Microsoft Project is a software which includes project work, project teams, schedules and Finance. It is also designed to assist users to develop concrete goals for project teams and clients by creating tables and the allocation of resources and management of budgets (Rouse, M 2015). There are many reasons for making scheduled plan for any project. So one of them is to determine the time of activities and project completion date. The scheduled plan include network diagrams and Bar Chart.
Network diagrams are a schematic representation which displays the project schedule and connect between these activities. Also It is a graphical diagram which shows the performance of the tasks necessary to complete a project and clearly conceive the flow of tasks & relationships (Emanuele Della Valle 2010).
A Gantt chart is a horizontal bar chart which is developed as a production control tool in 1917 by Henry L. Gantt. It provides a graphical illustration of a schedule that helps to plan, coordinate, and track specific tasks in a project (Rouse, M 2007).
Aim
This report is done to create a new project plan for producing and formatting a Programme with time constriants and the aim of report lab are:
• Creating a formatted Bar Chart and network diagrams
• Adding overlaps between tasks
• Analysis Effect of constraints
• Slack (Float) analysis
• Changing critical and non-critical tasks duration (Dawood, M 2016)
Laboratory Data & Results Discussion
1- Started Microsoft Project 2010 Program and created a Blank Project with adjusting Auto Schedule and change the start of project date to 01-Dec-2016 .
2- select the standard calendar than make (Only Friday and Saturday as nonworking days per week) than adjust the annual holidays( Oman National day on 18 Nov and AL Nahda day on 23 July) repeating , say 5 years by clicking
3- entered the data as given in excel sheet in the Microsoft project by added the task name , duration and successor is shown in (Dawood, M 2016).
Requirements
Q1- after adjusting the project by applying the required data is given in table (1) and display the project summary task by entered the data in Microsoft Project as shown in Figure (1). We found the duration of project is 16 days and due date is 22- 12- 2016
Q2- show critical task in red color by using format tab / the critical task box/ Test Style / Item to change / critical task then the critical task appears in red color as shown in Figure (2). *the difference in critical and non critical task in a system is critical task are processes that the computer needs to operate correctly they are must have programs. Non critical talk are task that are running or can run but is not a crusial part if the task is deleted or ended then the OS should still fuction properly
Q3- Applied Finish No Earlier Than constraint with a constraint date of 01-Feb-2017 to task Bridge railing (task 21) by double click to the task 21 /advance / Constraint type / Finish No Earlier Than / constraint date/ 01-Feb-2017 as shown in figure (2). The Project duration is 68 days and due date is 03-March -2016.We observe that is no change in project duration because due date of project is more that the constraint date (Dawood, M 2016).
* Time constraints refer to the limitations on the start and end times of each task in a project's critical path, which is the sequence of tasks that cannot be delayed without delaying the entire project (Basu. C 2014).
Q4- determine Total Slack time for all tasks by insert new column (Total Slack ) and increase duration of Construct Central Pier (task 12) task by 5 days. Since it 's a critical task increasing days effected the project to became the duration of project is 66 days and due date is 3 - 2 - 2017 as shown in figure (3).
*Slack or Float provide flexibility in the project schedule. There are two types :-
*Total Float : The total amount of time that a schedule activity may be delayed from its early start without delaying the project finish date and determining the difference between the early finish dates and late finish dates.
*Free Float : The amount of time that a schedule activity can be delayed without delaying the early start date of any immediately following schedule activities
Q5- We formatted the noncritical tasks as by clicking format tab / format / bar style then we changed middle pattern, start shape and end shape as shown in figure (8) (Dawood, M 2016).
Q6- insert the task name above the bar and task duration below the bar (in Gantt chart) by clicking format tab / format / bar style then select text and changed top(Name) & bottom (duration) as shown in figure (5) and figure (6).
Q7- We formatted the critical task as
in Network Diagram by clicking View / Network Diagram/ format / box style then changed style setting for critical and border shape as shown in figure (10)
Q8- by double click in the task 11 / predecessor / (SS)/ lag (5days), we Change the relationship between Foundation Right Abutment (task 11) task and its predecessor to Start to Start (SS) relationship with 5 days lag and observe the there is no change in project duration and due date of the project as shown in figure (8)
Q12- Compare the results of manual calculation & MS Project
After calculation manually in AON & Gantt Chart , we found the duration of project in initial data is 71 days ( Figure 12,13). In other hand , the project duration in Microsoft Project is 71 days. The critical activities in manual (AON & Gantt Chart) is task ( 1,6,9,12,13,14,17,21,22) and the critical activities in MS Project is also same task (1, 6,9,12,13,14,17,21,22) .
We observe the result of manual calculation and the result of Microsoft calculation is no difference between them is same result and the critical activities is same in both.
In this lecture, we have observed changed in the projects duration and due date. We found the duration of project by initial data is 68 days and the due date is 03- March-2016 and after that we show the critical task in red color to identify which task is critical task .when we add Total Slack time for all the tasks and increase duration of the task 12 by 5 days , the duration change to 73 days and due date is 10-March -2016. So we observe that any change in duration of the critical task it will effect to the duration of project. In addition ,we have learned and understand the Network Diagram and Gantt Chart in manual and by using Microsoft Project and we resulting that the duration of project and critical task is same in both.