Adjusting the Schedule

L E S S O N 3 Adjusting the Schedule Suggested lesson time 45-55 minutes Lesson objectives To be able to manage future tasks, you will: a b Adjust future tasks. You will adjust future tasks by changing task durations and constraints. Create an interim plan. You will set a basis for comparison of later project stages by creating an interim plan. 3-1

Microsoft Project 2000: Level 2 Ashbury Training a Adjusting the Schedule of Future Tasks As a project progresses, you will want to reassess what you know about project tasks that are not yet complete, and enter or change any relevant information to reschedule future tasks. As project information changes, compare the current schedule to the original plan. To indicate that a task will take more or less time than was scheduled, you can enter the duration in the Task Sheet displayed in the Gantt Chart view. If both the duration and the start or finish dates of a task must be changed, you can make the necessary modifications in the Update Tasks dialog box. You can enter the % Complete, the Actual Start or the Actual Finish dates, or both, (in that order) and enter the Actual Duration. Let's change the duration and the constraint on some tasks. Task A-1: Changing task duration Before you begin: Task adjustments might affect the schedule. For example, a task's duration changes, a task cannot start as soon as expected, resource assignments have changed, a task is canceled, or a task is added. The Tracking toolbar is displayed. 1. Open the file C:\Student\Adjust Plan. 2. On the Tracking toolbar, click the Project Statistics button to display the Project Statistics dialog box. 3. Look at the Current Start date. It is 1/20/03. 4. What is the Current Finish date? The Current Finish Date is 3/28/03. 5. Look at the Actual Start, Cost, and Work fields. These values have been calculated based on information that has been entered since the project started. 6. Click Close to close the Project Statistics dialog box. 7. Click the Zoom Out button to view the current start and finish dates of the project. 8. Click in the Duration field for Task 12 (Write Content). Type 5 wand press [Enter]. The Planning Wizard dialog box is displayed. It indicates that changing the duration will create a scheduling conflict. 9. Select Continue. Allow The Scheduling Conflict and click OK to increase the task's duration from 1 month to 5 weeks. 10. Look at the Gantt Chart. Notice that the bar changes to illustrate the new duration. This task is now on the critical path. 11. On the Tracking toolbar, click the Project Statistics button. 12. What is the Current Finish date for the project? The Current Finish date is 4/2/03. 13. Look at the Finish Variance. The Finish Variance is the difference between the Baseline Finish and the Current Finish dates. 14. Click Close. 3-2

Ashbury Training Lesson 3: Adjusting the Schedule Changing Task Constraints To update your schedule, you can use the same techniques that you used to create your plan. For example, to change a constraint on a task after the project has started, use the Task Information dialog box, just as you did when you created your plan. Let's change the constraint on task 25. Task A-2: Changing task constraints q Objective: To change the constraint for task 25. The CEO is willing to extend the completion date to 4/2/03. Before you begin: The file Adjust Plan appears in the project window. 1. For task 25 (Book Complete), look at the Gantt Chart. The current milestone is at 3/28. 2. Double-click on task 25 to display the Task Information dialog box. 3. Select the Advanced tab. 4. In the Constraint Type text box, verify that Finish No Later Than is displayed. 5. In the Constraint Date text box, type 4/2/03. 6. Click OK to close the Task Information dialog box. The Detail Gantt Chart The Detail Gantt Chart is a visual representation of Start Variance and free slack. It allows you to view information about task slippage and available slack time. Slippage refers to the time that a task has been postponed from its original baseline plan. This can occur when actual dates are entered for a task that are later than the baseline dates, or the actual durations are longer than the baseline durations. The term slack time (sometimes referred to as float time) is used to describe the amount of time a task can slide before it affects the dates of other tasks or the project's finish date. Slack is divided into two categories: free slack and total slack. Free slack is the amount of time a task can slide before it affects other tasks. Total slack is the amount of time a task can slide before it affects the project's finish date. The thin, olive bars preceding the thicker schedule bars correspond to the slippage. The thin, green bars following the thicker schedule bars correspond to the slack. Let's use the Detail Gantt Chart to look at the slippage of tasks. 3-3

Microsoft Project 2000: Level 2 Ashbury Training Task A-3: Using the Detail Gantt view q Objective: To look at the slippage of tasks. Before you begin: The file Adjust Plan appears in the project window. 1. Display the More Views dialog box. 2. In the Views list box, select Detail Gantt and click Apply to apply the Detail Gantt view. 3. Look at the Detail Gantt Chart. There are thin, olive bars and thin, green bars in addition to the thicker schedule bar. 4. Go to task 16 (Check Grammar, Spelling, and Proofread). 5. Place the mouse pointer over the olive bar (slippage) for task 16. The thin, olive bars preceding the thicker schedule bars correspond to the slippage. Slippage is the Start Variance for each task shown in the Task Sheet. This task has slipped six days. 6. Place the mouse pointer over the green bar (slack) for task 10 (Outline Complete). The thin, green bars following the thicker schedule bars correspond to the slack. Slack is the amount of time a task can be delayed before it delays a successor task. This task has one day of slack. 7. Save the file as My Adjust Plan. 3-4

