BIS 360

Exercise #1
Project Management using Microsoft Project
I. Objective
This assignment familiarizes you with the project management software Microsoft
Project. You will manage a multi-phase multi-task project as described below. You will
learn how to create graphic output about your project, and learn how to read information
produced by Microsoft Project. What you learn from this exercise should be applied to
the management of your Team Project. Below is a detailed procedure to accomplish this
assignment.
II. Implementation Procedure
1. Use a formatted 3.5" or zip disk (100MB) as your work disk. Remember to backup
your work onto another disk in case there is a system crash or an unexpected disk
error.
2. Log into your system, then click Program | Microsoft Project to trigger the software.
Click off the tutorial dialog, if it pops up on your screen. Then, click Project | Project
Information to set the project beginning date to January 30, 2002.
3. Enter the following 3-phase System Analysis project into your worksheet. Note that
you need to right click your mouse to enter the predecessor information for each
primitive task. Do not change any default assumptions in the system, except the
project beginning date.
Click View | Gantt Chart to enter the follow information:
Table 1. Task List

Phase

Primitive Tasks

Duration (days)

Predecessors

1.1 Defining Team

Organization

none

1.2 Establish initial contact

1.1

1.3 Conduct initial interview

1.1

1.4 Define problem/opportunity

1.2; 1.3

1.5 Problem ID Statement*

1.4

1. Initiation

2. Planning
2.1 Describe project scope

1.5

2.2 Conduct feasibility analysis

2.1

2.3 Define tasks and schedule

2.1

2.4 Refine project scope

2.2

2.5 Select baseline project plan*

2.3; 2.4

3.1 Data needs analysis

2.5

3.2 Resource identification

3.1

3.3 Define major processes

3.1

3.4 Design preliminary models

3.3

3.5 Deliver preliminary

models*

3.2,3.4

3. Analysis

* Indicates that the task is a "milestone" on the Gantt Chart.

4. The above multi-phase multi-task project will be conducted by a four-person team.
Click View | Resource Sheet to enter the following resource information.
Name

Initials

Max units

Std Rate

Ovt rate

Cost/Use

Jack Adams

JA

100%

$18/hr

$27.0/hr

$0

Jeff Brown

JB

100%

15.0/hr

20.0/hr

$75

Jessie Crawford

JC

100%

12.0/hr

18.0/hr

$50

Joe Dole

JD

100%

10.0/hr

15.0/hr

5. Enter the following resource assignment. At this moment, only tasks in the Study
Phase are assigned. Do not worry about tasks in the next two phases.
Primitive task name

Assignment

1.1 Defining Team Organization

JA (100%), JB (100%)

1.2 Establish initial contact

JA (50%), JC (100%)

1.3 Conduct initial interview

JA (100%), JC (50%), JD (50%)

1.4 Define Problem/Opportunity

JB (100%), JD (50%)

1.5 Problem ID Statement

JA (100%), JD (50%)

III. Deliverables
1. After you have successfully entered the above data, save your project under the
name unifiedID-Exercise1 within a subdirectory BIS360 on your disk.
2. Collect information about your Exercise 1 using Microsoft Project and
Microsoft Word. Collect the following information and components:
a. Name your Word document unifiedID-Exercise1
b. Click Project | Project Information | Statistics to find out the Project
Finish date, Total Duration, Total Work hours, and Total Costs. Now its
time to Copy-and-Paste:
1) Press the [PrintScreen] key on your keyboard to snapshot the Project
Statistics into Microsoft Paint software (click Programs |
Accessories | Paint to open the software).
2) Crop the image so no other screen information is displayed
3) Use Copy | Paste Special command in Word to copy the image into
your Word document.
4) Appropriately label the image.
Repeat the above steps to paste the Critical Path and then the associated
information (probably two screens) under your answers to c.
c. Use ChartWizard (click Format | GanttChartWizard) to produce a Critical
Path (blue for slack tasks, and red for critical tasks) for your project. Try to
move the whole critical path within one print page (hide the preceding
columns about tasks such as names, duration, then use the bottom scroll bar to
center your Critical Path diagram). Now follow the Copy-and-Paste
instructions.
d. Using the same screen perform a Copy-and-Paste for all the information you
had to previously hide.
3

e. List all critical tasks on the critical path. You should first trace the critical
path, then type it out in a proper sequence (e.g, 1.1 - 1.2 ) in your Word
document.
3. Turn in your deliverable in the following manner:
a. Use a cover page (Template is available online).
b. Then staple this cover page to your Word document that contains all
required results from the above section:
o
o
o
o

Project Statistics (screenshot)

A Gantt Critical Path (screenshot)
Associated Gantt information (screenshot)
A task sequence of all critical tasks in the critical path.

Note: If you do not turn in your work in the above manner (and order), you may lose up
to 10% of your assignment grade.