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Project managers have been tellingMicrosoft for a while now that it takestime to train their workers on new

technologies, time that managers say they don'thave much of in today’s corporate climate. Tohelp project managers communicate better withteam members, and allow team membersgreater participation throughout the process,Microsoft has made sure that Microsoft OfficeProject 2003 will integrate with MicrosoftOffice Outlook 2003, Microsoft WindowsSharePoint Services and other familiar, easy-to-use Microsoft Office System 2003 programs.Office System 2003 is designed to enhanceoverall productivity and ensure workers obtaininformation they need, when they need it.

“Managing a project on top of day-to-day taskscan be tough. By better aligning Project 2003and the overall Microsoft Office System, our goalis to help information workers get the mostvalue from the data they process and providethem the ability to better anticipate, manage andrespond to changes in the marketplace,” saysMicrosoft’s Giovanni Mezgec, group productmanager of the Project Business Unit. “This tightintegration can help businesses save time andmoney on projects, in part, by reducing theamount of paper they use, cut back on labor-intensive manual processes and enable workersto quickly organize, redirect work results andclearly focus and manage project tasks.”

One of the best examples of this is how Project Server andProject Professional 2003 now integrates with the Outlookmessaging and collaboration client to allow project tasks toappear in Outlook calendars alongside appointments. Users canupdate progress on a project in their Calendar entries and reportthe status back to Project Server 2003 from Outlook. Tasks inthe Outlook calendar can be displayed as free or busy times.

An external timesheet utility allows users to receive assignmentsfrom Project Server 2003 in Outlook; they can then update theassignments and send the information back to the projectmanager. After reviewing the updates, the project manager canuse Project Web Access to approve transactions and incorporateupdates into the project plan.

Of course, the integration effort does not end with Outlook.Information workers also can highlight or clarify importantpoints in business communications by inserting information-rich Visio diagrams into Microsoft Excel spreadsheets, Worddocuments and PowerPoint presentations. Also, data stored inVisio timelines and Gantt charts can be exported to MicrosoftProject. Businesses and individuals can then use Visio to createa work breakdown structure from Microsoft Project data.

Microsoft® Office Project 2003 Integrates Easily withMicrosoft Office System 2003

For more information, please visit

the Project 2003 Web site at:

http://www.microsoft.com/office/project

In This Issue:

1 Microsoft Office Project 2003 IntegratesEasily with Microsoft Office System 2003

4 Pcubed Perspective: EPM – Zealously GuardYour Precious Resources

6 Ask Brian

7 Show Task Completion through Project WebAccess

8 Supercharge Your Project Plan withCustom Formulas

11 The Microsoft Office System 2003 Launches

12 Tommy’s Tips: Dynamically Linking MicrosoftProject to an Active Excel Graph

15 MPUG-Global Takes PMI Global Congressby Storm!

MPUG-Global sponsored by:

The Newsletter of the Official Community Supporting Microsoft® Office Project Volume 7, Issue 4–2003

The Project Network www.mpug.org

Continued on page three

2

“We at Microsoft recognize MPUG-Global as the officialinternational community supporting Microsoft OfficeProject. We recommend MPUG as a vital resource to anylevel of the Microsoft Office Project user seeking a communityof peers to enhance their experience with this tool.”

Chris Capossela, General Manager, Microsoft Office ProjectMicrosoft Corporation

They say that time flies – and I wouldsay that this year has been noexception. It seems like only

yesterday that we were welcoming in theyear, and yet here I am once again, writingmy traditional seasonal message. With somuch to look back on, you will have toforgive me as I wax lyrical about thehighlights of the year. So sit back, and relaxas I take you on an MPUG-Global journey…

The launch of Microsoft® Office Project 2003 has dominated theyear for MPUG-Global and our membership. MPUG-Global joinedMicrosoft at ProjectWorld Boston for the official product marketinglaunch in June, where a record breaking 130 people enjoyed acaptivating keynote from Microsoft’s Office Project GeneralManager, Chris Capossela. His presentation, “Adding Value toProject Through Customer Feedback”, provided MPUG-Globalmembers with a rare glimpse into Microsoft’s “mind” with a look atthe reasoning behind the design of Microsoft® Office Project 2003.

Those members eager to find out more about the new tool alsojoined us at the Microsoft Office Project 2003 Technical Briefing inRedmond, WA. This year, Microsoft extended the invitation to theMPUG-Global membership, inviting them to attend this exclusiveevent free of charge. This was a fantastic chance for MPUG-Globalmembers to join the Microsoft Project product group for three daysof intense presentations, meetings and discussions. These sessionsprovided MPUG-Global members with an opportunity to gain adeep technical knowledge (level 300 and above) and businessopportunity information on Microsoft Project and EnterpriseProject Management (EPM). More recently, MPUG-Globalmembers were invited to attend a Microsoft® Office 2003 launchevent in their local area. Indeed, some local MPUG-Global chapterswere invited to host a table-top at these events, allowing them tomeet existing and potential MPUG-Global members. Those whoattended received a coupon which entitled them to a great freebie– a copy of Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003 includingMicrosoft Office OneNote™ 2003.

