executive report

[Bob]

Ok.

I'm not sure if this is a simple matter for you folks or not.

I am a Manager of an IT Department. My boss has this thing he calls 'TND'
short for Task/Name/Date

what it is is a list of work tasks by name with a particular date of
completion.

This list is kind of an executive summary of tasks / projects he's doled out
to the IT department.

What I want to do is somehow convert that list into a project plan document
and create an executive summary / gantt chart so he can track progress.

It's the typicall IT stuff: Too much work, not enough resources. I need to
show him that i can manage this by balancing the resources we have over time
and assignment by project.

1. can project help me with this?
2. How do i go about creating this structure? A master project with sub
projects?
3. how do i list 'queued' work, e.g., work that is not planned yet but is
more of in the 'work queue' that has a lower priority.
4. how can i give him a simple summary report showing progress, allocated
resources to projects, and the work queue as an executive summary report.

basically, I need to present him weekly with a list of Projects
(active/queued), Priority, Schedule, Resource Allocation in some very
simple, graphical means.

Some of our projects are like this:

1. Develop Crystal Reports Web Intranet
a. 100 Man Hours, (1) Resource (crystal developer)
b. Status: In Progress, 25% complete
c. Start Date, Dec 1, 2004, est Completion Date 6/1/2005
2. Rebuild Citrix Farm
a. 400 Man Hours (2) Resources (Network Admins)
b. Status: In Progress (5%) complete
c. Start Date, Jan 1, 2005, est Completion Date 9/2005
3. Implement Security Best Practices in A/D
a. 80 Man Hours (2) Resources (Network Admins)
b. Status, Not Started (0%) Complete
c. Start Date: 9/1/2005 end date, 12/31/2005

etc.

Pretty typical IT Stuff.

Basically, he wants to see a summary report Gantt Chart Listing Active and
Pending WORK, schedule, Resource Allocation.

We have too much work, not enough resources, and I need to SHOW it to him.
He's being totally REASONABLE in his request.

What i'm wondering is if I keep one project Plan for each Project (task in
his book), and a common set of shared resources across all projects, will I
be able to make a summary project that includes all pending and current
work, show resource allocation, and summary Gantt?

is there an executive report add-in that does this?

HELP!

;-)

I can't be the ONLY IT guy that's ever had to do this!

I'm tired of using an excel spreadsheet to manage this and manually
developing a weekly report against project progress,

 

[Steve House [Project MVP]]

Project can be a help but there are a couple of drawbacks that will present
challenges. The biggest is you already have the work planned, at least in
part, and are looking to input the task scheduled for the dates you've
already determined where they'll be worked and just listing tasks without
dates when you haven't decided their scheduling yet. This is exactly the
opposite of what Project's basic functionality is aimed at. It's most
fundamental purpose is to take the list of work to be done, organized by
deliverable they produce, along with the expected length of time each
component activity will require and the workflow that must be followed
chaining the various activities together, plus the work schedules of the
resources, and to calculate for you the dates when you'll be ABLE to
schedule the work. In a nutshell, you don't (can't shouldn't) tell IT the
Date component of the TND your boss is giving you, it tells YOU the dates
when you should plan to do the work based on dates that are possbile for you
to achieve. In that sense there is no such thing as work that is yet to be
planned - as soon as you enter a task it will plan it for you for the dates
it calculates are realistic for the conditions you've set. And viewed
another way, all dates are "to be determined" until you enter the task into
Project since its purpose is to give you a reality check as to whether the
desired dates are realistic if you organize the workflow in the way you're
expecting to.

Once you have overcome the hurdle of bringing Project in so late in the
game, using it to to document what you've already planned on doing instead
of using it earlier in the process to plan what you're going to do, a set of
files, one for each individual project, drawing resources from a common
resource pool file, and a consolidation file linking in the various projects
and showing the "big picture" is exactly what you're asking about and
"standard equipment" for MSP right out of the box.