Graphic indicators and status

[David McDermott]

Same type of question orginally posted a week ago (23rd at
3.55am).

I am looking to incorporate graphical indicators into
Project and PWA. I have managed to do this but
unfortunately do not have them functioning correctly. I
have tried various kinds of formulas etc but none work as
required. What I want to do is to show when a task is
slipping. Ideally I want an indicator to show when the
remaining duration plus the current date is greater than
the finish date. Might settle for it showing if current
date is greater than finish date but don't see why you
shouldn't be able to do the first. Have tried playing
with formulas and functions but obviously have not managed
to get it right. If someone knows of how to do this
please explain the steps to me.

Also can status reports be sent to groups (i.e. project
manager group) instead of selecting individuals who need
to reply (otherwise some people may end up being sent
reports to fill in when they not managing projects so have
nothing to report).

Thanks in advance for any help.

Dave

 

[Colin Anderson]

No answer I'm afraid - just a question.

Shouldn't the "calculated" end date take resource and
project calendars into account? In which case, the
calculation will be far more complicated...

Otherwise it is a function many of us would like to use.

Colin

 

[David McDermott]

Well I know there is a Status Indicator field in Project
which gives a graphic indicator showing if a project is
behind schedule (although think it only shows that once
finish date has gone and is not 100% complete so not the
ideal function). However when I go to try and put this in
the Project Centre views I can't find it. Maybe its isn't
available in the summary view which is the only one I
remember trying it in.

Not sure it it this field can be edited (as seems to be
built in) or if there is a way to find out how it works.
Ideally want to make it more complex or see at least if
the indicator can be changed to simple traffic light style
like some other packages.

Thanks

 

[Mike Mahoney]

David

Project already generates this information for you, e.g. "finish variance".
RAG displays can be based on this. However for it to operate effectively
you have to baseline and update projects in an acceptable fashion.

Mike

 

[David McDermott]

Mike/anyone

So to make this function work you would need to create a
project and save a baseline then use the Finish Variance.
Do you then mean that you need to insert this column into
the view and it would display the variance or would it
display a graphic indicator? If neither of these or the
former then how would I create the Graphic indicator? How
would I create the correct formula to do this i.e. should
I use a custom task field and then make this equal
something then test if it is greater than finish variance
or vice versa??

Thanks

 

[Mike Mahoney]

David

If you set a baseline, and update your plan, Project will calculate a
variance. This is a numeric value. To display a graphic indicator, you
need to define a formula (rule) which interprets this variance. An example,
at the task level (using Enterprise Task Number2 field), would be:

Enterprise Task Number2 = IIf([Finish Variance]/480>=10,3,IIf([Finish
Variance]/480>=5,2,1))

Note finish variance is stored in minutes. The graphical indicator section
would then be

If 3 Red blob
If 2 Yellow blob
If 1 Green blob

At the project level, you need to repeat this process (and better to use a
text field than number)

Enterprise Project Text2 = IIf([Enterprise Number2]=3,"RED",IIf([Enterprise
Number2],"AMBER","GREEN"))

and set graphical indicators accordingly

Mike