Ashbury Training Lesson 3: Adjusting the Schedule b Setting and Displaying an Interim Plan Creating an Interim-Plan Table At some point, you may want to create an interim plan to which you can compare your project dates at later stages. You can modify a table or create your own table to view baseline-plan, interim-plan, and current-plan information. To modify a table, it's recommended that you copy it and modify the copy. To copy a table: 1. Choose View, More Views. 2. Select the view you want to copy and click Apply. 3. Choose View, Table, More Tables. 4. Select the table that you want to copy and click Copy.After you copy a table, you can then use the Table Definition dialog box to modify the table. You can cut, copy, paste, insert, and delete rows. Task B-1: Creating an interim-plan table q Objective: To create a table that compares the baseline plan with the plan's current statistics. Before you begin: The file My Adjust Plan appears in the project window. 1. Apply the Task Sheet view. 2. Look at the Start and Finish Var. fields. You're going to copy this view to capture the fields you want. You don't need the Start and Finish Var. fields, so you're going to delete those fields to make room for other fields. 3. Choose View, Table: Variance, More Tables to display the More Tables dialog box. This is the first time that students have an opportunity to modify a table. Emphasize the general procedure for modifying a table. Point out that in the future, students can use this method to modify tables to meet their needs. Emphasize the reasons for making a copy of the Variance table and modifying the copy. The purpose is to allow the original Variance table to remain intact. 4. In the Tables list box, select Variance, if necessary, and click Copy to make a copy of the Variance table. This ensures that changes can be made to the Variance table without changing the original copy. The Table Definition dialog box is displayed. 5. In the Name text box, type Interim Plan. Let's first delete a few rows in your new table. 6. In the Field Name field, select Start Variance and click Delete Row to delete this row from the new table. 7. Verify that Finish Variance is selected in the Field Name field and click Delete Row. 8. Under Field Name, verify that the insertion point is below Baseline Finish. You're going to add a new field. 3-5

Microsoft Project 2000: Level 2 Ashbury Training 9. Display the Field Name entry bar drop-down list. Type s to move to the field names beginning with the letter "S". 10. Select Start1 and press [Enter] to move below Start1. 11. Display the entry bar list and type f. Select Finish1 and press [Enter]. 12. Click OK to accept the changes to the table and close the Table Definition dialog box. 13. Look at the More Tables list box. The Interim Plan appears in the list and is selected. 14. Click Apply to apply the new Variance table called Interim Plan, and close the More Tables dialog box. 15. Look at the Interim Plan table. The Variance fields have been replaced by Start1 and Finish1. There are no values in the Start1 and Finish1 fields. 3-6

Ashbury Training Lesson 3: Adjusting the Schedule Interim Plans As your project progresses, you can set an interim plan to use as a basis for comparison in the later stages of your project. You can set up to ten interim plans by copying the current Scheduled Start and Scheduled Finish dates into their corresponding fields (from Start1/Finish1 through Start10/Finish10). To set an interim plan: 1. Choose Tools, Tracking, Save Baseline. 2. In the Save Baseline dialog box, select Save Interim Plan. 3. Verify that the Copy and Into information is correct. 4. Click OK. Task B-2: Setting an interim plan q Objective: To capture the plan dates at this point for future reference. Before you begin: The file My Adjust Plan appears in the project window. The Task Sheet view is active. 1. Choose Tools, Tracking, Save Baseline to display the Save Baseline dialog box. 2. Select Save Interim Plan. 3. Look at the Copy and Into information that has been entered automatically. The values in the Start and Finish fields are copied into the Start1 and Finish1 fields, respectively. 4. Click OK to create an interim plan. 5. Look at the Interim Plan table. The information in the Start and Finish fields has been copied into the Start1 and Finish1 fields. The # symbols indicate that the column is not wide enough to display the information. 6. Double-click on the column border to the right of the Start heading to widen the Start column. 7. Widen any other columns as appropriate. 3-7

