Consumer Market Study Project – Assignment #2 This is a continuation of the Consumer Market Study project. Follow these directions using the project file you created in Exercise 1, performing each step as described.

Consumer Market Study Project – Assignment #2

This is a continuation of the Consumer Market Study project. Follow these directions using the project file you created in Exercise 1, performing each step as described. First, re-save your project as “Consumer Market Study – 2”. 

 In this assignment, we will discuss how Microsoft Project can be used to support the techniques discussed in Chapter 5 based on the consumer market study example. We are now ready to enter the estimated durations for each task, examine the project schedule, produce a Gantt chart, determine the critical path, set a baseline to help track the project, monitor and control the schedule, edit task information, and produce reports. 

If you are not in the Gantt Chart View, click on Gantt Chart in the View group on the Task ribbon. Enter the duration data directly into the Duration column in the Gantt Chart View (Figure 1) using the durations in Figure 1. Only enter the durations for the tasks (not bolded, Figure 1- start at red arrow). The upper levels (bolded) will automatically update once entered at the lower level. 

enter m after the number to represent minutes; h for hours; d for days; w for weeks; or mon for months. For example, an entry of 2w would equal a two-week duration estimate. 

As you modify the duration estimates, the system automatically updates the start and finish dates for each task so long as Auto Schedule is selected in the Task group on the Task ribbon (Figure 2, red arrow). The icon next to each task in the Task Mode column will display if the task is set to Manually Schedule or Auto Schedule (Figure 2, blue arrow). For this example, set all tasks to Auto Schedule by using the pull-down arrow in the Task Mode (Figure 2, green arrow). 

packages and the project title operate as summary tasks. Note the total duration of the project is 138 days. 

MS Project has already calculated the ES, EF, LS, and LF times, FS, and TS for each task. To see these values, you need to view the Schedule Table from the Gantt Chart View. On the View ribbon, click on Tables in the Data group (alternatively, yours may look like the Data group in Figure 3b

finished. 

Microsoft project automatically creates the Gantt chart to the right of the tables in the Gantt Chart View as you enter tasks and their task information (Figure 4, red arrow). The Gantt chart displays the dependencies between tasks with arrows.  Figure 4 shows the Gantt chart with the critical path highlighted. To highlight the critical path in red, on the Gantt Chart Format ribbon, click in the box to put a check mark next to Critical Tasks in the Bar Styles group (Figure 4, blue arrow). 

You should see the drop-down menu of report types. Click on Critical Tasks to select the Critical Tasks Report. You should see the Critical Tasks Report as in Figure 6. 

Recall the total duration for the project is 138 days. The project needs to be completed in 130 days. Note that the Schedule view shows the earliest day the project can be completed and the latest start dates for each task. To reduce the total duration of the project, the duration of at least one task on the critical path needs to be reduced. It is decided that the Mail Questionnaire & Get Responses task will be reduced from 65 days to 55 days. 

We will need to change the duration of the task on the Entry Table in the Gantt Chart View. Click on Gantt Chart in the Task View area (Figure 6, red arrow).  The Entry Table is accessed by clicking on the View Ribbon, select Tables in the Data group, and click on “Entry” in the menu (Figure 7, red arrows). Now you can change the duration of Mail Questionnaire & Get Responses task from 65 days to 55 days (Figure 7, blue arrow). Microsoft Project automatically updates the Gantt Chart, network diagram, and the schedule with the change. Note that the total duration of the project

It is important to periodically save the baseline of your project to monitor changes. To save baseline project data, on the Project ribbon, click on Set Baseline in the Schedule group, and click on Set Baseline (Figure 8). Save your file again with the same file name “Consumer Market Study – 2” that we used at the beginning of this assignment.  THIS IS THE FILE THAT YOU WILL USE AS THE START FILE FOR THE NEXT ASSIGNMENT!    

Microsoft Project helps to determine the e ects of actual performance on the project completion date. Actual Finish (AF) dates are entered in the Task Information window. To update information about any task, right-click on the task name to select information from the menu or double-click on the task name to open the Task Information window. The tabs on the Task Information window are General, Predecessors, Resources, Advanced, Notes, and Custom Fields. Selected by default when the Task Information window is opened, the General tab is where you can indicate the planned or actual duration and the percentage of work completed for that task.

Update the tasks for Susan by opening each task in the Task Information window, changing the durations (Figure 9, red arrow) and percent complete (Figure 9, blue arrows), and clicking OK to close the window. 

•        Susan completed the Identify Target Consumers in two days instead of three days.                She developed the draft questionnaire in 9 days           She pilot-tested the questionnaire in 19 days. 

•        Susan discovered that she needed to make substantial revisions to the questionnaire and changed the duration to finish the revisions from 5 days to 15 days (Figure 9, green arrow). 

After the task information has been modified, the Gantt chart and network diagrams will be updated automatically. Figure 9 displays the General tab in the Task Information window for the task Review Comments & Finalize Questionnaire and reflects the change in duration from 5 days to 15 days. The check marks in the Information Column on the Entry Table in Figure 9 (yellow arrow) indicate the tasks Identify Target Consumers, Develop Draft Questionnaire, and Pilot-Test Questionnaire are 100 percent complete. Note the durations for these tasks have been updated to the actual number of days for each task and the total number of project days has changed. 

To enter a new task, click on the row where the new task will be entered (In this case row 9). Then

Steve had to order a new database for the labels on day 23 of the project because the database was not up to date. We will add this as a new activity. The time for Steve to receive the database is 21 days, and the activity is a predecessor to the Prepare Mailing Labels activity. 

Type in the name of the activity, “Order New Database for Labels” (Figure 11, red arrow). Enter the duration of 21 days (Figure 11, blue arrow). Set the Task Mode to Manually Schedule (Figure 11, green arrow). 

The start date for this new task is day 23 of the project. The project started on Friday, January 12. Wednesday, February 14 is 23 business days after January 12. Update the task information by opening the Task Information window and entering 2/14/2018 in the Start box (Figure 11, yellow arrow). You can also select the date from the drop-down calendar. 

This new task is a predecessor to the task Prepare Mailing Labels. Update the predecessors for Prepare Mailing Labels. Note that Microsoft Project automatically adjusted the task numbers for the remaining tasks and their predecessors. 

Figure 11

Valuable tracking data can be displayed through the Tracking Table. While in the Gantt Chart View, This table, as seen in Figure 13, shows actual start and finish times, percent complete, actual duration, remaining duration, actual costs, and actual work time for each activity. Note the AF times are reflected for the three tasks Susan has completed. 

To get a visual representation of actual versus planned progress, on the Task ribbon, go to the View Group and click on the down arrow on the Gantt Chart icon.  Select Tracking Gantt from the menu. The Tracking Gantt chart, shown in Figure 14, displays two bars for each task (you may need to scroll left or right to see this). The lower bar shows the baseline start and finish dates, and the upper bar shows the current start and finish dates, so that you can see the di           erence between your baseline plan and the current schedule. 

menu (Figure 12). You should see the table that is shown in Figure 15. This table shows the actual start and finish times compared to the baseline start and finish times for each activity, along with any variances. Note that at this point we see the results of the three tasks Susan has completed. The times will change as your project progresses and you update the percent complete and the AF dates for tasks. 

It is helpful to save your project as you work. To save your project information, on the File tab, click on Save As and enter the file name Consumer Market Study with Actual Finish Entries.  THIS IS THE FILE THAT YOU WILL SUBMIT TO THE DROPBOX.