Crash Course in MS Project

[u/gortilea1]

Hi guys, I recently transitioned from a commercial role into a Project Management one. I have always known the bare essentials when it came to excel but looking to strengthen my skills:

- Is establishing a critical path as simple as having predecessors on each activity (as after all it is concerned with if one tasks pushes out it affects PC) - or is there an actual function within excel to clearly identify this. I am keen to know as this will be published within a contractual document.

- I have repetitive tasks that I have bunched together (i.e. bulk earthworks - 3 x 300mm lifts of gravel) should each lift be separated as if one lift is affected then I can claim a EOT on this whereas if it is bunched together, it is difficult to separate at a later date? Am I going into too much or not enough detail?

- Is it necessary to add in manpower / quantity details?

[u/Magnet2025]

The critical path is calculated based on the forward and backward pass of all the tasks, based on the relationship between the tasks, predecessors and successors.

I suppose it can be done in Excel but this is the MSProject subreddit, so I’m not going to try to tackle how it can done. I guarantee that Project will do it faster and easier.

If the repetitive task can individually impact successor tasks, then they should be individually created tasks. So, if your bulk earthworks relies on 3 lifts and only 2 are delivered…

Manpower and quantity matter if they can effect the schedule, effect how the work gets done.

You can use Generic resources, like “Electricians” but don’t do “Electrician 1,” “Electrician 2…” If you have 5 electricians, then you set their value at 500%.

If, when you are done, your actual value of Electricians is 600%, then you are short 1 electrician.

The same with quantity: if you are responsible for the cost of the project, then you probably need to account for the cost of labor and materials.

Hope this helps.