Insert a Split Between Actual Work and Remaining Work
Reschedule Uncompleted Work to Start on the Current Date
Assessing the Variance Between Actual Data and Baseline Data
Display Progress Lines in Your Project
View Baseline Fields
Compare Baseline Estimates to Actual Data
Determine If Tasks Are Starting and Finishing According to Plan
Determine If Tasks Cost More or Less Than Budgeted
Analyze Costs over Time with the Earned Value Table
Introduction
Where Does the Information Come From?
Which Information Should You Update?
Enter Actual Start and Finish Dates for a Task
Enter the Actual Duration of a Task
Indicate Progress on a Task as a Percentage
Update the Work Completed on a Task
Update Actual Work on a Daily Basis
Update Actual Costs for a Resource Assignment
Update Actual Costs on a Daily Basis
Update the Remaining Work on a Task
Insert a Split Between Actual Work and Remaining Work
Reschedule Uncompleted Work to Start on the Current Date
Assessing the Variance Between Actual Data and Baseline Data
Display Progress Lines in Your Project
View Baseline Fields
Compare Baseline Estimates to Actual Data
Determine If Tasks Are Starting and Finishing According to Plan
Determine If Tasks Cost More or Less Than Budgeted
Analyze Costs over Time with the Earned Value Table
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Chapter 18 - Tracking and Updating Your Schedule Introduction Where Does the Information Come From? Which Information Should You Update? Enter Actual Start and Finish Dates for a Task Enter the Actual Duration of a Task Indicate Progress on a Task as a Percentage Update the Work Completed on a Task Update Actual Work on a Daily Basis Update Actual Costs for a Resource Assignment Update Actual Costs on a Daily Basis Update the Remaining Work on a Task Insert a Split Between Actual Work and Remaining Work Reschedule Uncompleted Work to Start on the Current Date Assessing the Variance Between Actual Data and Baseline Data Display Progress Lines in Your Project View Baseline Fields Compare Baseline Estimates to Actual Data Determine If Tasks Are Starting and Finishing According to Plan Determine If Tasks Cost More or Less Than Budgeted Analyze Costs over Time with the Earned Value Table Microsoft Project 98 – Chapter 18 Page of Introduction Your project plan can help enormously as you organize and store project information If that were all you intended to with it, however, you’d gain only a fraction of the benefit of having a project plan You reap the full benefit of your plan by using it to track the progress of your project By tracking progress, you can: • Keep your project up to date with actual data • Compare baseline data to actual data to help you identify and solve problems as they occur • Produce status reports for management and project participants • Maintain historical data to help you plan future projects more accurately Although it’s easy to track progress with Microsoft Project, it does require diligence To make your project plan an effective and valuable tracking tool, you must update the plan regularly and consistently The best way to this is to update the plan at a set interval — every week, every two weeks, once a month — and stick to it You can track progress at varying levels of detail If you’re interested only in whether you’re meeting scheduled dates, you can choose to track just the start and finish dates of your tasks If you’re concerned about other aspects of the project, such as costs and use of resources, you can track the project in greater detail Effective tracking is a two-step process You periodically update your schedule to reflect the progress of the project You then compare your updated schedule to the baseline to determine how closely your progress matches your original plan When you compare the current schedule to the baseline plan on a regular basis, you can identify discrepancies between planned and actual progress to date These discrepancies are called variances Finding variances early allows you to adjust schedule problems before they become critical Where Does the Information Come From? The key to tracking progress is accurate data about each task, resource, and cost You need information such as each task’s completion percentage, remaining work, who did what and when, and task costs to date If the project is small, you can collect data on task progress yourself This enables you to verify the accuracy of the data as you collect it You’ll also have more control of when you get the information, because you don’t have to wait for others to send it to you For more complex projects, the individuals responsible for each task or area can report progress to you, relieving you of a time-consuming task Also, those closest to the work know best the status of the tasks they’re working on In a large project, you’ll probably have no choice but to get information from others On the other hand, each person has his or her own reporting style, adding an element of subjectivity — one person’s 50 percent complete is another person’s 40 percent complete You’ll need to spot-check incoming information for accuracy In addition, some people might not report status information to you when you want it, so there might be delays in receiving and incorporating up-to-date information The easier you can keep your methods of data collection, the more likely you are to get the information you need in a timely manner