how to show extended finish dates of late tasks on Gantt chart

[Jim Duffy]

to properly track status of tasks, it is best to show the current tasks
status as "time now" and to extend the tasks finish date according to percent
of work actually done versus percent of work that should have been done as of
time now.

 

[John]

to properly track status of tasks, it is best to show the current tasks
status as "time now" and to extend the tasks finish date according to percent
of work actually done versus percent of work that should have been done as of
time now.

Jim,
Is this a question or a statement of what you believe? If it is a
question, what exactly are you asking?

Just for reference any algorithm that automatically adjusts the schedule
based on current status needs to make some pretty heady assumptions. For
example, if the idea is to extrapolate current status into future
expectations, some type of controlled relationship must exist (e.g.
linear progression) and that may not always be the case. It is kinda
like picking stocks or bonds. "Past performance is no guarantee of
future outcome."

John
Project MVP

 

[Jim Duffy]

Thanks for responding, John. The question is in the title, the rest is the
reason why I was asking (yes, my belief, but also my observation).

So, yes I am looking to see if MS Project can perform the extrapolation of
past performance to future expectations. A linear progression is just fine
for many tasks and would certainly highlight (overstate ?) the low
performance ... which is what the project manager is really looking for. The
manager's attention would hopefully then generate some non-linear responses
(the desired effect in itself and not necessary to actually model/predict).

Jim

 

[John]

Thanks for responding, John. The question is in the title, the rest is the
reason why I was asking (yes, my belief, but also my observation).

So, yes I am looking to see if MS Project can perform the extrapolation of
past performance to future expectations. A linear progression is just fine
for many tasks and would certainly highlight (overstate ?) the low
performance ... which is what the project manager is really looking for. The
manager's attention would hopefully then generate some non-linear responses
(the desired effect in itself and not necessary to actually model/predict).

Jim

Jim,
Yes, it can be done but it will take an advanced feature of Project,
namely VBA. Several years ago I did a similar type of extrapolation
(using VBA) at my company. It was made a little more complex by the
earned value methodology we were required to use but it basically
provided a wake-up call to our cost account managers during our monthly
program reviews. In other words, "if your tasks continue on their
current path, your schedule will be outta bed by xxxx amount next status
period". I admit it was really more for shock value than anything else.
There are just so many variables involved with a schedule that the
validity of this type of prediction is very questionable.

John
Project MVP