Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Entering Tasks
Overview
Tasks can be entered in many ways into a project file. Tasks can be entered in every type of task
view using either the keyboard or a mouse. The most common way to enter tasks is in the table
area of the Gantt Chart view (see diagram below). You can insert, copy, or delete tasks as
required or change the font and format, as you would using other Microsoft applications.
Field Dependencies
When a task is created certain fields are required and populated by default. Microsoft Project
uses the data in the default fields to calculate other information. For example, by default, all tasks
start on the Project Start date and are 1 day in duration. The Finish date for the task is then
calculated from that information. If the Finish date is edited then the Start date will recalculate.
The constraint type of a task determines whether Start or Finish will recalculate when Duration is
modified.
Constraint Type
The default constraint for tasks when the project is scheduled from start is As Soon As Possible.
If you directly enter a start date for a task the constraint changes to Start No Earlier Than and if
a finish date is entered a finish constraint is applied to the task. Be aware that constraints can get
set on tasks inadvertently by the user and can then cause confusion when one of the three
dependant fields is changed.
Microsoft Project has eight different constraint types:
The calculations are part of Microsoft Projects scheduling engine and the defaults are set by
options that can be modified to suit your business needs.
Tasks
There are different kinds of tasks to represent specific kinds of information. There are subtasks or
normal tasks, milestones, project summary tasks, summary tasks, recurring tasks, split tasks, and
tasks that appear grayed out. The first five will be discussed at length in this section. Split tasks
are tasks that stop and then start again for various reasons a later chapter has been devoted to
split tasks. The grayed out tasks represent relationship links to tasks in other project files and are
discussed in a later lesson.
To Enter a Task
1. In the Task Name field, type the name of your first task (or use the entry bar).
2. Press ENTER, or click the green check mark on the entry bar.
3. An estimated duration of one-day (1day?) will be displayed automatically when you enter
each task.
To Edit a Task Name
1. Click on the Task Name you want to edit.
2. Edit the name in the entry bar (or click a second time to edit the cell).
3. Click the checkbox on the entry bar or click the ENTER key to confirm the name change.
Task Durations
Overview
When entering task durations, enter the amount of time expected to complete the task and dont
be concerned about the length of the project at this point. Later, as relationships between tasks
are defined and resources are assigned, the finish date of the project will be adjusted.
The default duration of tasks is one-day and one day equals 8 hours. To specify duration in a time
unit other than day, type the number and the abbreviation for the time unit. Or change the default
time unit, choose Options from the Tools menu and click the Schedule tab. You can change
what one unit of time equals on the Calendar tab and you can change the default abbreviation
used, on the Edit tab.
To Enter a Duration
1. Click in the Duration field.
2. Type the number (and abbreviation if other than d for days).
The available abbreviations are:
M = Minutes
H = Hours
D = Days
W = Weeks
Mo, Mon = Months
3. Click the checkbox on the entry bar or, press ENTER. Continue until you have entered
durations for all tasks.
Note : If you have more than one task with the same duration it may be quicker to select
the tasks, click the Information button on the toolbar and then type the duration. Or use
the fill down by dragging the bottom right corner of the cell and dragging down. The fill
down command is also under the Edit menu.
Estimated Duration
All new tasks are automatically created with estimated durations by default to signal that a
duration has not yet been entered. This is denoted by a ? after the duration. Users can enter a
different duration followed by a ? to denote that this duration value is not certain. This allows a
duration to be entered that is only an estimate, and it is easily recognized as such so that users
know to come back later and confirm it or change it when they have a concrete value. Tasks with
estimated durations are easily found using the Tasks With Estimated Durations filter, or by a
quick visual scan for question marks in the duration column.
The ? can be typed or selected in the Task Information form as seen below.
Elapsed Duration
Type ed (or eh, etc.) to indicate an elapsed duration. Elapsed duration ignores the project
calendar and nonworking time, 1ed equals a continuous 24-hour period. This is used where the
work is to be continued or completed over non-working time e.g., over a weekend. For example, a
process that needs to run for 72 hours uninterrupted, the duration can be entered as 3ed or 72eh.
