report” to appear, is valuable.  Using templates allows for everybody to start from the same spot and to use pre-existing and approved information and methodologies.  This saves time and effort and permits the Project Managers and the users to have a familiar format – increasing collaboration and understanding.

A few of the questions that we like to ask Senior Managers are: What is a single view of ALL your projects worth?  What would the value to your organization be if you could see every project that you have?  How does each project align with the company’s stated strategies? How does the portfolio align? With Portfolio and Project Management in place the ability to see, and understand, individual projects or the entire project portfolio is straightforward.  Project Management can provide you with productivity improvements, better resource allocation, time- to- market enhancements, cost reductions, and current information.

As an organization becomes more and more “mature” in the area of Project Management and their use of Microsoft Project, they can use the built-in timesheet functions in addition to the task functions.  This allows for the tracking and understanding of what each resource within the organization is doing.  It allows you to answer the question “Can we do this next project with the people we have; on budget?”.   The system allows you to see instantly where a resource may be overloaded, or have free – or perhaps what work can be shuffled around to free up a resource.

In a survey of 166 companies by the Center for Business Practice, The Value of Project Management, 94% or respondents stated that implementing Project Management added value in terms of :

                                                ROI – 25%

                                                Productivity – 15%

                                                Time to Market reduction – 15%

                                                Project/Process Performance – 20%

Microsoft Project Server allows you to see at a glance the information that is important to you.  Dashboards can be easily created with information that is specific to the needs of various groups within an organization.  For example, the Executives can look at budget information while the Project Managers are looking at scheduling information while other groups are looking at information specific to them.  As an example, here is a screenshot showing the Cost Status and Schedule Status in graphical format: