Critical Path Reporting

[lamby74]

I need to print out USEFUL critical path reporting. Is there anything
Project can allow me to print out besides the Gantt chart view?

I want something with figures, not bars and lines.

Have you found any such useful report?
Thanks in advance!

 

[JulieD]

Hi

display the task sheet (view / more view / task sheet) then choose view /
table & schedule ... print this.

Cheers
JulieD

 

[Steve House [MVP]]

Just saying you need "useful" reports is way too vague and, well, useless
<grin>. Just exactly what would a "useful" report look like, as you define
the term "useful?" What data would it contain? You say you need something
with figures, but what figures exactly do you need? There are hundreds of
data fields in Project that one *could* put on a report if one wished.
Which ones contain the information that *you* find useful?

Seriously, different users will have different needs and what you find
highly useful someone else might find less than interesting. If you can
phrase your question "How can I create a report that shows me this, this,
and this?" we might be able to be of more help.

 

[lamby74]

LOL! Point taken! I agree!

Believe it or not, my mindset was as you describe, I just
failed to communicate that mindset here.

Ok, I'll give it another go here:

I have a number of books on MS Project function.
Not a one of them can tell me how to view the critical path
OTHER than to print out a Gantt view.

I don't want a giant bar graph that takes up sheets and
sheets of "landscape" oriented printer paper. (Ok, and I
understand that I can modify the timescale so that it only
fits on one page, etc.)

***I need to see tasks, dependencies, and lag time all on
one report for certain.*** Being able to show and report
to our department heads lag time is HUGE for us. Our
projects are more dependent on lag time and less on resources.

Also helpful for our purposes would be if I could also
print something out (either on the same report or on a
different one) showing task constraints, task types,
deadlines, assigned resources.

 

[lamby74]

P.S. - Microsoft should hire you and pay you big $$$.

 

[JackD]

--
-Jack ... For project information and macro examples visit
http://masamiki.com/project

..

LOL! Point taken! I agree!

Believe it or not, my mindset was as you describe, I just
failed to communicate that mindset here.

Ok, I'll give it another go here:

I have a number of books on MS Project function.
Not a one of them can tell me how to view the critical path
OTHER than to print out a Gantt view.

I don't want a giant bar graph that takes up sheets and
sheets of "landscape" oriented printer paper. (Ok, and I
understand that I can modify the timescale so that it only
fits on one page, etc.)

***I need to see tasks, dependencies, and lag time all on
one report for certain.*** Being able to show and report
to our department heads lag time is HUGE for us. Our
projects are more dependent on lag time and less on resources.
Also helpful for our purposes would be if I could also
print something out (either on the same report or on a
different one) showing task constraints, task types,
deadlines, assigned resources.

1) Create a filter or use the built-in "critical" filter. This eliminates
rows that are not critical
2) Create a table that contains task name, and successors (or predecessors)
column.
3) If you want task constraints add the task constraint type column and the
constraint date column, deadline column, resources column.
4) Select the vertical bar that separates the table (on the left) from the
chart and drag it all the way to the far right of the window.

Use this as your report.
You can even cut and paste it to excel if you like.

What do you mean by lag time? Do you mean the lag that sometimes is put on
dependencies? In that case the predecessors or successors column will show
it. If it is something else then you will have to describe it better.

I've been thinking of writing a macro that would replace lags/leads on
dependencies with real tasks so that they will be more visible. I have to do
something similar on something I'm working on today, so with luck I may have
something tomorrow.

 

[Steve House [MVP]]

Well, you can apply a highlight filter to show the critical tasks in a
distinct colour, or there are some critical task listing reports in the
reports library that you can use if you want and of course you can create
others with the custom report feature. My curiosity is piqued with your
need to emphasize lag time, I wonder if we're using the term to mean the
same thing. Lag time is an intentional delay introduced into a dependency
link so as to start the successor some time later than the link would
otherwise have it start. The example I use in class is we have to mail a
survey before we can analyze the responses we get to it. But we have to
wait a few weeks after mailing for enough responses to get back. So my link
is mailing->analyze FS with a 2 week lag time added to allow enough time for
the answers to get back to us. I can't imagine how that could become a
critical management issue for your functional managers or even occur all
that often. Are you sure you're not talking about SLACK time (also called
"float"), the time a task could be delayed before it pushes back the project
finish or causes a successor task to be delayed, the manager's "wiggle
room"? A critical task is one that has zero or negative slack.

--
Steve House [MVP]
MS Project Trainer/Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs

 

[RTucker]

We solved this issue by creating Customized Views.

Create the View:
1-Create a Table with the columns you need to show. Push the Gantt off the
screen, then use Print Preview to see that all columns are all fitting on one
page width. Adjust your L&R margins to 0.2" if needed. Set the top margin
to 1" if it will be hole punched and bound. Copy and Rename the Table to
"Critical Path Report".
2-Create a Filter to weed out the tasks you do not want in the view. Copy
and Rename the filter to "Critical Path Report". Select the Show Summary
Tasks box if you want the report to keep the summary tasks for better
relevance. Otherwise, you get a dump of task names that will likely confuse
people.
3-Create a View that uses the Table and Filter above. Copy and Rename it
"Critical Path Report".
4-Click on File-Print Preview. Customize the Headers and Footers to add a
Title, Status Date, Report Printed date, and a Description of the report's
contents.

To run the report:
1-Select the Custom View you created
2-Get Acrobat Pro and print the view to a PDF.
3-TaDa! You now have a report you can email to people.

We have dozens of these report running.