Critical Path - Please help

[Greg]

I'm having a heck of a time obtaining the critical path from start to finish.
Would anyone be able to take a look at my MPP file and make a suggestion?

https://secure.logmein.com/f?JD-ZXb6j7R6Nl.dQBewVJrIzmzf0seL.lvApcGbxHVW

I think it has something to do with my summary tasks or relationships.

Thanks!

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Greg --

Your Critical Path begins on task ID #120, and runs from there to the end of
the project. There is a gap between the Start date of this task and the
Finish date of its predecessor task because of nonworking time on the
calendar of the resource assigned to this task (he has the same name as you,
by the way!). Because of this gap, all of the predecessor tasks have a
Total Slack value greater than 0 days, which means they are not Critical
tasks. You can view the slack by displaying any task view, such as the
Gantt Chart view, and then clicking View - Table - Schedule. Examine the
Total Slack column and you will see what I mean. Hope this helps.

 

[Greg]

Dale,

Thank you very much for your help!

This is my first project plan. Would you do anything differently or change
anything?

The resource is me by the way. I'm the PM and fill many other roles under
this project!

Thanks!

Greg

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Greg --

If this is your first project, I think you did exceptionally well. There
were several things I liked about your project:

1. I could see a series of "waterfalls" running through your project,
indicating that you sequenced your tasks in the order in which they occur.
2. You made effective use of summary tasks to show Phase and Deliverable
sections in the project.
3. You used Milestone tasks to signify the completion of each Phase and/or
Deliverable section.
4. You did not link summary tasks to anything else. That helps to minimize
the risk of a circular reference error.
5. You linked regular tasks to each other and to Milestone tasks.
6. You added Notes to tasks to provide additional documentation on those
tasks.
7. You added nonworking time to the personal calendar of one resource in
the project.
8. You baselined your project.

Whoever taught you to use Microsoft Project has taught you well! And if you
taught yourself, congrats! Since you asked, there are several changes I
would recommend:

1. Your project is missing the Project Summary Task (Row 0 or Task 0). To
display it, click Tools - Options - View and select the "Show project
summary task" option.

2. You have several "dangling" tasks in your project, which are tasks with
no Predecessor and/or Successor. These tasks lead nowhere in the project
and I would recommend you link them to something.

3. You have a number of serious resource overallocations in your project,
in the range of 16 or more hours per day. These overallocations are serious
enough to cause your project to slip. I would recommend that you level your
project in some manner to resolve the overallocations that are greater than
8 hours per day.

4. Your project is already showing variance, even though the project has
not been updated with progress from the first week. To see the variance,
apply the Gantt Chart view and then click View - Table - Work or View -
Table - Variance. Examine the Work Variance column and the Finish Variance
column in their respective Tables. At this point in the life of the
project, there should be NO variance. I suspect you baselined the project
before you were finished planning the project, or only baselined part of the
project. I believe you should baseline the entire project before you begin
entering progress in the plan.

Hope this helps.