Project Tools for Change
As you start changing
the schedule in search of shorter duration or lower cost, you can put a
triumvirate of Project’s change-oriented features through their paces:
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Task Inspector is
a beefed-up version of Project 2007’s Task Drivers feature. It shows
the elements that make tasks start when they do or last as long as they
do, so you get some hints about how to fix them. In many cases, the task
or assignment editing commands you need (Reschedule Task and Team
Planner if resources are overallocated) are ready for you, right in the
Task Inspector pane.
-
Change highlighting
shades all the
cells whose values change in response to an edit you make. You can
easily review these highlighted cells to see whether the changes you make produce the results you had in mind.
-
Multilevel Undo
lets you undo as
many changes as you want. If you zip through several edits only to find
that another strategy is in order, you can undo the changes you made
and try a different tack.
See Why Tasks Occur When They Do
Whether you’re trying to shorten a schedule during planning or
recover from delays during execution, a typical strategy is to make
tasks start or end earlier. What you must change to start a task sooner
isn’t part of the task that should start earlier—it’s an element that
controls the task’s start date, like predecessors and date constraints,
to name a few. If an important task takes too long, the factors
affecting it help identify what you can change to get back on track.
For instance, you may talk to the person whose work calendar is
overbooked. In Project 2010, when you select a task and open the Task
Inspector, it lists factors that affect the task and any issues like
overallocations.
Tip
The Task Inspector is a good start, but it isn’t the be-all and
end-all for optimizing your schedule. For example, the Task Inspector
shows task predecessors. But you
have to dig deeper to discover that a predecessor’s duration is due to
a resource who’s scheduled for medical leave and that the resolution
may be to reassign the predecessor task to someone else.
To open the Task Inspector pane, choose Task→Tasks→Inspect. Similar
to the behavior of the Task Form, the Task Inspector pane shows the
factors for the selected task, as shown in Figure 12-6.
If resources are overallocated or task links are a problem, the Task Inspector includes repair options. For example, in Figure 6,
Task Inspector includes Reschedule Task and Team Planner if you want to
remove the overallocation on an overallocated resource.
There’s no guarantee your changes will correct the problems you’re
trying to fix. For example, you could assign more resources to shorten
a critical path task only to find out that another task prevents the
finish date from changing. Fortunately, Project’s change highlighting feature shades table cells that have changed due to your last task edit, so you can see whether the results are what you want.
Suppose you assign an additional resource to shorten a task’s
duration. When the task finishes earlier, its successor tasks start and
finish sooner. Change highlighting lights up the task Start and Finish
cells with background color, as Figure 7
demonstrates. Similarly, if the additional resource increases the cost,
the task’s Cost field (and its summary task’s Cost field) might light
up as well.
Modifying the Project view doesn’t wash away change
highlighting. You can display a new table, filter the schedule, or
group tasks, and still see highlighted cells from the last edit. For
example, if the Summary table is visible, you can review the changes in
dates, duration, and cost. Switching to the Cost table would highlight
cost cells affected by the last edit.
When you make another edit, change highlighting shows the effect of
this new change. In addition, saving the Project file erases any
current change highlighting.
Tip
It’s unlikely, but if you want to turn change highlighting off for
some reason, you must add the Change Highlighting command to a custom
group on the ribbon. See Creating Custom Groups
to learn how to customize the ribbon. The Change Highlighting command
is in the All Commands group on the “Customize the Ribbon” screen.
