Chapter 13. Viewing and Reporting Project Status
Chapter at a Glance
In this chapter, you will learn how to: | |
✓ | Determine which tasks were started or completed late. |
✓ | View task costs at summary and detail levels. |
✓ | Examine resource costs and variance. |
✓ | Use custom fields to create a stoplight view that illustrates each task’s cost variance. |
After a project’s baseline has been set and work has begun, the primary focus of the project manager shifts from planning to collecting, updating, and analyzing project performance details. For most projects, these performance details boil down to three primary questions or vital signs:
How much work was required to complete a task?
Did the task start and finish on time?
What was the cost of completing the task?
Comparing the answers to these questions against the baseline provides the project manager and other stakeholders with a good way to measure the project’s progress and to determine when corrective action might be necessary.
Communicating project status to key stakeholders, such as customers and sponsors, is arguably the most important function of a project manager and one that might occupy much of your time on the job. Although the perfect flow of communications cannot guarantee a project’s success, a project with poor communications flow is almost guaranteed to fail.
A key to communicating project status properly is knowing the following:
Who needs to know the project’s status, and for what purpose?
What format or level of detail do these people need?
The time to answer these questions is in the initial planning phase of the project. After work on the project is under way, your main communications task will be reporting project status. This can take several forms:
Status reports that describe where the project is in terms of cost, scope, and schedule (the three sides of the project triangle, as described in Appendix A.)
Progress reports that document the specific accomplishments of the project team
Forecasts that predict future project performance
Where the scheduled or actual project performance differs from the baseline plan, you have variance. Variance is usually measured as time, such as days behind schedule, or as cost, such as dollars over budget. After initial project planning is complete, many project managers spend most of their time identifying, investigating, and, in many cases, responding to variance. However, before you can respond to variance, you must first identify it. That is the subject of this chapter.
Practice Files
Before you can complete the exercises in this chapter, you need to copy the book’s practice files to your computer. A complete list of practice files is provided in Using the Practice Files at the beginning of this book. For each exercise that has a practice file, simply browse to where you saved the book’s practice file folder.
Important
If you are running Microsoft Project Professional, you may need to make a one-time setting change. This helps ensure that the practice files you work with in this chapter do not affect your Project Server data. For more information, see Appendix C.
Identifying Tasks that Have Slipped
When tasks start or finish earlier or later than planned, schedule variance is the result. One cause of schedule variance is delays in starting or finishing tasks. You’d certainly want to know about tasks that started late or future tasks that might not start as scheduled. It’s also helpful to identify completed tasks that did not start on time to try to determine why this occurred.
There are different ways to view tasks with variance, depending on the type of information you want:
Apply the Tracking Gantt view to compare tasks’ baseline dates graphically with their actual or scheduled dates. (To do this, on the View tab, in the Task Views group, click the down arrow below the Gantt Chart button and then click Tracking Gantt.)
Apply the Detail Gantt view to show graphically each task’s slippage from baseline. (To do this, on the View tab, in the Task Views group, click Other Views, click More Views, and then double-click Detail Gantt.)
Apply the Variance table to a task view to see the number of days of variance for each task’s start and finish dates. (To do this, on the View tab, in the Data group, click Tables and then click Variance.)
Filter for delayed or slipping tasks with the Slipped/Late Progress, Slipping Tasks, or Late Tasks filter. (To do this, on the View tab, in the Data group, in the Filter box, select the filter that you want to apply.)
In this exercise, you use views and filters to identify variance.
Set Up
Start Project 2010 if it’s not already running.
You need the Reporting Status_Start project plan located in your Chapter13 practice file folder to complete this exercise. Open the Reporting Status_Start project plan, and then follow these steps.
On the File tab, click Save As.
The Save As dialog box appears.
In the File name box, type Reporting Status, and then click Save.
To begin your analysis of tasks that have slipped, you’ll start at the highest level—the project summary information.
On the Project tab, in the Properties group, click Project Information.
The Project Information dialog box appears.
