IMSC/SSU Certification program

Project Management for Software Developers

GUIDELINES FOR HOMEWORK #1

(Due on 07/05/2017 @ 9:00 am)

Part I – Excel version: No report needed. Only submit the Excel file. It must include:

  • Tabular section: Work package (top level W.B.S.) & tasks (2nd level W.B.S.), Responsibility, Time (weeks), Predecessors, Resource Names
  • Bar chart section: activities bars, relationships, each column represents one week
  • Resource loading by putting resource initial on each bar cell
  • Resource graph: tabulate all resources below the bar section, add up all quantities for each resource, for each week using Excel “SUMIF” function, then graph the resources. Each resource must have a separate graph, organized below the bar chart, one after another. Do NOT put all resources in one graph.
  • Calculate all costs in another table and add them up to get total project cost per week. Then convert the data to cumulative (each week is the total cost of that and all previous weeks. Show the cost curve underneath the bar chart, at the same time scale.

Continue…

Part II – MS-Project: A PDF report, 5 pages, as follows, as well as the MSP file

Page 1: The bar chart, EXACTLY the following format, make sure to include legend (delete bar styles that are not being used in your project to not show in the legend):

Tabular part: W.B.S., Task Name (work packages / tasks), duration, predecessors

Graphic part: Timescale should be months/weeks. Show critical activities in red. On the bar:

  • “Early Start” on left
  • “Early Finish” on right
  • “Resource Name” inside the bar
  • Float (slack), another bar to the right of non-critical (normal) activities. Note that Total Float and Free Float should be shown with different colors. see below
  • “Late Finish” to the right of total float (slack) bar

The entire schedule must be shown in one page. Work with the formatting on the print preview to make sure everything fits. The legend will show below the page. Delete unnecessary bar styles to have a smaller legend.

Page2: CPM Network Diagram, with the following formant (landscape orientation):

Make sure to provide the same information here:

Page 3: Resources graphs:

All resources in separate graphs underneath each other, same time scale. Make sure to show “Hours Worked” values.

Page 4–S-Curve

You may not find a way to create the cumulative cost curve directly in the MS-Project program. But you can use the “Reports” section to either tabulate the data and the export to and Plot in Excel, or you could use the graphical reports feature of MSP. Either one is acceptable

Page 5 – Conclusion

One paragraph explanation of what you learned from this exercise and one paragraph for comparing the results of the two parts. Your MSP results may not exactly match your Excel data. Your job is to compare the two and try to match them. If you are unable to match them exactly, you need to find the root cause of it explain it

Tips on MSP:

  • Change time units to weeks: tools  options  schedule
  • Calendar does not need to be changed. We are assuming 5 days a week workdays and that’s MSP’s standard schedule assumption.
  • To change bar style, right-click on the bar area and click on bar style
  • To change time-scale, double click on the time scale at the top of the bar area and modify it
  • DO NOT DRAG ANY ACTIVITES AROUND. ACTIVITES’ START, FINISH AND DURATIONS MUST BE CALCULATED BASE ON THE INFORMATION YOU PROVIDE AND THEIR RELATIONSHIPS. You may do this as a personal exercise just to see what it’s impacts on schedule, resources, and costs. But make sure to undo after every change (or keep a clean copy of the project)
  • To change the resource graph setting to work hours, right-click on the graph and click on “work” option
  • To define the project start date click on Project  Project Information. DO NO put any status date at this time. Status date is used for updating the schedule, we will discuss it later
  • You can always use MSP Help (F1) to trouble-shoot your problems.