Tracking and Reporting Project Status

Core Training for Microsoft Office Project 2003

Entering Actual Values for Tasks and Assignments

1	To begin comparing actual work with the baseline, click the View menu, and then click Tracking Gantt.
2	To display the Gantt bars for a specific task, click the row heading for task 5, and then click the indicated Go To Selected Task button.
3	Notice that task 5 has no baseline values. To update the baseline, click the Tools menu, point to Tracking, and then click Save Baseline.
4	To update the selected task's baseline, in the Save Baseline dialog box, under For, click the Selected tasks option, under Roll up baselines, click the To all summary tasks check box, and then click OK.
5	In the message box asking if you want to overwrite the previously saved baseline, click Yes.
6	Notice that task 5 now has a baseline, and the baseline value (gray bar) matches the scheduled value (blue bar). To save your changes, on the Standard toolbar, click the Save button.
7	To switch to a view that displays the scheduled work for tasks and resources per assignment, click the View menu, and then click Task Usage.
8	To display the first scheduled work for a task, in the Task Name column, click the task name for task 3, and then on the Standard toolbar, click the Go To Selected Task button.
9	To change the table to display actual and remaining work values, click the View menu, point to Table: Usage, and then click Work.
10	To display the Work and Actual Work rows in the timephased grid on the right side of the view, click the Format menu, point to Details, and then click Actual Work.
11	To display the Task Name column in the table, on the left side of the view, click to the left of the scroll box on the horizontal scroll bar.
12	To view all the columns in the table on the left, drag the split line between the left and right sides of the view to the indicated location on the right.
13	To enter task-level and assignment-level actual work values, click the Actual field for task 3.
14	In the Actual box, hold down the Up arrow button until 42 hrs displays, and then press ENTER.
15	Notice that the Actual value was subtracted from the Remaining value. To see this task in the timephased grid, click the task 3 row heading, and then on the Standard toolbar, click the Go To Selected Task button.
16	To display more columns in the timephased grid, drag the split line between the two sides of the view to the indicated location on the left.
17	In the timephased grid, note the actual work for task 3 is distributed evenly to the three resources. To display actual costs alongside actual work, click the View menu, point to Table: Work, and click Tracking.
18	To display all columns in the Tracking table on the left side of the view, drag the split line to the indicated location on the right.
19	To manually update actual work for an assigned resource, click in the Act. Work column for Clair Hector’s task 3 assignment, and then hold the Up arrow until 30 hrs displays, and press ENTER.
20	Notice that the other resources' work values did not change, but Clair's actual cost was recalculated. To see the updated timephased values, drag the split line to the indicated location on the left.
21	Note that Clair’s actual work on task 3 is now spread over 4 days, and her Work and Actual Work values match for these days. To save these actual work values, on the Standard toolbar, click Save.

Tracking Detailed Actual Work Values

1	To begin entering daily actuals for production tasks, click the minus sign (-) next to the task Pre-Production.
2	To display the first scheduled work values in the Production phase, in the Task Name column, click Scene 7 setup, and then, on the Standard toolbar, click the Go To Selected Task button.
3	To enter the daily actuals for the task, in the timephased grid, in the column for the first Monday (May 25), click the cell in the Act. Work row of task 26.
4	To continue, in the selected Act. Work field, for the purposes of this exercise, press SPACEBAR, wait as 10h is typed for you, and then press TAB.
5	To enter actual work values for the same task for Tuesday, May 26, press SPACEBAR, wait as 5h is typed for you in the selected Act. Work field, and then press ENTER.
6	To view the resources assigned to the Scene 7 rehearsal task, hold down the Down scroll arrow until Scene 7 rehearsal is displayed at the top of the table.
7	To enter actual work values for the task’s first resource, click the Act. Work field for Axel Delgado in the Wednesday (W) column.
8	To show that Axel worked three hours that day, press SPACEBAR, wait as 3h is typed for you in the Act. Work field, and then press TAB.
9	To enter the actual work values for Axel Delgado on Thursday, May 27, press SPACEBAR, wait as 5h is typed for you in the Act. Work field for Axel Delgado, and then press ENTER.
10	Note the individual resources’ actual work values are rolled up to the tasks’ actual work values. To save the work values, on the Standard toolbar, click Save.

