How to Include Holidays in MS Project
Incorporating holidays into Microsoft Project can greatly enhance the accuracy and realism of your project schedules. By accounting for public holidays, you can better manage resources, plan project activities, and avoid scheduling conflicts. This article will guide you through the process of including holidays in MS Project, ensuring that your project timelines are as accurate as possible.
Step 1: Create a Custom Calendar
The first step in including holidays in MS Project is to create a custom calendar. This calendar will be used to define the working days and holidays for your project. To create a custom calendar, follow these steps:
1. Open your MS Project file.
2. Go to the “View” tab and click on “Calendar.”
3. In the “Calendar” dialog box, click on “Custom calendars” and then “New.”
4. Enter a name for your custom calendar and click “OK.”
5. In the “Custom calendar” dialog box, click on “Working days” and then “Edit.”
Step 2: Define Working Days and Non-Working Days
Next, you need to define the working days and non-working days for your project. To do this, follow these steps:
1. In the “Custom calendar” dialog box, click on “Working days” and then “Edit.”
2. In the “Edit working days” dialog box, you can set the working days for your project. By default, MS Project uses Monday through Friday as working days. If your project has different working days, you can change them here.
3. Click on “Non-working days” and then “Edit” to define the holidays and non-working days for your project.
Step 3: Add Holidays to the Calendar
Now that you have defined the working days and non-working days, you can add specific holidays to your custom calendar. To add holidays, follow these steps:
1. In the “Custom calendar” dialog box, click on “Non-working days” and then “Edit.”
2. In the “Edit non-working days” dialog box, click on “Add.”
3. Enter the name of the holiday and the date it falls on.
4. Repeat this process for all the holidays you want to include in your project.
5. Click “OK” to save your changes.
Step 4: Assign the Custom Calendar to Your Project
Once you have created and customized your calendar, you need to assign it to your project. To do this, follow these steps:
1. In the “Custom calendar” dialog box, click on “Custom calendars” and then “Set as base calendar.”
2. Choose the custom calendar you created from the list of available calendars.
3. Click “OK” to assign the custom calendar to your project.
Step 5: Review and Adjust Your Project Schedule
After assigning the custom calendar to your project, review your project schedule to ensure that the holidays are accounted for. You may need to adjust the start and end dates of some tasks or reassign resources to avoid scheduling conflicts.
By following these steps, you can easily include holidays in MS Project and create more accurate and realistic project schedules. Remember to regularly update your custom calendar as new holidays arise or as your project’s requirements change.
