Thông tư Quản lí chapter3

Chapter 3 - Getting Started
Introduction
Set Clear Project Goals, Scope, and Assumptions
Goals
Scope
Assumptions

Start a New Project File
Enter or Change a Project Start or Finish Date
Enter Project Goals, Scope, and Assumptions
Save Your Project

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Introduction
For some, starting a new project plan means typing up task lists in a spreadsheet file, keeping a manila folder
full of the names and qualifications of team members, and tacking up calendars on an office wall to track
progress and workers’ schedules. Information about a project is often spread over the entire office.
With Microsoft Project, starting a new project plan couldn’t be easier. You simply open a new project file, as easily
as opening a new file in a word-processing or spreadsheet program. The big difference is that a single project file
in Microsoft Project can hold your task list, resource names, group and individual work calendars, and much
more. You can put all the information you need for creating, managing, and tracking your project in one file.

Before you start a new project plan, you first need to define your project (which neither Microsoft Project nor any
other project management program can do for you). That requires you to define three key project elements:
goals, scope, and assumptions. You can then use Microsoft Project to help you stay focused on your goals,
reviewing and revising your assumptions and the scope of the project.

Set Clear Project Goals, Scope, and Assumptions

Even before you open a new project file, you’ll need to consider carefully your project’s goals, scope, and
assumptions. These three elements hold the key to your project’s success.

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Goals
The specific results you want your project to accomplish are your project’s goals. They define your project’s
purpose.
Your project’s results can be only as good as its stated goals. Vaguely stated goals often lead to vague results.
For example, the goal "Set up a clockwork exhibit" doesn’t include a deadline, which makes it difficult to
determine how many people would be needed or what the project scope might be. Also, it doesn’t tell the project
team what kinds of clocks to exhibit. But "Set up an exhibit of 75 antique clocks in the main hall by October 15"
can help determine specific project requirements.
By stating your project goals in clear and specific terms:
• You and your team know exactly what you’re trying to accomplish and why, so you stay focused during
the course of the project.
• You can estimate your project scope and required resources accurately.
• Your goals become measurable in terms of time, cost, quality, and quantity.
• You can judge whether the goals are realistic and achievable.
• You can determine when the project should be finished.

Scope
The combination of all project goals plus the work required to accomplish those goals represents the scope of
your project. It is the sum of all the individual, concrete tasks that your team must do.
In the clockwork exhibit project, for example, scope could include tasks such as painting the galleries in which
the clocks will be displayed, hanging 75 clocks, and writing brochures to advertise the exhibit. Under severe
deadline pressure, the clockwork project manager might cut the scope by hanging fewer clocks — and painting
fewer galleries — than had originally been planned.

When you define scope, it’s as important to state what is not part of the project as it is to define what is part of
the project. For example, the clockwork project manager might decide that an outside contractor should paint
the museum galleries where the clocks will hang. The project scope would then be limited to designing the
exhibit and hanging the clocks. If it later were to become feasible to have the museum crew paint the galleries,
then the scope would increase and affect the budget and schedule.

Assumptions
Your best guesses as to how various relevant factors are likely to affect the duration and cost of specific tasks,
and of the project as a whole, are your project assumptions. Some, perhaps most, of the factors you must take
into account will be outside of your direct control.
For example, the clockwork project manager might assume that all the exhibit designers will be available for the
month scheduled to complete the exhibit design. But if half the team were to come down with the flu for a week
or be assigned to another project, that assumption would be false and either the project scope or schedule would
have to be adjusted.
It’s best if you state your assumptions clearly, right at the beginning of the project, and have others involved in
the project review them. Together, you can discuss alternative scenarios and develop contingency plans. For
instance, "If the supplier can’t deliver the materials required to do Task A at its scheduled time, then let’s do Task
B before we do Task A."

Start a New Project File
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Before you can fill a museum’s galleries with clocks, you have to build the
exhibit space. And before you can create a project plan in Microsoft Project,
you have to start a new project file. Like a museum consisting of galleries and
side rooms ready to be filled with paintings, sculptures, and clockwork
exhibits, a new project file consists of fields and views ready to be filled with
information about your project’s tasks, resources, and assignments.

When you start Microsoft Project,
the Welcome dialog box
appears. You can either click an
option or close the dialog box
and work on the project file.

To start a new project file
1.
2.

Click New
.
Enter a start or finish date.
o To enter a start date, type the date on which you want to start your project in the Start date
box.
o To enter a finish date, click Project Finish Date in the Schedule from box, and then type a
finish date from which to schedule your project in the Finish date box.

An empty project file appears. By default, the Gantt Chart view is displayed.

Enter or Change a Project Start or Finish Date
When you open a new project file in Microsoft Project, you can enter your project’s start or finish date, but not
both. It’s most common, and recommended, that you enter only your project’s start date and let Microsoft
Project calculate the finish date after you have entered and scheduled tasks (see Chapter 10, "Evaluating Your
Schedule and Analyzing Tradeoffs"). If your project must absolutely be finished by a certain date, then enter only
the project’s finish date.

To change a project start or finish date
1. On the Project menu, click Project Information.

2. Enter a start or finish date.
o To enter a start date, type the date on which you want to start your project in the Start date
box.
o To enter a finish date, click Project Finish Date in the Schedule from box, and then type a
finish date from which to schedule your project in the Finish date box.

Enter Project Goals, Scope, and Assumptions

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Before you enter project goals, scope, and assumptions into your project file, you and your team need to think
about, discuss, and agree on these important project elements. Together, these elements define your project and
help to determine its success.
While no project management program can determine goals, scope, and assumptions for you, Microsoft Project
makes it easy to incorporate them into a new project plan.
To enter project goals, scope, and assumptions
1. On the File menu, click Properties.
2. Click the Summary tab.
3. In the Comments box, type your project goals, scope, and assumptions.

Save Your Project
After you make important additions or changes to your project plan, it’s a good idea to save the plan.
To save your project
1.
2.

Click Save
.

If this is the first time you’ve saved the project, type the project name in the File name box.

The first time you save your project, the PlanningWizard dialog box appears. The Planning Wizard continuously
monitors your actions as you work. It helps you complete tasks and makes suggestions on any shortcuts you
want to use. The question in the dialog box asks if you want to save a baseline plan, which is a copy of your
original plan data against which you can compare actual data. For more information about baseline plans, see
Chapter 17, "Setting the Baseline."
By default the PlanningWizard is turned on. You can turn it off, or if you’re not sure whether it’s on, you can
check its status.
To turn the PlanningWizard on or of
1. On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the General tab.
2. To turn on the PlanningWizard, select the Advice from PlanningWizard check box.
To turn off the PlanningWizard, clear the Advice from PlanningWizard check box.

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