Objectives
On completion of this chapter, you should be able to
In previous chapters, we discussed about using MS-Project for managing scope, schedule, and cost of a project. However, MS-Project can very well be used to manage other project constraints like quality and risks. The purpose of this chapter is to provide you methods of using MS-Project to manage processes related to other knowledge areas. Not all the project management processes are simply transposed to MS-Project and some may not be managed in MS-Project at all. This chapter provides you techniques to manage your projects with MS-Project and the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK ®) Guide processes. Table 10.1 gives some examples of using MS-Project in managing project management processes from other knowledge areas like quality.
Table 10.1 Some sample processes in which MS-Project can be used
PMBOK® process |
How MS-Project can be used |
Plan quality management |
Relevant standards and regulations for each task can be recorded in the Task Notes or a user-definable field. Hyper Text Mark-up Language (HTML) link can also be used to refer to a relevant standard of the task. |
Manage Quality |
MS-Project also allows you to create project templates and use them subsequently. For quality audits, such templates can be created and used. These help as tools in the Manage Quality Assurance process. |
Control quality |
1. You can analyze variances and trends using visual reports. This can help you in quality control. 2. Additional activities (tasks) should be included in the schedule for checking Quality. |
Plan Resources management |
1. All people involved in a project may be entered into the Resource Sheet. Information about resources may be entered into either existing fields or user-definable fields (as MS-Project allows you to define your own custom field). This may include roles, responsibilities, and the project organizational structure. 2. Resources may be grouped using the Grouping function and an organizational structure may be created in a table format. |
Manage communications |
Once the reporting requirements get defined then the MS-Project Tables and Reports may be used effectively to create reports for various project stakeholders. |
Identify risks |
1. Analyzing a Gantt Chart schedule of a project can help you identify risks related to resources and so on. 2. User-defined field feature may be used to assign a risk log item number and description in the Entry table or in the Resource Sheet. |
Monitor risks |
If you are familiar with Visual Basic® for Applications, you can use it to create macros in MS-Project to alert you when trigger events occur. This can help you to identify new risks and then respond to them appropriately. |
As discussed earlier, Table 10.1 is representative only and MS-Project can be used in many different ways as a tool or as a means to generate inputs for various processes. The following examples explain in detail how one can use some features of MS-Project for managing project management processes.
Example Problem: Planning Quality
Management Using MS-Project
As we discussed earlier we can use MS-Project for quality management processes too. This particular example deals with quality standards of a mobile app development project. The Android coding style, which is available on the Internet, has to be associated with the Development task in the project. The guided example explains the steps involved in using a hyperlink to associate quality standards.
Let us say you want to associate the standard with the task Development. A hyperlink can be inserted by right clicking the task and selecting Link from the contextual menu that appears as shown in Figure 10.2.
Close the file.
Example Problem: Using MS-Project
for Creating Risk Register
A risk register is created during risk identification by the project team and contains information on project risks. This document gets updated with other risk management processes (perform qualitative analysis of risks, control risks, etc.). In a project, to start with, a risk register contains information on identified risks and their root causes. Subsequently, as the project progresses, risk analysis is carried out on a regular basis and the register is updated with information like ranking, probability, impact, and status (like retired). In MS-Project, you can attach notes to tasks and resources. This feature can be effectively utilized to create a Risk Register. As we progress with the project, this document can be updated to include information like new risks, risk mitigation plan, and contingency plans.
With the help of an example we shall understand how attaching notes to tasks helps you to build a risk register. The guided example deals with linking a risk register created in Microsoft Excel to a small project for Software enhancement.
Select Advanced and click on the check-box Show Project Summary Task (under Display Options for This Project).
Close all files.
To conclude, we discussed in this chapter how MS-Project can be used in processes related to different knowledge areas (knowledge areas not related to project time management and project cost management). Although the discussion is about managing a single project, we can extend the same to a consolidated project. Similarly, although we have considered here processes defined in PMBOK ® we can very well use MS-Project for processes defined through other similar standards or framework.