In addition to attending these fantastic events, MPUG-Globalmembers have been able to experience Microsoft® Office Project2003 through a whole host of different mediums. They have hadthe opportunity to participate in various Microsoft Project WebCast demonstrations, as well a Web Chat and other special eventswith high-level Microsoft personnel. In addition MPUG-Global haskept members up to date on product developments throughstandard benefits such as the ezine – MPUG-Global’s monthly e-newsletter, the MPUG-Global website with its Microsoft OfficeProject Resource Centers and Technical Library, and of course TheProject Network newsletter. As the editor of this newsletter, it’s greatto see so many MPUG-Global members at the forefront of productdevelopment and knowledge, taking time out of their busyschedules to provide other MPUG-Global members withinformative articles on the new tool. Indeed, only weeks after theofficial product launch, I am pleased to include three differentarticles looking at Microsoft® Office Project 2003. Our Microsoftauthored cover story looks at how Microsoft® Office Project 2003integrates with the Microsoft Office System 2003, and in particularMicrosoft Office Outlook 2003. Pcubed provides some Perspectiveon Enterprise Portfolio Management, whilst resident MicrosoftMVP (Most Valued Professional) Brian Kennemer, focuses on“licensing Project Server and Portfolio Analyzer.” in Ask Brian. I do

Liz Curwen

From the EditorThe Official International CommunitySupporting Microsoft Office Project

Email: info@mpug.org Web: www.mpug.org

MPUG-Global World Headquarters3923 Ranchero Drive, Ann Arbor, MI 48108 (U.S.A.)

Phone: 734.741.0841 Fax: 734.741.1343

MPUG-Global U.K. Office#10 Bloomsbury Street, London WC1B 3SR (U.K.)

Phone: +44 (0)7905 326001 Fax: +44 (0)20 7462 0101

MPUG-Global Board of DirectorsPresident . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Marguerite KimballVice President . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JD HouseSecretary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Heidi OstrowskiExecutive Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Christine BuonocoreChapter Relations Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tim CermakCommunications Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Liz CurwenInformation Systems Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kirk VantineMicrosoft Project Technical Director . . . . . . . . . . . Mike ScanlonDirector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Anthony GreavesDirector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Richard Siddle

The Project Network NewsletterEditor in Chief . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Liz Curwen

Editorial content: Articles, case studies, and tips are welcome! Please email LizCurwen at lcurwen@mpug.org. Entries may be edited for clarity and length.

Advertising: Advertising is open to any authorized Microsoft Office Project Consultantor Service Provider. For a Media Kit, email lcurwen@mpug.org.

The Project Network is a quarterly publication dedicated to inform themembership of MPUG-Global. The information published herein is believed to bereliable; however, the editor and other individuals associated with this periodicalassume no responsibility for inaccuracies or omissions. Publication ofadvertisements in this newsletter does not necessarily constitute an endorsementby MPUG-Global. Signed columns are the opinions of their writers and notnecessarily the opinion of the publishers.

© Copyright 2003 MPUG-Global. All rights reserved.

MPUG-Global Mission

To provide MPUG-Global members with a forum to exchangeideas, support, and experience in order to improve understanding

and utilization of Microsoft Office Project.

MPUG-Global is an independent organization formed with thesupport and recognition of Microsoft.

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hope you enjoy reading this issue, as much as I have enjoyedputting it together!

Over half of MPUG-Global members now enjoy theopportunity to attend regional chapter meetings in their localarea. Reflecting the diversity of the MPUG-Global membershipwe have seen the launch of two more International Chaptersin Greater Toronto and Norway, as well as the launch of threenew chapters in the USA in Tulsa, Austin and Philadelphia/Delaware Valley. However, whilst we have seen the number oflocal chapters increase, we are aware that continued success ofthese chapters relies on the 300 person strong network ofChapter Officers who offered their time and energy to ensurethat their chapter offers quality meetings and networkingopportunities in their local markets. Thanks to all of you whohave volunteered, we at MPUG-Global really do appreciate it!

Now that Microsoft® Office Project 2003 has launched onto themarket, MPUG-Global is looking forward to 2004. We have manynew and exciting benefits planned for the coming year, so don’tmiss out on being part of The Official Community SupportingMicrosoft Office Project—renew your membership today, simplyvisit https://www.mpug.org/secure/renew.asp. See you all in 2004,and from all at MPUG-Global, have a very happy, healthyholiday season!

Best regards,

Liz Curwen, Editor

From the EditorContinued from page two

Similarly, the addition of the Copy Picture to Microsoft OfficeWizard, allows Project Standard 2003 to streamline the stepsrequired to capture a project plan image and copy it into anotherMicrosoft Office System program, like PowerPoint. In Project2002, the Copy Picture command often required significant trialand error to select the desired options.

