Discuss the importance of communication and information exchange to project success. What are the crucial features and elements of effective communication and information exchange in successful projects?
Read the case study 12.1, The Problems of Multitasking in the text on pages 405–406. Answer the following questions:
1. How does multitasking confuse the resource availability of project team personnel?
2. In modern organizations, it is impossible to eliminate multitasking for the average employee? Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Why?
3. How would resource loading and/or resource leveling help this situation?
| Reducing Project Duration (graded) |
In your own words, describe crashing, fast tracking, and scope reduction as means of schedule compression. When would each be appropriate? Which methods are considered better first-choice methods by most project sponsors?
According to the PMBOK® Guide, “the WBS is a deliverable-oriented hierarchical decomposition of the work to be executed by the project team, to accomplish the project objectives and create the required deliverables.” In other words, it lists the project’s tasks, the subtasks, the sub-subtasks, and so on.
For this phase, you will create a work breakdown structure (WBS) for the project you selected during phase one. Remember that the WBS starts with your major deliverables (that you stated in your scope management plan) at the highest level. The lower levels have the tasks required to complete those deliverables. You should have at least three tasks under each deliverable, but you may have as many tasks as needed to ensure that the deliverables are complete. Review the textbook (and the PMBOK® Guide, if you have it) for some suggestions on how best to create a WBS. From your work breakdown structure, develop a project task list with dependencies, add durations, and then submit a network diagram (using MS Project) and a project schedule.
Develop the Work Breakdown Structure
Deliverables:
The best way to make changes to a base calendar is to change the working time. For example, let’s say that Monday, October 14is a company holiday and we need to make sure no work is scheduled on that day.
1. Click on the Project tab and select Project Information. Note that our project is scheduled to begin on Wednesday, October 9, 2013and end on Friday, November 29, 2013. Press OK to close window.
2. From the Project tab and the Properties group, select Change Working Time.
3. Select Monday, October 14, 2013, using the scrollbar. (Make sure you have the right year!)
4. On the bottom section in the EXCEPTIONS tab, under name, type “Day Offâ€. (Figure 2).
5. Press OK. This will assign the date as a non-working day.
6. Check your Project Information. This change did not have an effect on the finish date, but overall duration of the project was shortenedby one day to 36.25 days. Why? (Hint: critical path?)
Figure 2
7. When you close this dialog box and check your Gantt chart, you will notice that Monday, October 14 is shaded gray in the column.
8. Just reverse; let’s say that due to this holiday, we will be working on Saturday, October 19 from 8 AM to 12 PM and 1 PM to 5 PM (we have a one hour lunch break).
9. From the Project tab and the Properties group, select Change Working Time again.
10. Click on Saturday, October 19, 2013
11. Underneath the Day Off exception, type, “Make-up Dayâ€. Click in the Start box to the right and with “Make-up Day†selected, click the Details button. The Details for the “Make-up Day” window will pop-up.
Figure 3
12. Select the Working times radio button.Make sure thetimes from 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM and from 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM are entered. (Note: They may be automatically entered for you! Can you guess why?)
13. Click OK on this window and on the Change Working Time window. What happened to your project completion date and overall duration?
14. On your own: Let’s say that for this entire project we will be working on Saturdays, but only from 8 AM to 12 PM (Noon). Change all theSaturdays in October, November and December (2013) to the above working times, including October 19, 2013. How would you do this?
(Hint: To change all Saturdays, create a new rule selecting all Saturdays from October 5 to December 28 in the details tab, using the Weekly Recurrence pattern, and delete the rule for the Make-up Day.)
Figure 4
Figure 5
15. What is the completion date? (Check Project Information). Is it still November 29? But why is the total duration of the project now 39.75days? The problem here has to do with the recurring task, Project Meeting. When we originally set up this project, Project meetings were independent of any other tasks and, based upon the original calendar, there were to be eight meetings. However, if you notice, the final task, Test System, actually completes on November 21. It looks like we do not need eight project meetings. (How do you find the start and finish dates for each task on your entry table?)
16. Delete the Project Meeting 8 from the task list (but keep the project meetings 1-7).
17. Now what is your completion date and project duration? It should be November 22, 2013 and 34.25 days. This gives you an indication that when you change working time, you need to review recurring tasks for their appropriate parameters. Normally, if we had no recurring tasks, all the changes that we made to the working times would have immediately affected completion dates, but not total hours of work.
