Tracking Status for beginners

[tdemelle]

I think I may be missing some critical concept when it comes to trackin
progress in Project.

I work in a very complex production environment with a high degree o
fluctuation in tasks. I've managed to get to the point where I hav
thousands of tasks with durations, resource assignments and dependencie
in place that are automatically being updated by a tool that imports an
merges task data from a request and task tracking tool on a dail
basis.

Durations and priorities are added to all the tasks that have bee
imported into Project where they are then leveled and massage
(dependencies removed, durations fine tuned, etc as necessary) to mode
a way to meet all known goals by their deadlines.

New multi-step, dependent tasks are imported into Project daily tha
are costed, prioritized and leveled. Work is being done throughout thi
process, sometimes ahead of requests being filed so sometimes tasks com
in that are already completed.

Here's where I run into my current Project challenges. I often fin
myself with tasks in Project that are already fully or partiall
finished ahead of the leveled schedule. When I mark them 100% complete
although the gantt bar gets filled showing 100% completion, the start
finish and duration of the task don’t change and the resource assigne
to the task remains booked into the following week on a task that i
already marked as done.

I thought I might be able to get around this by filling in “actua
duration” with the (smaller) number of actual days the task took, bu
that adjusts % complete instead of shortening the gantt bar (even whe
the initial duration is marked ‘estimated’).

I routinely get to the point where my Project is so far out of whac
with reality because resources are assigned to work that's alread
complete, I manage it by adjusting duration of completed tasks to 0
changing the project start date to today’s date and leveling to get
good forecast for what work remains. Unfortunately, apart from bein
hacky, this method undermines the ability to meaningfully track overal
% complete.

I'd really love to get my head around Project enough to be able to us
it to better manage this complex production process.

What *should* a typical status update involve? "% complete" obviously
but then also adjusting "Duration" for each task to correct for error
in the initial scheduling estimate? How then do you compare realit
against your initial estimates? Would that not more appropriately b
handled by adjusting "work"?

Thanks for any help or tips you can offer

 

[DavidC]

Hi,

The best way to handle updates to the schedule especially where actual start
and finish dates differ from planned, is to fill in the actual start date and
actual finsh date, not the actual duration.

Using the "update tasks" button complete the actual start and actual finish
dates. Project will calculate the actual duration and the whole schedule
will then be recalculated to reflect the status. This should also complete
the assignment of resources.

Hope this helps

Regards

DavidC

 

[Mike Glen]

Hi tdemelle,

Welcome to this Microsoft Project newsgroup

This simple answer is to not use %Complete when updating. Use Actual Start,
Actual Work and Remaining Work, thus letting Project calculate the
percentages. If you enter %Complete without and actual data, Project will
assume the original planned dates have been met.

FAQs, companion products and other useful Project information can be seen at
this web address: http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm

Hope this helps - please let us know how you get on

Mike Glen
MS Project MVP
See http://tinyurl.com/2xbhc for my free Project Tutorials

 

[tdemelle]

Thanks for the tips… I really appreciate the thoughtful replies! Th
level of support on this forum is remarkable!

I’m trying to enter status updates using your suggestions staying awa
from %complete but am still finding Project’s behavior a bit confusing.
I’m going into the Tracking table and have grouped together columns fo
Actual Start, Actual Work and Actual Work remaining. Here’s what I’
seeing as I try to update status:

When I enter the actual start date of a task, Project behaves a
expected by moving the work’s Gantt bar so that it begins at the actua
start date. So far so good!

When I adjust the ‘actual work’, the start date jumps five months int
the past! I am able to correct this to an extent by going back an
re-entering the actual start date. When I do this, however, the wor
that is complete moves where it should but the overall task bar get
split with the work remaining pushed to the very end of task list.
Re-leveling even with an appropriately high priority does not seem to b
able to rejoin the work to be done with the already completed portion o
its Gantt bar and the work to be completed remains stranded in th
distant future far beyond when the actual work is going to take place.

Hrm.

