You have been asked to determine a rough schedule for a nine month billing system conversion project, as part of your job as a consultant to a Fortune 500 firm. The firm's old system was written in COBOL on a mainframe computer, and the maintenance costs are prohibitive. The new system will run on an off-the-shelf application. You have identified several high-level activities that must be done in order to initiate, plan, execute, control, and close the project. The table below shows your analysis of the project's tasks and schedule so far.

Using the information on the table draw horizontal bars to illustrate when you think each task would logically start and end. Then use Excel or PowerPoint to create a Gantt chart based on this information. Use Figure 6-6 as a guide.

Tasks Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Initiating Develop project charter Meet with stakeholders Planning Create detailed WBS and schedule Estimate project costs Create project team Create communication plan Organize a comprehensive project plan Executing Award and manage contract for software conversion Install new software on servers Install new hardware and software on clients' machines Test new billing system Train users on new system Controlling Closing Tasks Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Initiating Develop project charter Meet with stakeholders Planning Create detailed WBS and schedule Estimate project costs Create project team Create communication plan Organize a comprehensive project plan Executing Award and manage contract for software conversion Install new software on servers Install new hardware and software on clients' machines Test new billing system Train users on new system Controlling Closing