MS Project Practice Assignment
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After viewing the learning videos and learning topics for MS Project, complete a practice assignment to familiarize with the basic features of MS Project. This would be useful to start your Team Project 2.
A high-level Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) for your practice project that covers the key facets of work is shown below (click on the link to open the PowerPoint slide) :
MBA 670 MS Project Practice Assignment
Using this WBS, establish all required dependencies for activities and create your Gantt chart with the project schedule in MS Project.
Ensure that your Gantt chart indicates the
critical path
in red. If you need help, please follow these
Microsoft Project guidelines
.
Post your Practice Assignment Gantt chart as response to this post.
This practice assignment should be completed by Sunday of Week 2.
This is an ungraded assignment. However, completion of this assignment is required before you are graded on your Project 1.
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Learning Microsoft Project – Some helpful Videos
1.
Microsoft Project Professional 2019 – Full Tutorial for Beginners [+ Overview]: – 13:46
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOrU6hJ64HY
2.
Microsoft Project 2019 Tutorial: The Project 2019 Workspace: – 14:56
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9i8_12oDT4&list=PLzj7TwUeMQ3jo_PtA6h6LNhvMbWNtJsXL&index=2
3.
Microsoft Project 2019 Tutorial: Project Task Basics: – 10:19
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iq5ceh6q4pE
Course Resource
Print
Microsoft Project Guidelines
Microsoft Project is a powerful project management tool designed to help you generate important parts of your project management plan. If you have not used Project before, be sure to budget time to learn how to use the features you will need for this project.
Ask your instructor if you do not know how to gain access to Microsoft Project.
Finding Tutorials
For assistance with common tasks in Microsoft Project such as those listed below, enter these exact phrases in the search box:
· “Project help—Office Support”
· “Basic tasks in Project”
· “Show the critical path of your project”
· “How Project schedules tasks: Behind the scenes”
· “Office Quick Starts—Office Support” (Click the first link returned by the search engine. Scroll down to Standalone Apps and click Project Quick Start)
· “Microsoft Project support resources”
· “Microsoft Project Videos and Tutorials”
Creating Your Gantt Chart
Your team should have drafted a work breakdown structure based on the provided template. Open a new blank project to begin and follow these steps:
· Verify your view is Gantt view. When this view is turned on, the Gantt chart will fill in on the right side of your screen as you add tasks, with dates on the left.
· Make sure that you use “auto-scheduled” task mode for all tasks.
· Enter tasks.
1. Use the indent key to create subtasks
2. Turn your task list into a work breakdown structure, and insert outline numbers, if needed.
3. Set duration for each regular task. Don’t set duration for summary tasks. The program automatically calculates them.
4. Link all regular tasks, also called adding task dependencies. Don’t link summary tasks.
5. Create milestones, if desired.
6. Identify the critical path in red.
© 2024 University of Maryland Global Campus
All links to external sites were verified at the time of publication. UMGC is not responsible for the validity or integrity of information located at external sites.
Learning Topic
Critical Path
Print
The
critical path concept is used by project managers to determine the latest completion date for a project. The term
path is used figuratively, to denote navigating a complex set of project tasks and critical activities that will lead to the latest possible completion date. In the sample project network diagram below, the critical path is illustrated with a red line.
![A flowchart with five nodes representing work packages and black and red arrows representing dependencies. Four nodes are connected by red arrows, identifying the critical path. One node is connected only by black arrows and so is not on the critical path.]()
The Critical Path
Source:
Illes
An estimated project completion date can be identified after three steps have been completed: (1) the deliverables have been identified in the work breakdown structure, (2) the duration needed for each activity to produce deliverables (with the triple constraints in mind) has been determined, along with the earliest start, earliest finish, latest start, and latest finish dates, and (3) the dependencies between activities have been represented (Jones, 2008). A dependency usually means that an activity cannot begin without the deliverables from one or more preceding activities. You might think of the critical path as the longest set of project activities that must be completed in a defined order. If a delay occurs in any activity on the critical path, the project completion date will be moved by an equal amount of time. On the other hand, it is likely that relatively short delays in activities that do not lie on the critical path will not cause a change to the project completion date.
References
Jones, C. (2008). Moving from the WBS to a critical path schedule. Paper presented at PMI Global Congress 2008—North America, Denver, CO. Newton Square, PA: Project Management Institute.
Licenses and Attributions
5n PERT graph with critical path by
Illes is in the public domain. UMGC has modified this work.
© 2024 University of Maryland Global Campus
All links to external sites were verified at the time of publication. UMGC is not responsible for the validity or integrity of information located at external sites.
4.
Microsoft Project 2019 Tutorial: Project Task Basics (Part 2): – 12:41
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgLhu8IHnfo
5.
Microsoft Project 2019 Tutorial: Dependencies in MS Project: – 16:17
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIMO3MSfLgY&list=PLzj7TwUeMQ3jo_PtA6h6LNhvMbWNtJsXL&index=4
6.
Microsoft Project 2019 Tutorial: Summary Tasks and Outlining in Project: – 18:10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuxevgrxOaI&list=PLzj7TwUeMQ3jo_PtA6h6LNhvMbWNtJsXL&index=3
7.
Microsoft Project 2019 For Beginners: Introductory Course:
https://simonsezit.lpages.co/project-2019-free-course/
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