Project 2013 Advanced

Project 2013

Lesson 4 - Finalizing a Project

Notice that the resource cost for the Initial Electricity task is now $7,020.00 , a difference of $180 dollars.

Practice the Concept: Scroll down as necessary to view the resource cost for the Initial Plumbing task ( 4 Plumber ), which is $5,600.00 . Scroll the right pane to view the week of Oct 2,  16 . Change the work values in the Act. Work fields for Wednesday ( W ) and Thursday ( T ) from 16h to 10h . Notice that the resource cost is now $5,000.00 , a difference of $600. Switch to the Gantt Chart view.

A NALYZING F INAL D ATA



Discussion

After a project has been completed, it is recommended that you analyze the final data and review any problems that may have occurred during the project. If you are able to learn the causes of these problems, then you can prevent them from happening on future projects. The areas that should be reviewed include actual versus baseline dates, durations, costs, and work; as well as recurring problem areas. Once all tasks are marked complete and the actual information is correct, you can compare baseline data versus actual data for resource usage, costs, dates, and durations. You can determine how accurate the baseline forecasts were and what actions should be taken in the future on similar projects. You should review large variances to determine the cause of the problem so that you can prepare more accurate baseline data for future projects.

You do not necessarily have to review every task in a project, but you should review those tasks that had the largest cost, schedule, and work variances. If the project did not go as planned, you could ask yourself questions such as:

• What caused the continued cost growth or schedule slippage? • Were the problems a result of internal management factors, specification changes to the contract, or economic factors such as inflation? • What can prevent these problems from occurring in future projects? • Will employing more highly-skilled labor or using overtime be a solution? • Was a management reserve cost set aside at the beginning of the project to handle problem areas?

OFFICEPRO, Inc.

Page 81