Microsoft Project 2000: Level 2 Ashbury Training 8. Look at the information for task 12 (Write Content). The Start and Finish fields represent the current status of each task. This information can change as the project progresses. The Baseline Start and Baseline Finish represent the original status of each task, before the project began. This information will not change. The Start1 and Finish1 fields will be a record of each task's status at this point. This information will not change. 9. Save the file. Copying a Chart Once you have set an interim plan, you can customize the Tracking Gantt Chart to display bars based on the Start1/Finish1 dates. It's good practice to keep the original chart intact. Therefore, it's recommended that you modify a copy of the chart. To copy a chart: 1. Choose View, More Views. 2. In the Views list box, select the view that you want to copy. 3. Click Copy. 4. Type the name of your new view. 5. Click OK. 6. Click Apply. Let's copy a view. Task B-3: Copying the Tracking Gantt Chart q Objective: You want to add the interim plan bars. To be able to modify the Tracking Gantt Chart and still be able to access the original, you must make a copy. Before you begin: The file My Adjust Plan appears in the project window. The Task Sheet view is active. 1. Display the More Views dialog box, and in the Views list box, select Tracking Gantt and click Copy to create a copy of the Tracking Gantt Chart to be modified. This will ensure that you can change the Tracking Gantt Chart without changing the original copy. The View Definition dialog box is displayed. 2. In the Name text box, type Interim Tracking Gantt to name the new chart. 3. Click OK to close the View Definition dialog box. The Interim Tracking Gantt appears in the Views list box and is selected. 4. Click Apply to view the Interim Tracking Gantt. Notice there are no changes in the chart yet. This is simply a copy of the Tracking Gantt. 3-8

Ashbury Training Lesson 3: Adjusting the Schedule Customizing a Chart To customize a chart, you can use the Format menu choice. There are several ways to format; for example, by changing the text style, the bar styles, the layout, and the timescale. To modify the bar style of the Gantt Chart, choose Format, Bar Styles. You can modify existing bars by changing such characteristics as their appearance, what they are used to show, and where they begin and end. You can also define new bars in addition to what already exists, or you can delete existing bars. You can change the shape at the beginning, middle, or end of a bar as well. If you need more space between the rows of task bars in a chart, change the number of rows in the Bar Style dialog box. By changing the number of rows to two, you place twice as much space between task bars. The timescale, gridlines, and text in a chart can all be modified through the Format menu choice. To specifically modify a Gantt Chart, the GanttChartWizard is also available in the Format menu and as a button on the Standard toolbar. Task B-4: Customizing the Interim Tracking Gantt q Objective: To modify the copy of the Tracking Gantt Chart. Before you begin: The file My Adjust Plan appears in the project window. The Interim Tracking Gantt view is active. 1. Choose Format, Bar Styles to display the Bar Styles dialog box. 2. Look at the fields in the Bar Styles dialog box. Each row contains the name of the bar, information about the type of bar to display, and the fields on which the length of the bar depends. 3. In the Name field, select Baseline. 4. Click Insert Row. A blank row is added above the Baseline row. 5. Type Interim Plan 1. 6. In the Interim Plan 1 row, click on the Appearance field. 3-9

Microsoft Project 2000: Level 2 Ashbury Training 7. At the bottom of the dialog box under Middle, display the Shape drop-down list. Select the fourth bar from the top. 8. Under Middle, display the Color drop-down list and select Purple. 9. Look at the Show For...Tasks field. This is a filter used to identify the tasks for which the bar can be used. If no tasks are identified here, this bar is shown for all tasks. 10. Change the Row field to 2. 11. In the Interim Plan 1 row, click on the From field. From the entry bar list, select Start1 to identify where the bar is to begin. 12. In the Interim Plan 1 row, click on the To field. From the entry bar list, select Finish1. As a demonstration, you might want to change the duration to see what happens to the bars. 13. Click OK to close the Bar Styles dialog box. 14. Look at the changes to some of the bars in the chart. 15. Choose View, Toolbars, Tracking to hide the display of the Tracking toolbar. 16. Save and close the file. 3-10

Ashbury Training Lesson 3: Adjusting the Schedule 3-11

Microsoft Project 2000: Level 2 Ashbury Training Practice Task In this activity, you will create an interim-plan table and set an interim plan for a project file. 1. Open the file C:\Student\Practice Interim. 2. Change the current date to 1/22/04. 3. Create an interim-plan table named Interim by modifying the Variance table. Delete the Start Variance and Finish Variance fields and replace them with Start1 and Finish1 fields. 4. Use the Save Baseline dialog box and save the interim plan for the entire project. 5. Look at the Interim table and widen columns, if necessary. 6. Save the file as My Practice Interim. 7. Compare your Interim table with the table in Figure 3-1. 8. Close the file. Figure 3-1: The Interim table after the interim plan has been set. 3-12

Ashbury Training Lesson 3: Adjusting the Schedule ) Wrap-up for Lesson 3 a List some scenarios that might change future tasks. Answers might include: A resource is not available until a later (or earlier) date. A task's duration is longer than expected due to unforeseen difficulties. A task is finished earlier than expected. What does the Detail Gantt view illustrate? The Detail Gantt view allows you to view information about task slippage and available slack time. b What is the difference between a baseline plan and an interim plan? A baseline plan is a copy of the plan at the beginning of the project. Interim plans are set as the project progresses. 3-13