Speaker 1: In this video, I'm going to teach you how to use Microsoft Project. Download the entire exercise file for free over at alvinthepm.com slash exercise to follow along with this video and learn Microsoft Project the easy way. Alright, so for our example, let's say you're working on a very simple DIY project to build your own doghouse and you want to create a schedule and a total cost estimate using Microsoft Project. Microsoft Project's interface is split up into two areas. The right side is the Gantt chart view which graphically shows your project schedule using bars. In the left hand side of the screen is the table where you input all of your tasks to complete your project. Now we've already inputted several of our tasks and we've divided them into five phases. The first phase is initiation where we'll identify the location and the layout of our doghouse. The second and the third phases are drafting the design and identifying and purchasing our materials. The fourth and the fifth phases are constructing and finishing out the house. Now it looks like we're missing a few key tasks for testing the floors, the wall stability, and roof leaking before we can actually mark the house as fully completed. So let's insert a group of tasks after add roof. To do that, hover your mouse to the leftmost column with the numbers and drag it down to select rows 17 through 20. Right click and select insert task. We want this first task to be the section header. Let's call it testing of house. And let's outdent it by pressing alt plus shift plus left arrow. If you ever need to indent or outdent a task, use these buttons here which are a part of the schedule group underneath the task tab. Now as part of testing the house, we want to complete floor testing, wall stability testing, and roof waterproof testing. It looks like we have all the tasks that we need to complete the project. So let's add a milestone to signify the project's completion. Go to the line after the last task and type in milestone project completion. You'll notice that this milestone is indented underneath the group for finishing. So let's outdent it by selecting the task and pressing alt plus shift plus left arrow. The next thing we need to do is to make sure that all tasks are linked correctly to each other. So let's first make sure that Microsoft Project automatically schedules all tasks based upon their dependencies, the resources, and the working days in the calendar. To select all the tasks, move your mouse to the top left square button of your table and left click it. You'll see that all of your tasks have been selected. Now move your mouse to the auto schedule button that's underneath the task bar of the tasks group. Once you select it, Microsoft Project will automatically input temporary dates and durations, which we'll fix later. The next step to create our schedule is to establish the sequencing of activities. As best practice, we want to add predecessors for the sub-level tasks and not the header group titles. So starting with the first phase of initiation, selecting the location and defining the layout would happen first at the same time, so both of these tasks would not have any predecessors. For the second phase of design, drafting the design can only take place after the layout and the location has been identified. We select the location and the layout of the house first, and then we start drafting the design. So for this task, underneath the predecessors column, let's add task IDs 3 and 4. You'll see that the Gantt chart on the right hand side has been updated with this dependency. The first two tasks have been linked to the third task for drafting the design with an arrow. What this tells us is that the first two tasks must take place before the third task can start. Establishing these dependencies is very important so that Microsoft Project knows in what order to schedule each task. Now let's go through the rest of the tasks. So expert design review can only take place after the design has been drafted. So let's add task ID 6 as a predecessor to expert design review. The next task for finalizing the design can only start after you've completed a design review. So let's add task ID 7 as a predecessor to finalizing the design. And just like before, the Gantt chart on the right hand side has been updated automatically to show these new dependencies. These new tasks must happen sequentially one after the other after the design has been drafted. Now let's take a look at the next section for material preparation. Identifying materials can happen at the same time that you're drafting the design. So we want identifying materials to have the same predecessors as the task for draft design. So let's copy the predecessors for task ID 6 by selecting the cell and pressing CTRL plus C and then pasting them for task ID 10 by pressing CTRL plus V. The Gantt chart now shows these two tasks taking place simultaneously with the same predecessors. As best practice and as a pro tip, I recommend looking at your Gantt chart to make sure the correct dependencies are in place between each task. The next task for purchasing material can only begin after we've identified the materials. So let's add task ID 10, identify materials as a predecessor to purchasing the materials. Moving on to the next phase for construction of the house, we will first cut the wood. We can only cut the wood after we've purchased all of the materials. So its predecessor will be task ID 11. The next task for building the platform can only start after the design has been finalized, all material has been purchased, and