Column Explanations

[Michelle]

Hello,
I have been trying for months to create a project template that will track
the exact data that I need to and I am at my wit's end. I need:

-Estimated Hours Worked vs. Actual Hours Worked
-% Complete for entire project based on Actual Hours Worked
-Start date per task
-Target finish date per task vs. Actual finish date per task

MS Project Help is only confusing me more. Is there a good resource
available (like MS Project for Dummies??) or would anyone be able to help me??

 

[Trevor Rabey]

You've come to the right place.

 

[John]

Hello,
I have been trying for months to create a project template that will track
the exact data that I need to and I am at my wit's end. I need:

-Estimated Hours Worked vs. Actual Hours Worked
-% Complete for entire project based on Actual Hours Worked
-Start date per task
-Target finish date per task vs. Actual finish date per task

MS Project Help is only confusing me more. Is there a good resource
available (like MS Project for Dummies??) or would anyone be able to help me??

Michelle,
It sounds like you are looking more for a customized view than a
template. Let's see if we can help.

First of all, what in the world is "estimated hours worked"? Either they
(resources) worked the hours or they didn't, there is no "estimate"
about it! Now if you really mean scheduled Work versus Actual Work then
what you probably want is a comparison of Baseline Work versus Actual
Work. This of course requires that you set a baseline before work
started.

Percent Complete for the entire project based on Actual Work is exactly
what the % Work Complete field shows at the Project Summary Task level.

Start date per task is simply the Start field and the target finish date
per task is the Baseline Finish compared to the Actual Finish. The
difference in working time between the latter two is given by the Finish
Variance field.

Each of the above fields can be included in a custom view table by
simply adding the fields as columns in whatever task view you wan to use.

Hope this helps.
John
Project MVP

 

[Steve House [Project MVP]]

Michelle

An addendum of clarification to John's post if I may. You said you want to
track "% Complete for entire project based on Actual Hours Worked." Be
aware that % Complete is based on time elapsed, not hours worked. There are
3 different completion percentages in Project - % Complete, comparing the
time taken versus the time anticipated; % Work Complete, based on actual
man-hours worked versus man-hours scheduled; and % Physical Complete, based
on an estimate of the physical progress on the task's deliverable (and such
a loosey-goosey notion as to be virtually meaningless in my book). Sounds
like you want % Work Complete instead of % Complete. Note that % Complete
and % Work Complete are not freely interchangeasble and they may, or may
not, be the same number. Consider a 5 day task with work contoured as
follow - 1 hour each day on Mon, Tue, Wed, & Thur with a full 8 hours of
Fri - it happens sometimes, perhaps you need to allow 24 hour drying time
between coats of paint, for example. Duration is 40 hours, 8am Mon to 5pm
Fri. Work, OTOH, is a total of 12 man-hours cause you're not going to pay
the painter to sit and watch the paint dry. It's Thursday evening and
everything is on schedule. 4 days (32 working hours) of the duration has
passed - 32/40 = 80% Complete. 4 man-hours out of the 12 scheduled have
actually been worked - 4/12=33% Work Complete.

 

[John]

Michelle

An addendum of clarification to John's post if I may. You said you want to
track "% Complete for entire project based on Actual Hours Worked." Be
aware that % Complete is based on time elapsed, not hours worked. There are
3 different completion percentages in Project - % Complete, comparing the
time taken versus the time anticipated; % Work Complete, based on actual
man-hours worked versus man-hours scheduled; and % Physical Complete, based
on an estimate of the physical progress on the task's deliverable (and such
a loosey-goosey notion as to be virtually meaningless in my book). Sounds
like you want % Work Complete instead of % Complete. Note that % Complete
and % Work Complete are not freely interchangeasble and they may, or may
not, be the same number. Consider a 5 day task with work contoured as
follow - 1 hour each day on Mon, Tue, Wed, & Thur with a full 8 hours of
Fri - it happens sometimes, perhaps you need to allow 24 hour drying time
between coats of paint, for example. Duration is 40 hours, 8am Mon to 5pm
Fri. Work, OTOH, is a total of 12 man-hours cause you're not going to pay
the painter to sit and watch the paint dry. It's Thursday evening and
everything is on schedule. 4 days (32 working hours) of the duration has
passed - 32/40 = 80% Complete. 4 man-hours out of the 12 scheduled have
actually been worked - 4/12=33% Work Complete.

Steve,
Personally I have found that watching paint dry is very relaxing

John

 

[Michelle]

Yes, I am looking for % Work Complete. Thank you for the clarification.

 

[Michelle]

THank you for your explanations.

How do I set a baseline?

 

[JulieS]

Hi Michelle,

I haven't seen John "on-line" yet today, so I'll jump in.

To save a baseline: Tools > Tracking > Save baseline.

I hope this helps. Let us know how you get along.

Julie