Luka Gospodnetic - Microsoft Project 2007 Blog

SQL/Dev UG Zagreb - Microsoft Project 2007 Lecture

Lecture about Microsoft Project 2007

Tomorrow evening I will be holding a lecture about Microsoft Project 2007 in Microsoft Croatia office. We will glance over the basics, proceed to the demo project and wrap up with tips & tricks from my experience. My main goal is to promote and make this tool more popular in the Croatian community. If you are in the neighborhood, stop by...

Here is the link: http://www.mscommunity.net/Default.aspx?tabid=1129

Passed the Microsoft Office Project 2007, Managing Projects (70-632) exam

I know I've said that I would take the exam two weeks ago, but then I got sick (read: hospitals etc.) so I had to reschedule it for a while :(

The exam was registered through Prometric test center. And after this experience, I have to say that they should really look up to VUE test center.

First, the registration procedure on Prometric web site is not user friendly (you have to select the exam, schedule, location...and than you register for the exam), you have to enter your MCP ID every time you register exam. And finally, the worst part, is the test taking software. It froze 5 times during the exam (2-5 minutes), and one time I had to call the supervisor to intervene. Not to mention that it took 5-10 seconds each time I clicked on the next question. I am saying this, so you can be prepared if it happens to you.

By passing this exam you receive the following credential: Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Managing Projects with Microsoft Office Project 2007.

Now some info about the exam, and the materials I used to study for the exam:

1. Some of the questions can be passed using your project experience in handling resources, budgeting, defining tasks. You eliminate all the stupid answers (usually two of them), and then you are left with two or three which you can answer by using your experience.
2. I read the Microsoft Project 2007 Bible (Wiley & Sons) and Microsoft® Office Project 2007 Step by Step. Both of them have a lot of beginner stuff in them (step by step, click by click) that you can glance over, and concentrate on new 2007 features and features that you haven't used in MS Project yet.
3. Use the Project 2007 help. Unbelievable, but it has some nice info in there :)
4. Get to know all of the menus and the options in them. They like to ask the little detailed question like: how would you do this... And it is a multiple answer question... Example: How would you disable (some type) error message for appearing again? The answer would be something like: Click don't show this message again and go to the project options and disable messages.

There were a lot of questions about budget and cost resources and at least 10 out of 55 were about defining the task (fixed units, fixed duration, fixed work, effort driven) so I recommend you take some time to study these parts (easy points on the exam).

I hope this post helps you in some way since this is a new Microsoft exam. If somebody needs some more info, please use the post comment (so everybody can benefit from it)

TS: Microsoft Office Project 2007, Managing Projects (70-632)

I finally decided to take the 70-632 exam on Friday :) 

What is this exam all about? This is what Microsoft says:

"The candidate who takes Exam 70-632 might be a team member, project lead, project manager, scheduler, or any user of Microsoft Office Project Standard 2007 or Professional 2007 standalone desktop features (excluding Project Server features) who wants to certify that he can build, maintain, and control well-formed project plans. This individual is involved in or responsible for scheduling, estimating, coordinating, controlling, budgeting, and staffing projects and supporting other users of Office Project. A familiarity with key project management concepts and terminology is recommended." 

You can read more about this exam here.

Since this is a new MCTS exam, I'll let you know how it went...

Dependent task - "Hammock task"

A colleague of mine presented me with a problem in a MS Project. He wanted to create a "Project management" task that lasts as long as the project last, so he could point out that the whole project process is being supervised by PM staff. In this case the perfect solution is a "hammock" task.

A "hammock" task is a task that is dependent on external dates for both its start and finish dates and, ultimately, its duration. The name, hammock task, is derived from the way a hammock's shape is determined by the distance between the points to which it is attached. As scheduled dates in other tasks change, the duration and start and/or finish dates of the hammock task change as well. In other words, given three tasks A, B, and C, task B must start on some date from task A (date A) and task B must finish on some date from task C (date C).