Click Statistics.
The Project Statistics dialog box appears.
In this dialog box, you can see (among other things) that the new book plan at Lucerne Publishing currently has substantial schedule variance on the finish date. The overall project finish date has slipped out by this number of days.
Click Close to close the Project Statistics dialog box.
For the remainder of this exercise, you will use various techniques to examine the specific task variance.
On the View tab, in the Task Views group, click the down arrow below the Gantt Chart button and then click Tracking Gantt.
Project displays the Tracking Gantt view.
On the View tab, in the Zoom group, click the down arrow next to the Timescale box and then click Weeks.
In the Task Name column, click the name of task 33, Send proofed pages to Production, and scroll the Tracking Gantt view up so that task 33 appears near the top of the view.
On the Task tab, in the Editing group, click Scroll to Task.
Tip
You can also right-click the task name and in the shortcut menu that appears, click Scroll to Task.
In the chart portion of this view, the tasks as they are currently scheduled appear as blue bars (if they are not on the critical path) or red bars (if they are on the critical path). In the lower half of each task’s row, the baseline start and finish dates of each task appear as gray bars.
By comparing the currently scheduled Gantt bars with the baseline Gantt bars, you can see what tasks started later than planned or took longer to complete.
Tip
To see details about any bar or other item in a Gantt Chart view, position the mouse pointer over it. After a moment, a ScreenTip appears with details.
To focus on only the slipping tasks, you will apply a filter.
On the View tab, in the Data group, click the arrow next to Filter: and then click More Filters.
The More Filters dialog box appears. In this dialog box, you can see all the predefined filters for tasks (when in a task view) and resources (when in a resource view) that are available to you.
Click Slipping Tasks, and then click Apply.
Project filters the task list to show only those uncompleted tasks that, as they are now scheduled, have slipped from their baseline schedule.
Note the gaps in the task ID numbers. Tasks 1 through 26, for example, do not appear with the filter applied because they are already complete.
At this point in the schedule, the scheduled start date of the uncompleted tasks has slipped quite a bit. Most of these tasks’ scheduled Gantt bars are formatted red to indicate that they are critical, meaning that any delay in completing these tasks will delay the project’s finish date.
On the View tab, in the Data group, click the arrow next to Filter: and then click Clear Filter.
Project removes the filter. As always, displaying or removing a filter has no effect on the original data.
The Tracking Gantt view graphically illustrates the difference between scheduled, actual, and baseline project performance. To see this information in a table format, you will display the Variance table in the Task Sheet view.
On the View tab, in the Task Views group, click Other Views and then click Task Sheet.
Project displays the Task Sheet view. Next, you’ll switch to the Variance table.
On the View tab, in the Data group, click Tables and then click Variance.
Tip
You also can right-click the Select All button in the upper-left corner of the active table to switch to a different table.
The Variance table appears in the Task Sheet view.
In this table, you can view the scheduled, baseline, and variance values per task.
Here are some additional tips and suggestions for viewing slipped tasks:
All filters are available to you via the Filter button on the Data group of the View tab. The name of the active filter appears in this button; click the arrow next to the filter name to see other filters. If no filter is applied to the current view, No Filter appears in the Filter box. When a filter is applied, the text Filter Applied appears on the status bar.
You can see the criteria that most filters use to determine which tasks or resources they will display or hide. On the View tab, in the Data group, in the Filter box, click More Filters. In the More Filters dialog box, click a filter and then click Edit. In the Filter Definition dialog box, you can see the tests applied to various fields for the filter.
You can quickly display late tasks—tasks that are late in relation to whatever status date you set. To set a status date, on the Project tab, in the Properties group, click Project Information. Then on the Format tab, in the Bar Styles group, check the Late Tasks check box. The Gantt bars of tasks that were scheduled to be completed by the status date but are incomplete are formatted black.
The Slipping Tasks report describes tasks that are off schedule. To view a Slipping Tasks report, on the Project tab, in the Reports group, click Reports. In the Reports dialog box, double-click Current, and then double-click Slipping Tasks.