Note: It is good to have a final project meeting after the project completion to review the project and how it met the objectives. BUT when you include this in the MS Project plan, it could disrupt the critical path, so it is often better to leave this last review meeting task out of MS Project.
Changing a Resource Calendar
Resource calendars track the availability of individual resources. When you create or assign a resource, the resource is given the base (Standard) calendar by default. Each resource may be on a different work schedule or have vacations, training or other events, which may interfere with the availability of that resource during the course of a project. For example, a student working on a project at school may not be available during 8-5, Monday through Friday, but may be available evenings and weekends.
Note: a resource calendar may also be used for other types of resources to reflect maintenance time, down time, cleaning time, etc.
Resource calendars are edited in the same way base calendars are edited. Resource calendars are available in the Change Working Time dialog box or on the Working Time Tab in the Resource Information dialog box.
1. From the Task tab and the View group, click Resource Sheet.
2. Select the Project Manager resource.
3. Scroll across the row, until you find the Base Calendar column.
4. You will notice the calendar, Standard, is assigned to this resource. If you click on the arrow, a drop-down menu appears where you could assign another base calendar to this resource. Your choices are 24 hour and Night Shift. For now, leave this assignment as Standard.
5. Scroll back and select the Project Manager.
6. From the Resource tab and Properties group, click the Information button.
7. The Resource Information dialog box should now open.
8. From the General tab, Click the Change Working Timebutton..
9. Click on Monday, October 14, 2013.
10. Let’s say the Project Manager will be working the entire day on this date, from 8 AM to 12 PM and also working that afternoon from 1 PM to 5 PM.
11. Make an exception named “Work Dayâ€. In the details select the Working times radio and make sure that from 8 AM to 12 PM and 1 PM to 5 PM is defined.
12. Press OK on the Details window.
F
igure 6
13. Click OK on the other windows to get back to the Resource Sheet.
14. Select the FinancialOfficer.
15. Apparently, the Financial Officer will be away on vacation the week of October 28 – November 1, 2013.
16. Click the Resource Informationbutton (Note: While in the Resource Sheet you can also double click the resource name to open the Resource Information window.)
17. Click the Change Working Time button and create an Exception named “Vacationâ€. In the details window create a Nonworking rule (He will be unavailable) for the dates of Monday, October 28 through Friday, November 1, 2013 and click OK on the Details and Change Working Time windows.
18. At this point, you will receive a warning (not an error) indicating that the resource is assigned outside the original dates for task 9 Issue RFPs in project Maynard Furniture Company… If you do not receive the warning message, go back to verify the vacation’s end date and correct as necessary.
19. What do you think this message is telling you??? Press OK to accept.
20. Change to the Gantt View, Table: Entry. What happened to task #9, Issue RFPs? Why is the completion date of the task November 11? Why is the duration now 10 days rather than 7 days? It is always important to remember availability of resources can affect the completion of a task or project. (Your project’s duration is now 37 days).
21. The above is fine for individual resources and individual dates or times, but what about a situation like a student working on a project where the standard, 24 hour or night shift calendars do not apply?
Creating a New Base Calendar
New base calendars can be created when none of the default calendars apply to your project needs or to a group of resources. (A new base calendar should not be created for just one resource). In this lab, we know that all managers do not work standard 8-5 hours, so let’s create a calendar called Managers.
1. Making sure that you are in the Gantt Chart View, from the Project tab and Properties group, click Change Working Time. Scroll toOctober 2013. The dialog box should look as figure 7:
Figure 7
2. While we have seen this dialog box before, notice in the top left corner is a pull down menu. Click on the down arrow for this menu, and you will see the calendars being used in this project:
Figure 8
3. Here you could change the working time, not only for the three base calendars, but also for each individual resource. Again, it is best to create a new base calendar.
4. Click the Create New Calendar … button at the Top Right of the Change Working Time dialog box and the following dialog box opens:
Figure 9
5. Type Managers as the name of our new base calendar.
6. Be sure the Make A Copy of Standard Calendar is selected and press OK.
Figure 10
7. Make sure your calendar reflects October, 2013.
8. Since we will be creating a special calendar for the managers assigned to this project, we can change the default hours worked by the managers.
