Glides Project Msp Guidelines

GLIDES PROJECT MSP GUIDELINES

Microsoft Project Usage

The GLIDES project will use Microsoft Project 2007 (MSP) to plan, schedule and track project progress. This attachment outlines procedures and recommendations for using MSP.

Project Planning

The GLIDES project plan has been prepared using MSP. It encompasses approximately 275 activities, over a duration of two-years. The project plan is based upon the core methodology of the GLIDES project, and also incorporates all required AHRQ contract deliverables. Activities vary in duration from one or two days, for planning and Knowledge Transformation activities, to twenty days for activities which are not due to start for several months, such as implementation site system design, development and testing.

The project plan shows resource usage at the work group level only. Activities at this time have not been assigned to specific individuals. Our intention is to assign tasks only at the work group level and have individual work group leaders assign activities to specific individuals, using whatever work assignment and tracking tools are in operation at each location. Status of tasks completed will then be reported back to the Project Manager by the Work Group leader for the activity overall.

Project Reporting

MSP provides a range of reports. The following reports are recommended for regular use on the project: Report Purpose Include in Used By Used By Used Buy Used By PO Project Project Workgroup Workgroup Status Manager? Director? Leader? Member? Report? GANTT Default view for reviewing the Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Tracking View overall project plan, showing Chart resource names, % complete and milestone dates Tasks In Shows tasks currently in Yes Yes Yes Yes No Progress progress, to facilitate current Report work evaluation Tasks Starting Shows tasks about to start, use Yes Yes Yes No No Soon Report with a two month look ahead, to plan and organize start-up of future tasks Should Have Shows tasks that should have Yes Yes Yes No No Started Tasks started, but have not started yet Who Does Shows all tasks by resource, to No Yes Yes No No What When aid in planning and organizing Report work To Do List Full listing of all tasks for a No Yes No Yes Yes particular resource

Major Plan Revisions

The current plan reflects the current state of our estimating and planning knowledge. It is probable that as the project progresses, we will know more about the expected duration of later phase activities, and the plan level of detail should then be adjusted to reflect this new knowledge.

Revisions to the project plan level of detail should be made each quarter, as the project progresses. These revisions should be planned and applied carefully to the MSP plan by the Project Manager, and should be reviewed with the Project Director and then the Project Officer. Changes to the plan detail should not be made ad-hoc.

Project Tracking

Progress will be tracked using MSP on a weekly basis by the Project Manager, reviewed with the Project Director every two weeks, and reported to the Project Officer on a monthly basis.

The Project Manager will review status with each Work Group leader on a weekly basis to evaluate progress against plan. In addition to tracking actual start and end dates, a simple % completion method will be used for all activities. Completion progress will be measured in increments of 25%, to avoid elaborate pseudo-scientific assessments of work completed. The Project Manager will make the decision on activity completion status and update the MSP project plan. One of the Project Manager’s most important activities is to record these actual and evaluate project performance. To judge project performance properly, the Project Manager will compare performance to the baseline (original) plan. The Project Manager will the MSP file as a baseline version and will make regular back-ups of the file.

1. For tasks which started and finished (or are expected to finish on schedule), The MSP tracking toolbar can be used:. For example:

MSP will record the actual work for the task as scheduled and will then draw a progress bar through part of the Gantt bar. Note that although 50% of task 5 is completed, the progress bar does not span 50% of the width of the Gantt bar. This is because MS Project measures duration in working time, but draws the Gantt bars to extend over nonworking time, such as weekends.

2. For tasks which do not start or finish on schedule, the Project Manager will record each task’s actual start, finish, work, and duration values. MS Project will then update the schedule and calculate the task’s completion percentage. The MSP Update Tasks tool will be used to accomplish this: