Microsoft Project For Dummies. Cynthia Snyder Dionisio

task.

      Follow these steps to create a task via the Task Information dialog box:

      1 In the Task Name column, double-click a blank cell.The Task Information dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 2-6.

      2 In the Name field, type a task name.You can enter any other information you would like to while you are there.

      3 Click the OK button to save the new task.The task name appears in Gantt Chart view in the cell you clicked in Step 1.

      4 Repeat Steps 1–3 to add as many tasks as you like.

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      FIGURE 2-6: The Task Information dialog box.

As you name tasks, make task names in the project both descriptive and unique. However, if you can’t make all names unique (for example, you have three tasks named Hire Staff), you can use the automatically assigned task number or the outline number to identify tasks; these numbers are always unique for each task.

      

Naming tasks is a trade-off between giving a full description (which is much too long for a Task Name field) and being too brief (which can lead to misunderstandings and uncertainty). When in doubt, be brief in the Task Name and elaborate with a Task Note. I cover Task Notes in Chapter 3.

      

To insert a task anywhere within the list of tasks in Project, from the Task tab, Insert group, click a task name cell where you want the new task to appear, and click the Insert Task icon. The new task is inserted in the row above. You can also press the Insert key on the keyboard, or right-click and select Insert Task from the pop-up menu.

      Weighing manual scheduling versus automatic scheduling

      One of the most valuable aspects offered by Project has traditionally been its ability to recalculate task schedules, such as when you change the project start date or there is a change to one task’s schedule that affects one or more dependent (linked) tasks. This powerful behavior saves the project manager — you — from having to rethink and reenter dates to rescheduled tasks throughout the project.

      But flip sides to the benefits of automation always exist, and in the case of project scheduling, automatic scheduling can lead to unwanted schedule changes based on software behavior and not on human expertise.

      To retain the helpful aspects of automation that make scheduling less time-consuming while allowing project managers to retain schedule control when needed, Project allows user-controlled scheduling.

      In user-controlled scheduling, you can select one of these scheduling modes for each task:

       Auto Scheduled: Project calculates task schedules for you based on the project start date and finish date, task dependencies, calendar selections, and resource scheduling.

       Manually Scheduled: Project enables you to skip entering the duration and dates, and specify them later. When you enter the duration and dates, Project fixes the schedule for the task and doesn’t move it unless you do so manually. The manually scheduled tasks move if you reschedule the entire project, in most cases. The Gantt bars for manually scheduled tasks also differ in appearance from those for automatically scheduled tasks.

The indicator for auto-scheduled and manually scheduled tasks is at the bottom of the Project window. Figure 2-7 shows that the Walls tasks are auto-scheduled, as indicated by the time bar and the arrow in the Task Mode column. The Entry gates are manually scheduled as indicated by the pushpin in the Task Mode column. On the time scale, the auto-scheduled tasks show up as blue bars on your screen and the manually scheduled tasks show up as aqua bars with vertical lines on each end.

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      FIGURE 2-7: Manually and automatically scheduled tasks.

      When you indent a task, its parent task switches from manually scheduled to auto-scheduled because the duration and dependencies of the child tasks determine when the parent task can start and finish. Therefore, you don’t fill in the duration or start and finish dates for WBS elements — that information will auto-populate when you enter tasks beneath the WBS elements.

      The project file can have all manually scheduled tasks or all auto-scheduled tasks — or any mix of the two. By default, all tasks that you create use the manually scheduled mode.

      You can change the task mode for the overall project in two ways:

       To change the mode for all new tasks, select the Task tab, click the Mode icon in the Tasks group (the button with the calendar and a question mark), and then choose Auto Schedule or Manually Schedule from the menu, as shown in Figure 2-8.

       Another way to change the mode for all new tasks is to click the New Tasks link at the left end of the status bar at the bottom of the project, then select the mode you want.

      © John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

      FIGURE 2-8: Changing the task mode from the Ribbon.

You can change the task mode for individual tasks in three ways:

       Select the task, click the Task tab on the Ribbon, and then click either Manually Schedule or Auto Schedule in the Tasks group.

       Select the task, click the Task Mode cell for the task, click the drop-down arrow that appears, and click either Manually Scheduled or Auto Scheduled in the drop-down list.

       Select the task, click the Task tab on the Ribbon, and click the Information button in the Properties group. On the General tab of the Task Information dialog box, go to the Schedule Mode area and click the Manually Scheduled radio button or the Auto Scheduled option button.

      

You need to balance the desires of your inner control freak versus the need to be an efficient project manager in determining how often to use manual scheduling. Though manual scheduling prevents Project from moving tasks that you want to stay put in the schedule, you may need to edit the schedules for dozens of dependent tasks in a long or complicated project. The best balance — particularly for beginning project managers — may be to use manual scheduling sparingly.

      

      Inserting one project into another

      You can also insert tasks from one project into another. You do this by inserting an entire, existing project into another project. The project that’s inserted is called a subproject. This method is useful when various project team members manage different phases of a larger project. The capability to assemble subprojects in one place allows you to create a master schedule from which you can view, all in one place, all the pieces of a larger, more complex project.

      Follow these steps to insert another Project file into the schedule:

      1 In Gantt Chart view, select the task in the task list above which you want the other project to be inserted.

      2 From