In this exercise, you have viewed variance for a task. To see variance for assignments to a task, switch to the Task Usage view, and then apply the Variance table (to see scheduled variance) or the Work table (to see work variance).
Examining Task Costs
The schedule’s status (Did tasks start and finish on time?), although critical to nearly all projects, is only one indicator of overall project health. For projects that include cost information, another critical indicator is cost variance: Are tasks running over or under budget? Task costs in Project consist of fixed costs applied directly to tasks, resource costs derived from assignments, or both. When tasks cost more or less than planned to complete, cost variance is the result. Evaluating cost variance enables you to make incremental budget adjustments for individual tasks to avoid exceeding your project’s overall budget.
Although tasks and resources (and their costs) are directly related, it’s informative to evaluate each individually.
In this exercise, you view task cost variance. You’ll start by displaying the Cost table.
On the View tab, in the Data group, click Tables and then click Cost.
The Cost table appears in the Task Sheet view.
In this table, you can see each task’s baseline cost, scheduled cost (in the Total Cost column), actual cost, and cost variance. The variance is the difference between the baseline cost and the scheduled cost. Of course, costs aren’t scheduled in the same sense that work is scheduled; however, costs derived from work resources (excluding fixed costs and costs associated with material and cost resources) are derived directly from the scheduled work.
Recall from Chapter 5, that task 0 is the project summary task; its cost values are the project’s cost values, and match the values you would see in the Project Statistics dialog box. These values include the following:
The current cost value is the sum of the actual (that is, completed) and remaining (uncompleted) cost values.
The baseline cost value is the project’s planned cost when its baseline was set.
The actual cost is the cost that’s been incurred so far.
The remaining cost is the difference between the current cost and actual cost.
Next, you’ll focus on the top-level costs.
On the View tab, in the Data group, click Outline and then click Outline Level 1.
Project hides all subtasks and nested summary tasks, leaving only the top-level tasks visible.
Looking at the Variance column, you can see that the Design and Production phase (task 27) accounts for nearly all the project’s variance.
To conclude this exercise, you will use filters to help you zero in on tasks that have cost variance.
On the View tab, in the Data group, click Outline and then click All Subtasks.
Project expands the task list to show all subtasks.
On the View tab, in the Data group, click the arrow next to Filter: and then click More Filters.
In the More Filters dialog box, click Cost Overbudget and then click Apply.
Project filters the task list to show only those tasks that had actual and scheduled costs greater than their baseline costs. Scanning the task list you can see that tasks 31 and 32 both incurred substantial variance; you note this for further investigation later.
On the View tab, in the Data group, click the arrow next to Filter: and then click Clear Filter.
Project removes the filter.
What caused the task cost variance in the new book project? Because this project’s costs are almost entirely derived from work performed by resources, we can conclude that more work than scheduled has been required to complete the tasks to date.
As we noted earlier, task and resource costs are closely related; in most cases, task costs are mostly or fully derived from the costs of resources assigned to tasks. Examining resource costs is the subject of the next exercise.
Here are some additional tips and suggestions for working with cost data:
To see tasks that are over budget, you can use the Overbudget Tasks report. To generate the Overbudget Tasks report, on the Project tab, in the Reports group, click Reports. In the Reports dialog box, double-click Costs, and then double-click Overbudget Tasks.
If you have Excel 2003 or later, you can use the Budget Cost Report. To create the Budget Cost Report, on the Project tab, in the Reports group, click Visual Reports. In the Assignment Usage tab of the Visual Reports dialog box, click Budget Cost Report and then click View.
Apply the Late/Overbudget Tasks Assigned To filter for a specific resource. To do this, on the View tab, in the Data group, click the arrow next to Filter: and then click More Filters.
Display work variance in the Work table in a task view. To do this, on the View tab, in the Data group, click Tables and then click Work. Remember that for a project plan where most costs are derived from work resources, examining work variance is one way to examine cost variance.