9. On the Work Weeks tab, select the Default line, then click on the Details button.
10. This opens a details dialog. (Figure 11).
Figure 11
11. Hold the Control Key and select the days, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday
12. Select the “Set day(s) to these specific working times:†radio button
Figure 13
13. Select the text in the first From box (8:00 AM) and change it to 6:00 AM. (If you have difficulty getting into edit mode, highlight the box and hit F2)
14. Change the 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM. Make sure you click out of the 8:00 PM box for it to stick.(See Figure 14).
15. Click OK to accept the changes and then OK again to close the Change Working Time window.
Figure 14
16. To assign a resource to this new calendar, change to Resource Sheet view.
17. Double click on the name, Systems Manager. The Resource Information Dialog box appears.
18. Select the Change Working Time button. In the left hand corner, you should see a drop-down menu for Base Calendar. Change thebase calendar for this resource to Managers and press OK.
19. On your own, change the Project Manager to the Managers calendar. Use the Base Calendar dropdown in the Resource Sheet to change this. You will receive another warning message concerning task 9…press OK to accept it. After the change, what hours is the Project Manager working on October 14, 2013? Why is it still 8-5?
20. Finally, create another calendar based upon the 24-hour calendar. Call this calendar Contractor and set the Non-default working hours 6 AM to 10 PM (no breaks) for all seven (7) days of the week. (Again, change the default hours on the new calendar.) Assign this new calendar to the Wiring Contractor. (Note: when you make this change, the duration of the Install Wiring task is still 3 days, but the finish date has been moved up one day. Why would the duration still be 3 days, when the start and finish date shows only two days?)
21. Your project should now be at 37 days. If not, check to make sure that the Manager’s calendar and the Contractor calendar reflect the correct working times.
Check your work with the provided project information statistics below. If all is right with the world, save your file and print out the following reports: (use proper header information)
1. Project Summary Report.
2. Task Entry Table and Gantt Chartview that includes ONLY the following column up to and including the Finish Date column and the Gantt chart. (Print this only 2 pages wide)
3. Who Does What When report (Under Assignments). (Print this on 3 pages)
4. Click on Project then select Reports. Select Workload and then click on Task Usage report, but press Edit. Under the Definition tab, select Days for column one. Then press OK. (We have now edited this report to show each task’s information by days rather than weeks. Please note that once you edit a report, it will retainthose settings on the report until you change it!).
5. Press Select and view this report – 14 pages worth – wow!! DO NOT PRINT THIS REPORT!!
6. Change the setting back to weeks and THEN print the Task Usage report.
 When submitting required printouts, if you are not bringing them to class, from the Print Preview Page, take a screen shot (in Windows <ALT><Prt Scr>) of the report and paste the screen shot to a MS Word Document. Make sure to crop the screen to show only the report. After cropping, resize the image appropriately. If the printout is on more than 1 page, paste each page individually. Save the Word document containing printouts as Week_4_Printouts_XXX.docx (where XXX are your initials) and submit this file to the Weekly iLab Dropbox.
When you have completed this lesson please save it as MyLab4_xxx.mpp and submit the file to the Weekly iLab Dropbox.
Also complete the Review Questions page at the end of this document and submit the completed Review Question sheet to the Weekly iLab Dropbox.
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Addendum
Task Information for the Beginning of Lesson 4
Project Information Statistics at the Beginning of Lesson 4
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Review Questions
Name ____________________________
Answer the following questions (you may use MS Project Help):
1) What are the three base calendars included in MS Project and what are the default values of each?
2) What is the difference between a base calendar and a resource calendar?
3) Why schedule one project meeting after completion of the last task, Test System?
4) Give an example of when you would assign a 24-hour calendar to a resource.
5) If you were doing a senior project, what would be the base calendar you would use for students working on the project and what adjustments would you make to it?
Turn in this sheet with your MS Project file to the Weekly iLab Dropbox.
There are two types of calendars in Project: base calendars and resourcecalendars. Base calendars define the working days and working hours for a project or a set of resources. Resource calendars define the working days and working hours for a specific resource.