Summary Tasks
A summary task is made up of subtasks and summarizes those subtasks. You can use the
Microsoft Project outline feature to create summary tasks. Microsoft Project automatically
determines summary task information (duration costs, etc.) by using information from the
subtasks. A summary task Start date is the earliest start of its subtasks and the summary task
Finish is the finish of its latest subtask. The duration for the summary is the total of the working
days between its start and finish dates.
The figure below shows what a summary task looks like in the Task Sheet view.
3. Type in the name of the task that will become the summary task
4. Select the task(s) that you want to identify as subtasks
5. Click the Indent button to indent the task (s)
(push it to a lower level of the hierarchy)
As you indent tasks summary task formatting will be applied to appropriate tasks, as shown in the
picture at the top of this page.
To undo a Summary Task
1. On the View menu select Gantt Chart.
2. Select the subtask(s).
3. Click the Outdent button to outdent the subtask(s)
(push it to a higher level of the hierarchy)
4. As you outdent the subtasks, summary task formatting will be removed from the appropriate
task.
To show / hide Subtasks
With summary tasks created, it is possible to show or hide the subtasks beneath them.
1. On the View menu select Gantt Chart.
2. In the Task Name field select the summary task containing the subtasks that you would like
to show/hide.
Click show subtasks
or
Click hide subtasks
Entering Milestones
A milestone is generally considered to be a key event, typically a deliverable such as parts
delivered. For progress meetings you may find it useful to filter your plan to display milestones
only. Microsoft Project allows several ways of identifying milestones. For consistency, it is better
to adopt one method only.
Method 1: On allocating a task with duration of zero, Microsoft Project will automatically display
the task on the Gantt Chart as a diamond symbol.
Method 2: You can identify tasks that have duration as also being milestones. To do this:
1. Double-click on the Task Name to display the Task Information dialog box.
2. Select the Advanced tab, and then click in the checkbox to Mark task as milestone.
Recurring Tasks
Recurring tasks enable the user to add regular recurring events, such as weekly or monthly
meetings to the project plan. With this feature the user can specify the following:
When the event will reoccur (for example, monthly, weekly, every 3rd Monday)
The duration of the recurring event
When the recurrence will start and end or how many times the event will reoccur
To insert a Recurring Task
1. From the Insert menu, select Recurring Task (this command is available anywhere that
creating a single task is available).
2. The Recurring Task dialog box appears.
3. Specify the task name, duration, and recurrence details.
4. Click OK.
Daily. Can select occurrences with periods of either 1-12 days, or 1-12 workdays. Changing
the Default Hours per Day on the Calendar tab has no effect on the daily scheduling; one
day in this instance is always 24 hours
Weekly. The number of occurrences each week is determined by the day(s) selected. The
period can be 1-12 weeks.
Monthly. The user can select tasks to occur on either:
A particular day number, with a period of 1-12 months. The first, second, third, fourth, or
last day of the month, with a period 1-12 months.
Yearly. Can select tasks to occur every year on either: A particular month and day or the first,
second, third, fourth, or last occurrence of a particular day, of a particular month.
Range of recurrence. These options determine the overall length of the recurring task.
Start. The earliest possible start date for the first occurrence of the task. Default is the project
start date.
End after n occurrences. For n Occurrences: Number of task occurrences that should be
created.
End by. The latest possible finish date for the last occurrence of the task. Default is the
Project Finish date. Either this date or the number of occurrences must be specified.
Calendar for Scheduling this task. Allows the task to be scheduled based on the working
times of the specified a calendar instead of the project calendar.
Scheduling ignores resource calendars. This option will allow the subtasks to be
scheduled without checking resource availability as long as a task calendar has been
specified.
Duration
Recurrence Pattern
Day change
Start
End after X occurrences or
End by date
Calendar for Scheduling this
task
Scheduling ignores resource
calendars
Result
All instances of the old task name will be replaced with the new task
name. For instance, if the name changes from "Wed Meeting" to "Weekly
Mtg", then "Wed Meeting 3" would change to "Weekly Mtg 3" on the
subtask.
The duration of any uncompleted task that has the old duration is
changed to the new duration.
If the recurrence pattern of task is changed, (e.g.,weekly to daily) Project
alerts the user that all un-started occurrences of the task will be deleted
and replaced with new occurrences. User can OK or Cancel.