Keep your team’s status-reporting method as simple as the needs of the project allow Microsoft Project 98 – Chapter 18 Page of For more information about collecting project status information from team members, see Chapter 19, "Exchanging Project Information with Team Members and Others." Which Information Should You Update? After you create a schedule and establish a baseline, you can update the schedule as frequently as you want To update your schedule, you evaluate the status of each task and enter the appropriate information in the schedule You can track any information included in your baseline, either broadly or in detail, all within one view Just choose the information you want to update If you’re going to track progress at all, you should certainly begin by tracking the actual start and finish dates of each task By comparing actual start and finish dates with baseline start and finish dates, you can predict whether your project will finish on time When you track your project in detail, you gather information to monitor the progress of tasks, control costs, and plan for project personnel You can use this information to plan future projects more effectively To track the schedule at a detailed level, you can track some or all of the following project variables To track Enter data in this field Task start dates Actual Start Task finish dates Actual Finish Percentage of each task that is complete Percent Complete Task duration Actual Duration Task cost Actual Cost Work Actual Work Enter Actual Start and Finish Dates for a Task Tasks that start or finish late can throw an entire project off schedule by delaying related tasks Tasks that start or finish early can free resources to work on other tasks that are behind schedule Because actual task start and finish dates can have such a big impact on your project, they should be your number one tracking priority To enter actual start and finish dates for a task On the View Bar, click Gantt Chart In the Task Name field, select the task you want to update On the Tools menu, point to Tracking, and then click Update Tasks Under Actual, type the dates in the Start and Finish boxes If a number of tasks started and finished on time, you can set the actual start and actual finish information for all of those tasks at once To enter actual start and finish dates for several on-time tasks at once On the View Bar, click Gantt Chart In the Task Name field, select the tasks that started and finished on time On the Tools menu, point to Tracking, and then click Update Project Click Selected tasks Select nonadjacent tasks by holding down Ctrl while you select Enter the Actual Duration of a Task You track progress by entering the amount of time (the duration) you’ve worked on a task When you enter the actual duration of a task, Microsoft Project updates the actual start date, the percentage of the task that is complete, and the duration of the task remaining in the schedule If you use effort-driven scheduling, you should Microsoft Project 98 – Chapter 18 Page of not change the scheduled or actual duration of tasks Instead, adjust the amount of work for the resource or resource units If the actual duration of a task is greater than the scheduled duration, you should enter the actual amount of work for the task When you this, Microsoft Project changes the actual finish date and increases the task duration If you enter an actual duration instead of an actual amount of work, Microsoft Project updates the scheduled task duration to equal the actual task duration, changes the remaining task duration to zero, and marks the task as 100 percent complete To enter the actual duration of a task On the View Bar, click Gantt Chart In the Task Name field, select the task for which you want to enter the actual duration On the Tools menu, point to Tracking, and then click Update Tasks In the Actual dur box, enter the actual duration of the task If you think the task is going to be finished sooner or later than originally scheduled, you can enter a new value in the Remaining dur box Indicate Progress on a Task as a Percentage You can indicate how much progress has been made on a task by entering the percentage of the total task duration that has been completed For tasks that are relatively short in duration, it may not be worthwhile to track progress in such detail For tasks of an extended duration, however, indicating the percentage of the task that is complete helps you track actual progress against the baseline A task is zero percent complete when it has not yet been begun and is 100 percent complete when it is finished Microsoft Project calculates the percentage of a summary task that is complete based on the progress of its subtasks To indicate progress on a task as a percentage On the View Bar, click Gantt Chart In the Task Name field, select the task you want to update Click Task Information , and then click the General tab In the Percent complete box, type a whole number from to 100 By default, Microsoft Project indicates the percentage of the task that is complete as a thin, black line drawn horizontally through the middle of each task bar in the Gantt Chart view Update the Work Completed on a Task If you’re scheduling tasks based on the availability of resources, you should track the progress of your tasks by updating the work completed on a task Using this updating approach, you can track the work that each