Multiple Critical Paths in MS PROJECT 2013

Posted on April 14, 2015 by Nenad Trajkovski

Hi,

today I will show you how to use Option: Calculate multiple critical paths in MS PROJECT 2013!

What is Critical Path indeed?  This is the longest path which show you how long will a Project Duration be. It is also a path in which if any task is late, the whole Project will be late. So, it has no Slack!

OK! Let me create brand new Project:

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or, graphical View:

image

Now I’ll switch to Detail Gantt View:

image

As you can see Critical path is on upper branch of Tasks. Task 4, and Task 5 have Slack = 9 days. It means that they can slip for 9 days without affecting Project end date.

Because Task 4, and Task 5 are in independent branch you can consider this branch Critical as well. So, if you want to see those Tasks as critical you should follow this steps:

image 

then:

image

and then:

image

and you will get:

image

Now you see both branches (independent) as Critical.

Let me give you an advice. It doesn’t make a sense to have multiple independent branches in a Project. You should always have one common Task at the end of the Project, or at least, one milestone. I always have a milestone at the end of the Project.

I will create one and I will put Task 3, and Task 6 as Predecessors to that milestone:

image  

Let’s look at Detail Gantt again:

image

Now, I have only one Critical Path, and Option: Calculate multiple critical paths is still on.

And this is best practice how to make right Schedule for your Project. To conclude, avoid independent branches in you Project!

 

Regards!

Posted in MICROSOFT PROJECT, Microsoft PRoject 2010, Microsoft Project 2013, PMI, PRoject Management | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Status Date line in MS Project 2013!

Posted on April 8, 2015 by Nenad Trajkovski

Hi,

I’ve got a simple question from one of my Blog readers: “Hi, in your examples I can see Status Date in a Gantt Chart View. But I can not see it in my Projects. How to get this?”

The answer is very simple, and I will show you how to get it with MS PROJECT 2013!

First I’m going to create new Project like this:

image

You can see a thin green line which show the Current Date. Now I’m going to set the Status Date for My Project:

image 

and I’ll get:

image

As you can see It is not visible at the Gantt Chart. Now, follow next steps:

image

and then:

image

and you will get:

image

IT is easy, isn’t it?

Regards!

Posted in MICROSOFT PROJECT, Microsoft PRoject 2010, Microsoft Project 2013, MS PROJECT 2010, PMI, PRoject Management | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Split in progress Task option in MS PROJECT 2013!

Posted on April 1, 2015 by Nenad Trajkovski

Hi,

My very good friend Ben Howard, find a problem, and a solution. I will share it with you. But before you continue to read this Post please taka a look on his great site: www.applepark.co.uk. Do I have to mention that he is MVP? No, I do not!

I will first create a brand new Project in MS PROJECT 2013:

image

I have two Tasks, both with 5 days Duration, and Task 2 is successor of Task 1. I want that Task 1, start exactly at 31.3.2015, and I will make a Hard “Must Start On” constraint on it:

image

and I will get:

image

Now suppose that I’m 80% done with Task 1:

image

and then:

image

and I will get:

image

Now I will set Status date to Friday, April the 3th:

image

and I will move uncompleted work after the Status Date:

image

and I will get:

image

As you can see, nothing happened, as expected. Suppose now that I started with work on Task 2, at April the 1st:

image

and then:

image

I will get:

image

 

Is it a Bug? No it is not. Even if I said that I was started with Task at April the 1st, Status date is April the 3th so it can not be actually started before Status date.

But if I want to do it anyway I can first uncheck this option:

image

and then:

image

and then:

image

Now if I move Project to status date, and enter Actual Start to April the 1st (I will not repeat Pictures which you can see above), I will get:

image

So I got, what I want.

Remember, with Split in-progress tasks, you can report Task progress ahead of the Schedule once you Reschedule Project after the Status Date!

 

Thanks Ben 🙂

Regards!

Posted in Microsoft PRoject 2010, Microsoft Project 2013, MS PROJECT 2010, PMI, PRoject Management | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Duration with different Resources working time in MS PROJECT 2013!

Posted on March 19, 2015 by Nenad Trajkovski

Hi,

with permission of my MVP friend Gérard Ducouret I will explain how different Resources working time affect Task duration in MS Project 2013!

I will show you on the example. First, I will create (as I always do), the brand new Project:

image

I will create two Resources, one will work 8 hours per day, and the other 7 hours per day:

 image

I will now change Standard Calendar for Resource – 7 hours:

image

and then:

image

As you can see, this Resource will work only 7 hours per day.

No I will assign Those Resources to Tasks:

image

Both, Task 1, and Task 2 has 10 days Duration, but the whole Project has 11,38 days of Duration. Why? Let’s look at the Task Usage View (I will make two Pictures):

image

As you can see Task 1 will be finished at Tuesday 31.3.2015 (two day later than Task 1).

