Behind schedule/ahead of schedule - in days

[McGeeky]

Hi. Is there a simple way to get MSP to show how many days (actual effort)
ahead or behind schedule a project is? E.g. If its a software development
project and we have architect and developer resources MSP could report that
the project is behind by 7 architect days and 22 developer days, or we are
ahead 12 architect days and 30 developer days.

Thanks.

 

[JD]

Yes, Using earned value approaches will show this. I have a very simple
example of how to do something similar here:
http://zo-d.com/blog/archives/examples/peanut-butter-sandwich-scheduling.html

-Jack Dahlgren

 

[McGeeky]

Hi Jack. Thanks for the link - its very useful. However, its more than I
actually need. I am interested in a simple snapshot that states: for a given
date (the project status date) how many days effort behind or ahead are we.

E.g. A task has 10 days estimated effort, with 1 resource assigned. 5 days
in the task should have 5 days effort against it. The figure that I expect
to get is 0. We are exactly on schedule. If only 4 days are complete against
the task then I should get 1 day behind. If 6 days are complete against the
task I should get 1 day ahead.

Is there an "out of the box" report that can show that or do I need to use a
macro similar to the one that you have identified?

Thanks again!

 

[Steve House]

It doesn't break it down by resource but doesn't the Variance table do
exactly that? If your links are set up properly you should see a variance
of plus or minus X days in the finish milestone, relfecting whether as of
the moment you are ahead of or behind schedule by that amount? Even if the
finish is way out in the future, if it's currently showing a 10 day
variance, that means as of right now, if everything from now on goes as
currently scheduled you'll finish 10 days late. That implies in turn that
as of the moment you are 10 days later than where you should be, ie, have
done 10 days LESS work than you had planned to do by now.

 

[McGeeky]

Sounds like what I need. But how to set it up to do that? I set the current
date of the project to the 11th August and created a baseline. I then
changed the current date to th 18th August and went to the Variance view.
But it shows 0 for both Start and Finish Variance for all tasks - even ones
that are now behind schedule. What am I doing wrong?

Thanks!

--
McGeeky
http://mcgeeky.blogspot.com

It doesn't break it down by resource but doesn't the Variance table do
exactly that? If your links are set up properly you should see a variance
of plus or minus X days in the finish milestone, relfecting whether as of
the moment you are ahead of or behind schedule by that amount? Even if
the finish is way out in the future, if it's currently showing a 10 day
variance, that means as of right now, if everything from now on goes as
currently scheduled you'll finish 10 days late. That implies in turn that
as of the moment you are 10 days later than where you should be, ie, have
done 10 days LESS work than you had planned to do by now.
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi,

You reset current date but not the tasks: the tasks are still exactly as in
the baseline, so no variance.
You don't record any progress, so you will never see variances.
Either a task is done then set the portion that is finished to actual, or it
is not done, and then it doiesn't make sense to leave it planned in the
past, and you could use the Tools, Update Project menu.
Hope this helps

--
Jan De Messemaeker, Microsoft Project Most Valuable Professional
http://users.online.be/prom-ade/
For FAQs: http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm

Sounds like what I need. But how to set it up to do that? I set the current
date of the project to the 11th August and created a baseline. I then
changed the current date to th 18th August and went to the Variance view.
But it shows 0 for both Start and Finish Variance for all tasks - even ones
that are now behind schedule. What am I doing wrong?

Thanks!

--
McGeeky
http://mcgeeky.blogspot.com

It doesn't break it down by resource but doesn't the Variance table do
exactly that? If your links are set up properly you should see a variance
of plus or minus X days in the finish milestone, relfecting whether as of
the moment you are ahead of or behind schedule by that amount? Even if
the finish is way out in the future, if it's currently showing a 10 day
variance, that means as of right now, if everything from now on goes as
currently scheduled you'll finish 10 days late. That implies in turn that
as of the moment you are 10 days later than where you should be, ie, have
done 10 days LESS work than you had planned to do by now.
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs

Hi Jack. Thanks for the link - its very useful. However, its more than I
actually need. I am interested in a simple snapshot that states: for a
given date (the project status date) how many days effort behind or ahead
are we.

E.g. A task has 10 days estimated effort, with 1 resource assigned. 5
days in the task should have 5 days effort against it. The figure that I
expect to get is 0. We are exactly on schedule. If only 4 days are
complete against the task then I should get 1 day behind. If 6 days are
complete against the task I should get 1 day ahead.

Is there an "out of the box" report that can show that or do I need to
use a macro similar to the one that you have identified?

Thanks again!

--
McGeeky
http://mcgeeky.blogspot.com


Yes, Using earned value approaches will show this. I have a very simple
example of how to do something similar here:

http://zo-d.com/blog/archives/examples/peanut-butter-sandwich-scheduling.htm
l

 

[McGeeky]

Hi. Thanks for that. Using the "update project" feature does the trick. Once
that is done I can then view the days ahead/days behind differences with the
Variances view which gives me actual numbers (what I was after) or I can
visualize this same information in a different way using the Tracking Gant
view.

I am all set now! Thanks for all your help.

--
McGeeky
http://mcgeeky.blogspot.com

Hi,

You reset current date but not the tasks: the tasks are still exactly as
in
the baseline, so no variance.
You don't record any progress, so you will never see variances.
Either a task is done then set the portion that is finished to actual, or
it
is not done, and then it doiesn't make sense to leave it planned in the
past, and you could use the Tools, Update Project menu.
Hope this helps

--
Jan De Messemaeker, Microsoft Project Most Valuable Professional
http://users.online.be/prom-ade/
For FAQs: http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm

Sounds like what I need. But how to set it up to do that? I set the current
date of the project to the 11th August and created a baseline. I then
changed the current date to th 18th August and went to the Variance view.
But it shows 0 for both Start and Finish Variance for all tasks - even ones
that are now behind schedule. What am I doing wrong?

Thanks!

--
McGeeky
http://mcgeeky.blogspot.com

It doesn't break it down by resource but doesn't the Variance table do
exactly that? If your links are set up properly you should see a variance
of plus or minus X days in the finish milestone, relfecting whether as of
the moment you are ahead of or behind schedule by that amount? Even if
the finish is way out in the future, if it's currently showing a 10 day
variance, that means as of right now, if everything from now on goes as
currently scheduled you'll finish 10 days late. That implies in turn that
as of the moment you are 10 days later than where you should be, ie, have
done 10 days LESS work than you had planned to do by now.
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs


Hi Jack. Thanks for the link - its very useful. However, its more than I
actually need. I am interested in a simple snapshot that states: for a
given date (the project status date) how many days effort behind or ahead
are we.

E.g. A task has 10 days estimated effort, with 1 resource assigned. 5
days in the task should have 5 days effort against it. The figure that I
expect to get is 0. We are exactly on schedule. If only 4 days are
complete against the task then I should get 1 day behind. If 6 days
are
complete against the task I should get 1 day ahead.

Is there an "out of the box" report that can show that or do I need to
use a macro similar to the one that you have identified?

Thanks again!

--
McGeeky
http://mcgeeky.blogspot.com


Yes, Using earned value approaches will show this. I have a very simple
example of how to do something similar here:

http://zo-d.com/blog/archives/examples/peanut-butter-sandwich-scheduling.htm
l

-Jack Dahlgren

Hi. Is there a simple way to get MSP to show how many days (actual
effort) ahead or behind schedule a project is? E.g. If its a
software
development project and we have architect and developer resources
MSP
could report that the project is behind by 7 architect days and 22
developer days, or we are ahead 12 architect days and 30 developer
days.

Thanks.