Stop Lights and Days Behind Schedule

[Iona]

Hello,

I am desperately looking for help on 2 things.
First, a formula to help me determine the number of days behind for a task.
I would like to take into consideration if there is an actual start date. I
am using Baseline2 as my comparison point. However, based on a MVP's prior
email I found in the Discussion Room dated 12/3/08 (I copied it below), their
considerations sound much more comprehensive (complete) then mine.
What is the best way to go about this? Should I be taking the percentages
and Baseline2 Finish date into consideration when advising my PM a task is
behind?
The formula I tried looks like this...
IIf ( [Actual Start] ="NA"AND [Baseline2 Start] <NOW(), [Baseline2
Start]-NOW(), "On Schedule" )

12/3/08 MVP - Jim Aksel
It is actually much more complicated than that, if a task started yesterday
and is 100 days long, it will only be 1% complete today. That task is on
schedule and should show green. The formula provided would indicate red.

Similarly, a task that is 100 days long should be 95% complete on day 95.
If the user claimed 80% they are behind schedule and should show yellow or
red, not the green indicated by the formula.

So the formula needs to be sensitive to the start date and an expected rate
of completion.
--

Secondly, for the stop lights I would like to cross reference the Days
Behind Column durations that it comes up with from the formula requested
above.

I appreciate any help.

Thank you,

Beginner

 

[Jim Aksel]

I'll send you a copy of a paper I am writing. My email is
jeaksel (at) yahoo (d0t) com.

Eventually I will post it to my blog, but I want some of my peers to review
it first.

In your formula you can get something useful out of it. First, for your
subtraction, use the projDateDiff function. Second, if you statement
evaluates to "On Schedule" that may not be entirely true.... instead, you may
want to say "In Process"

If you continue to get errors, your initial test may need to be reset to
ProjDateValue([Actual Start])="NA"

Just because a scheduled task started on the baseline start date does not
mean it is progressing on schedule. If I am to lay 1000 bricks between
Monday and Friday, we might assume that is 200 bricks/day. Suppose at the
end of day 2 you had only laid 75 bricks... you are probably not on schedule.
If the 200 bricks per day is the standard then you are 325 bricks behind
(1.625 days behind).

Just an aside, the Schedule Variance (SV) column and SV% columns may be
useful for you if you have costed resources and a baseline (and a status
date). They will give you the amount of $$ you need to dedicate to the task
to bring it back on schedule (assuming $1 spent produces $1 of value). The
SV% column is based on SV but would give your PM an idea the % (of dollars)
they are ahead or behind. The reality of it is that you want to be using
Schedule Performance Index (SPI)... that is covered in my paper.

Regarding mapping "Days Behind" to a stop light, I specifically cover that
in the paper I will send to you.
--
Jim Aksel, MVP

Check out my blog for more information:
http://www.msprojectblog.com

Hello,

I am desperately looking for help on 2 things.
First, a formula to help me determine the number of days behind for a task.
I would like to take into consideration if there is an actual start date. I
am using Baseline2 as my comparison point. However, based on a MVP's prior
email I found in the Discussion Room dated 12/3/08 (I copied it below), their
considerations sound much more comprehensive (complete) then mine.
What is the best way to go about this? Should I be taking the percentages
and Baseline2 Finish date into consideration when advising my PM a task is
behind?
The formula I tried looks like this...
IIf ( [Actual Start] ="NA"AND [Baseline2 Start] <NOW(), [Baseline2
Start]-NOW(), "On Schedule" )

12/3/08 MVP - Jim Aksel
It is actually much more complicated than that, if a task started yesterday
and is 100 days long, it will only be 1% complete today. That task is on
schedule and should show green. The formula provided would indicate red.

Similarly, a task that is 100 days long should be 95% complete on day 95.
If the user claimed 80% they are behind schedule and should show yellow or
red, not the green indicated by the formula.

So the formula needs to be sensitive to the start date and an expected rate
of completion.
--

Secondly, for the stop lights I would like to cross reference the Days
Behind Column durations that it comes up with from the formula requested
above.

I appreciate any help.

Thank you,

Beginner

 

[Iona]

Thank you Jim for the time in your response below. I will read it a couple of
times through before I take my next steps. You really made me think about how
I am currently evaluating the schedules.

I look forward to reading your paper.

Happy Holidays to you!

Iona - The Beginner