Rescheduling After a Delay

1	To begin examining a task that will be delayed, hold down the Down scroll arrow until the Scene 1 summary task appears at the top of the Task Name column.
2	To view the start and finish dates of the Scene 1 setup task, in the Gantt Chart, hold the mouse pointer over the blue shaded portion of the Gantt bar for Scene 1 setup.
3	This task is partially complete, but has been interrupted by a problem at the studio. To reschedule the incomplete work, click the Tools menu, point to Tracking, and then click Update Project.
4	To delay the incomplete portion of the task, in the Update Project dialog box, click the Reschedule uncompleted work to start after option, and then click the arrow in the box next to it.
5	To delay all uncompleted work until June 12, 2005, in the June, 2005 calendar, click 12.
6	Notice that you are not just rescheduling this task, but all tasks, because under For, the Entire project option is selected. To continue, click OK.
7	Notice that task 38 is split so that the incomplete portion is delayed until Monday. To view the new finish date of this task, hold the mouse pointer over the latter portion of the task 38 Gantt bar.

Identifying Slipped Tasks

1	To identify variance in the overall project schedule, click the Project menu, and then click Project Information.
2	To display the project’s statistics, in the Project Information dialog box, click Statistics.
3	In the Project Statistics dialog box, notice in the Finish column that the project’s finish date has 13 days of variance. To close the dialog box, click Close.
4	To begin identifying tasks that have slipped, click the View menu, and then click Tracking Gantt.
5	To view tasks below the Scene 7 summary task, hold the Down scroll arrow until Scene 7 displays at the top of the Task Name column.
6	To view the Gantt bars for Scene 7, in the Task Name column, click Scene 7, and then click the Go To Selected Task button on the Standard toolbar.
7	Notice the variance in tasks 27, 28, and 29. To view tasks that have not yet started, hold the Down scroll arrow until task 43, Scene 2 displays at the top of the table.
8	To display the Gantt bars for task 43, click the task 43 row heading, and then click the Go To Selected Task button on the Standard toolbar.
9	Notice the patterned red Gantt bars showing critical, incomplete tasks. To apply a filter that shows slipped tasks, click the Project menu, point to Filtered for: All Tasks, and then click More Filters.
10	To apply a filter that shows tasks that have slipped from the baseline plan, in the More Filters dialog box, click below the scroll box on the scroll bar, click Slipping Tasks, and then click Apply.
11	Notice that tasks 1 through 23 do not appear with the filter because they are complete. To remove the filter, click the Project menu, point to Filtered for: Slipping Tasks, and then click All Tasks.
12	To display variance in a Task Sheet view, click the View menu, and then click More Views.
13	In the More Views dialog box, in the Views list, click Task Sheet, and then click Apply.
14	To display the Variance table, which shows the number of days of variance for each task’s start and finish dates, click the View menu, point to Table: Entry, and then click Variance.
15	To scroll down and view the tasks with variance, hold the Down scroll arrow until task 37 is at the top of the table.
16	Notice the values in the Start Var. and Finish Var. columns. To display a report showing tasks with variance, click the View menu, and then click Reports.
17	In the Reports dialog box, double-click Current Activities, and then double-click Slipping Tasks.
18	To zoom in on the report, click the center of the Slipping Tasks Report window.
19	To close the Slipping Tasks report, click Close, and then, to close the Reports dialog box, click Close again.

