Tag Archives: scheduling
Understanding Calendars and Scheduling in Microsoft Project
Project Management Institute (PMI)® Professional Development Units (PDUs): This Webinar is eligible for 1 PMI® PDUs in the Technical category of the Talent Triangle. Event Description: Microsoft Project is a scheduling tool, and the schedule of every project is based on one or more calendars. In this high-energy webinar, Dale Howard will discuss…
Do Calendars or Scheduling Have You Stumped?!
Microsoft Project is a powerful scheduling tool, but how exactly does the software schedule? The answer is found in a single word: calendars. In fact, the schedule of every project is based on one or more calendars. Have you ever wondered how to do any of the following? Configure the Standard calendar in your Microsoft…
PMO Best Practices: 7 Steps for Better Schedule Management
A few years ago, I was hired as a Project Management Office (PMO) consultant for a software products company. My assignment was to setup their PMO, implement best practices, and oversee projects for twelve months before handing over the setup to the client. My assignment ended up lasting thirteen months. Some would say it’s an…
Removing Start-to-Finish Relationships from Mid-point Scheduling
Mid-point or block scheduling involves a sequence of tasks, the scheduling of which is dependent upon the start of a target task embedded within the sequence. In practice, as the sequence is moved forward or backward within the schedule, start-to-finish (SF) task relationships are used to drag the predecessors of the target task along with…
A Resource Leveled and Smoothed Schedule
In the figure above, a schedule was resource leveled using Project (left Gantt chart). It was resource smoothed using Excel (right Gantt chart). Both results are resource-feasible, but the schedule on the right has a smoother resource allocation. To contrast the resource optimization techniques of leveling and smoothing, I will share how both schedules…
How to Link Tasks Using a Master Project Schedule
Download the Presentation Slides Project Management Institute (PMI)® Professional Development Units (PDUs): This Webinar is eligible for 1 PMI® PDU in the Technical category of the Talent Triangle. Event Description: Sequencing activities is a critical process within the Schedule Management knowledge area. It is a key component to building in logic –…
Schedule a Task to Start As Late As Possible Based on the Start Date of Another Task
Problem Description I answered an interesting question recently in the Microsoft Answers user forum for Microsoft Project users. The user who asked the question stated that she was new to Microsoft Project. She indicated that she is managing a construction project and wanted to know the latest possible date she could order wood flooring so…
Forecasting Projects: Modeling Time, Workload, and Cost
By Eric Uyttewaal There are three forecasts you can make with Microsoft Project. They are forecasts for Time, Workload, and Cost in your project schedule: Here is a revolutionary thought—if only project managers had a time machine, we could solve our time stress entirely. Perhaps, we would not even need time forecasts any longer! The…
How to Schedule in Reverse
Or How to Trust Alice Some of us may remember the early childhood bedtime story of Alice stepping through the looking glass. She finds that, just like a reflection, everything is reversed, including logic (running helps you remain stationary, walking away from something brings you towards it). As a scheduler, have you ever been asked…
Three Avenues for Efficiently Managing Your Project Schedule with SharePoint
Any project manager knows that as soon as their project begins, there’s a need to start re-planning the project schedule. SharePoint makes managing a project schedule incredibly easy. Depending on the size or complexity of your project, tracking your project plan with the out-of-the-box SharePoint Tasks List might do the trick. If you’re an experienced…