resource is performing When you update the actual work a resource has done on a task, Microsoft Project automatically calculates the work remaining by subtracting the actual work done by the resource from the total work the resource is scheduled to To update the work completed on a task On the View Bar, click Task Usage On the View menu, point to Table, and then click Tracking Drag the divider bar to the right to view the Act Work field In the Act Work field, type the updated work value and the duration abbreviation for the assigned resource under the task for which you want to update the actual work value If it makes no difference which resources assigned to a task perform the work, type a value for any combined work on the task in the Act Work field for that task Microsoft Project divides the actual and remaining work among the resources based on where they are on the task and the remaining work for each assignment Update Actual Work on a Daily Basis Microsoft Project 98 – Chapter 18 Page of Sometimes you need to follow actual work closely For example, you may have an especially tight deadline that you need to keep close track of To track actual work on a daily basis, you can use the timephased fields in the Resource Usage view Because you can enter information for a particular day in your schedule, timephased fields let you to keep your project up-to-date daily or weekly You can use a view with timephased fields much the same way you use a timesheet To update actual work on a daily basis On the View Bar, click Resource Usage On the View menu, point to Table, and then click Work On the Format menu, point to Details, and then click Actual Work To enter actual values for a resource, select the column for the day you want to track, and then type a value in the field of the resource To enter actual values for a task assignment, select the column for the day you want to track, and then type a value in the field of the task If you want to enter actual data for your project over time and keep track of your project from day to day, you can use the timephased actual work and actual cost fields on the Task Usage and Resource Usage views Update Actual Costs for a Resource Assignment Microsoft Project automatically updates actual costs as a task progresses based on the accrual method you set First, you must turn off the automatic updating of actual costs and then, if you want to enter your own actual cost for a resource assignment, you can so after the remaining work is zero To update actual costs for a resource assignment On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Calculation tab Clear the Actual costs are always calculated by Microsoft Project check box Click OK On the View Bar, click Task Usage On the View menu, point to Table, and then click Tracking Drag the divider bar to the right to view the Act Cost field In the Act Cost field, type the actual cost for the assignment for which you want to update costs Sometimes resource assignment costs include a per-use cost for items such as equipment costs, setup charges, delivery, or rental fees, in addition to a standard rate You can change the fixed amount charged to a resource each time it is assigned to a task by entering a new cost in the Cost/Use field for the resource whose per-use cost you want to change Update Actual Costs on a Daily Basis You can track actual costs on a daily basis by using Microsoft Project views that have timephased fields Views with timephased fields enable you to keep your project up-to-date daily or weekly, because you can enter information for a particular day in your schedule For example, you can enter how much a task has cost each day of its duration Microsoft Project automatically updates actual costs as a task progresses based on the accrual method you set First, you must turn off the automatic updating of actual costs and then, if you want to enter your own actual cost for a resource assignment, you can so after the remaining work is zero To update actual costs on a daily basis On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Calculation tab Clear the Actual costs are always calculated by Microsoft Project check box Click OK On the View Bar, click Task Usage On the View menu, point to Table, and then click Tracking On the Format menu, point to Details, and then click Actual Cost To enter actual values for a task, select the column for the day you want to track, and then type a value in the field of the task Microsoft Project 98 – Chapter 18 Page of To enter actual values for a resource assignment, select the column for the day you want to track, and then type a value in the field of the resource Update the Remaining Work on a Task As you track the progress of an individual task, you may realize that there’s more or less work remaining on a task than Microsoft Project has calculated That is, you know that the task is going to take more time or less time than planned For example, suppose you’ve entered an initial work estimate of 30 hours for a task After 20 hours of work have been performed on the task, you enter 20 hours of actual work Microsoft Project calculates the remaining work to be 10 hours You realize, however, that the task requires only more hours to be completed, not 10 hours You change the 10 hours of remaining work to hours, and then Microsoft Project recalculates the total work to be 25 hours (the actual work remains constant) To