The default base calendar (also known as the project calendar) is called Standard. This standard calendar is usually set as an 8-hour day, 40-hour week, Monday through Friday, with no holidays. However, you can modify this standard calendar, but it is not recommended. MS Project also comes with two other base calendars: a 24-hour calendar and a night shift calendar. You can also create your own base calendars. You can manipulate such options as default start time and hours per day.
Note: Resource calendars are updated automatically when the base calendar assigned to the resource changes. But changes to the defaultcalendar options are not automatically displayed in the base calendar.
When we first set up this project, MS Project assumed the Standard calendar. As we entered task duration, MS Project calculated the amount of work based upon 8 hours a day, 40 hours per week, Monday through Friday. So when we entered 2 days for the task, Inventory Current Equipment, prior to any resource assignment, MS Project calculated 16 hours of work (8 hours per day), to start at 8 AM, Wednesday morning and concluding 5 PM, Thursday evening. When we assigned resources, each resource was by default also assigned a standard calendar. However, if the resource we assigned had a different working time, the same amount of work would have been calculated, but the actual time of duration would have changed.
Note:Â When you open dialog boxes that contain calendars, MS Project will also show the current day and month. Therefore you will need to scroll to the correct month for this project/lab.
To view the standard calendar options:
1. Log onto Windows.
2. Open your completed file MyLab3_XXX.mpp. Check the addendum at the end of this lesson to make sure your beginning file is correct.
3. Save asMyLab4_XXX.mpp, where XXX are your initials.
4. Make sure you are in Gantt chart view, Table:Â Entry.
5. Select the Filetab, click Options.
6. Click the Schedule tab.
7. The default options are displayed (Figure 1).
Figure 1
Note: If you anticipate that your project start time will be earlier than 8 AM, you should change the calendar options and the Standardcalendar before entering tasks and resources. Otherwise, the first task will remain scheduled to start at 8 AM even if the options and base calendar are changed.
Please note the defaults for the Standard calendar. Also note the changes you can make to the standard calendar. The emphasis must be made that this calendar is primarily for the entire project. Again it is best not to change these calendar settings unless absolutely necessary.
8. Click Cancel after observing. We will not be making changes to this calendar.
q Change the working and non-working time on Standard Calendar
q Change the working and non-working time on a Resource Calendar
q Create new base calendars
q Assign different base calendars to resources
With calendars, you can determine when resources on a project are working and when they are not working. If you do not indicate when resources are available, you may accidentally schedule tasks when resources are not actually available. Calendars are part of determining availability of resources.
In MS Project, calendars define the working and non-working time for the project and for each resource assigned to the task. As a change is made to a calendar, MS Project automatically reschedules all tasks affected by the change.
Go to Course Home and review the Course Project tab. Continue to use the Course Project template from Doc Sharing. In this graded discussion, we will be examining the operation of the Accounting Information System (AIS) with the use of problems and exercises from your textbook. The goal is to cover all of the requirements to ensure an opportunity for your successful completion of Course Project 1: Part B.
In the spotlight about FedEx Corporation, you get a feel for the amount of investment in assets and the resulting liabilities that are required to operate a competitive corporation. Even small businesses require plant, property, and equipment to compete and normally rely on some form of debt to finance themselves. Let’s start up a company that sells auto parts, like Napa or Auto Zone. What assets would we require? How might we finance them?
A review of the balance sheet of a retailer, such as Wal-Mart, will disclose that in current assets the majority investment is in inventory. With manufacturers, such as Ford, the inventory is spread between three different categories. Let’s start our discussion with some basic inventory questions. How is inventory valued? Which inventory valuation method is most popular and why? What impact on the financial reports can the selection of an inventory valuation method have?
Assume that you are leading a team composed of members from the UK, Brazil, Egypt and Colombia. You are from the US and have been educated at American universities. You have never worked or met with your team members prior to this assignment.
Your team is faced with making a recommendation regarding a flaw in a manufacturing process for operations in two plants. The first plant is based in Ireland and the second plant is located in Honduras. Each member of your team represents subsidiary or sister companies that feed raw material into the manufacturing plants in each of these locations.
Thinking about the cultural differences between the team members (e.g. language, decision making processes), prepare a short list of recommendations that address the following:
What guidelines will you develop for yourself when leading the team through its decision-making process?
How will you communicate the objectives to team members?
What steps might you take to enhance the team’s cohesiveness? How successful do you think such as effort would be?