Getting Started: I have an idea of how I want to setup my project,

[JamesG]

....I am not sure how to best configure project.

I am using Project 2007. I basically want to setup my project so that it is
driven by the hourly rates of the individuals working on the project. Here's
the basic idea.

Project is capped at $300,000 and has to be finished in 9 mos.
The Project has 3 tasks.
Task 1 - is allotted $50,000
Task 2 - $100,000
Task 3 - $150,000

Task 1 must be finished before Tasks 2, 3 can be started. Tasks 2,3 can run
concurrently.

The entire project must be finished in 9 mos.

I would like to be able to use project to see how many people it will take
(at certain percentages) to get my project finished by the deadline. If I
add/remove people or change the amount of their effort that I allot to a
task, I would like to be able to graphically see how this will affect the
ability to finish before the deadline.

Any direction or references to setup my project as described above would be
helpful. So far I have setup my resources to reflect hourly rates but that's
about it.

Thanks
JamesG

 

[José Miguel Piñeres]

Hello James,

Welcome to this Microsoft Project General Questions Discussion Group.

I would seriously recommend you to take a basic course on Microsoft Project
2007.

You also might want to read the information on the following pages:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/project/HA102354821033.aspx

and

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/project/HA102130271033.aspx

I hope this helps. Please let us know how you get along with it.

Best Regards,

 

[JamesG]

So, I have used Project some in the past and have working knowledge of how
project works and what it was intended to do.

I think my situation is unique (and may not be well-suited to Project)
because I want budgets and deadlines to drive the projects that I am
configuring. We have a set number of dollars and a firm deadline. I know
what I want to do but I may just not be able to do it with Project.

My understanding is that Project is used to schedule tasks and resources to
create a timeline to estimate when a task or project will be done. I think
the disconnect between what I would like and the way project actually works
is that I can't drive a project by the amount I set as a budget. The budget
is simply a target or goal that I can compare my plan against.

The way a lot of our jobs are presented to employees are as such: "You have
X number of hours to do Y job" it's rare that we ask, "How long will it take
to do Y job?"

I want to use Project to be able to calculate workload and backlog across
different projects with a single workforce. It is quite possible that I am
asking to do something with Project that it was not intended to do. If so,
any recommendations for other software that might?

 

[Rob Schneider]

Most (all?) projects are driven by budgets and deadlines. Use Project
to develop schedules which become a map for how to execute the project
to budget and within the deadlines. [Even with the map, it's not a given
that this will happen ... the schedule is only one bit of project.] If
the first pass of the plan is not within budget or schedule, then adjust
the plan. Project, used correctly, can facilitate this adjustment
process quite nicely because it does the complex data crunching
relatively smoothly. If after all this you cannot fit the plan within
budget or schedule, then adjust the the budget and/or schedule and/or
scope--or don't do the project. That's what projects are all about.

--rms

www.rmschneider.com

 

[JamesG]

If I have two engineers, one being paid $30/hour and one being paid $40/hour.
Can I assign them to a task that has been allotted $25K and have project
tell me how many hours they can work on that task before I run out of money?

Most (all?) projects are driven by budgets and deadlines. Use Project
to develop schedules which become a map for how to execute the project
to budget and within the deadlines. [Even with the map, it's not a given
that this will happen ... the schedule is only one bit of project.] If
the first pass of the plan is not within budget or schedule, then adjust
the plan. Project, used correctly, can facilitate this adjustment
process quite nicely because it does the complex data crunching
relatively smoothly. If after all this you cannot fit the plan within
budget or schedule, then adjust the the budget and/or schedule and/or
scope--or don't do the project. That's what projects are all about.

--rms

www.rmschneider.com

So, I have used Project some in the past and have working knowledge of how
project works and what it was intended to do.

I think my situation is unique (and may not be well-suited to Project)
because I want budgets and deadlines to drive the projects that I am
configuring. We have a set number of dollars and a firm deadline. I know
what I want to do but I may just not be able to do it with Project.

My understanding is that Project is used to schedule tasks and resources to
create a timeline to estimate when a task or project will be done. I think
the disconnect between what I would like and the way project actually works
is that I can't drive a project by the amount I set as a budget. The budget
is simply a target or goal that I can compare my plan against.

