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Introducing the Consumer Market Study Project – Assignment #1 Welcome to the Consumer Market Study project. This project will illustrate specific tasks that a typical project team will perform and its deliverables. We will revisit this project from time to time throughout the course. The Consumer Market Study project is also the basis for the Microsoft Project assignments in this course. Before beginning, you will need to follow the instructions to download the Microsoft Project application in the Start Here section in D2L. Do not use the online version of Project, it is not the same. Background Summary: A project has been commissioned to execute a consumer market study. A questionnaire has to be designed and executed with a targeted survey group. Responses will be collected. A response data software will be used to capture and collate the response data and appropriate reports will be developed to share with the group that has commissioned the study. The project team is comprised of four resources, as follows:

• Jim: responsible for the overall project and the reporting deliverables • Susan: responsible for the design and development of the questionnaire • Steve: responsible for the execution of the questionnaire and capture of the response data • Andy: responsible for the development of the software tools to collate and evaluate the

response data The consumer market study project planning will proceed through several steps, with several different deliverables developed. As noted, it will also be the basis for the exercises related to using the MS Project software. Becoming oriented with the Microsoft Project environment: Open Microsoft Project. Notice the Gantt Chart View and the Task ribbon in the main workspace (Figure 1). If you do not see Gantt Chart Tools above Format in the Menu or the Task ribbon, click on Task to open the Task ribbon, then in the Tasks View group, click Gantt Chart (blue arrows). Above the main workspace are the ribbons for Task, Resource, Report, Project, View, and Gantt Chart Format (red arrows). To view any of the ribbons, click on the tab with the ribbon’s name. New to Office applications is the Tell me what you want to do text box for you to enter words and phrases about what you want to do. Tell me what you want to do also has a Smart Lookup and gives you suggestions of what to try next. Figure 1

To the left of the ribbon titles is the File tab (Figure 1, green arrow). Click the File tab. This tab contains links to Microsoft Office Online in the Help link, a list of the previously opened Microsoft Project files, and options to save or print the current project or to begin a New Project. A quick link to Microsoft Online, the Help link is available in the upper right corner of the window as a Question Mark button (Figure 2). Now click the back arrow at the top left of the application (green arrow). Figure 2

Click the Gantt Chart Format ribbon. It changes to include groups related to the view selected. The Gantt Chart Tools Format ribbon contains Format, Columns, Bar Styles, Gantt Chart Style, Show/Hide, and Drawings groups (red arrows) with selections that format the Gantt Chart. Figure 3

Visit Microsoft Office Online for online tutorials and more: If you have not already explored Microsoft Office Online, set aside some time to do so. There you will find tutorials, tips, templates, news, and other valuable information about Microsoft Project. The link to Microsoft Office Online is provided in the Help link on the File tab or as the quick link on the project window as a Question Mark button. Let’s begin building the Consumer Market Study Project: The Consumer Market Study project will continue through Week 7. In these instructions, I will walk you through how to enter the work breakdown structure in a hierarchical indentured list format, determine predecessors for tasks, assign responsibility for each activity, and create the network diagram in MS Project. On the File tab, click New to begin a new project (Figure 2, blue arrow). Then, from the available templates, select Blank Project (Figure 2, blue arrow) and click on Create. Save the file as “Consumer Market Study – 1” by clicking on the File tab and Save As (Figure 2, red arrow). After choosing a location and entering the name of the file, click Save. First, set some properties to describe the project file. On the File tab, click on the Info link. On the right side of the page will be the name Project Information with a drop-down arrow (Figure 4, red arrow). Click on Project Information. Two choices will appear in a pop-up window: Advanced Properties and Project Statistics. Click on Advanced Properties. In the Advanced Properties

window, click on the Summary tab and enter Consumer Market Study as the title (Figure 4, blue arrow). You can enter other information, such as Subject, Author, Manager, Company, and other related comments. Click on OK to save and close the Advanced Properties window. Click the Arrow in the upper left corner to return to the Project ribbon and the entry view (Figure 4, green arrow). Figure 4

You also need to enter time-related information so that the software can automatically build project schedules and calculate costs. On the Project ribbon, click on the Project tab, then click Project Information in the Properties Group (Figure 5, red arrows) to view the Project Information window. Enter the Start date: Fri 1/12/18 (Figure 5, blue arrow). Click on OK to close the Project Information window. Figure 5

Click on the Task ribbon to display the Task ribbon tools. You should see the Gantt Chart View with the Entry Table on your screen. Here you will display the project title and enter the names for the work packages and their activities into the Task Name column. To display the project title as Task 0

(Figure 6, blue arrow), on the Gantt Chart Tools Format ribbon, click on Project Summary Task in the Show/Hide group (Figure 6).

Next enter the names of the work packages to be completed in the Task Name column. Please refer to Figure 7 for the names to enter. FIGURE 7 Work Package and Activity Entry

After you enter a name, notice the Task Mode column (Figure 7, blue arrow) has questions about the type of Task Mode automatically entered. Leave these as the default values for now. Similar to using Excel, you can double click the edge of the Task Name box to expand the box to fit all of the text on one line (Figure 8, blue arrow). You can easily create subsets of the work packages and their activities. In the Task ribbon in the Schedule group, you should see two blue arrows (Figure 8, red arrow). You can use these arrows to create subtasks and to bring a task to a higher level of organization. Highlight the row (or rows) you want to indent. Click the blue arrow to the right once to indent the work packages. Notice that all the highlighted row’s sub-tasks will indent, too. Clicking the left blue arrow will move the entry and the entry’s subtasks to a higher level. Adjust the entries with the arrows to show the work breakdown structure, as shown in Figure 8. Pay close attention to the levels in this step – indenting is where most students make mistakes. I inserted an orange line to help you more easily determine the levels.

FIGURE 8 Tasks Entering Predecessor Data

Next, you will enter the predecessor data directly into the Predecessor column to show dependencies among the activities for the work packages. Please see Figure 9 for the data to enter now. Each row has a task number along the left column (Figure 9, red arrow). You will use this number to identify the task for the dependencies. For example, Task 3 is the predecessor for Task 4 or, in other words, Task 4 is dependent on the completion of Task 3. If a task has more than one predecessor, use a comma to separate the task number entries. Notice that MS Project enters the Start and Finish dates as you enter the Predecessors.

Figure 9

The Consumer Market Study project team consists of Susan, Steve, Andy, and Jim. You can show who will perform each activity by entering the name in the Resource Names column for the activity in the Entry Table. Please refer to Figure 9 (blue arrow) for name-activity assignments in this exercise. Names are assigned to the activities to monitor and control the project’s budget and collect data for the actual costs and performance. Names assigned to a work package will cue Microsoft Project to assign costs and time to the work package in addition to its activities and are likely to result in incorrect reports for the project’s costs and workers performance. Figure 10

To view the network diagram shown in Figure 10, on the Task ribbon, click on the Gantt Chart down arrow in the View group and select Network Diagram. Go back to the Gantt Chart view (task ribbon, Gantt Chart). Saving a project with a baseline plan before the project starts is highly recommended so that you can compare actual progress versus planned progress once the project has started. To set a baseline, click on the Project ribbon and

select Set Baseline in the Schedule group, as shown in Figure 11 (red arrows). Click OK after making your choice in the Set Baseline window. You can also use this tool to clear a baseline. It is helpful to save your project as you work. To save your project information, on the File tab, click on Save (Figure 11, blue arrow). Figure 11 Set Baseline for Project