Visual Earned Value Over Time Report

[JAWs]

I still can't make this feature work. I have SP1, and my Vista and
Office suite is up to date as of yesterday. I created a little
four-task project to help me understand this feature. I created a
resource pool, assigned resources to the tasks, then baselined the
project. I then simulated status sessions, changing current and
status dates and updating progress as if were a real project.

The data looks fine on the tabular reports, but the Visual Earned
Value Over Time Report shows EV and PV to be declining straight lines,
and AC at zero.

Any advice? As an alternative, would anyone who has had success with
this feature be willing to try this report with my file and let me
know if it works in your environment? I need to know if its my system
setup or something I'm doing wrong in the spreadsheet that's causing
the problem.

Thanks,

Jim Williams, PMP
Norfolk, VA

 

[Jim Aksel]

Try this first. Make sure your resources have costs associated with them
($1/hr is fine). Save a baseline.

When you do the visual report, I usually set the status date for "real" and
take status. When I go to the visual report, I change the status date to the
last day of the program since Project seems to have the feature of not
documenting PV past the status date.

Give it a try. If that doesn't work I am happy to help. try jeaksel (at)
yahoo dot com.
--
If this post was helpful, please consider rating it.

Jim

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

 

[JAWs]

Jim A - Just following up to make sure you got the test file I sent
you via email. I had already done the things you suggested without
effect. Nice Blog, by the way.

Jim Williams, PMP
Norfolk, VA

 

[JAWs]

It looks like I didn't explain my problem adequately. The problem I'm
having isn't with Microsoft Project's EV calculations nor Project's
legacy reporting functions. I'm having problems with the new Visual
Report feature. In my test project, Microsoft Project correctly
reports the PV, EV and AC to be $924.

When I select Report-Visual Reports-Earned Value Over Time Report,
Project exports incorrect numbers (EV=$1640, AC=$0, and no PV at all)
to Excel. The Excel PivotChart shows the EV and PV lines decreasing
over time from $1690 to $0, with the AC line at constant zero. Of
course EV and PV are cumulative and should therefore never decline.
What I'm trying to figure out is whether the Visual Report function of
Earned Value Over Time Report looks proper on someone else's setup,
using my project file.

Has anyone actually used this feature and gotten an S-curve? Would
anyone be willing to provide me with a file that actually works, so I
can see if it is my project file or my copy of the application that is
bad?

Jim Williams, PMP
Norfolk, VA