The way a lot of our jobs are presented to employees are as such: "You have
X number of hours to do Y job" it's rare that we ask, "How long will it take
to do Y job?"

I want to use Project to be able to calculate workload and backlog across
different projects with a single workforce. It is quite possible that I am
asking to do something with Project that it was not intended to do. If so,
any recommendations for other software that might?

 

[Rob Schneider]

Project can do the calculations for you, but it will not *decide* for
you how many hours of each engineer to assign. It is up to you (or the
planner) to decide how many hours of each to use to fill up to $25k in
cost. There is an infinite number of possibilities to try. Or, given
the assignments required/planned by the task and input to Project,
Project can compute the cost to and you can look if it is above or below
budget.

--rms

www.rmschneider.com

If I have two engineers, one being paid $30/hour and one being paid $40/hour.
Can I assign them to a task that has been allotted $25K and have project
tell me how many hours they can work on that task before I run out of money?

Most (all?) projects are driven by budgets and deadlines. Use Project
to develop schedules which become a map for how to execute the project
to budget and within the deadlines. [Even with the map, it's not a given
that this will happen ... the schedule is only one bit of project.] If
the first pass of the plan is not within budget or schedule, then adjust
the plan. Project, used correctly, can facilitate this adjustment
process quite nicely because it does the complex data crunching
relatively smoothly. If after all this you cannot fit the plan within
budget or schedule, then adjust the the budget and/or schedule and/or
scope--or don't do the project. That's what projects are all about.

--rms

www.rmschneider.com

So, I have used Project some in the past and have working knowledge of how
project works and what it was intended to do.

I think my situation is unique (and may not be well-suited to Project)
because I want budgets and deadlines to drive the projects that I am
configuring. We have a set number of dollars and a firm deadline. I know
what I want to do but I may just not be able to do it with Project.

My understanding is that Project is used to schedule tasks and resources to
create a timeline to estimate when a task or project will be done. I think
the disconnect between what I would like and the way project actually works
is that I can't drive a project by the amount I set as a budget. The budget
is simply a target or goal that I can compare my plan against.

The way a lot of our jobs are presented to employees are as such: "You have
X number of hours to do Y job" it's rare that we ask, "How long will it take
to do Y job?"

I want to use Project to be able to calculate workload and backlog across
different projects with a single workforce. It is quite possible that I am
asking to do something with Project that it was not intended to do. If so,
any recommendations for other software that might?


:

...I am not sure how to best configure project.

I am using Project 2007. I basically want to setup my project so that it is
driven by the hourly rates of the individuals working on the project. Here's
the basic idea.

Project is capped at $300,000 and has to be finished in 9 mos.
The Project has 3 tasks.
Task 1 - is allotted $50,000
Task 2 - $100,000
Task 3 - $150,000

Task 1 must be finished before Tasks 2, 3 can be started. Tasks 2,3 can run
concurrently.

The entire project must be finished in 9 mos.

I would like to be able to use project to see how many people it will take
(at certain percentages) to get my project finished by the deadline. If I
add/remove people or change the amount of their effort that I allot to a
task, I would like to be able to graphically see how this will affect the
ability to finish before the deadline.

Any direction or references to setup my project as described above would be
helpful. So far I have setup my resources to reflect hourly rates but that's
about it.

Thanks
JamesG

 

[Rod Gill]

Hi,

I agree with Rob, your situation is far from unique! I think you may be
falling into the trap that Project isn't doing all your work for you and
your managers, hence your confusion!

Taking your example of 2 Engineers, then:
If a Task will take the cheaper Engineer 15h and the more expensive one 10h,
then the more expensive is more productive than the cheaper and should
ideally do all the work. Probably that Engineer is not available to do all
the work, hence the need to fill in with the cheaper Engineer.

So, your first job is to evaluate the productivity of each Engineer and
request as many hours as possible of the more productive Engineer. Schedule
this work and evaluate remaining cost. Now divide that cost by the rate of
the less productive Engineer. Assign that Engineer to all remaining Tasks,
but also adjust the Work for each Task based on how long it will take that
Engineer.

Now you have a total cost for your project. If it exceeds your budget, as
Steve says, change the scope and/or quality, availability of more productive
Engineer or cancel the project. Just because someone gives you a budget, it
doesn't mean the project can magically get done for that cost.