You can compare timephased baseline and scheduled work in a usage view. For example, in the Task Usage view, on the Format tab, in the Details group, click Baseline Work.
In this exercise, you have viewed cost variance for a task. To see cost variance over time for assignments to a task, switch to the Task Usage view, and then apply the Cost table. While in a usage view, you can also show Cost, Baseline Cost, and Actual Cost details via the Add Details dialog box. On the Format tab, in the Details group, select the options you want.
Examining Resource Costs
Project managers sometimes focus on resource costs as a means of measuring progress and variance within a project. However, resource cost information also serves other people and other needs. For many organizations, resource costs are the primary or even the only costs incurred while completing projects, so closely watching resource costs might directly relate to the financial health of an organization. It might not be a project manager, but instead an executive, cost accountant, or resource manager who is most interested in resource costs on projects as they relate to organizational costs.
Another common reason to track resource costs is for billing either within an organization (for example, billing another department for services your department has provided) or externally. In either case, the resource cost information stored in project plans can serve as the basis for billing out your department’s or organization’s services to others.
Expenses in the new book project are for the most part derived from the costs of resource assignments. You’ve already seen the task costs, so next you’ll focus on resource cost variance.
In this exercise, you use different tables and sorting options to see resource cost variance.
On the View tab, in the Resource Views group, click Resource Sheet.
The Resource Sheet view appears.
On the View tab, in the Data group, click Tables, and then click Cost.
The Cost table appears.
In the Cost table, you can see each resource’s cost, baseline cost, and related cost values. In most cases here, the cost values for work resources are derived from each resource’s cost rate multiplied by the work on their assignments to tasks in the project plan.
Currently, the resource sheet is sorted by resource ID. Next, you will sort it by resource cost.
Click the AutoFilter arrow in the Cost column heading, and in the menu that appears, click Sort Largest to Smallest.
Project sorts the resources by cost from highest to lowest. Note that the resources are sorted according to the values in the Cost column, which is the sum of their actual (or historical) costs, and their remaining (or expected) costs.
This sort quickly tells you who are cumulatively the most and least costly resources (as indicated in the Cost column), but it doesn’t help you see variance patterns. You will do that next.
Click the AutoFilter arrow in the Variance column heading, and in the menu that appears, click Sort Largest to Smallest.
Project re-sorts the resources by cost variance from highest to lowest.
With the resource list sorted by cost variance, you can quickly zero in on those resources with the greatest variance—the Copyeditors in this case. You note this for future investigation.
On the View tab, in the Data group, click Sort, and then click by ID.
Project re-sorts the resources by ID.
Note that the dollar amount of variance, while important, doesn’t tell you the whole story. What would be useful to know is what tasks had the highest percentage of variance. A task with a $1,000 baseline and $1,200 actual cost has a lower percentage of variance than does a cost with a $100 baseline and $200 actual cost. In complex projects, understanding what tasks are prone to greater percentages of variance can help you avoid similar problems in the future. In the next section, you will see one way to begin to analyze variance in this way.
Here are some additional tips and suggestions for working with resource costs:
You can use the Overbudget Resources report to list resources who are over budget. To do this, on the Project tab, in the Reports Group, click Reports. In the Reports dialog box, double-click Costs, and then double-click Overbudget Resources.
You can also see timephased cost values in a usage view. For example, in the Resource Usage view, on the Format tab, in the Details group, click Add Details. In the Details Styles dialog box, show the Baseline Cost and Cost fields. This also works in the Task Usage view.
If you have Excel 2003 or later, you can use the Resource Cost Summary Report. To do this, on the Project tab, in the Reports group, click Visual Reports. In the Resource Usage tab of the Visual Reports dialog box, click Resource Cost Summary Report and then click View.