Here is the second part of Task Usage View:

image

Both Task need 40 hours of work to be done! Why? Hit File Tab, then Options, and then:

image

So to finish each Task with 10 day Duration it will be needed for 80 hours (10 days * 8 hours per day)

Task 2 will be done with Resource who will work 8 hours per day, so it will start at Monday, and it will be Finished next Friday, because 80 hours = 80 / 8 hours per day = 10 days,

Task 1 will be done with Resource who will work 7 hours per day, so it will start at Monday, and it will be Finished at Tuesday after two weeks. Where the 11,38 days is coming from? If you look at the second picture form the Task Usage View, you will see that Resource – 7 hours per day will work 11 full days (7 hours per day), and at last day it will work only 3 hours, eg 3/8 = 0,38 days. So 11+0,38 = 11,38 days.

I know what you do not understand! Why is duration for Task 1 = 10 days! Frankly, I do not know. From my point of view  it should be 11,38

Now let’s look at the Detail View:

image

This is Fixed Units Task type.

But what if you want that both Task have 10 days duration, no matter who will work on them, and how many hours will someone work on them?

I will now change this to Task to Fixed Duration type:

image

Now Task has “right” Duration, but that is not what I want! I will change Duration to 10 days:

image

and I will get:

image

or / and (Second Picture):

image

It’s tricky, isn’t it?

Regards!

Posted in MICROSOFT PROJECT, Microsoft PRoject 2010, Microsoft Project 2013, PMI, PRoject Management | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Updating Project to status date versus Leveling in MS PROJECT 2013

Posted on March 12, 2015 by Nenad Trajkovski

Hi,

yesterday I was teaching one of my Blog Readers about Leveling and Updating Projects in MS PROJECT 2013. The main problem was that after updating Project over allocated resources are still over allocated. I will explain the difference between those two things. I will not going to deep in Leveling in this Post.

Let me create The brand new Project:

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and I will create one Resource:

image

Finally I am going to assign John to all Tasks:

image

Obviously, John is very, very over allocated.

Let say that John has Finished Task 1, and Task 4, and 50% of Task 2, and then he got Sick:

image

Now suppose that today is Friday, 13.03.2015, and we are going to update our Project to get Real Situation before we go home and spend wonderful weekend:

image

I will now update this Project:

image

and I will get:

image

as you can see, John is still over allocated. Why? Because I rescheduled Project after status date and get real situation. With this option you will never resolve Over Allocation. This is not a bug, OK, now suppose that I talked to John and I asked him why he got sick? The answer can be: “Because I am working far to much per day!” So I want to be sure that John is not Over allocated any more. Firs I will look at the Resource Usage View:

image

Now I know that John has to work 16 hours per day at Monday, Tuesday , and Wednesday. Now I will Level him:

image

and I will get:

image

As you can see John will work on Task 5, after Task 3, from Friday to Tuesday, and he is not over allocated any more. So there is a huge difference between Updating Project to status date versus Leveling Resources, and you should be aware of it.

Regards!

Posted in MICROSOFT PROJECT, Microsoft PRoject 2010, Microsoft Project 2013, PMI, PRoject Management | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Critical Path in Timeline View with MS PROJECT 2013!

Posted on March 6, 2015 by Nenad Trajkovski

Hi, there is a question from one MS PROJECT user:

“Hi! In the MS PROJECT 2013, is it possible to have the critical path displayed in the timeline View?”

This Post will be short, because it is easy to do it. Firs I will create new Project:

image

and in graphical part of the Gantt Chart:

image

Now I will show a Critical Path:

image

and then:

image

and I will get:

 image

Notice that Critical Path is Path on which if any Activity is Late, the whole Project will be late!

 

Now I’m going to filter onbly Critical Tasks:

image

and I will get:

image

No I will Select all Tasks, right click and:

image

and I will get:

image

Critical Task are now on the Timeline View. Notice that if you add or change some Tasks on the Critical Path that will be automatically reflected on the Timeline View. On the other hand, If you add new Task in Critical Path, it will not be at the Timeline View automatically. And, do not forget to turn your filter off 🙂

 

Regards,

Nenad

Posted in MICROSOFT PROJECT, Microsoft PRoject 2010, Microsoft Project 2013, MS PROJECT 2010, PMI, PRoject Management | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Importing Resources from Excel into MS PROJECT 2013

Posted on February 27, 2015 by Nenad Trajkovski

Hi,

my Blog reader has a problem:

“Hi Nenad, I am Carlos Altamirano from Ecuador, South America. First of all I want to thank you very much for your always useful and concise work your are doing with your excellent blog. I have a problem importing resources excel files into project 2013, it’s simply doesn’t work; even that I have exported the resource sheet and then try to import the same sheet, do you have any ideas? The import wizard works with tasks, but doesn´t work with resources.

Thanks and best regards,
Carlos”

I do not know why Carlos has a Problem, but I will show you how to do it (and it will work :-)) in MS PROJECT 2013

First I’m going to create Resource sheet in excel without using any template. Suppose that I know: Resource Names, Resource Types, Max Units, Standard and Overtime Rates:

image

I will create new Project in MS PROJECT

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and I will import my Resources form excel.