But enough with the theory, let's get down to practice:

Setting a "hammock" task in MS Project:

1. Create a new task
2. Click on the finish date of the task that will drive the finish date of the newly created "hammock" task
3. Copy it (Ctrl+C, Edit->Copy Cell)
4. Go to the finish date of "hammock" task and do the following: Edit->Paste Special and select Link
5. Repeat the steps 2-4 for the start date.

Notes and cautions:

• Do not specify a predecessor for a hammock task. Only Paste Linked dates will determine start and finish. You may specify predecessors for the tasks from which dates are paste linked into the hammock task.
• A negative duration (finish date is before start) is not allowed. Depending on the source of the dates, the hammock task may turn into a milestone (zero duration) or erroneously calculate duration before the finish date or after the start date.
• An OLE update is different from a calculation. You may not see expected changes in the hammock task after calculating project. From the Edit menu, click Links to edit/update OLE links (Paste Links). Alternatively, press the F9 function key twice.
• Because the hammock task relies on other tasks for start/finish information, anything that affects those other tasks (resource leveling, constraints) will ultimately affect the hammock tasks dates.
• If the hammock task is a child to a summary task, it may inherit predecessor behavior from the summary task that may affect its duration and/or start and finish dates or create a circular relationship

Drag & Drop feature in Gantt chart

Now, somebody might say something like "Hey Luka, you have a nice Show highlighting feature in 2007 version" and they would be 100% right. That feature automatically highlights all of the parts that were affected by you last "change". But still, I often have time spans on my projects when I don't change the plan, and I don't want the drag & drop feature activated because I have to use undo non-stop. I tried to find out if this feature is disableable... but to my misfortune it isn't.

Histroy of Gantt charts

The most famous feature in MS Project is definitely Ghant chart. Gantt charts are useful tools for planning and scheduling projects. Gantt Chart allows you to assess how long a project should take to see how remedial action may bring the project back on course, lay out the order in which tasks need to be carried out, help manage the dependencies between tasks, determine the resources needed, monitor progress. You can immediately see what should have been achieved at a point in time.

You probably use it on daily basis, but have you ever wonderd why is it called Gantt chart? No? :) Well I have, so I will explain anyway :)

Henry Laurence Gantt (1861-1919) was a mechanical engineer, management consultant and industry advisor. Henry Laurence Gantt developed Gantt charts in the second decade of the 20th century. Gantt charts were used as a visual tool to show scheduled and actual progress of projects. Accepted as a commonplace project management tool today, it was an innovation of world-wide importance in the 1920s. Gantt charts were used on large construction projects like the Hoover Dam started in 1931 and the interstate highway network started in 1956.
Henry Gantts contribution to the management process is honored today through the The Henry Laurence Gantt Medal. The award established in 1929 is given for distinguished achievement in management and for service to the community.

Difference between Standard and Professional edition of Microsoft Project 2007

Many of you will have to decide which version of MS Project 2007 tool to install. To help you out, I will write the main differences between MS Project versions.

Office Project Standard 2007 is the latest version of the desktop project management program. As a stand-alone product, Office Project Standard 2007 helps project managers, business managers, and planners to manage and plan projects independently with familiar, easy-to-use tools. Office Project Standard 2007 is not designed to exchange data with Office Project Server 2007.

Office Project Professional 2007 is the desktop client that is also used to connect with Office Project Server 2007 as part of the Office EPM Solution. Office Project Professional 2007 offers all the tools found in Office Project Standard 2007, and when used with Office Project Server 2007, it also provides powerful EPM capabilities such as collaboration, management of shared resources, portfolio management, and reporting across projects and programs run by different project managers.

In plain words: if you don't plan to use the Office Project Server 2007 functionality install the Standard edition, otherwise install the Professional edition.

Closing the project that is on Project Server

For those of you that are using Project Server 2007, this post should be interesting. There is an issue in Project Professional 2007 that sometime manifests itself when you close a project, which is on Project Server 2007, using the X button in the top right corner of the window. As the result you will be locked out of that project.