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1.0 Introduction to Project Management - Solutions to Exercises

The aim of these exercises was to produce three Microsoft Project files:

Solutions to Question 1

1 (a) Set up a Company Calendar

1. Open MSP.

2. Click on "Tools", then "Change Working Time" and then select "New" to create a new calendar.

3. Give the calendar the name "development_calendar" and select "Create new base calendar".

4. Select Monday to Friday in the calendar by clicking on the column titles for these days while holding down the shift key.
Select Nondefault working time".

 

We can now set holidays as non-working days.

1. Click again on "Tools", then "Change Working Time"

2. Select "development_calendar" from the menu drop down list.

3. Select 1st January and then select: "non working time". This sets 1st January to a non-working day.

4. Repeat the above operations for the other holiday dates for the year.

5. Click OK

6. Save the file as devcal.mpp

You have now set up a the calendar of dates for the company.

 

1(b) Set the company working time

1. Continuing with the file above, select: "nondefault_working time" on the menu "Change working time".

2. Change the times to 9.00am to 12.00pm and 13.00 to 17.00

3. Click OK.

4. Re-save the file as devcal.mpp

You have now set the working times in the development calendar.

 

1(c) Create a global template

1. Select "Tools", "organiser", and then select the "calendar" tab

2. In the right hand box select devcal.mpp

3. Use <COPY> to copy the development calendar file to file global.mpt

This makes the calendar a global template, available to all the project files you create. We will use it throughout the module but you will still be able to edit it as required later if you wish.

 

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Solution to Question 2

To set up the resource pool:

1. open a document called development_resources.mpp

2. Click the resource sheet icon on the left hand tool bar.

3. In the resource name column, enter SWE2 (for example), hand tool bar.

4. In the resource name column enter SWE2 (for example), set the base calendar to development calendar and set the rate to £20/hour.

5. If the rate is shown in $, select: "tools", "options". Then select "view in options menus" and set the currency symbol to "£".
Leave everything else alone.

6. Repeat the exercise for all the entries in the question.

7. Re-save the file as development_resource.mpp This is the resource pool we shall use throughout the module. Again, we may edit it at a later stage.

 

Creating the project template file

Create a file called project_template in the ms_projectfiles folder.

 

Setting the calendar

  1. Click Tools/Change Working Time
  2. In the drop down menu select "development calendar"
  3. Click OK
  4. The calendar has been set

 

Setting the resource pool

  1. Open the development_resources.mpp file while the project_template.mpp file is still open
  2. Display the project_template.mpp file, by clicking on it on the status
  3. Click Tools/Resource sharing/ Share Resources
  4. Click on the share resources from button and select development_resources from the menu
  5. Click on the Pool takes precedence button
  6. Click OK
  7. The resource pool has been set as the default.

Save the project_template.mpp file

Click OK to the question about save update resource pool, but do not create a baseline.

 

Download MSP Files

Files illustrating all the above can be dowloaded from here. If you choose to download these files, be careful not to overwrite your own versions. Using right-click and then saving to a different directory is recommended.

devcal.mpp

development_resources.mpp

development_resources_01.mpp

project_template.mpp

 

 

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Updated: 10/07/08 RA