MCS 203L Software Development SSUET/QR/104

Lab#011

Creating Gantt Chart & PERT Chart Using MS

Project

Objective:
• Introduction about Microsoft Project and discuss some features.
• Introduction about Gantt Chart and Network Diagram.
• Create Gantt chart and Network Diagram with the help of example

Introduction about Microsoft Project:

Microsoft Project is a project management software program, developed and sold by Microsoft,
which is designed to assist a project manager in developing a plan, assigning resources to tasks,
tracking progress, managing the budget, and analyzing workloads. Microsoft Project can be used
in a variety of industries including construction, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, government,
retail, financial services and health care.

Microsoft Project is a software application sold by Microsoft that provides project management
tools to manage projects. The program, which has many different versions, allows users to:

• Understand and control project schedules and finances.

• Communicate and present project information.
• Organize work and people to make sure that projects are completed on schedule.

Features:
Project creates budgets based on assignment work and resource rates. As resources are assigned
to tasks and assignment work estimated, the program calculates the cost, equal to the work times
the rate, which rolls up to the task level and then to any summary tasks and finally to the project
level. Resource definitions (people, equipment and materials) can be shared between projects
using a shared resource pool. Each resource can have its own calendar, which defines what days
and shifts a resource is available. Resource rates are used to calculate resource assignment costs
which are rolled up and summarized at the resource level. Each resource can be assigned to
multiple tasks in multiple plans and each task can be assigned multiple resources, and the
application schedules task work based on the resource availability as defined in the resource
calendars. All resources can be defined in label without limit. Therefore, it cannot determine how
many finished products can be produced with a given amount of raw materials. This makes
Microsoft Project unsuitable for solving problems of available materials constrained production.
Additional software is necessary to manage a complex facility that produces physical goods.

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The application creates critical path schedules, and critical chain and event chain methodology
third-party add-ons also are available. Schedules can be resource leveled, and chains are
visualized in a Gantt chart. Additionally, Microsoft Project can recognize different classes of
users. These different classes of users can have differing access levels to projects, views, and
other data. Custom objects such as calendars, views, tables, filters, and fields are stored in an
enterprise global which is shared by all users.

Introduction about Gantt Chart

A Gantt chart, commonly used in project management, is one of the most popular and useful
ways of showing activities (tasks or events) displayed against time. On the left of the chart is a
list of the activities and along the top is a suitable time scale. Each activity is represented by a
bar; the position and length of the bar reflects the start date, duration and end date of the activity.

A Gantt chart is a type of bar chart, developed by Henry Gantt in the 1910s, that illustrates a project
schedule. Gantt charts illustrate the start and finish dates of the terminal elements and summary elements
of a project. Terminal elements and summary elements comprise the work breakdown structure of the
project. Modern Gantt charts also show the dependency (i.e., precedence network) relationships between
activities.

This allows you to see at a glance:

• What the various activities are

• When each activity begins and ends
• How long each activity is scheduled to last
• Where activities overlap with other activities, and by how much
• The start and end date of the whole project

To summarize, a Gantt chart shows you what has to be done (the activities) and when (the
schedule).

Sample of Gantt chart

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Introduction about Network Diagram

The Network Diagram view was called the PERT Chart in earlier versions of Project. This view
shows the dependencies between tasks in a graphical manner. Gantt chart is primarily meant to
view the schedule time line, whereas Network diagram to view the all type of dependencies in
the project.

Each task shown in the box called node and a line connecting two boxes represents the
dependency between those tasks.

You can also create new tasks in the Network Diagram. It’s always easy to manage the tasks
from Gantt chart view, but if you are concerns on view the dependencies instantly while you
creating the tasks, Network Diagram will be the right one.

Network Diagram also can display a record of progress:

• If the task is completed, the task node shows cross diagonal lines
• If the task is in progress but not completed, a single diagonal line draw through node
• No diagonal line appears in tasks that are not yet started

Sample of Network Diagram

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Create Gantt chart and Network Diagram

Gantt Chart:

1. Adding tasks and milestones to a Project File:

• On the View menu, click Gantt Chart.
• In the Task Name field, type a task name, and then press TAB. (Microsoft Project enters
an estimated duration of one day for the task followed by a question mark)
• In the Duration field, type the amount of time each task will take in months, weeks, days,
hours, or minutes, not counting nonworking time. (By default the time period will be
days, but that can be changed to hours, months, etc.)
• Press ENTER. It should look like the figure below:

• To add a milestone the only difference is that the duration of the activity must be zero
(below is an example):

Note: By double clicking on a Task or milestone, you can modify its information with a
form that prompts

2. Grouping Tasks in Logical Order:

Outlining helps organize your tasks into more manageable chunks. You can indent related tasks
under a more general task, creating a hierarchy. The general tasks are called summary tasks; the
indented tasks below the summary task are subtasks. A summary task's start and finish dates are
determined by the start and finish dates of its earliest and latest subtasks.

