Exception working times in MS PROJECT 2019, and how to use it!

Posted on February 2, 2020 by

Hi,

today I will show you how to use exceptions in working times using MS PROJECT 2019!

Let’s say that are working hours are 8 hors per day (08:00 to 12:00, and 13:00 to 17:00) from Monday 03.02.2020 to Friday 07.02.2020, and 4 hours per day from Monday 10.02.2020 to Friday 14.02.2020. To set this up, follow next steps:

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and:

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Now I will create two Tasks in My Project:

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as you can see, Task 2 will start at Monday 10.02.2020, but will finish at Wednesday 19.02.2020. To explain this I will assign John as Resource to both Tasks:

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and:

imageNow I will switch to the Task Usage View:

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OK! Task 2 has Duration = 5 days. 1 day is 8 hours:

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and:

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and:

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Since 1 day is 8 hours, 5 days is 40 hours. But at week from 10.02 working time is 4 hours per day, so john is going to work only 20 hours this week (from Monday to Friday), and remining work is 20 hours. But, at next week, from 17.02.2020. working time is again 8 hours per day, so John will work 8 hours at Monday and Tuesday (17. and 18.02.2020) and this is 16 hours. Remaining 4 hours John will work at Wednesday!

To conclude. Be aware that when you make working hours less than it is expected to be worked per day, Finish date will be postponed!

Regards,

Nenad

Posted in MICROSOFT PROJECT, MS PROJECT 2019, PRoject Management, Project Online | Tagged | Leave a comment

Task Progress tracking with MS Project for the Web

Posted on January 24, 2020 by

Hi,

today I will show you how can you track Task Progress using Microsoft Project for the web.

First I will create a project with two Tasks and Resources assigned to them:

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You can see those Tasks at Grid View:

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As you can see Task 1 has 2 days Duration and John assigned to it, and Task 2 has 3 days Duration and Nenad and Mary assigned to it.

When I click at Task 1 I’ve get:

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As you can see, Effort is calculated due to Duration of 2 days and one Resource assigned to the Task, e.g. John will work 2 days, 8 hours per day (in total = 16 hours), to complete the Task.

If I put, for example, 50% in % Complete, I’ll get:

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As you can see 8 hours (50% of 16) is Completed, and 8 hours is remaining. Let’s say that I know that John has completed 8 hours but he needs 24 hours more to work. I will put those 24 hours in Remaining and I will get:

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As you can see, now Total hours = 32 (8 completed + 24 remaining), and % Complete is 25% (8 hours completed / 32 total = 25%).

Now I will open second Task and I will get:

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As you can see Total is 48 hours. 3 days for Nenad plus 3 days for Mary is 24 hours for Nenad plus 24 hours for Mary = 48 hours. Here I can follow steps explained above. Where is the difference? When I track Task progress, I cannot put, for example, that Nenad has completed 8 hours and Mary has completed 16 hours. The only possibility I have here is to put how many hours are completed in Total to all resources assigned to the specific Task. So, if I put, for example 24 hours as completed, and 32 hours as remaining, I will get:

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So 24 hours are spent equally among Nenad and Mary (12 hours Nenad, and 12 hours Mary), and 32 hours remining means that Nenad should work 16 hours, and Mary as well.

% completed is 43% because 24 hours completed / 56 hours completed is 43%.

Regards. 

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When to use Fixed constraint and Resource Calendars in MS PROJECT 2019

Posted on January 14, 2020 by

Hi,

as you know there are three types of constraint in MS PROJECT 2019: Flexible, Semi flexible, and Hard. I wrote about those constraint long time ago (https://ntrajkovski.com/2011/04/12/constraints-and-deadline-in-ms-project/)

Today I will show you to use it in real life. Let me setup the Scenario. Let’s say that you need a Training for MS PROJECT and I am your Trainer. And the Training will be held USA, and I have to travel from Croatia (my homeland) to USA to train you. OK! We agreed that the training will be held from January, 20th (Monday) till January 24th (Friday). I’ve got my airplane ticket, and hotel booked, and – that’s it. No change in schedule. Here is the Project:

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As you can see, Training is just a part of a Project. There is a Task before the training, and after the training. I want to make sure that, no matter what will happen with Tasks before the Training task, my training does not move! First of all I will make it Fixed duration (because that’s what it is – duration is fixed):

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Now, I will create some Resources:

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OK! Now, let’s say that Mary suddenly finds out that she is going to be off at January 21th, and 22th (Tuesday and Wednesday):

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One last, but very important thing, I must mark the Training Task with Must Start on constraint, because, I as a trainer am going to start the training at Monday, January 21th no matter what. There is no postponing:

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and:

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OK! Now one final thing: assign Resources to the Task:

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If I switch to the Task Usage View, I will see:

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As expected, Mary will miss Tuesday and Wednesday for the Training.

