Dynamic Scheduling® With Microsoft® Project 2013

The Book By and For Professionals

Rodolfo Ambriz, Mario Landa

• Publisher: J. Ross Publishing
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781604277548
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Negocios y empresa
• Subtopic: Gestión de proyectos

Microsoft Project 2013 is a powerful software tool, and like all tools it requires knowledge and skill to be used to its maximum potential. This fully revised new edition provides users with everything they will need to more easily and effectively manage projects to a successful conclusion. Designed for the busy, practicing project manager, Dynamic Scheduling With Microsoft Project 2013 will help you get up to speed quickly with the new and enhanced features of Project 2013 (including Project Pro for Office 365) and enable you to create effective schedules using best practices, tips & tricks, and step-by-step instruction. Through the use of helpful screenshots, hands-on exercises, illustrations, and review questions, this guide instructs you on how to build dynamic schedules that will allow you to explore what-if scenarios and dramatically decrease the time you spend making static schedule changes. "A must read, reread, and use daily for all project managers" is what PMI's Project Management Journal had to say about previous editions. This updated version is even better!

Chapter 1: Concepts of Project Management

---

To use Project 2013 effectively, you’ll want to understand the project management concepts and processes that the tool supports. In this chapter we’ll look at the big picture of project management. We’ll discuss what project management is and where it fits in the enterprise and in the context of programs and portfolios.

After reading this chapter you’ll be able to:

Define what a project, program and portfolio of projects are and describe how they relate to one another in the context of Enterprise Project Management

Describe the critical role of projects and programs in an enterprise

Describe the basic principles and processes for managing individual projects and dynamic project scheduling

Describe the advantages of a dynamic model over a static chart

---

Overview

In this chapter, we’ll define what projects and project management are, position project management in the context of the multi-project enterprise, and focus in on the principles and processes for managing individual projects.

This book deals primarily with managing a single project but we do address some issues related to multiple projects. This is because we rarely perform a project in a vacuum: multiple projects performed simultaneously have become the norm. Some projects are logically related to one another, while others may be related only because they share resources and occur within the same organization.

Project 2013 provides features and functions that can help you manage multiple projects and we’ll point those out throughout the book. However to fully address multi-project management, you’ll need Project Server, the software that enables multiple users to effectively collaborate on projects.

---

What is Project Management?

“Project management (PM) is the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities to meet the project requirements. Project management is accomplished through the appropriate application and integration of the 47 logically grouped project management processes, which are categorized into five Process Groups.

These five Process Groups are:

Initiating,

Planning,

Executing,

Monitoring and Controlling, and

Closing”¹

The project management process is effective when projects are aligned with the organization’s strategy, completed to the satisfaction of the client (fitness for use) and sponsor, and produced on time and within budget. It is increasingly important that we also do this while maintaining and building relationships.

Why Project Management

Projects are critical to the success of any organization: they are how an organization brings about change. But projects are often poorly managed and the costs of this mismanagement are high. They include projects that are late, over budget, produce substandard products, don’t satisfy stakeholders and don’t align with the organization’s business strategy.

Projects are complex: they involve people and variables that make it impossible to follow a simplistic cookbook approach and to predict outcomes with complete accuracy. We need project management to manage dynamic and complex efforts to achieve objectives within a project’s competing demands of scope, time, cost, quality, resources and risk.

Completing projects efficiently and effectively provides a competitive edge and enables an organization to improve the way it serves its clients, stakeholders and employees. Effective project management improves the likelihood that projects will be completed successfully.

What is a Project?

“A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service or result.”²

Projects are the means for making changes (new and improved products and processes, mergers and acquisitions, etc.) in any organization. They represent a significant expenditure of money and critical resources. Projects are critical factors in meeting strategic objectives.

Some organizations have projects as their core operations, like construction, aerospace and consulting companies. There are full-time project managers in these companies. In other organizations, projects are often used to implement changes (like relocations and reorganizations) or for creating new systems (such as information and financial systems). These organizations may also have professional project managers, but many projects may be managed by occasional or incidental project managers. The line manager of today often has one or more projects in progress.

Examples of Projects

Here is a list of some common project types with examples. Each may have a wide range of complexity, cost, duration and criticality:

Organizational change projects: implementing a new methodology or relocating an office

Regulation implementation projects: meeting new environmental or reporting requirements

Event projects: conducting a conference or making a presentation to investors

New product development: developing a new pharmaceutical drug

Information systems projects: developing new software or maintaining existing software

Construction projects: designing and constructing buildings or roads

Education projects: developing new courseware or conducting workshops

A Word About Small Projects

There is a tendency to downplay the importance of small projects to justify not bringing project management principles into play. Small projects are as important as any, particularly because there are so many of them and they may be critical to business operations.

The formality of project management must be scaled to the size, complexity and setting of the project to be managed. The fact that a project is small may seem to indicate less of a need for formality. However, when there is a dynamic flow of many small projects, as in a maintenance environment, you may in fact need greater formality.

Some small projects are complex and critical. For example, when a condenser needs to be replaced in a coal-fueled power plant (a project that is small in the context of major facilities projects), it can require that operations be suspended for several weeks. The potential for this “small” project to fall off track has huge financial consequences and therefore a need for greater formality.

Every project needs to be managed effectively.

---

Enterprise Project Management (EPM)

Project management is a process designed to improve project performance. Before we look at the principles of mana...