Microsoft Project 2010 Advanced Techniques
Typical Microsoft Project 2010 Questions
- Why are the Auto Schedule and Manually Schedule Icons Grayed Out? When opening a Project file from a previous version, it is opened in Compatibility Mode, and you won’t be able to use some of the new Project 2010 features such as Manual Scheduling. Convert your file to Project 2010 format and these icons will be enabled
- How do I Create a Timeline? Right click on the tasks you want added to the Timeline and select Add to Timeline. Click into the Timeline and use the icons on the Format Timeline contextual tab to re-format the timeline as required.
How Do I Automatically Update Task Dates in Microsoft Project 2010?
In Manual Scheduling, Project does not automatically reschedule tasks when you edit predecessor information. If you want Project 2010 to do this, you must change the task mode to Auto Scheduled by using the drop down in the Task Mode column.
Alternatively, you can click on the Respect Links icon on the Task tab. This reschedules the task but keeps it manually scheduled
How Do I Always Open Project in “Auto Schedule” Mode?
Select the File tab, Options, Schedule category. Select the Scheduling options for this project: drop down list, and select All New Projects.
In the New tasks created: drop down list, and select Auto Scheduled
How Do I Change a Task’s Start and Finish Dates in Project 2010?
If a Task is Auto Scheduled, you leave Project to calculate Start and Finish dates.
If you attempt to override these calculated dates, Project applies a Task Constraint based on the dates you enter.
If a Task is Manually Scheduled, you can enter the Start and/or Finish dates yourself and Project schedules the task accordingly.
What If I Don’t Know How Long a Task Will Take To Complete – Do I Have to Enter a duration?
If a task is Manually Scheduled, you can enter To Be Decided (tbd), or similar text into the duration field. If you also enter a Start Date or you attempt to link a Manually Scheduled task that has no duration,
Project gives you a Start-Only Placeholder Gantt bar.
What If I Want My Tasks to Always Respect Links ?
A Manually Scheduled task is constrained by both its Start and Finish dates and therefore any adjustments to predecessor tasks will have no impact on the way its scheduled. If you want a manually scheduled task rescheduled according to its links, you must click on the Respect Links icon on the Task Tab.
If you want your tasks to always respect links, change the Task Mode to Auto Schedule.
Can I Change the Background Colour of a Project 2010 Gantt View?
You can’t change the colour of a Gantt Chart background, only non-working time and grid lines.
Why Do I Get Light Blue Task Bars?
In Project 2010, for manually scheduled tasks that have a duration but no Start or Finish dates, you get a Placeholder Gantt bar that has a faded, light blue appearance.
What is the Manually Scheduled Summary Task Roll-up Bar?
In Project 2010 supports Top Down Scheduling.
You can define the duration of a summary task, rather than have Project calculate for you.
When you enter a manually scheduled summary task, you can choose to enter the duration you want it to take, and a small blue bar appears under the summary task bar. This represents the roll-up of the duration of the subtasks, and provides a visual way of indicating whether you have contingency time.
If you change the durations of the subtasks so they take longer, the subtasks will end up exceeding the original duration of the summary phase. In this case, the roll-up bar will turn red indicating you now have a problem.
How Can I View Incomplete Tasks?
An Incomplete Task is where Percentage Completion is less than 100%.
You can filter Incomplete Tasks from the View tab and the Filter dropdown.
How Can I View Critical Tasks?
Make sure you’re in Gantt Chart view and move to the Format tab (under Gantt Chart Tools). You can also view Slack by checking the Slack check box.
How do I Identify Late Tasks?
Select the Gantt Chart view and move to the Format tab (under Gantt Chart Tools).
Click on the Late Tasks check box.
How Can I Schedule Tasks By the Hour Rather than By the Day?
Change the default duration to hours, by selecting the File tab, Options, Schedule category.
Double click on the Timescale at the top of the Gantt Chart. Change the Timescale Units of the Gantt Chart with the Middle Tier showing days and the Bottom Tier showing hours.
Why Won’t Project 2010 Reschedule My Tasks?
If you are using Manual Scheduling, Project 2010 will not reschedule your tasks if you make changes to predecessor tasks.
How Can I Create a High Level View of My Project that I Can Show Non-Project People?
Use the Timeline View. Right click on your tasks and click on Add to Timeline.
Why Doesn’t Project 2010 Calculate the Duration of Summary Tasks?
If you are using Manual Scheduling, Project will calculate the duration of Summary Tasks (if you don’t enter duration yourself).
If you enter your own duration, Project will no longer calculate this field for you.
Instead, Project gives you a roll-up bar under the summary bar which is the calculated duration.
If you want Project to calculate the duration of Summary Tasks, make sure you set their Task Mode to Auto Scheduled.
How Can I View Slipping Tasks and Track Problems?
Make sure you have set a Baseline for your original schedule. In Gantt Chart View, select the Format Tab and click on the Baseline drop down to display your Baseline schedule bars.
You can also click on the Slippage icon to see by how much tasks have slipped from their baseline dates.