What if Task Something before the training will be longer that planned (let’s say 10 days):

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and I will get:

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Everything looks great! Or not? Well, Since the Training is supposed to start after the Task: Something before training, and it will not, and since the training should not be postponed (for the reasons already mentioned) – you have a problem. Not MS PROJECT! You! And that is something which you should solve. And this is organizational, and not MS PROJECT problem.

Regards,

Nenad

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Columns in Grid View–Project for the Web

Posted on January 8, 2020 by

Hi,

today I will explain all fields available for Columns in Grid View in Project for the Web.

First of all I will crate a simple Project with some Resource assigned to Tasks:

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I’ve created the Schedule as well, using Timeline View:

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Here I can see (visually) the Gantt Chart, and relations between Tasks.

I can adjust Columns in Grid View:

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For this post I will add them all:

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Now let me explain those fields one by one:

  • Duration – Task duration. It can be entered or calculated according to Effort. For example, if I put effort for Task 1 = 24 hours (instead of 16), Duration will be 1,5 Days. Calculation is: 24 hours / 2 Resources = 12 hours per Resource, and 12 hours per Resource / 8 hours per day = 1,5 day!
  • Assigned to – Resource(s) to whom the Task is assigned
  • % complete – How much of Task is completed. I can put it, or it can be calculated by Effort completed. For example, if I put for Task 1 Effort completed = 18 hours, % completed will be 18 hours (Completed) /24 hours (Effort) = 0,75, e.g. 75%
  • Depents (after) – simply – Successor(s)
  • Bucket – in Which bucket is this Task (for example – Sprint 1, or Automation). If you need further explanation to Buckets, read some of my previous Blog Posts
  • Depends on – simply – Predecessor
  • Effort – total hours for all Resources on Task. Look in Duration above for explanation
  • Effort completed – how much of effort is already done. I can enter value here (see % completed), or it can be calculated if I enter % completed
  • Effort remaining – Effort – Effort completed
  • Finish – Task Finish date. For example see Task 1 and Task 2:

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Task 2 has Finish date – 01/10/2020. If I change it to, for example 01/13/2020 (Monday), I will move Strat date for Task 3, and the whole Schedule, as expected:

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  • Start – Task Start Date. It is Calculated, but If I change it, the whole Schedule will change, as well.
  • Of course, you don’t have to put all those fields in Columns, just one that you really need.

Hope this helps.

Regards!

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Can we Scrum with Project for the Web?

Posted on December 31, 2019 by

Hi,

Project for The Web has Boards, Grid and Timeline. But, the question is: “Can we manage Project in Agile, to be more specific – SCRUM Projects?”. The answer is – YES. Of course, in limited way, but still well enough!

I will first Create New Project called: Scrum

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As you already know, to assign Resources I have to create a Group, and I did it – also called “Scrum”.

In Scrum there are two Backlogs: Product Backlog and Sprint Backlog.

First of all I will create Features:

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And, this is my Product Backlog.

Now I will create Sprint Backlog boards:

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As you can see I have four Buckets: Backlog, Sprint 1, Sprint 2, and Sprint 3.

Features will never have Resources assigned to them. On the other hand, Tasks will always have! Let’s say tat I have Sprint Planning, and that we broke Feature 1 and Feature 2 to Tasks, and then those Tasks are going to be part of Sprint 1.

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and I will add one Task:

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I will repeat steps above and when I’ll finish I will have:

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Now I have two possibilities. If I switch to Boards I’ll see:

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I can Move Feature 1 with Task 1, 2 and 3 (which belongs to this Feature) to Sprint 1, and Feature 2 with Task 4, 5, 6 and 7 (which belongs to that Feature) to Sprint 1 as well:

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You don’t see Task 6 and 7 because they didn’t fit to my screen Smile

Other options is to Make Features as Summary Tasks:

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and then I will get:

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When I jump to the Boards I will have:

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As you can see Feature 1 is gone! This is because Summary Tasks are never showed on any board, only Subtasks are!

OK! Now let’s look on Kanban Board (or Group by Progress):

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Let’s say that John takes Task 1. I will Assign him to that task And I will move it to In progress Bucket:

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As you can see, I’ve assign John to the Task, and I also put that this Task is 25% completed, and Remaining work is 16 hours. But since Task is 25% completed, Project will put 4 hours in Completed Effort, and 12 hours in Remaining effort:

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We all know that in Scrum theory there should be no dependencies between Tasks. But, in real life, they exists. Let’s say that Task 1 is something like Install operating system to the Laptop, and Task 2 is Install MS PROJECT 2019 to the Laptop. I will put dependency between them:

image   and I will get:

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Finally, let’s say that Task 1 is finished:

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I can see it in Sprint 1 Bucket like:

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By default, all completed Tasks are hidden, but I can see them if I choose to.

To conclude, you can Manage Scrum with Project for the Web in very efficient ways. What you cannot do is calculate Capacity and Velocity. If you need those two, that move to the Azure DevOps, TFS, or something similar.

At the end, Happy new your my dear Blog Readers. I wish you Happy New 2020 year.

