Creating Dashboard-custom report

[AshishShah.MBS]

Hello,
I have a need to create a dashboard like report using MS Project. I am
just starting a project, and I capture typical information like tasks,
milestones, resource, resource groups, priority, status [using text 2],
etc.

I want to create an aggregated report which can give me a snapshot of
information such as:
* Status of deliverables by functions. i.e. There are a total of 51
deliverables, 5 for function/department A, 15 for department B, 15 for
department C, 15 for department D, and 1 for department E. Within the
15 for department B, 5 have been completed, 5 are on track, and 5 are
not yet initiated.

Is it possible to create such a custom report? does it matter
how(using what fields) do I capture the department information? What
specific features should i be looking at?Sorry if this is a basic
question- I am new to the tool.

A

 

[Andrew Lavinsky]

Here's a basic recommendation:

1) Create a new custom text field. Use that to flag each deliverable by
the departments it applies to.
2) Decide what metric(s) you want to track on your dashboard: remaining float,
cost variance, schedule variance, Earned Value, variance against a deadline,
etc. Use an existing field or create a new one.
3) Group by the new custom field (Project > Group By > New)

And that should do it.

What exactly do you want to track against, and how do you plan to measure it?

 

[AshishShah.MBS]

1) Create a new custom text field. Use that to flag each deliverable by
the departments it applies to.Resource Group, or should I use another text field?

2) Decide what metric(s) you want to track on your dashboard: remaining
float,
cost variance, schedule variance, Earned Value, variance against a
deadline,
etc. Use an existing field or create a new one.
3) Group by the new custom field (Project > Group By > New)

And that should do it.

What exactly do you want to track against, and how do you plan to
measure it?total deliverables, and departments A has 15 deliverables - 5 completed,
5 initiated, and 5 not started. Department B has 15 deliverables - 10
on track, 5 not started, etc... No sophisticated metrics such as CV, SC,
EV etc. just a 3 state status - Completed, on track, not started etc. I
was planning to use another field to capture that information about the
deliverable status.

 

[Andrew Lavinsky]

Resource Group will work, but if you have multiple resources assigned to
a single task, MS Project will concatenate that field and treat it as a single
field entry. In that case, when you do the custom group, you will need to
have it group by assignments and not tasks - and that will only work in the
Task or Resource Usage views.

If you only have a single resource assigned to a task, you should be fine.

So you don't want to roll up to each department, but just sort/group by department.
If that's the case you're ok. If you want to roll it up to the departmental
level, you'll need to figure out some logic for rolling up incomplete and
late tasks into one useful indicator.

You might also try out the Visual Reports, specifically one of the Visio
2007 reports (if you have Visio 2007). That will allow you to push out a
graphical overview of the % complete for each deliverable organized by Resource
Group. It's not too hard to figure those out.

-A

 

[AshishShah.MBS]

Dear Andrew,
Thank you for your prompt response and help.
So I am using the MS PRoject 2007 visual reports, and get to the pivo
table using the custom text field.
However, I cannot seem to aggregate the information as needed.

For example, I show the 10 functional deliverables i.e. Deliverable#1
Deliverable#2,Deliverable#3,Deliverable#4,...etc.
However I cannot show the aggregated number "10" by status.

Did I interpret you incorrectly?

A

 

[Michael.Tarnowski]

Hello,
I have a need to create a dashboard like report using MS Project. I am
just starting a project, and I capture typical information like tasks,
milestones, resource, resource groups, priority, status [using text 2],
etc.

I want to create an aggregated report which can give me a snapshot of
information such as:
* Status of deliverables by functions. i.e. There are a total of 51
deliverables, 5 for function/department A, 15 for department B, 15 for
department C, 15 for department D, and 1 for department E. Within the
15 for department B, 5 have been completed, 5 are on track, and 5 are
not yet initiated.

Is it possible to create such a custom report? does it matter
how(using what fields) do I capture the department information? What
specific features should i be looking at?Sorry if this is a basic
question- I am new to the tool.

A

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AshishShah.MBS
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Hi,
To implement a reporting schedule status task indicator use the Status
column. It will identify tasks that are "Complete", "On Schedule",
"Late" or "Future Task". See also:
• http://www.pptspaces.com/msprojectreporterblog/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=39
• FAQ 31: http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm
• Different colored Gantt bars:
http://pmotechniques.wordpress.com/2008/02/12/different-colored-gantt-bars-in-ms-project-–-how-to/
• Status Stoplights with MSP (easy to implement):
http://www.projectperfect.com.au/info_stoplights_in_microsoft_project.php

Have fun
Michael