• Click once on the first activity of the group of activities you want to group. For the
example Activities 4and 5

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• Then click on the option “New Task” in the “Insert” Menu to insert a new task that will
represent thename of the group (“Group 1” for this example)

• Then select the tasks below (4 and 5) and then click in the option “Indent” in the “Project

3. Creating Relationships Between Tasks:

A network of tasks in a project must be connecting activities from the start to the end, to
establish these relationships we need to use the field “Predecessors” of each task, where we can
designate which activity will be preceding the one we are updating, in the example below we
will indicate MS project that “Activity 5” can start once “Activity 4” is completed (Finish to
Start relationship).

Notice that by establishing the relationship now the Group 1 takes 2 days to be completed,
because before, the activities were set to be performed in parallel, and now they are in series
(Finish to Start relationship)

Note: MS project will calculate dates based on the durations of the tasks, their relationships and
the start date set for the project, however it is possible to change the starting date of a task (if
necessary) By double clicking on a Task or milestone, and using the fields related to the dates
(Start or Finish)

4. Assigning Resources to Tasks:

You can use the Resource Sheet in Microsoft Project to create a list of the people, equipment,
and material resources that make up your team and carry out the project tasks. Your resource list
will consist of work resources or material resources. Work resources are people or equipment;
material resources are consumable materials or supplies, such as concrete, wood, or nails.
• On the View menu, click Resource Sheet.

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• On the View menu, point to Table, and then click Entry.

• In the Resource Name field, type a resource name.
• You can go through the fields in the sheet, but for the simplicity of the example just focus
on the name and initials of the Resource
• Below is an example of some Human resources added to the Resource Sheet (We could
add also other type of resources such as Equipments, Consumables, etc.)

• Once the resources are created, you can go back to the View menu, and click Gantt Chart
to see again the tasks, and then when you double click a task you can add a resource to
this task by using the tab “Resources”

Network Diagram:

• Click Gantt chart view and go to the sub options in Gantt Chart
• Click Network diagram

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Now let’s try a small example, step by step to practice each of the options we have seen so far
about how to create a project using MS Project. We are going to use a small set of tasks (Table
Below) related to the initial phases of a System Testing Plan (Definition and Design)

Activity Predecessor Responsibility Effort System Testing

Phase
1.RSD Analysis Requirements • Test Manager 3 days Definition Phase
Specification Document • Project
completed. Manager
(Not part of System • Test Leader
Testing Plan
2. Develop Test Plan Activity 1 •Test Manager 5 days Design Phase
•Test Leader
•Tester E
3. Develop Test Design Activity 2 •Tester A and B 8 days Design Phase
Specification
4. Develop Test Case Activity 3 •Tester A and B 5 days Design Phase
Specification
5. Develop Test Activity 4 •Tester A and B 3 days Design Phase
Procedure Specification
6. Develop Test Item Activity 5 •Tester A and B 1 days Design Phase
7. Prepare Tools and Test Activity 6 •Tester A and B 3 days Design Phase
Scripts
8. Review Test Plan and Activity 7 •Test Manager 2 days Design Phase
Attachments •Test Leader
•Tester E
Check that System is Activity 8 •Tester E, A and B 1 days Design Phase
Ready to be tested
10. Add Design Activity 9 •Test Leader 1 days Design Phase
Documents to CMS •Tester E, A and B
(Milestone)

Step by Step Create Gantt Chart of System Testing Plan

Adding Task:

• Write the name of each task in the spreadsheet using the column “Task Name”
• Write the duration in days of each task in the spreadsheet using the column “Duration”
• Group the tasks by the Phase according to the table of tasks shown before, and add a
group that encloses the phases named “System Testing Plan MCY-ADTT-ST-2002-01”
this will represent the plan as a whole
• Write the predecessors of each task in the spreadsheet using the column “Predecessors”
(If you can’t see the column, try to expand the vertical bar that divides the spreadsheet to
the Gantt Chart)
• To convert a Task in a Milestone, just double click the Task and go to the tab
“Advanced” then check the box that says “Mark Task as a Milestone”

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Grouping:

• Insert a new task at the beginning that will group everything. Highlight the tasks that are
going to be added as subtasks and use ‘Indent’ option.

1.1 Insert new task 1.2 Highlight task

The final result should look like this, now repeat this steps to create the Subgroups that will
represent the phases (Definition and Design).