Best Regards,

Nenad

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How to use Boards group by Bucket in Project for Web

Posted on December 10, 2019 by

Hi,

in my previous post I’ve explained how to use Microsoft Project for the Web, using Board – Group by Progress.

Today I will show you how to use Board  group by Buckets.

OK. I have a Project, which looks like this:

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I will now switch to Group by Bucket:

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What is this? Let me explain this Board by example. Let’s say that you are working on Software Development Project. And each and every Task should be analyzed, then developed, then tested,  and then it is done. Pleas do not kill me because I know this is old way of developing software, but I promise you that in one of my next posts I will show you how to do Scrum in Project for Web.

OK! First I will rename Bucket1 with Analyzing:

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and then:

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Now I will add (using Add bucket) button, Developing, Testing and Done buckets:

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OK. Now, let’s say that Task 1 is Analyzed, and it is moved to Developing. I will drag it from Analyzing bucket and drop it to Developing:

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Be aware of this: When you move any Task from bucket to bucket, % Complete wouldn’t change. Obviously since Task is analyzed, and moved to development some work is already done. I can use many was to change % Complete. First is that I can click on this Task and put, for example 25%:

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Or, I can go to the Board – Group by Progress, and change it there:

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As you can see, Task 1 I moved to in Progress, because I put 25% in % Complete (in board – Group by Bucket!)

Now I will move form this board Task 2 to in Progress, and it will be automatically marked ad 50% completed:

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As you can see, Task2 is 50% completed, but it is still in Analyzing Bucket. Why? Because from here you are tracking progress, not phases (Analyzing, Developing, etc.). Task 2 is marked ad 50% completed. But, let’s say that it is also 25% completed, and it has to be in Developing Bucket. Can I do it from Group by Progress bucket? Sure I can. I will click on this particular Task and I will put 25% at % Complete, but I will also choose Developing bucket:

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and I will get:

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IF I switch to the Group by Bucket board, I will see:

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Now, let’s say that Task 1 was passed Testing phase, and it is Done. I can move it to the Done column in this Board, but it will not be in Done column in Group by Progress board, unless I mark it like 100% done. So I’m going to do it:

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Finally I will click on Task 1 and put 100% in % Complete field and I will get:

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Task 1 is disappeared, because it is done , but if I click on Completed (see the picture above), I will get:

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If I go back to Group by Progress board, I will see:

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Remember this. No matter in which board am I, if I put 0% Complete Task will jump into Not started column. If I put value greater than 0% and less then 100% it will jump in In Progress column. If I put 100%, then it will  jump in Completed column.

To conclude: Group by Progress Board is not editable (e.g. you cannot change bucket name, or add a bucket). It is here for Tracking purpose only, e.g is any progress according to time done (25%, 37%, etc.).

On the other hand: Group by Bucket Board is fully editable, and you can add buckets. It is here for organizing purpose. Imagine that I have 1300 Tasks. Some of them may be Architectural, some may be Constructional, etc. Let’s say that I’m tracking Constructional project, and I am going to track building a house. Some Tasks ca be related to ground floor, some for the first floor, some for roof, etc.

OR! Sprints! And that is what I’m going cover in ma next post!

Regards!

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How to use Boards group by Progress in Project for Web

Posted on December 6, 2019 by

Hi,

In my previous Posts I’ve created a simple Project for Web:

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This is View in Grid. Now let’s see Board Tab:

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All tasks are here! In the upper right corner I can choose between three type of Boards:

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So Board can be grouped by Buckets (as you can see in the picture above), Progress or Finish Date. I will now switch to the Progress and I will get:

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Here are three Buckets: Not Started, In Progress and Completed. And, basically, it is Kanban Board. And in this View there is no possibility to add/edit&remove any bucket.

Now I will drag and drop Task one to the In Progress bucket, and I will get:

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Automatically it is 50% completed! But, let’s say that it is 75% completed. All I have to do is to click at that Task and I will get:

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As you can see, when I put 75% in %Complete field, automatic calculation is made like this one:

  • Nenad and John were supposed to work on Task which have 1 day Duration, e.g. 8 hours Nenad + 8 hours John = 16 hours – Total
  • Task is 75% Completed, e.g. 16 hours * 75% = 12 hours – Completed
  • 16 hours – Total – 12 hours Completed = 4 hours Remaining

With this screen I can do many other things and that is going to be explained in separate post, but for now, you should know That moving to In progress Bucket means that some work has to be done. If I put 0% in the % Complete field, Task will automatically “jump” into Not Started bucket.

If I move Task to Completed bucket, I will get:

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As you can see, Task is marked as Completed 100%. If I put in % Completed field value other than 100% then Task will “jump” into In Progress bucket (if % Completed is greater than 0%), or in Not Started bucket (if % Completed is equal 0%).

In my next Post I will when and how you how to use Group By Bucket View!

Stay tuned, and Best regards!

Posted in PMI, Project for Web | Tagged | Leave a comment