Because of all these variables, your PC (running Project and with an IQ of
zero) has no chance of scheduling your project effectively without a lot of
input from you. It can however manage your project info and do the calcs
very well indeed.

Good luck!

--

Rod Gill
Microsoft MVP for Project

Author of the only book on Project VBA, see:
http://www.projectvbabook.com

If I have two engineers, one being paid $30/hour and one being paid
$40/hour.
Can I assign them to a task that has been allotted $25K and have project
tell me how many hours they can work on that task before I run out of
money?

Most (all?) projects are driven by budgets and deadlines. Use Project
to develop schedules which become a map for how to execute the project
to budget and within the deadlines. [Even with the map, it's not a given
that this will happen ... the schedule is only one bit of project.] If
the first pass of the plan is not within budget or schedule, then adjust
the plan. Project, used correctly, can facilitate this adjustment
process quite nicely because it does the complex data crunching
relatively smoothly. If after all this you cannot fit the plan within
budget or schedule, then adjust the the budget and/or schedule and/or
scope--or don't do the project. That's what projects are all about.

--rms

www.rmschneider.com

So, I have used Project some in the past and have working knowledge of
how
project works and what it was intended to do.

I think my situation is unique (and may not be well-suited to Project)
because I want budgets and deadlines to drive the projects that I am
configuring. We have a set number of dollars and a firm deadline. I
know
what I want to do but I may just not be able to do it with Project.

My understanding is that Project is used to schedule tasks and
resources to
create a timeline to estimate when a task or project will be done. I
think
the disconnect between what I would like and the way project actually
works
is that I can't drive a project by the amount I set as a budget. The
budget
is simply a target or goal that I can compare my plan against.

The way a lot of our jobs are presented to employees are as such: "You
have
X number of hours to do Y job" it's rare that we ask, "How long will
it take
to do Y job?"

I want to use Project to be able to calculate workload and backlog
across
different projects with a single workforce. It is quite possible that
I am
asking to do something with Project that it was not intended to do. If
so,
any recommendations for other software that might?


:

...I am not sure how to best configure project.

I am using Project 2007. I basically want to setup my project so that
it is
driven by the hourly rates of the individuals working on the project.
Here's
the basic idea.

Project is capped at $300,000 and has to be finished in 9 mos.
The Project has 3 tasks.
Task 1 - is allotted $50,000
Task 2 - $100,000
Task 3 - $150,000

Task 1 must be finished before Tasks 2, 3 can be started. Tasks 2,3
can run
concurrently.

The entire project must be finished in 9 mos.

I would like to be able to use project to see how many people it will
take
(at certain percentages) to get my project finished by the deadline.
If I
add/remove people or change the amount of their effort that I allot to
a
task, I would like to be able to graphically see how this will affect
the
ability to finish before the deadline.

Any direction or references to setup my project as described above
would be
helpful. So far I have setup my resources to reflect hourly rates but
that's
about it.

Thanks
JamesG

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[Steve House]

There's a major logic problem with your approach, IMHO. Projects are
collections of physical actions that create deliverables. The time it takes
depends on the amount of deliverable to be created and the rate at which the
resources can create them while the cost depends on the time its going to
take and the cost of the resource doing it. You can't just pluck those
numbers out of thin air - they have to be grounded in physical reality. I
live 50 km from one of the sites where I work. The speed limit on the
freeway I take to get there is 100km per hour. If I have a meeting at 8:30,
I have to allow at least 30 minutes to get there - I can't just arbitrarily
give myself 10 minutes because I really, really want that second cup of
coffee and expect to be successful in being on-time, Projects are the same.
There's a maximum rate at which resources can produce deliverables and you
can't just arbitrarily say "you have X hours to do this" if the rate
required to meet that requirement exceeds the rate it is physically or
psychologically possible to achieve. The same thing with budget ... you
have a finite deliverable that must be achieved - you can't just work until
the allocated money is used up. If your project is to pave 10km of freeway,
what do you do if the budget is used up and you only have 9km done, stop and
put up a barricade? Or conversely, suppose you still have money left over
when you reach 10km - do you just keep on going or rip up part of the new
payment and put it back down again?