update the remaining work on a task On the View Bar, click Gantt Chart On the View menu, point to Table, and then click Work Drag the divider bar to the right to view the Remaining field In the Remaining field of the task you want to update, enter the remaining work value you want Microsoft Project recalculates the total work required to complete the task and displays the new total work value in the Work field Insert a Split Between Actual Work and Remaining Work Microsoft Project inserts an automatic split between the actual work and the remaining work on a task The split is invisible on the Gantt Chart, by default, because there is no gap between the actual work and remaining work If you have resources that are interrupting work on a task, and you need to reschedule the remaining work to a later date, you can create a gap between the actual work and remaining work on a task by moving the remaining portion of a task To insert a split between actual work and remaining work On the View Bar, click Gantt Chart In the chart portion of the view, position the pointer over the incomplete part of the task you want to split Drag the task bar to the right to split the task and have a portion of it start later Do not drag the finished portion of the task If you drag the finished portion of the task, you’ll move the entire task Reschedule Uncompleted Work to Start on the Current Date If you want to make sure there’s no work scheduled for dates that have already passed, you can reschedule uncompleted work to start on the current date for selected tasks or for the entire project This can be advantageous if your project has fallen behind schedule and you want your project to accurately reflect how much work still needs to be done to complete the project Rescheduling the remaining work may remove task constraints For example, if a task has a Must Finish On constraint, and rescheduling the remaining work for the task would move the finish date beyond the constraint date, Microsoft Project will reset the constraint to As Soon As Possible You should reschedule the remaining work manually if you have other task constraints you want to preserve For tasks that are partially complete, Microsoft Project automatically splits the task between the completed work and the remaining work Rescheduling the remaining work for a partially completed task may create a gap between the two portions of the task, which will appear on the Gantt Chart as a split task To reschedule uncompleted work to start on the current date On the View Bar, click Gantt Chart In the Task Name field, select the tasks you want to reschedule If you want to reschedule all remaining work in the project, not select any tasks On the Tools menu, point to Tracking, and then click Update Project Microsoft Project 98 – Chapter 18 Page of Click Reschedule uncompleted work to start, and then type the date from which you want to reschedule all remaining work To reschedule the entire project, click Entire project To reschedule only the selected tasks, click Selected tasks Assessing the Variance Between Actual Data and Baseline Data When you create a baseline plan and then update your schedule, you can compare the baseline plan to your actual progress to identify variances Variances alert you to areas of the project that are not going as planned Some variances you should look for when comparing your updated schedule to the baseline plan include: • Tasks that are not starting or finishing on time • Tasks that are not progressing at their expected rate • Tasks that require more or less work than scheduled As the project progresses, you can identify cost variances by comparing baseline costs to scheduled costs Scheduled costs reflect the latest cost picture for the project With this information you can make cost projections, which will help you catch potential cost overruns before they become critical Variances in your schedule can highlight good as well as bad news, depending on the type and severity of the variance A task starting or finishing ahead of schedule, for example, is normally good news (although it may indicate that your resources are not allocated efficiently) You can show variances by displaying progress lines, which visually represent the progress in your project When you find variances in your schedule, you have many choices for how you can adjust your schedule to accommodate the differences between your original estimates and the actual progress For example, armed with this knowledge you can: • Adjust task dependencies • Assign additional resource hours • Reassign resources • Delete or combine some tasks • Adjust your budget • Increase task duration estimates • Extend deadlines For more information about adjusting and refining your schedule, see chapters 10 through 13 in Part 3, "Making Your Schedule Lean and Mean." Display Progress Lines in Your Project If you want to create a visual representation of the progress of your project, you can display progress lines on your Gantt Chart Progress lines connect tasks that are in progress or should have started to a vertical line that represents the progress date Tasks that are completed or scheduled to start after the progress-line date aren’t connected to the progress line Connecting the progress line to an individual task is an elongated V lying on its side If the V points toward the right, the task is ahead of schedule If the V points