A task is an activity that is completed to reach a project goal. For example, when planning for a charity golf tournament, a task could be "set tournament date and time" or "prepare preliminary budget."
Task duration is the prediction of time it will take to complete a task.
A predecessor task is a task that must be completed before the next task can start. A task that has a predecessor is called a successor task. Project managers often use the term task dependency when referring to how the predecessor or successor tasks are connected. A task dependency is a relationship between two tasks that defines which task(s) have to finish before the next task(s) can start. A task dependency is often called a task link.
A constraint is a limitation set on a task. For example, a task of "create tournament website" may have a constraint of "finish no later than" a certain date to ensure the website is up and running in time to gather enough registrations for the event. Besides setting specific date constraints on a task, the following task constraints can be set on an individual task:
- As late as possible
- As soon as possible
- Finish no earlier than
- Finish no later than
- Must finish on
- Must start on
- Start no earlier than
- Start no later than
A resource is work, a material, or a cost associated with a project task. Work resources are people and equipment. Material resources are resources consumed during the project. Cost resources are independent costs associated with a task. For example, a task of "provide transportation from the airport" may have a cost of "$2,000 limousine service."
The scope of a project is what must be completed to deliver a specific product or service.
A milestone is a task that is used to communicate project progress or mark a significant point in a project such as the end of a project phase. Milestones are entered into the Project 2016 software as a task with zero duration. For example, a milestone for the charity golf tournament could be "tournament website goes live." By default, Project 2016 displays a milestone as a diamond in the Gantt chart. A Gantt chart is a graphical representation of tasks where tasks are shown against a timeline displayed as horizontal bars in which the length of the bar is determined by the activities durations and start/finish dates.
The Project Information button is found in the Properties group on the Project tab. The Project Information dialog box is used to update various aspects of a project such as the project's start date or finish date, current date, status date, project base calendar, etc. Before entering specific task information for a project, the project's information should be identified. First, one must select whether the project will be scheduled from Start date or from Finish date. Project Start date is the date Project 2016 uses to schedule tasks that will calculate the project's Finish date. Scheduling a project by Start date is the most commonly used scheduling method. Project Finish date is the date Project 2016 uses to schedule tasks that will calculate the project's Start date. Scheduling projects by Finish date, while less common, helps determine the latest date a project can start and still finish by that finish date. A project can only be scheduled by Start date or Finish date, not by both. Start date is the default in the software.
The Status date is the date set to run reports on a project's progress. For example, if a weekly team meeting is on Monday morning to review the current status of the project for the week ahead, the Status date may be set to the Friday before the Monday morning meeting. To run status reports, a project baseline must be set. A baseline is a record of each task at a point in time from which you will track project progress.
Project 2016 determines a project's schedule off the base calendar. A base calendar is the calendar applied to the project and provides a template for how the software will schedule tasks and resources. The default base calendar is the Standard calendar. The Standard calendar is based on a 40-hour work week with an 8-hour work day (8:00 AM to 12:00 PM and 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM) Monday through Friday. Saturday and Sunday are considered nonworking days.
Project managers can set the priority of a project in the Project Information dialog box. The priority of a project is determined on a scale of 1 to 1,000 with 1 being the lowest priority and 1,000 being the highest priority.
If the base calendar of the project is the Standard calendar, Project 2016 will schedule all tasks on a 40-hour-per-week working time schedule. If the task of "prepare preliminary budget" is entered with a 1-week duration, Project 2016 will schedule 40 hours of work to the task. Project 2016 will assign this task a duration of 5 working days (8 hours per day for 5 days for a total of 40 hours).
To Change the Project Calendar Working Time
- a. Click the Project tab, if necessary.
- b. In the Properties group, click Change Working Time to open the Change Working Time dialog box for the Standard calendar.
- c. Click the Work Weeks tab in the bottom section of the dialog box, and then click the Details button. The Details for dialog box opens.
- d. In the Details for dialog box, click Monday, and then click Set days to nonworking time.
- e. Click Tuesday, press and hold S, and then click Friday.
- f. Click Set day(s) to these specific working times:.
- g. In the specified work times grid, point to row 2, and then click the 2 in row 2. Press Del to clear the 1:00 PM-5:00 PM work times.
- h. Click OK. The base calendar has now been changed to reflect that Mondays are nonworking days and Tuesday-Friday working hours are 8:00 AM-12:00 PM.
- i. Click OK to close the Change Working Time dialog box, and then Save the project.
To Add Exceptions to the Project Calendar
- a. Click the Project tab, if necessary, and then in the Properties group, click Change Working Time to open the Change Working Time dialog box once again.
- b. On the calendar, click July 4, 2019, press and hold S, and then click July 5, 2019.
- c. In the bottom section of the Change Working Time dialog box, click the Exceptions tab, and then click in the first empty cell in the Name column.
- d. Type US Independence Day as the first exception, and then press T. Click in the next blank row of the Exceptions table. Verify that the dates of July 4-5, 2019, have been changed to nonworking days.
- e. Click in the next empty cell in the Exceptions Name column, and then type Company Picnic.
- f. Press Tab, and then click in the Start column.
- g. Click the Start column arrow to display the date picker, change the Start date to September 3, 2019, and then press Tab. Click the Finish column to verify that September 3, 2019, is a nonworking day.
- h. Click OK to close the Change Working Time dialog box, and then Save the project.
In Manually Scheduled mode, you enter a task duration and the task Start date for a task, and then Project 2016 will calculate the Finish date. In other words, task dates are not calculated or adjusted by Project's 2016 scheduling engine, even if changes to related tasks are made. Project managers who desire more control over the project schedule may elect to use manual scheduling.
If a project manager wants to take advantage of Project's 2016 scheduling engine, however, the project would likely be set to Auto Scheduled. If a project is set to Auto Scheduled, the project schedule is calculated based on the project's calendar, project tasks and task durations, task dependencies, resource assignments, and any constraint dates assigned to tasks. Auto scheduled projects are more structured than manually scheduled projects.
If a project is set to Auto Scheduled, individual tasks can be changed to Manually Scheduled, if necessary.
If a project is set to Manually Scheduled, individual tasks can be set to Auto Scheduled.
To change individual tasks, click the Task tab and then click Auto Schedule in the Tasks group or click the arrow in the Task Mode column.
To Change a Project to Auto Scheduled
- a. Click New Tasks: Manually Scheduled on the status bar.
- b. Click Auto Scheduled - Task dates are calculated by Microsoft Project. All tasks will now be calculated by Project 2016 unless set individually to Manually Scheduled.
- c. Save the project. If you need to take a break before finishing this chapter, now is a good time.