Reporting Project Cost Variance with a Stoplight View
There are many different ways to report a project’s status in terms of task or budget variance or other measures. There is no shortage of features in Project that support reporting project status, but the main thing to keep in mind is that the method by which you report project status is less a technical question than a communications question. For example, what format and level of detail do your stakeholders need to see? Should project sponsors see different aspects of a project’s performance than those seen by its resources? These questions are central to the project manager’s job. Fortunately, as noted earlier, Project is a rich communications tool that you can use to construct the type of project status information that best meets the needs of your stakeholders.
Next, you focus on creating what is often called a stoplight report. This status report represents key indicators for tasks, such as schedule or budget status, as a simple red, yellow, or green light. Such status reports are easy for anyone to understand, and they quickly provide a general sense of the health of a project. Strictly speaking, what you’ll create here is not a report in Project, so we’ll call it a stoplight view instead.
In this exercise, you create a view using custom fields to visually focus on project variance.
On the View tab, in the Task Views group, click Other Views and then click Task Sheet.
Project displays the Task Sheet view. It currently contains the Cost table.
To save you time, we have customized a field in this Project file containing a formula that evaluates each task’s cost variance. Next, you will view the formula to understand what it does and then view the graphical indicators assigned to the field.
On the Format tab, in the Columns group, click Custom Fields.
The Custom Fields dialog box appears.
In the Type box located in the upper-right corner of the dialog box, click Number on the drop-down list.
In the list box, click Overbudget (Number3). This is the customized field we’ve set up for you.
Under Custom attributes, click Formula.
The Formula dialog box appears.
This formula evaluates each task’s cost variance. If the task’s cost is 10 percent or less above baseline, the formula assigns the number 10 to the task. If the cost is between 10 percent and 20 percent above baseline, it is assigned a 20. If the cost is more than 20 percent above baseline, it receives a 30.
Click Cancel to close the Formula dialog box.
In the Custom Fields dialog box, under Values to display, click Graphical Indicators.
The Graphical Indicators dialog box appears. Here, you specify a unique graphical indicator to display, depending on the value of the field for each task. Again, to save you time, the indicators are already selected.
Click the first cell under the Image column heading (it contains a green smiley face), and then click the drop-down arrow.
Here, you can see the many graphical indicators that you can associate with the values of fields.
Click Cancel to close the Graphical Indicators dialog box, and then click Cancel again to close the Custom Fields dialog box.
In the Task Name column, click the minus sign next to the name of task 1, the Editorial staff meeting recurring summary task.
The recurring task list collapses to show just the recurring summary task.
To conclude this exercise, you will display the Overbudget (Number3) column in the Cost table.
On the right side of the table, click the Add New Column column heading.
A list of available fields appears.
In the list of fields, click Overbudget (Number3) on the drop-down list.
You will also see the same customized field named Number3 (Overbudget) in the list of fields.
Tip
When selecting items from a list like this, you can begin typing the name of the item you want and when its full name appears, select it.
Project displays the Overbudget column in the Cost table.
As each task’s cost variance changes, so do the graphical indicators according to the ranges specified in the formula. This is a handy format for identifying tasks whose cost variance is higher than you’d like, as indicated by the yellow or red lights. You can see that tasks 31 and 32, and consequently their summary task 30, experienced both a high dollar amount of variance and a high percentage above baseline, as indicated by the red sad face indicators. Tasks 33 and later have no variance because they have not yet started.
Up to now, you’ve identified schedule and budget variance in a task view and budget variance in a resource view—each an important measure of project status. This is a good time to remind yourself that the final qualifier of project status is not the exact formatting of the data in Project, but the needs of your project’s stakeholders. Determining what these needs are requires your good judgment and communication skills.
Key Points
Schedule variance is caused by tasks that have slipped from their planned start or finish dates (as recorded in a baseline). You can use a combination of views, tables, filters, and reports to identify which tasks have slipped and caused variance.
Schedule and cost variance are closely related—if a project plan has one, it likely has the other. As with schedule variance, you can apply a combination of views, tables, filters, and reports to locate cost variance.
You can use formulas and graphical indicators in custom fields to create a highly customized view, such as a stoplight view, to communicate key project health indicators to your stakeholders.