toward the left, the task is behind schedule If the line is perfectly straight and vertical rather than looking like a V, the task is right on schedule The length of the V tells you how far ahead or behind a task is, relative to the date on which the progress line is set By viewing a progress line, you can quickly determine whether your project is ahead of or behind schedule Ask yourself, are there more right-facing V’s or more left-facing V’s? You can view more than one progress line at a time You this by inserting them manually or viewing them at set intervals automatically To display progress lines in your project On the View Bar, click Gantt Chart On the Tools menu, point to Tracking, and then click Progress Lines Click the Dates and Intervals tab Select the Always display current progress line check box Microsoft Project 98 – Chapter 18 Page of To show progress for the project status date, click At project status date To show progress for the current date, click At current date To show your progress relative to a baseline plan, click Baseline plan under Display progress lines in relation to View Baseline Fields When you set the baseline, Microsoft Project copies data from currently scheduled fields to baseline fields Your main tracking task is to compare the baseline data with actual, or current, data Before you so, however, you may want to display and review baseline data To view baseline fields On the View Bar, click Tracking Gantt On the View menu, point to Table, and then click More Tables In the Tables list, click Baseline, and then click Apply Compare Baseline Estimates to Actual Data The whole point of tracking progress is to compare your original, baseline estimates with actual data collected during the project By noting the differences, or variances, between baseline and actual data, you can judge how much your actual progress has deviated from the original plan Your evaluation of these variances will help you make the adjustments necessary to keep the project on course To compare baseline estimates to actual data On the View Bar, click Tracking Gantt On the View menu, point to Table, and then click Variance Determine If Tasks Are Starting and Finishing According to Plan To keep your project on schedule, you need to make sure that tasks start and finish on time as much as possible Of course, there will always be tasks that don’t start on time or take longer than expected It’s important to find tasks that vary from the baseline plan as soon as possible, so you can adjust task dependencies, reassign resources, or delete some tasks to meet your deadlines You need to have saved a baseline in order to have variance information To determine if tasks are starting and finishing according to plan On the View Bar, click Tracking Gantt On the View menu, point to Table, and then click Variance Drag the divider bar to the right to view the variance fields Determine If Tasks Cost More or Less Than Budgeted If you’re managing costs in your project, either by assigning fixed costs to tasks or by assigning wages to resources, you’re probably interested in tasks that are accruing more cost than budgeted By closely tracking your project costs, you can catch cost overruns early and adjust either your schedule or your budget accordingly After you enter costs for tasks and resources and assign resources to tasks, Microsoft Project calculates the cost of each resource’s work, the total cost for each task and resource, and the total project cost All of these costs are considered scheduled or projected costs Scheduled costs reflect the latest cost picture as the project progresses Microsoft Project also calculates remaining costs The remaining cost is the scheduled cost minus the actual cost To determine if tasks cost more or less than budgeted On the View Bar, click Gantt Chart On the View menu, point to Table, and then click Cost Microsoft Project 98 – Chapter 18 Page of Drag the divider bar to the right to view the Total Cost and Baseline fields Compare the values in the Total Cost and Baseline fields For the cost variance, look at the value in the Variance field Analyze Costs over Time with the Earned Value Table When you want to compare your expected progress with the actual progress to date for tasks that have resources assigned, you can use the Earned Value table The Earned Value table expresses the actual completion percentage of each task in terms of resource costs You can also use the Earned Value table to forecast whether the task will finish under budget or over budget based on the cost incurred while the task is in progress For example, if a task is 50 percent complete and the actual cost incurred to date is $200, you can see if $200 is more, less, or equal to 50 percent of the baseline (or budgeted) cost To analyze costs over time with the Earned Value table On the View Bar, click Gantt Chart On the View menu, point to Table, and then click More Tables In the Tables list, click Earned Value, and then click Apply Drag the divider bar to the right to view all of the earned value fields You can also view earned value data on a daily basis To view earned value data on a daily basis On the View Bar, click Task Usage On the Format menu, click Detail Styles, and then click the Usage Details tab In the Available fields list, hold down CTRL, click the fields you want to display, and then click Show Microsoft Project 98 – Chapter 18 Page of