If the user changes the day of the week, month, or year that a task begins
on, Project will not delete tasks, but rather just change the constraint date
of any un-started tasks.
The Start date can only be modified if none of the subtasks have an
Actual Start date. If modified, the constraint date of each subtask will be
changed to reflect the new date.
Project will add or delete tasks to or from the end of the group as
necessary. If tasks that need to be deleted have Actual Start dates,
Project will alert the user and provide an option to Delete or Cancel.
Changing the calendar used may affect when the subtasks can be
scheduled, Project alerts the user that all un-started occurrences of the
task will be rescheduled. User can choose Yes, No or Cancel.
This option will reschedule the subtasks without checking resource
availability as long as a task calendar has been specified.
predecessors already linked to the task will be displayed in the grid. If multiple tasks are selected,
the grid will be blank.
Lesson 2: Exercises
1. What makes a task unique?
2. By default, on what date will a task start?
3. What does the ? next to the duration indicate?
4. What is elapsed duration and how is it indicated?
5. How is a summary task created?
6. How are summary task Duration, Start and Finish calculated?
7. Name two ways to indicate a milestone task.
8. Where are the options to change the duration abbreviations?
9. How can the Project summary task be displayed?
Lab 1. Familiarize yourself with the options that affect the defaults for entering
tasks
1. On the File menu select New and choose blank project.
2. In the Project Information dialog box enter a Start date of Oct 1st 2001 and click OK.
3. Enter a task name, note the Start, Duration and Finish field display # signs. This indicates the
column to be to narrow to display the data. Widen the column.
4. From the Tools menu select Options and click the Schedule tab.
5. Change New Tasks: to Start on current date.
6. Change Duration is entered in: to Hours, and click OK.
7. Enter a new task and note the start date and duration.
8. From the Tools menu select Options and click the Edit tab.
9. Under the View Options for time units, go to Hours and select h.
10. Uncheck Add space before label and click OK.
Lab 2. Create and modify a recurring task to see how modifications can cause
scheduling conflicts
1. In an open file select the Insert menu and click Recurring task.
2. For Recurrence pattern check every Monday.
3. For Range of recurrence select End after radio button and enter 4 in the occurrences box.
Click OK.
4. Click the + sign next to the summary task for the recurring task. Note task names for the
individual tasks and their Gantt bars.
5. Drag the second occurrence of the task and move it to the next day.
6. Click the sign on the summary task, notice the Gantt bars are no longer symmetrical.
7. Double-click the recurring task and change the recurrence pattern to daily and occurrences to
8.
Lab 3. Create a summary task with subtask Gantt bars rolled up to understand
how the Hide and Roll up fields effect tasks. The finished task will look
similar to the recurring task
1. Enter five tasks, each with the same name with a number after each from 0-4.
2. Highlight tasks 1-4 and indent them.
3. Drag each task out to start on a different day.
4. Highlight tasks 1-4 and double-click to bring up Task information.
5. On the General tab, click Roll up Gantt bar to summary and click OK.
6. Highlight the summary task, double-click, and check Hide task bar.
7. Click OK.
Answers to Exercise
1. The Task ID makes the task unique.
2. The Project Start date is the default start for all tasks.
3. The ? stands for estimated durations.
4. Elapsed duration is indicated with the abbreviation ed and it stands for a continuous time
period and ignores non-working time.
5. Summary tasks are created by using the outlining tools.
6. Summary task duration is calculated as the total working days between the earliest start of
the subtasks and the latest finish.
7. Milestones can be either zero day duration or marked as a milestone using the task
information form or entering yes in the milestone field.
8. From the Tools menu select Options and click the Edit tab.
9. From the Tools menu select Options and click the View tab.
Answer to Lab 1
1. The start date of the first task is Oct 1st 2001, the second task is todays date.
2. The duration for the first task is 1day? The second task is 8h?, no space.
Answers to Lab 2
Two dialog box boxes displayed when changing both recurrence pattern and the number of
occurrences. They are:
and
Answers to Lab 3
1. Before Hide task bar was checked, the summary task appeared as a black summary bar
with blue task bars on top.