Here’s another one I’m curious about. It seems when a task has
predecessor its start date gets locked at the predecessor’s end dat
even if that puts the work to be done on the task entirely in the past.
I’d like to use predecessors to ensure tasks follow one another in
certain chronological order, but it’s not important that they follow on
immediately after the next (and in this case that presumption i
creating scheduling problems!) Is there a way to have successor task
lag when leveled in those types of situations without necessarily havin
to add a specific lag figure or manually delete the dependency

 

[Mike Glen]

You're welcome, tdemelle

I can't reproduce your problem. Do you have any tasks constrained?
View/Table/More Tables.../Constraint Dates. It is best to have only As
Soon As Possible, as that is, in effect, no constraint at all, thus leaving
Project to schedule with the maximum flexibility. Constraints can create
the sort of problems you are experiencing.

Mike Glen
MS Project MVP
See http://tinyurl.com/2xbhc for my free Project Tutorials

 

[Michael.Tarnowski]

I think I may be missing some critical concept when it comes to tracking
progress in Project.

I work in a very complex production environment with a high degree of
fluctuation in tasks. I've managed to get to the point where I have
thousands of tasks with durations, resource assignments and dependencies
in place that are automatically being updated by a tool that imports and
merges task data from a request and task tracking tool on a daily
basis.

Durations and priorities are added to all the tasks that have been
imported into Project where they are then leveled and massaged
(dependencies removed, durations fine tuned, etc as necessary) to model
a way to meet all known goals by their deadlines.

New multi-step, dependent tasks are imported into Project daily that
are costed, prioritized and leveled. Work is being done throughout this
process, sometimes ahead of requests being filed so sometimes tasks come
in that are already completed.

Here's where I run into my current Project challenges. I often find
myself with tasks in Project that are already fully or partially
finished ahead of the leveled schedule. When I mark them 100% complete,
although the gantt bar gets filled showing 100% completion, the start,
finish and duration of the task don’t change and the resource assigned
to the task remains booked into the following week on a task that is
already marked as done.

I thought I might be able to get around this by filling in “actual
duration” with the (smaller) number of actual days the task took, but
that adjusts % complete instead of shortening the gantt bar (even when
the initial duration is marked ‘estimated’).

I routinely get to the point where my Project is so far out of whack
with reality because resources are assigned to work that's already
complete, I manage it by adjusting duration of completed tasks to 0,
changing the project start date to today’s date and leveling to get a
good forecast for what work remains. Unfortunately, apart from being
hacky, this method undermines the ability to meaningfully track overall
% complete.

I'd really love to get my head around Project enough to be able to use
it to better manage this complex production process.

What *should* a typical status update involve? "% complete" obviously,
but then also adjusting "Duration" for each task to correct for errors
in the initial scheduling estimate? How then do you compare reality
against your initial estimates? Would that not more appropriately be
handled by adjusting "work"?

Thanks for any help or tips you can offer!

--
tdemelle
------------------------------------------------------------------------
tdemelle's Profile:http://forums.techarena.in/members/125604.htm
View this thread:http://forums.techarena.in/microsoft-project/1232594.htm

http://forums.techarena.in

Hi tdemelle,

an interesting post on this issue maybe "Tracking a schedule: best
practices":
http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.project/browse_thread...

Take care of possible line breaks in this URL
Cheers,
Michael

 

[Mike Glen]

Once again Michael, you are referring people to this same newsgroup. In
which community are you reading these postings? I would recommend a
newsgroup reader or a least use the microsoft site here:
http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...spx?dg=microsoft.public.project&lang=en&cr=US .
The google site is way behind.

Mike Glen
Project MVP
See http://tinyurl.com/2xbhc for my free Project Tutorials

I think I may be missing some critical concept when it comes to tracking
progress in Project.

I work in a very complex production environment with a high degree of
fluctuation in tasks. I've managed to get to the point where I have
thousands of tasks with durations, resource assignments and dependencies
in place that are automatically being updated by a tool that imports and
merges task data from a request and task tracking tool on a daily
basis.

Durations and priorities are added to all the tasks that have been
imported into Project where they are then leveled and massaged
(dependencies removed, durations fine tuned, etc as necessary) to model
a way to meet all known goals by their deadlines.