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1.3 Create Group

• Insert a new task at the beginning of the definition tasks. Highlight the tasks that are
going to be added as subtasks.

2.1 Insert new task 2.2 Highlight task

The final result should look like this, now repeat this steps to create the Subgroup that will
represent the phase “Design

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2.3 Create Group

• Insert a new task at the beginning of the Design tasks. Highlight the tasks that are going
to be added as subtasks in the design phase and then Click on the option ‘Indent’

3.1 Insert new task 3.2 Highlight tasks

The final result should look like this

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3.3 Create Group

Add Resource:

• Got to the view “Resource Sheet”

• Add the necessary resources to the “Resources Sheet”, we are going to use only the
Name, Initials and Standard Rate in $/hr. The resources are going to be taken from the
table showed at the beginning of the example, more specifically from the column
“Responsibilities”
• Now, with the Resources already register in the project file, go back to the View “Gantt
Chart”

Assign Resources:

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• Double click the task you want to link to resources available in the “Resource Sheet”
• Then got to the Tab “Resources” and look up the resources you want to relate to the
activity (For the example let’s keep the amount of effort of each Resources as 100%,
Leveling Resources won’t be covered in this tutorial), finally Click the “Ok” button to
finish the assignment.
• Repeat steps 1 and 2 for the rest of the tasks.

Insert more Column:

• We can show more information, related to the tasks, in the spreadsheet, one column that
might be of general interest is the cost, to do this first perform a Right Click on top of the
spread sheet (Specifically In the titles of the Columns), a pop-up menu should appear
showing several options, chose the one that says “Insert Column”
• 2. Then lookup the column named “Cost” and then press the “Ok” button

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As explained before, you can add and hide columns from the Spread sheet, this lets you show
exactly what the people needs to see, below is a view with selected fields: Name, Cost, Duration,
Resource initials and Start Date. The reader is welcome to experiment with this features and to
explore more views that are offered by MS Project, such as resources usage, cost reports, etc.

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Exercise:
Create Gantt Chart and Network Diagram in Microsoft Project with above mention projects.
• Social website like (Facebook, Twitter etc.)
• Hospital Management System
• Faculty Management System

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Hospital management system

Task 04 june 21 22 june21 07 july 21 12 july 21 17 july 21 23 july 21 27 july 21 04 aug 21

Design
Design the application
architecture
Design the GUI
Design the system
interfaces
Design the database
Prototype for design
details
Design the system
controls
Testing

Test the structure

Verify and test

Integrate data & system

Construct software
components
Integrate data

Integrate system
Train users and
document the system
Install the system

Support

Maintain the system

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Social Media Website Gantt Chart

Twitter
Tasks Starting Time Ending Time Time Frame
Planning 7-june-2021 14-june-2021 7 days
To make a perfect web 7-june-2021 9-june-2021
3 days
Accounts up-date 10-june-2021 11-june-2021
2 days
To make a perfect web 12-june-2021 14-june-2021
2 days
Analyzing 15-june-2021 20-june-2021 6 days
Complete all requirements 15-jun-21 16-june-21 2 days
Explained facts for account 17-jun-21 18-jun-21 2 days
Making the web within given time 19-jun-21 20-jun-21 2 days
Designing 21-jun-2021 28-june-2021 8 days
Accounts & logo details 21-jun-21 24-jun-21 4 days
Login access to the web account 25-jun-21 27-jun-21 3 days
Creative & Interesting 28-jun-21 28-jun-21 1 day
Homepage Designing
Development 29-jun-21 7-jul-21 10 days
Developing sign-up and login 29-jun-21 31-jun-21 3 days
forms for user
Creation of account of users 1-jul-21 4-jul-21 4 days
Creating links for the website 5-jul-21 7-jul-21 3 days
around the world
Testing 8-jul-21 12-jul-21 5 days
Check whether the account 8-jul-21 9-jul-21 2 days
details are correct
Check the login accounts 10-jul-21 11-jul-21 2 days
All the condition are full-filled 12-jul-21 12-jul-21 1 day
Maintenance 13-jul-21 onward onwards
Update details by adding new 13-jul-21 14-jul-21 2 day
user account
Update the website 15-jul-21 16-jul-21 2 day
Update user login & logout 17-jul-21 19-jul-21 3 day
history

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Faculty management system

ID Task Time Frame
1 Design the structure
Design the GUI of the
2
application
Test the structure of
3
Application
4 Add database & users
Login to faculty management
5
system
Check user level and
6
permission
7 Checking permissions
8 Manage leave
9 Manage Faculty
10 Manage student
11 Manage timecard
12 Manage teacher
13 Manage the fixers of teachers
14 Logout from the system

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