Handling Existing Project with Deadlines and NO Start Date?

[Chris]

So I am trying to get a project (that has been maintained in excel)
implemented on project. I have a couple of questions about the workflow.

So our project has five or so contractors working to write a book. Each
contractor has about five tasks (write chapter, make edits, create chapter
questions, etc.) per chapter that they are assigned to write.

All of our contractors have given us the number of hours it is going to take
to perform each task and we have given them a due date for each task.
Incidently, each contractor has given us a flat rate price to complete all of
their tasks (not broken down by task). These contractors have other jobs, so
the are not committing 100% of their time on the project. They might even be
working weekends. That is it. so in the spreadsheet, we have the number of
hours for task, the assignment, the due date, and if the task has been
started or completed.

So I have the project all set up in MS Project. I have all the tasks filled
out and the Resources added to the resource sheet. My issues are now:

What do I put in for the duration, units, and work? We really don't know
when they are going to start the task, we just know what the due date we
assigned is, and how much work it is going to take. We know that the
contractors have other jobs, so are not full-time and might be working during
non-standard hours (nights/weekends).

Is there a way to set this up so that we can record percentages of
completion. That way we might be able to notice red flags (e.g., the task
requires 16 hours of work and there is only one day left for due date).

Going forward (I am not pm on this project, just helping to get it under
control), what is the best way to handle contractors like this if we intend
to track the project in MS Project? I was thinking we should get them to
commit to some kind of work and duration and let us schedule a start and
finish date for them?

Project is a great tool and I am still a newbie, but have been reading a lot
of great books on the topic. I am hoping one of you brilliant project
experts can help me get this project going correctly in MS Project.

Thanks for taking the time to read and hopefully respond.


Chris

 

[Rod Gill]

What you have is a very simple schedule. It probably doesn't need Project
at all. I would continue with Excel, but add some extra deadlines for
different phases, such as review etc. For example, if the author reports
back every 2 weeks, you are not going to detect a delay of 1d.

Project can certainly do what you want, but for the same effort or much
less, you can continue with Excel by adding more milestones.

If you do want to continue with Project, then what do you want Project to
calculate and communicate for you? That is what will decide what you need to
enter and maintain.

 

[ncalpunker]

Yeah, we could use the spreadsheet, however it seems to be taking two
hours to update it. The PM is rescheduling by hand everytime a
contractor needs to push the due date.

Seems like this should be a good fit for MS Project as we want to see
when the project completion date is (real-time) and to know percentage
of completion on various chapters. And keep track of costs (for
example, we replaced one contractor with another one).

I guess I will need to just go and estimate the resources max units
based on the number of hours they have estimated and the number of days
before their assigned due dates.

I also want to get this working in MS Project so that I can use this as
a template for other book projects based on a similiar format.

Any other suggestions would be appreciated.


Thanks in advance,


Chris

 

[Mike Glen]

Hi Chris,

Welcome to this Microsoft Project newsgroup

You might also like to have a look at my series on Microsoft Project in the
TechTrax ezine, at this site: http://tinyurl.com/2xbhc or this:
http://pubs.logicalexpressions.com/Pub0009/LPMFrame.asp?CMD=ArticleSearch&AUTH=23
(Perhaps you'd care to rate the articles before leaving the site,
Thanks.)

FAQs, companion products and other useful Project information can be seen at
this web address: <http://www.mvps.org/project/>

Hope this helps - please let us know how you get on

Mike Glen
MS Project MVP

 

[John]

Yeah, we could use the spreadsheet, however it seems to be taking two
hours to update it. The PM is rescheduling by hand everytime a
contractor needs to push the due date.

Seems like this should be a good fit for MS Project as we want to see
when the project completion date is (real-time) and to know percentage
of completion on various chapters. And keep track of costs (for
example, we replaced one contractor with another one).

I guess I will need to just go and estimate the resources max units
based on the number of hours they have estimated and the number of days
before their assigned due dates.

I also want to get this working in MS Project so that I can use this as
a template for other book projects based on a similiar format.

Any other suggestions would be appreciated.


Thanks in advance,


Chris

Chris,
I tend to agree with Rod and I don't understand why it would take 2
hours to update what should be a fairly simple spreadsheet. Maybe the
spreadsheet is overly complex for what you need.

Nonetheless, if you want to give Project a try, here are some thoughts.
Note, these aren't revelations, they are just what poured out of my head
as I wrote (whoa, that might be dangerous
1. You mention that the contractors have given you a flat rate price.
The word "rate" implies a time-based cost, yet in your other post I got
the impression you received a fixed price bid. Which is it?
2. It is a little difficult to lay out a schedule plan if the
contractors are vague with their timeline. For example, they have given
you a price (I'll assume the answer to item 1 above is "fixed price")
and the total hours (per book I assume). You also know the sequence of
tasks involved but the contractors apparently did not break out the
total hours into performance pieces. That may or may not be a problem.
If the bid is fixed price, as I said before, the number of hours is
more-or-less irrelevant.
3. You have a deadline for each book. That and the start date define the
duration. If you want to track progress, I suggest you ask the
contractors for their duration estimates for each part of the writing
process. They should have a better idea than anybody. If you can't get
it out of them, (often with this type of thing the performer is
unwilling to commit to timeline), you will need to make your best
guestimate. Remember you can always update the duration data as the plan
progresses - that's a normal part of project management.
4. If you like, after you set up the schedule, you can set a baseline.
That will give you a comparison point between your original plan and the
current plan. You can read more about baselines in the help file.
5. You also mentioned that the contractors may work off-hours. In that
case you may want to set up the schedule to include weekends as working
time but I suggest you don't for the following reason. Unless you are
going to update progress on an off-day the fact that contractor A did
his editing on Friday night or Sunday afternoon is of little importance
when you come in to work on Monday morning and update the plan.
6. With a fixed price project you can show the bid in the Fixed Cost
field as I suggested previously, but it would be for reference only -
not relevant to tracking progress. The same is true with work hours
although it might be nice to track those as calibration for future jobs.
7. I would set up the tasks as Fixed Duration based on estimates per
performance task (i.e. write, edit, etc.). Link the tasks in logical
sequence. Project will use the durations and links to establish the
Start and Finish dates for each performance task. Do NOT enter Start and
Finish dates directly - that's Project's job and if you do it manually,
constraints will be set that prevent the plan from being dynamic.
8. If you know which contractor is going to work on which book/task,
assign them as a resource. However, unless you want to track their hours
(for reference only), do NOT enter a value in the Work field for each
task. As I said, its irrelevant based on the type of bid.
9. Track progress by entering values in the % Complete field. Just
remember though that if the duration is changed as better information is
obtained, you will have to adjust the duration. For example, if a
particular task (e.g. edit) was estimated at 2 days and it is 50%
complete, a slip of 1 day (i.e. duration now 3 days) will cause Project
to change the % complete to 33%. You will need to manually put it back
to 50% because you can't change history (unless of course you have one
of those Stargate thingies). Now, if the original declaration of being
50% complete was just flat wrong, then sure, fix the error (I assume you
are not under any formal certified earned value contractual requirement).

Whww! I filled my buffer. Hopefully this gives you some ideas. If you
have more specific questions, post again.

John
Project MVP