For project managers who have access to a server runningWindows SharePoint Services, Project Server 2003 offers thecapability to save projects and provide team members with asingle place to access project-related documents andinformation. With the Shared Workspace feature, team memberscan check project documents in and out, see whether other teammembers are online, access comments associated with storeddocuments, and more, all from a Task Pane integrated intoProject Server 2003.

“We know that hearing the phrase ’on time and under budget’can mean a great deal to project managers. In good economictimes or bad, businesses must pay attention to the bottom line,”Mezgec says. “We hope that by allowing for the most efficientuse of people and resources through the integration of Project2003 and the Office System, we are able to help informationworkers plan and track projects with greater precision.”

For more information, please visit the Project 2003 Web site at:http://www.microsoft.com/office/project.

Microsoft® Office Project 2003Continued from page one

4

Pcubed (www.pcubed.com) specializes in EPM, server-based solutions, software implementation and technicalsupport. Drawing on vast customer experience andexpertise, Pcubed Perspective provides a blend of strategicand technical content, with a varied look at how MicrosoftProject is being utilized within the marketplace.

One consistent theme that comes up when dealing withclients from all industries and backgrounds, is thatthere simply isn’t enough time, money and people to

deliver all the projects that the company is trying to complete.Consequently, project managers find themselves franticallyrunning multiple projects with limited resources and aggressivedeadlines to meet. In this situation, some initiatives willinevitably spiral out of control, wasting precious companyresources and delaying the benefits promised when the ideaswere hatched all those months ago.

What are you working on?

These days, it is incredibly hard to find out all the projects thata company is currently working on. Indeed when we go tocompany executives and request an inventory for all of theorganization’s current projects, it can take days or even weeksfor a list to be put together. It is rare for an organization to haveone view, from the top down, of all the projects being workedon, the resources being used and the costs associated with eachone. Creating an inventory can be very tedious, but there areimmediate benefits to taking this step -- redundant orcompeting projects can be eliminated, and the millions ofdollars being wasted can be saved. Using Microsoft OfficeProject Professional 2003 to create and publish projects allowsorganizations to get immediate visibility of the portfolio acrossthe enterprise.

Work on the "Right" things

In many companies, project managers are working on projectsthat are not aligned with their organization’s business strategy.

Some projects are being duplicated in other departments, whileother projects have little or no return on investment (ROI). In aworld of constrained finances, companies cannot afford to bewasting valuable resources on the wrong projects. People anddollars need to flow to those initiatives that can help thecompany to achieve short and long-term business strategies, anddeliver significant value to the business as quickly as possible.

Approval Rigor

To ensure that any current or future projects are aligned withtheir business strategy, companies should develop a portfoliomanagement process. Any "great" ideas need to go through therigor of an analysis gate, which should contain targetedquestions which qualitatively and quantitatively measure whetherthe idea is truly "great". For example, projects with systemscomponents can be tested for their alignment with the company’scurrent technology strategy. The analysis needs to focus on whatbusiness benefits the projects are aiming to achieve, and whatassociated costs and resource commitments are needed tosuccessfully complete the projects. In addition, the project’s

Pcubed Perspective

Enterprise Portfolio Management: Zealously Guard Your Precious ResourcesBy Bill Revellese, Pcubed (Member, LA Metro Chapter, USA)

Figure One – Portfolio Ranked from Highest to Lowest ROI

payback needs to be determined; this can be done by usingfinancial measures such as ROI, Internal Rate of Return (IRR), etc.It is important to remember that each organization is different,and there may be other factors (not listed here) that need to beexamined as they may have a specific impact on a particularbusiness. Performing an assessment allows organizations to rankand highlight risks associated with the projects, and documentany actions that need to take place as a result.

An important aspect of portfolio management is to define all themajor attributes of a project. An organization can do this bycapturing all the key metrics listed in the analysis gate. This helpsproject stakeholders throughout the enterprise to slice and dicethe portfolio according to their own needs, and allows portfoliomanagers to sort the data by key metrics. With a click of a button,executives can see the entire portfolio ranked from highest tolowest ROI (see Figure One). As most companies have moreprojects than resources, it is useful to create additional fields forprioritization, such as financials etc. (See Figure Two). MicrosoftOffice Project Professional 2003 facilitates this with its myriads ofenterprise custom fields and outline codes. As demonstrated inFigures One and Two below, using graphical indictors for aspectssuch as ROI, project budget and schedule provides stakeholderswith a quick way to gauge status or priority.

Portfolio by Consensus

Once a portfolio has been created, the information enclosedshould be assessed by a portfolio governance body. Made up ofsenior executives responsible for different functions within theorganization, this group can assess all the proposed projects inrelation to each other and to other ongoing projects. UsingMicrosoft Project Professional 2003 and Microsoft Project WebAccess, the group can see project timing, relevant financials, andhave the visibility on competing resource needs. Now that theportfolio has been categorized and ranked, this group has a

holistic view of all the projects and can therefore effectivelymake decisions on how to best use the company’s preciousresources. This means they can give the "green light" to thoseprojects that are most closely aligned with the strategicobjectives of the business and will deliver the greatest benefit tothe organization.

