Duration % S Curve

[greg]

Is it possible to do a s curve in excel based on duration % complete. The
trouble i am having is determining the plotting figures for the baseline
duration %.

 

[Jim Aksel]

You are probably going to have to normalize BCWS after using the Analyze
Timescaled Data in Excel Wizard. That will give you a progressive %Complete
in time phase.
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Jim
It''s software; it''s not allowed to win.

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for FAQs and more information
about Microsoft Project

 

[greg]

Thanks Jim. Normalize BCWS, what do you mean by this? My company bought an s
curve program that does the calculations, however the baseline percentage
never remains constant, it always changes, and the client doesnt like it,
saying the baseline % dshould not change.

 

[davegb]

Thanks Jim. Normalize BCWS, what do you mean by this? My company bought an s
curve program that does the calculations, however the baseline percentage
never remains constant, it always changes, and the client doesnt like it,
saying the baseline % dshould not change.








- Show quoted text -

Pardon me for jumping in, but am I missing something? Wouldn't a
duration % complete S curve merely mimic the baseline curve until your
end date changed? Unless your end date is changing a lot (in which
case of what use would this information be compared to EV or somesuch
value), what would be the purpose of such a curve?

 

[Jim Aksel]

If you export BCWS it is going to be cummulative and will not change with
moving end date because BCWS will follow the Baseline work layout, not the
forecast. Restting a baseline should be very rare.

What I mean by Normalizing is that you will need to divide every value in
the BCWS run by the last (largest) value of BCWS. That means the last value
will be 1.0 and all the values leading up to it will be less than 1.0 ---
representing your cummulative %Complete. The work is done in Excel after
export.

If you are fishing for a good charting option, I have a couple of
recommendations. DecisionCharts (by Decision Edge) is very good, as is
Kidasa Milestones. Milestones is not really intended for this type of
analysis but will make you some great eye candy including some S curve charts
that are really nice. Another choice is Project 2007 -- the new visual
reporting features already contain S curves out of the box and they can be
analyzed in Excel. All of these suggestions will do the job discussed, and
they all have free trials. I've used all of them, along with the export
wizard to Excel.
--
If this post was helpful, please consider rating it.

Jim
It''s software; it''s not allowed to win.

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for FAQs and more information
about Microsoft Project

 

[greg]

yeh thanks, the company i now work for bought a s curve program, quite cheap,
and from portugal. im sure it works but we are having real trouble when
exporting the % complete figures to excel, as the baseline % numbers are
chaning after each update, and it shouldnt. and the client is not happy. also
they used duration % complete which is not good either, so we have decided to
change and use work % complete. i will look at some of those other packages,
thanks