New multi-step, dependent tasks are imported into Project daily that
are costed, prioritized and leveled. Work is being done throughout this
process, sometimes ahead of requests being filed so sometimes tasks come
in that are already completed.

Here's where I run into my current Project challenges. I often find
myself with tasks in Project that are already fully or partially
finished ahead of the leveled schedule. When I mark them 100% complete,
although the gantt bar gets filled showing 100% completion, the start,
finish and duration of the task don’t change and the resource assigned
to the task remains booked into the following week on a task that is
already marked as done.

I thought I might be able to get around this by filling in “actual
duration” with the (smaller) number of actual days the task took, but
that adjusts % complete instead of shortening the gantt bar (even when
the initial duration is marked ‘estimated’).

I routinely get to the point where my Project is so far out of whack
with reality because resources are assigned to work that's already
complete, I manage it by adjusting duration of completed tasks to 0,
changing the project start date to today’s date and leveling to get a
good forecast for what work remains. Unfortunately, apart from being
hacky, this method undermines the ability to meaningfully track overall
% complete.

I'd really love to get my head around Project enough to be able to use
it to better manage this complex production process.

What *should* a typical status update involve? "% complete" obviously,
but then also adjusting "Duration" for each task to correct for errors
in the initial scheduling estimate? How then do you compare reality
against your initial estimates? Would that not more appropriately be
handled by adjusting "work"?

Thanks for any help or tips you can offer!

--
tdemelle
------------------------------------------------------------------------
tdemelle's Profile:http://forums.techarena.in/members/125604.htm
View this thread:http://forums.techarena.in/microsoft-project/1232594.htm

http://forums.techarena.in

Hi tdemelle,

an interesting post on this issue maybe "Tracking a schedule: best
practices":
http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.project/browse_thread...

Take care of possible line breaks in this URL
Cheers,
Michael

 

[Michael.Tarnowski]

Once again Michael, you are referring people to this same newsgroup. In
which community are you reading these postings? I would recommend a
newsgroup reader or a least use the microsoft site here:http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/default.mspx?dg=micro....
The google site is way behind.

Mike Glen
Project MVP
Seehttp://tinyurl.com/2xbhcfor my free Project Tutorials














Hi tdemelle,

an interesting post on this issue maybe "Tracking a schedule: best
practices":http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.project/browse_thread...

Take care of possible line breaks in this URL
Cheers,
Michael

Hi Mike,
sure I referre to this newsgroup since I found the mentioned thread
here ;-)
Whats the problem?
Michael

 

[Mike Glen]

Hi Michael,

It's not a problem, but why waste your time and the time of anyone reading
this newsgroup (microsoft.public.project) being referred to this newsgroup
(microsoft.public.project) that they are already reading? It just does not
make any sense!

Mike Glen
Project MVP
See http://tinyurl.com/2xbhc for my free Project Tutorials

Once again Michael, you are referring people to this same newsgroup. In
which community are you reading these postings? I would recommend a
newsgroup reader or a least use the microsoft site
here:http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/default.mspx?dg=micro....
The google site is way behind.

Mike Glen
Project MVP
Seehttp://tinyurl.com/2xbhcfor my free Project Tutorials


Snip

Hi tdemelle,

an interesting post on this issue maybe "Tracking a schedule: best
practices":http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.project/browse_thread...

Take care of possible line breaks in this URL
Cheers,
Michael

Hi Mike,
sure I referre to this newsgroup since I found the mentioned thread
here ;-)
Whats the problem?
Michael

 

[Rob Schneider]

I think the "problem" is that Michael is trying to point to a specific
thread (hence saving everyone time in hunting), but the fully URL for
that thread isn't actually getting published. For me the URL's are
clipped off. Why? dunno.

--rms

www.rmschneider.com

 

[Mike Glen]

OK, I give up!

Mike Glen
Project MVP
See http://tinyurl.com/2xbhc for my free Project Tutorials

 

[Hemmige S Prashanth]

Dear All,

Here is the link -

http://groups.google.com/group/micr...ule+"best+practices"&safe=on#97a7aa44c479ac0b

Thanks,
Prashanth