Timing

To decide which projects will be delivered in the upcomingfinancial year, the portfolio governance body should meet as partof the annual budgeting cycle. This allows them to reflect on theprojects still outstanding from the year before, and anticipate theimpact of the projects planned for the following year. Again, theycan use the portfolio to rank the importance of those anticipatedprojects, and really decide which projects should go ahead. Thoseprojects that don’t make the cut can be set to a deferred status, tobe considered at a later date. However, it would be a huge mistaketo set up the portfolio at the beginning of the year and then forgetabout it. To ensure that the portfolio remains healthy and that newproject proposals are reviewed, it is imperative that the portfoliogovernance body meets on a regular basis perhaps once a month– it’s really up to you. By meeting once a month, the group canmake decisions to "kill" struggling projects, "green light" newprojects, and defer ongoing low priority initiatives, ensuring thattheir project portfolio remains healthy. Indeed, when there is amajor event or a drastic change of company strategy, thegovernance body can use the portfolio to assess the current stateof the business and its projects and then act accordingly – so it’simportant to keep it updated!

Conclusion

When establishing a company project portfolio there may besome small hurdles to overcome, however the benefits providedby enterprise portfolio management are well worth the effort.Research has shown that organizations going through portfolio

management for the first time receive anaverage one-time savings of 10% to 20% ofthe portfolio dollar, meaning those projectoverspends that typically run over by 150%to 190% are dramatically reduced. Moreimportantly, when delivering projects,organizations are focused on helping thecompany achieve its strategic vision, ratherthan just drifting along. In addition, theenterprise can get the most "bang" for itsbuck by focusing on projects with thehighest returns, benefits and alignment,while deferring those lower value initiativesthat are competing for constrainedresources, to the bottom of the pile.

Figure Two – Portfolio Showing a Cost and Baseline Cost

5

6

Ask Brian

Licensing Project Server There has been a lot of confusion lately about how a companyshould/can/must license Project Server. It’s a confusing issuewhich I will examine here today.

“Machine” CALWhen Microsoft Project 2002 was released, the only CAL wasthe “Machine” CAL. Any organizations accessing data of anykind from Project Server or its database from a physical machinerequired a “Machine” CAL. Some examples of when thisparticular CAL is needed include: when an organization is usinga single machine as a “timesheet kiosk” for about twenty people;

when a company who uses an accounting package on one Servermakes direct calls to the Microsoft Project Server database togather information; or when a single machine is being used byone person as their workstation to access Microsoft Project WebAccess. This type of CAL is not dependent on how many usersare in the system, but relates specifically to the number ofphysical devices that are connected in some way to MicrosoftProject Server. “Machine” CALs are therefore very useful forthose organizations that have many individuals accessingMicrosoft Project Web Access from only a few machines.

“User” CALWith the introduction of Microsoft Office Project 2003, comes thenew “User” CAL. To be used with Microsoft Project Server 2003,this type of CAL is completely the opposite of the "Machine" CAL.This CAL depends on how many users you have accessing thesystem at any time and not how many actual devices are beingused. This type of CAL is particularly useful when a given useruses several different machines. For example a user accessesMicrosoft Project Web Access from a machine at work as well as alaptop, and from the home PC using the company VPN. Using a“Machine” CAL for this particular example would mean that theorganization would need to purchase three CALs for only one

Brian Kennemer is a Microsoft Office Project MVP and ProjectSpecialist for QuantumPM. Along with penning this column,Brian is also the Vice President for the MPUG-Global PugetSound Chapter.

Ask Brian covers topics appearing in the Microsoft Office ProjectSupport Newsgroup, where people with questions aboutMicrosoft Office Project can interact and seek solutions.Members can find this newsgroup and many more in theMembers Only Section, www.mpug.org/members.asp

7

Ask Brian

person, whereas by purchasing a “User” CAL they only need one.The majority of organizations are likely to find “User” CALs a lotmore efficient and less costly way of licensing Microsoft ProjectServer for their users.

The Whole “Editing Portfolio Analyzer”ThingIn order to create or edit Portfolio Analyzer Views or to viewthem in what is called “interactive mode” (the ability to re-dimension views), the client must have an Office familyapplication installed on the machine. For Microsoft ProjectServer 2002, this means having an Office XP family application,which includes the 2002 version of Word, Excel, Powerpoint,Access, Visio or Project (Standard or Professional). For MicrosoftProject Server 2003, any Office 2003 application is needed. TheActiveX controls used to create or edit these views will check forthe presence of one of these applications before allowing for anyediting to take place. Without one of these applications,Microsoft Project Server will not allow the user to create or editPortfolio Analyzer Views.

Continued from page six

TrainingTraining

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Project Server Boot CampThe ultimate administrator course is now availabe

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Show Task Completion throughProject Web Access

By Gary Chefetz, MSProjectExperts (Member, New York City Metro Chapter, USA)

What do you do if your system fails to show task completion in theproject plan when team members mark their tasks completethrough Project Web Access? Use this tip to resolve.

In order to show the task % Complete at 100% when the resourcesets the Remaining Work to 0 hours (which sets the % WorkComplete value to 100%), you must have the Updating task statusupdates resource status option selected on the Calculation tab inthe Project Options dialog. To set this option, complete thefollowing steps:

1. Open any project in which the % Complete is not calculatingautomatically

2. Click Tools - Options and select the Calculation tab

3. Verify that the "Updating task status updates resource status"option is selected

4. Click OK

The system will now automatically calculate the % Complete basedon the numbers the team member submits on uncompleted tasksto their project manager.

Project managers must manually set any tasks completed prior tochanging the settings to 100% complete as the change doesn’t causethese to retroactively update. Make sure that your PM's enable thissetting in every project and that this is the default setting in everyenterprise template.

8

Writing a custom formula is an excellent way to make

your Microsoft Project work harder, and you don’t haveto insert any more information. Using a custom formula

with graphical indicators will make your Microsoft Project planstand out and grab the attention of your target audience!

Microsoft Project 2000 was the first version of the tool toprovide users with the opportunity to write formulas. Customformulas can be written in any of Microsoft Project’s customfields, these include:

• Cost1 to Cost10

• Date1 to Date10

• Duration1 to Duration10

• Start1 to Start10

• Finish1 to Finish10

• Flag1 to Flag20

• Number1 to Number20

• Outline Code1 to Outline Code10

• Text1 to Text30

Formulas are entered into the Formula dialog box; click on Tools,Customize, Fields and then Formula, to open the dialog box. Youcan also just right click on an open Custom Field’s columnheader, then select Customize Fields and then Fields.

The top row of buttons in the Formula dialog box (Figure 1) ismathematical and logical, most of them should be self-explanatory, but be careful not to confuse the two division signs. • The “/” is the normal division sign• The “\” also does division and then removes any decimalplaces from the result. For example: 19/3 = 6.33 while 19\3 = 6.

Clicking on the Field drop down menu will allow you to choosethe name of any of Microsoft Project’s fields to enter into yourformula. Clicking on the Function drop down menu gives youmany standard functions to work with. The Import Formulabutton allows you to import a formula from another openMicrosoft Project file.

So let’s start our formula writing with a simple example.

You have cost data for hundreds of tasks in your workplan, and nowyou need a field that shows cost plus 6% sales tax.

One quick way to solve this problem is to write a formula; weknow that our Cost + 6% sales tax can be represented by theequation Cost x 1.06. Open up the Formula dialog box forCost1, and type in: [Cost] * 1.06 and then click OK. The Cost1field will now show the value Cost x 1.06 in every task in yourplan. Notice the brackets [ ] around the field name; I wouldrecommend always using brackets around names of fields informulas, although sometimes you can get by without them.

Let’s try a slightly more difficult example:

Your Microsoft Project Plan has 1000 tasks, and you have been askedby your client to display the word “Late” next to any task that shouldhave finished but hasn’t.

There are many ways that you could manually achieve this task– but why not have a Microsoft Project formula do it for you?This situation is conditional because it takes the followingpattern: If a situation is TRUE do thing ‘A’. Otherwise if the situationis FALSE do thing ‘B’. If you are familiar with programming, you’llrecognize this as an “If statement”. For Example 2 we want to usean “If statement”. Microsoft Project requires “If statements” tohave the following syntax: iif(expression, true_part, false_part).

Please note that correct syntax for the word “if” is “iif”! It isimportant to remember that expressions in formulas mustevaluate to either true or false. If the expression is true, theformula will output the value after the first comma (“true_part”).If the expression is false, the formula will output the value afterthe second comma (“false_part”).

So what will the expression part of our formula look like? Itshould define the situation where a task is late, so we want theexpression to be true when a task’s planned finish date is in thepast and we want the expression to be true when the task’s %complete is less than 100. Otherwise the expression will be false.Here is what the expression will look like: [finish] < date() and[% complete] < 100

Let’s take a closer look at parts of the expression:• [finish] represents the corresponding task’s planned finish

date.• date() is a predefined function that returns your computer’s

current date, and don’t forget to use the parenthesis! There areat least 24 other similar date/time functions for you to use inyour formulas, such as Timer(), Now(), and Month(). To see thislist along with descriptions, click the Help button in the Formuladialog box, and then click on the date/time functions link.

Supercharge Your Project Plan with Custom FormulasBy Allen T. Gavin, Pcubed (Member, Southeast Michigan Chapter)

Example 1

Example 2

Figure One: Formula Dialog Box

9

• [% complete] represents the corresponding task’s percentcomplete. Notice you don’t need a “%” after the 100.

What do our true and false outputs need to look like? Our clientwanted us to show either the word “Late” or nothing at all. Theword “Late” is a character string (letters), so it must be enclosedin quotes. We will use “Late” for our output when the expressionis true and “” for our output when the expression is false. “” willappear in Microsoft Project as a blank space. (Note: if you wantto output numbers, you don’t need to enclose them in quotes.)

Here is our full formula: iif([finish] < date() and [% complete]< 100, “Late”, “”)

Now that we have decided on a formula, open the Formuladialog box, and choose a blank custom text field that you wouldlike to put your formula in (I will choose Text1 for mostexamples). In the blank text box, type the formula and thenclick OK in each dialog box. Insert the field Text1 into yourMicrosoft Project Plan and you will see that the word Lateappears next to each task that is running late!

Graphical Indicators

Combining Graphical Indicators with the results of yourformulas is an easy way to liven up your Microsoft Project Plans.Graphical Indicators are selected in the Graphical Indicatorsdialog box. Click on Tools, Customize, then Fields, and thenGraphical Indicators to open this dialog box. You can also justright click on an open custom field’s column header, selectCustomize Fields and then Graphical Indicators.

Figure Two: The Graphical Indicators dialog box

Clicking on the cells in the Test For column opens a drop downmenu with options for you to pick. Click on the cells in theValue(s) column to open a drop down menu containing all ofMicrosoft Project’s fields.You can either select a field here, ortype in a value, but any value that you type in must correspondto the category of custom field you are working with. Forexample, you wouldn’t want to enter $10.00 if you are workingin Date1, and you wouldn’t want to enter 9/3/03 if you areworking in Cost1. The Image column also has a drop downmenu, and this is the list of indicators that you can pick from.The goal is to display an image, such as a smiley face or a flag,

Continued on page ten

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Part 2: Task is In Progress

IIf(( Date()<[Finish]+1) And (Date()>[Start]-1) And ([%Complete]>0 And [% Complete]<100),3

This second section says: If today’s date falls within the range of1 day before the task starts and 1 day after the task finishes (Ifthe task is in progress) AND the task is between 0 and 100 %complete, output a 3.

Part 3: Task is In Future or Done

IIf([Finish]>date()+1 And [% Complete] <100, 2, 1)))

This third section says: If the task is finishing in the future, andis incomplete, output a 2. Otherwise, output a 1. In summary, a1 should be outputted when a task is complete. Only anincomplete task should cause 4’s, 3’s, and 2’s to be outputted. Inthe Graphical Indicators dialog box the following is entered (seeFigure 3):

You can see how the formula turned out more complex than youmay have expected. That is a common occurrence! Also, lookclosely how the If statements are nested. Each subsequent “Ifstatement” is put IN PLACE of the previous “If statement’s”“false_part”. You can put whatever you want in place of the“true_part” or “false_part” of a conditional formula. Justremember that each “If statement” has to output a value thatMicrosoft Project can understand.

There are certainly many other kinds of formulas that you canwrite. With practice, skimming the help guide, and somecreative thinking, you will be writing exciting new formulas inno time!

Figure Three:

Continued from page nine

instead of a number or word. For example, if you opened theGraphical Indicators dialog box for Text1 in our Example 2, youmight want to do the following:

• Select equals for the Test

• Type in Late for the Value

• Select a frowning face for the Indicator

If you click OK and exit the dialog box, you will see thatfrowning faces replace the word “Late” in the Text1 field. Nowthat will get someone’s attention!

Let’s finish up with a difficult example.

You decide to make a formula that will put a red dot in the Text1field if a task is in the past and incomplete, a yellow dot if thetask should be in progress, a green dot if the task is in the future,and a white dot if it is complete. Now we’re getting complicated!Of course, there are many ways to achieve this result, here is mysolution:

IIf([Finish]< date() And [% Complete]<100 Or((Date()<[Finish]+1) And (Date()>[Start]-1) And [%Complete]=0), 4,IIf((Date()< [Finish]+1) And (Date()>[Start]-1) And ([% Complete]>0 And [% Complete]< 100),3,IIf([Finish]>date()+1 And [% Complete] <100,2,1)))

To get a better understanding, let’s break this formula down intosmaller pieces:

Part 1: Task is Late

IIf([Finish]<date() And [% Complete]<100 Or((Date()<[Finish]+1) And (Date()>[Start]-1) And [%Complete]=0), 4

This first section says: If the finish date is in the past, and thetask is incomplete or the task should finish today and is 0%complete, output a 4.

Example 3

Figure Four: Here is what Example 3 looks like in Microsoft Project.

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The Microsoft Office System 2003 Launches –Microsoft Office Project 2003 Showcased

This October saw Microsoft unveil the exciting new Office System to an audienceof over 75,000 attending one of the 64 launch events all over the US. Moreover,9,000 registered for the Enterprise Project Management (EPM) Breakout

Sessions showcasing Microsoft Office Project 2003. These attendees embarked on anEPM track, including an overview of the EPM Solution, practices needed for asuccessful EPM implementation, as well as a practical look at the different optionsavailable for planning and implementing Microsoft Office Project 2003.

A dozen Microsoft Office Project Solution Providers played a key role by deliveringthe EPM Breakout Sessions across the US. Partners were also invited to exhibit andMicrosoft hosted MPUG-Global booths at many of the major launch events. TheMPUG-Global community supported these events with 98 volunteers from 14chapters, providing attendees with information on the Official Community. Not onlywas it a fantastic opportunity for volunteers to reach other Microsoft Project usersin their area, but many MPUG-Global members participated in the EPM track to gettheir first glimpse of Microsoft Office Project 2003.

Not only was the content and networking great, but to top it all off no one leftempty handed. In addition to the goody bag, Microsoft provided an extra specialgift – a voucher entitling each attendee to a free copy of Microsoft OfficeProfessional Edition 2003 including Microsoft Office OneNote™ 2003, allowingthem to experience this new and exciting system themselves.

The Detroit, Michigan Launch: Bryan Smith (left),Treasurer of the Southeast Michigan Chapter and ChuckThibodeau, Business Productivity Specialist, Microsoft,Great Lakes Region.

12

This article is a bit different, but one day you might needto plot a graph using project data from Microsoft Project2000, so it might just come in handy!

My client needed to plot certain information, such as PercentComplete vs. Duration, for a report to his superiors. The datawas from three different projects in as many locations within theUSA. The data needed to be compiled into a Master Schedule,dynamically linked to Microsoft Excel, then linked again to a BarChart on a separate worksheet which displayed the differenttasks and their Percent Complete versus their individualDurations, and other data. The graph had to be Read Only andremain open all day so upper management could view theconstantly changing data. This is how we did it!

Converting Microsoft Project 2000 Data forAnalysis in Microsoft Excel

Any data can be linked from Microsoft Project 2000 to MicrosoftExcel or Microsoft Word, etc. By now, after many Tommy’s Tips,you should be pretty handy with dynamic linking.

When converting Microsoft Project 2000 data, it is highlyrecommended that dynamically linked files be kept in the samefolder. BUT…What if you need to analyze certain data, such asDuration, in Microsoft Excel that is formatted “10 d”, meaning10 Days Duration? Excel won’t do much with “10 d” in a graph.How do we isolate the “10” and “d” so Excel will read andanalyze just the integer 10? What about Percent Complete?What if Excel won’t analyze anything but the integer?

So many questions, and as usual it’s NEVER easy! However,there is a method in Excel by which the two can be separated.Go to Excel, and Data Text to Columns; this will do OK if youwant to go through the motions. However, there is a much bettermethod; you can isolate the integers in Microsoft Project 2000before sending it to Excel.

Any string of characters in Microsoft Project 2000 can be

Tommy’s Tips is presented by Tommy Lovelace. A valuedmember of MPUG-Global, Tommy provides real-life MicrosoftProject applications that “aren’t in the books”.

>

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Contact us today to see how Changepoint goes beyond standard project management to provide greater IT Value.

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Dynamically Linking Microsoft Project Data to an Active Excel Graph

Tommy‘s Tips

13

converted to an integer then changed mathematically back tothe desired integer before sending it to be used in an Excelgraph. There is a function in Microsoft Project 2000 entitledCInt(expression), which means “Convert this expression to anInteger”, that will convert the entire character string to aninteger.

Here’s how we use this function: Insert two columns, Text1 andText2 adjacent to Duration and %Complete, respectively. Startingwith %Complete, right-click on the Text1 heading and selectCustomize Fields, Formula and then select Function ConversionCInt(expression). The conversion function will now appear in theFormula dialog box.

Highlight the word expression by double-clicking on it and selectField Number %Complete. This will now appear in your formula:CInt([% Complete]). Select OK, read the information that popsup, and then select OK and OK again. The %Complete integernow appears alone in Text1.

The Duration is a little bit more complicated. CInt(expression)will convert the expression 10 Space d to the integer 480. If youdo NOT use a Space between the 10 and the d, the same numberwill appear. Insert the same formula in Text2 using the sameprocedures above to create the formula: CInt([Duration]). TheDuration integer will now appear alone in the Text2 field.

Dynamically Linking Microsoft Project 2000 Datato Microsoft Excel

Now we’re ready to link the data to Excel and create our graph!Open a new Excel spreadsheet, keeping Microsoft Project 2000open as well. Modify the size of both windows so you can viewboth programs side by side on your screen. (You can do this byselecting the little square boxes next to the “X” in the upper righthand side of the screen to minimize the viewing area, then placeyour cursor on the border, left click and move your mouse toreach the desired size).

A picture is worth a thousand words, so set up your Excelspreadsheet Titles in Row 1 to look like Figure One (type just thetitles only, NOT the data):

Figure One

Select your desired Tasks in Microsoft Project, then right clickand copy. Go to Excel and select the cell below Name, right clickand Paste Special. In the dialog box, select Paste Link and selectText in the AS:Box. This will dynamically link the data inMicrosoft Project 2000 to Excel. Do the same for %Complete andDuration, copying the converted data in Text1 and Text2,respectively. Double click the title tab Sheet 1 at the bottom of

Continued on page fourteen

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the sheet, and rename it Linked Data. Now test your links bychanging the data in Microsoft Project 2000; if the data changesin Excel, your links are successful.