Examining Task and Resource Costs

1	To view overall cost variance for the project, click the Project menu, and then click Project Information.
2	In the Project Information dialog box, click Statistics.
3	In the Cost column, notice the current, baseline, actual, and remaining costs for the project. To close the Project Statistics dialog box, click Close.
4	To examine cost variance in individual tasks, click the View menu, point to Table: Variance, and then click Cost.
5	To display cost information for only the top-level summary tasks, click the Task Name column heading, and then on the Formatting toolbar, click the indicated Hide Subtasks button.
6	To expand the Production summary task, click the plus sign (+) next to the task, Production.
7	In the Variance column, notice that Scene 7 had modest variance, but Scene 1 had significantly more. To display the details for Scene 1, click the plus sign (+) next to Scene 1.
8	Notice the variance values for each of the subtasks of Scene 1. To expand the task list to display all subtasks again, click the Task Name column heading, and click the indicated Show Subtasks button.
9	To examine project costs by using a filter, on the Project Guide toolbar, click Report, and then in the Report pane, click the See project costs link.
10	To filter the task list to show tasks with actual and scheduled costs beyond their baseline costs, in the Project Costs pane, under Apply a filter, click the No Filter Applied arrow, and click Cost Overbudget.
11	Note the gaps in the task ID numbers, because only the overbudget tasks are being displayed. To remove the filter, in the Project Costs pane, click the Cost Overbudget arrow, and then click No Filter Applied.
12	To close the Project Guide, click the Show/Hide Project Guide button on the Project Guide toolbar.
13	To examine cost variance per resource, click the View menu, and then click Resource Sheet.
14	To view the Cost table for resources, click the View menu, point to Table: Entry and then click Cost.
15	Notice each resource’s cost, baseline cost, and variance. To sort the Resource sheet by resource cost, click the Project menu, point to Sort, and click by Cost.
16	Project has sorted the resources by cost, from highest to lowest. To sort by cost variance, click the Project menu, point to Sort and click Sort by.
17	In the Sort dialog box, click the Sort by: Cost arrow, click Cost Variance, and then click Sort.
18	With resources sorted by variance, you can quickly identify those whose costs varied the most from the planned costs. To re-sort by ID, click the Project menu, point to Sort, and then click by ID.

Displaying Cost Variance in a Custom Field

1	To begin creating a custom field, click the Tools menu, point to Customize, and then click Fields.
2	At the top of the Customize Fields dialog box, click the Type arrow, and click Number.
3	To rename and customize a field, in the list of fields, click Number3, and click Rename.
4	In the Rename Field dialog box, for the purposes of this exercise, press SPACEBAR, wait as text is typed for you, and then click OK.
5	To add a formula that evaluates each task’s cost variance, under Custom attributes, click the Formula button.
6	To add the formula, in the Formula dialog box, press SPACEBAR, and, for the purposes of this exercise, a formula that evaluates each task’s cost variance will be added for you.
7	To save the new formula in the Overbudget custom field, click OK.
8	To replace all data in the Overbudget field with the new calculated values, in the Microsoft Office Project message box, click OK.
9	To display a graphical indicator in the Overbudget field in place of the actual data values, in the Customize Fields dialog box, under Values to display, click Graphical Indicators.
10	To display a graphical indicator when the value returned by the formula meets certain criteria, in the Graphical Indicators dialog box, click the arrow under Test for 'Overbudget' and click equals.
11	To specify that the value must equal 10 in order to display the graphical indicator, click in the first cell in the Value(s) column, press SPACEBAR, and 10 will be typed for you.
12	To specify the graphical indicator that will display when the value calculated by the formula equals 10, click the first cell in the Image column, and then click the arrow in the active cell.
13	To select the graphical indicator, drag the scroll box to the bottom of the list scroll bar, and then click the green happy face indicator.
14	To add the test criteria and graphical indicators as shown, in the Graphical Indicators dialog box, click OK.
15	To save the attributes of the Overbudget custom field, in the Customize Fields dialog box, click OK.
16	To display the Cost table, click the View menu, point to Table: Variance, and then click Cost.
17	To insert the Overbudget custom field to the left of the Fixed Cost column in the Cost table, click the Fixed Cost column heading.
18	To continue, click the Insert menu, and then click Column.
19	In the Column Definition dialog box, click the Field name arrow, hold the Down scroll arrow until Number3 (Overbudget) displays.
20	To finish inserting the Overbudget custom field in the Cost table, in the Field name list, click Number3 (Overbudget), and then click OK.