the wood has been cut. So this task will have three predecessors, task ID 8 for finalizing the design, task ID 11 for purchasing the materials, and task ID 13 for cutting the wood. So let's add task IDs 8, 11, and 13 as the predecessors for building the platform. The next two tasks are adding walls to the platform and adding the roof. So in terms of sequencing the activities, the platform must be built first and then the walls can be added to the platform. Once that's finished, then the roof can be added onto the walls. Since all three of these tasks must happen one after the other, we can use a shortcut in Microsoft Project to quickly link these tasks so they take place in sequential order. To do that, we'll use the chain button of the schedule group underneath the task tab. First, select all three task IDs, 14, 15, and 16, and then press the chain button. The Gantt chart now shows that all three tasks happen one after the other. One task can't start until the other task has finished in a linear sequence. Alright, so going to our next phase for testing of the house, the first subtask that we have here is floor testing. We can only test the floors after the platform has been built. So let's add task ID 14 as our predecessor to floor testing. Wall testing can only start after the walls have been added to the platform. So let's add task ID 15 as its predecessor. And similarly, waterproof testing of the roof can only start after the roof has been added. Moving on to our next phase for finishing, we have painting the exterior of the house. Let's say that we only want this to start after all testing has been completed and after the roof has been added. So we'll need to add all four of these tasks as the predecessors to painting the exterior. Alright, so we've added in task IDs 16, 18, 19, and 20 as predecessors to the task for painting the exterior. The next two tasks for cleaning up the debris and inspecting the house must happen sequentially after the exterior has been painted. So let's use the chain button to link these tasks as predecessors in sequential order. And let's say that the milestone for completing the project will happen after the inspection of the house is completed. So let's add that task as a predecessor. Now we can quickly see the overall project view in the Gantt chart by going to the View tab and selecting the entire project from the Zoom group. By the way, if you're getting a lot of value out of this video, do me a favor and smash that like button. It truly shows your support for me and it helps the channel tremendously so I can make even better videos like this. Alright, now that we added in the correct dependencies for all tasks, the next step is to determine the durations and how long each task will take. For the initiation phase, let's say that selecting the location and defining the layout will take one day each. For the design phase, let's say that drafting the design takes two days while the design review and finalizing the design only take one day each. For the next phase of material preparation, we'll be identifying materials which will take two days and purchasing materials, let's give it three days. Alright, so let's go down to the next phase for construction of the house. Cutting the wood should only take one day. Building the platform, adding the walls, and adding the roof should each take about two days long. For testing of the house, testing the floors, the walls, and the roof, that should all take one day each. So for the finishing phase, let's also say that painting the exterior, cleaning up all the debris, and inspecting the final house also take one day each. And for the milestone signifying the project completion, since this is a milestone, this should not have any duration assigned to it, so let's give it zero days. Now when we zoom out of the Gantt chart, we can see the entire project timeline with the correct duration. By this point, we've established all the tasks in our project. We've also defined the correct predecessors for each task, or in other words, the correct sequencing of activities. And we've also determined the durations for each task, or the best case estimates for how long it will take to complete the work. The next step for us is to assign resources to each task. To do that, we need to change our view from Gantt chart to resources mode. So move your mouse to the left-most side of the screen where it says Gantt chart. Right-click and select the option for resource sheet. This is the section within Microsoft Project where we'll list out the material and all the labor resources that we'll use on our project. Let's say that there are three people working on this project, Michael, Jim, and Dwight. For the material that we're using, let's add wooden planks and nails. And let's say that we'll be hiring Contractor A to cut the wood for us. After we've added these resources, we need to make sure that the material types are correct. Michael, Jim, and Dwight are individuals who will work on the project on an hourly rate, so this is correct. The wooden planks and the nails are both material types, so let's select that option from the drop-down menu. We'll be working with Contractor A to cut the wooden planks for us, so this will be a service or a cost to the project itself. So let's change this material type from work to cost. Now let's assign the hourly work rates for Michael, Jim, and Dwight. For Michael, let's say that he gets paid a standard rate of $30 an hour, and both Jim and Dwight are paid $25 an hour. For the wooden planks, let's say this is priced in terms of linear feet, so $3.50 per linear foot. And for the nails, let's say that this is priced at $7 per box, and each box contains 100 nails. For our Contractor A, let's say that we'll pay them after all their assigned work with cutting the wood is completed. So instead of putting prorated, we want to pay them at the end of that activity. Now that we've defined all the resources, let's switch out our resource sheet mode and go back to the Gantt chart mode so we can assign our resources to our project's tasks. In the column for resource names, you should see a drop-down menu for each resource. However, I've found that it can be very tedious and really time-consuming to assign resources to every single task using this approach. Instead, if you're assigning resources to multiple tasks simultaneously, here's what I personally recommend. Go to the Resource tab and click on the button for Assign Resources, which is a part of the Assignments group. What I love about this feature is that you can assign more than one task to multiple resources all at the same time, and you can see that the task's name changes inside the window when I select a new task. So let's assign Michael to the tasks Select Location, Define Layout, and Inspect. To do that, press the Ctrl key and left-click each of the tasks. In the Assign Resources window, click on Michael and then click on Assign. Immediately, we can see that Michael has been assigned as a resource and the cost for his work is $240. So now, let's assign Dwight to Draft Design, Expert Design Review, Finalize Design, Paint Exterior, and Cleanup Debris. For Jim, let's assign him to all the tasks for Material Preparation, Construction of the House, except for Cutting the Wood, and of course Testing the House. And let's assign Contractor A to Cut the Wood for a one-time service cost of $20. All that's left to do is to assign our material resources. So let's assign Nails and Wooden Planks to the tasks for Purchase Materials. Right now, Microsoft Project is saying that we only need one box of nails and one linear foot of wooden planks. Let's say that we actually need 10 linear feet of wooden planks. So to do that, underneath the Units column, change it from 1 to 10. Right away, we see that the cost of all the wooden planks has changed from $3.50 to a total of $35. Now when Microsoft Project calculates the cost for our project, it's going to assume that we're purchasing 10 linear feet of wooden planks and $35 for our cost estimate. We've now assigned all resources to our tasks, but if you look to the leftmost column for Indicators, we see a red person icon which tells us that a resource is over-allocated for these tasks. To better visualize where our resource over-allocation is, let's switch from Gantt Chart mode to Resource Usage mode. To do that, go to the left side of your screen where it says Gantt Chart. Right-click and select Resource Usage. Inside Resource Usage mode, we can see what task is assigned to a specific resource and what date this is taking place on the chart to the right. For our project, Michael is over-allocated on two tasks for Select Location and Define Layout because these two tasks are taking place on the same day. Jim is over-allocated for the following tasks, Add Walls to Platform and Floor Testing and Add Roof and Wall Testing. To prevent this resource over-allocation, instead of having Jim work on Floor Testing and Wall Testing, let's assign Dwight to these two tasks since he's available on both of these dates. So let's switch from Resource Usage to Gantt Chart mode. Let's select the two tasks for Floor Testing and Wall Testing and click on Assign Resources. Select Jim and click Remove and then Assign Dwight. Alright, so the last resource over-allocation is with Michael for selecting the location and defining the layout. To fix this, let's have Define Layout take place after Select Location is finished. So let's add Task 3 as a predecessor to defining the layout. With all of our tasks and our resources assigned, let's take a look at the cost for our project. To do that, let's switch our table view. Go to the top left square button, left-click it, and then right-click and select the option for Cost. In the Total Cost column, we can see what the total cost estimates are for each task, the header sections, and the overall project. Let's go back to the Entry Table view. To find out our overall project information, go to the Project tab and select the button for Project Information. This tells us when the project is starting and when it's finishing. Let's update this field so the actual start date is January 9, 2023. Once we do that, the entire schedule will automatically update with the correct dates, assuming that we're starting the project on January 9, 2023. Going back to the Project Information window, select the Statistics button. This tells us all the high-level information about our project's start and finish dates. This also tells us how long the project will take, the number of work hours to complete the project, and the project's total cost. The bottom of the window also tells us the percent completion for duration and work. So now you've created your first project plan using Microsoft Project. You've learned how to input tasks, create dependencies, assign resources, and view cost estimates. Download the entire exercise file over at alvinthepm.com slash exercise to follow along with the entire video to learn Microsoft Project the easy way. Thank you so much for watching. I love having you here, so stay tuned for my next video with how to use Microsoft Project, and I'll see you in another video.