Step #1:

image

Step #2:

image

Step #3:

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Step #4:

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Step #5:

image

Step #6:

image

Step #7: Here you should know which Column from Excel (1,2,3,…) Matches which Field in Project:

image

I am going to match them

Step #8:

image 

Step #9:

image

if you want to reuse this map, I can save it.

Finally I’ll get:

image 

Simple as that.

 

Regards!

Posted in MICROSOFT PROJECT, Microsoft PRoject 2010, Microsoft Project 2013, PMI, PRoject Management | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

How to create graphic indicator for Task Status in MS PROJECT 2013

Posted on February 16, 2015 by Nenad Trajkovski

Hi,

here is the question from one of my Blog Reader: “Hi Nenad, You are a lifesaver my friend 🙂 many thanks .., Another question, is there anyway I can color-code the various statuses ? so if LATE then show in RED, on schedule Green and so on ..

Many thanks

Zak”

Here is the answer in MS PROJECT 2013!

First, I’m going to create brand new Project:

image

I will add the Status field in my Project, as well:

image

Now I will set the Status date to Thursday, Feb 19th:

image

and I will get:

image

Now I’m going to create Custom field, step by step:

image

and then:

image

and:

image

 

image

and:

image

Value 1 means – On time, value 2 means – Late, and value 3 means – Future. Now I will show this custom field in Gantt Chart, and I will get:

image

It’s easy!

 

Regards,

Nenad

Posted in MICROSOFT PROJECT, Microsoft PRoject 2010, Microsoft Project 2013, MS PROJECT 2010, PMI, PRoject Management | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Reschedule uncompleted work and SNET constraint in MS PROJECT 2013

Posted on February 4, 2015 by Nenad Trajkovski

Hi,

I have a question form my Blog Reader:

“Hi Nenad
I have the issue. My tasks are all set to automatically scheduled. I update actuals weekly and once completed I update the project and select ‘reschedule uncompleted work to start after xxxxx’ . MS project then automatically sets a ‘start no earlier’ constraint with date date(xxxxx) on some of my tasks. I then manually need to remove them the next time i want to update the schedule. Any ideas what is driving this behavior would be appreciated.
Thanks
Carol”

I will explain this “issue” in MS PROJECT 2013!

First I will crate simple Project:

image

As you can see My Project is supposed to start at Feb, 2th and to finish at Feb, 9th. Suppose that I finished Task 1 on time, so I will mark this Task as 100% completed:

image 

and I’ll get:

image

Now suppose, that today is Friday, 6th, and that I didn’t start with work on Task 2 nor Task 3. So I want to reschedule uncompleted work after this date.

I will first set the Status Date to Friday, 6th:

image

and I will reschedule uncompleted Tasks after this date:

image

I will get:

image

You can see the Calendar Icon in Information Column. For Task 2, and Task 3  it says:

image

WHY? Is this a Bug. No, it’s not. It is logical. Because TODAY is Friday 6th, Task 2 and Task 3 can’t start before that date. So those Task can start at that date and later, but not before, because that will be back to the Past. How can you start to work on soma Tasks in the Past? You can not. So, my suggestion is: Update all your Tasks with actuals, for example, each Friday, and then Reschedule uncompleted work after that Friday and you will get the Real situation in your Project. And yes, some Tasks will have SNET constraint!

Hope this helps.

Best Regards,

Nenad

Posted in MICROSOFT PROJECT, Microsoft PRoject 2010, Microsoft Project 2013, MS PROJECT 2010, PMI | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Lead time in relative Terms with MS PROJECT 2013

Posted on February 1, 2015 by Nenad Trajkovski

Hi,

Lead is time which allow Successor Task to start before Predecessor is finished, and still keep Finish To Start relationship. I wrote about that in my Blog Post: https://ntrajkovski.com/2011/04/12/scheduling-problems-in-ms-project-2010-part-2/

Let’s see how to make it relative in MS PROJECT 2013! Let’s say that we have four Tasks in software Development:

image

Now suppose that I want to Start with Design after half on Analyze is done, than with Developing after half of Design is done, and with Coding after half of Developing is done. I’ll show you how to do it with Design Task, and for the other Tasks the procedure is the same:

image

After I repeat this steps for other two Tasks I will get:

image

Everything look perfect! Bu now suppose that Duration of my Tasks are, for some Reasons 6 days instead of four:

image

As you can see now, Design will not star after Analyze is half done, but two day before it is finished. To make sure that it will start after the Predecessor is half done I will change the Relationship for all Task like this:

image

After I repeat those steps for all my Tasks I’ll get:

image

As you can see, I got what I wanted. If I now change Duration like:

  • Analyze = 2 days
  • Design = 4 days
  • Develop = 6 days
  • Code = 2days

I will get:

image

As you can see, every Successor will start when Predecessor is 50% finished.

It’s easy.

Dear Blog readers, please kindly receive my apologies because I do not promptly response to your questions but I’m very busy at the moment. You will get the answers as soon as I have time to response

 

Regards,

Nenad

Posted in MICROSOFT PROJECT, Microsoft PRoject 2010, Microsoft Project 2013, MS PROJECT 2010, PMI, PRoject Management | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment