I am very new to project managment and to MS project (we have MS project 2007). I have been reading this forum for a few hours and I have gotten some really good information, so thanks already!!
I work for a software development company and we have several phases in our software development life cycle. Phase 1 - requirements gathering
Phase 2 - designing/scoping
Phase 3 - coding
Phase 4 - testing
Phase 5 - documenting
I have created a project with all 5 phases and listed each appropriate task below each of the phases. We do not ask for estimates for phases 3-5 until phase 2 is complete (we also do not make any promises of what we will deliver until phase 2 is complete). However, I need for all the tasks in phase 1 and 2 to be planned and baselined so that I can track actual time and ensure that those phases are coming in on time. In addition, each phase is iterative in that we may have task A is in phase 3 (coding) when task B is in phase 2 (design). How do you suggest that I set a baseline when I don't have estimates for phases 3 -5 until all of phase 2 is complete, but yet phase 3 has already started for some tasks? I want to ensure that each resource is meeting their individual deadlines and doing their task within their estimated time, but the only way I know to do that is to set a baseline and track by actual start and actual finish. Any advice and wisdom is much appreciated!
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