You’ve probably noticed that the Duration column is empty,that’s because we need to divide the data in the Integer columnby 480 to obtain our original Durations. We don’t do this inMicrosoft Project because we need the EXACT data fromMicrosoft Project to be processed by Excel. So, let’s create aformula which divides our data by 480. Select the cell directlyunder Duration and type in the following formula:=D2/480 (this is assuming your Integer column is in Column Din your Excel spreadsheet), and click on the little green check onthe left to enter the formula. Using the Fill Down feature in Excel,the same one as in Microsoft Project 2000, hold your cursor overthe lower right hand corner of the highlighted cell. When a crossappears, click and drag down to fill the cells with the formula.The data is now ready to use!

Creating the Graph in Excel

We’re going to create our graph on Sheet 1, but we’re going to itsfinal destination on Sheet 2 of the Excel workbook. RenameSheet 2 “Graph”, return to Sheet 1 and click on the Chart WizardIcon located in your Toolbar. Note: if the Chart Icon isn’t in theToolbar, right-click in the Toolbar and select Chart. Click anddrag the Chart Toolbar up to the top Toolbar or move it to theside. Click on the Chart Wizard Icon and the Chart Wizard dialogbox will appear. For this exercise, we’ll use the default bar chart.If your Excel program is not set to use the Bar Chart for thedefault, just select Column as the Type and select the first Chartthat appears in the Chart Sub-type area. Click Next and chooseColumns, and then place your cursor on cell A2, click and dragto cell C4 to highlight all the data cells (shown in Figure Two).

Figure Two

Click on the Chart Wizard dialog box to see what your graphlooks like (shown in Figure Three):

Figure Three

Click Next and title your Chart and Axes, you can select Legendand uncheck the Show Legend box if you don’t want a legend (seeFigure Four).

Figure Four

Select Next and place the graph on Sheet 2, select Finish and yourgraph is now complete. The data in the graph is linked toMicrosoft Project 2000 and will reflect any changes in the TaskDuration and/or Percent Complete. Your graph should looksimilar to Figure Five:

Figure Five

Hope this helps you someday!

Keep on schedulin’………………………Tommy

Continued from page thirteen

MPUG-Global apologises to Spiro Theopoulos, who worksfor Ericsson and is a member of the MPUG-Global MontrealChapter, for misprinting his by-line in Volume 7, Issue 3.

15

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With only two days between them, MPUG-Global’s Christine Buonocore and Kirk Vantine followed Hurricane Isabel to theAnnual PMI Global Congress in Baltimore. However, the wet weather did nothing to dampen the spirits of over 3000 peoplewho attended this fantastic two and half day event. It provided a perfect stage for Microsoft to give a sneak preview of

Microsoft Office Project 2003, giving Microsoft Project users a great opportunity to learn more about the new solution.

This was MPUG-Global’s fourth year at the Annual PMI Global Congress, and it proved to be as successful as the others. It was greatto talk to so many people about MPUG-Global, from prospective members to the many current members, chapter officers, sponsors,and advertisers who stopped by the booth to say hello.

Thanks to our co-sponsor Microsoft, for so generously hosting MPUG-Global at this event.

MPUG-Global Takes PMI Global Congress by Storm!

William Lyon, Senior Product Manager,Microsoft

Gary Summerour, Officer/Sponsor,MPUG-Global Chicago Chapter

Jonathan Overton, Programs Officer,MPUG-Global Dallas/Fort Worth Chapter

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MPUG-Global is Affiliated with:

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MPUG-GlobalMembership:

INDIVIDUAL – For a single named member (U.S. $99 peryear)

TEAM 5 – Allows up to five named members from a singleorganization, at a 10% savings (U.S. $450 per year)

TEAM 10 – Allows up to ten named members from a singleorganization, at a 20% savings (U.S. $799 per year)

STUDENT – For a single named member who is currently afull-time student at an accredited institution. Proof ofcurrent enrollment must be provided (U.S. $50 per year)

Corporate Volume Rates are available.Please contact MPUG-Global for details, info@mpug.org.

Member Benefits:• A Subscription to The Project Network – MPUG-

Global’s quarterly newsletter

• Monthly Ezine containing the latest Microsoft OfficeProject tips and news

• Members Only website – contains Microsoft OfficeProject Resource Centers containing all versions,Microsoft Technical library, chapter presentations andother files

• Regional Meetings where Chapters have beenEstablished

• PDU’s through PMI R.E.P. Program – participating inMPUG-Global activities now earns credits towards PMIPMP certification

• “Members Only“ Special Offers such as beta testingand trial software of new versions of Microsoft OfficeProject and invitations to Microsoft events

• Networking/Knowledge Sharing – Leverage opportunitiesto meet with members and experts in the field

Join Now!Apply online at www.mpug.org.

For an application call +1 734 741 0841or email info@mpug.org.