PS2007 - Project Status indicators

[Donna]

Hi -

Does anyone have a formula or a way to just use 1 section of a project
schedule to feed the status indicator that would be displayed in Project
Center.

We've currently got a method in place for ontime/late/overdue - but it looks
at the full schedule.

The project leads in my company - just want to use a milestone section to
indicate status of a project vs the full detailed section.

We want to use fixed work to get this time and drive schedule progress, but
we've been at this for 1 year now and still struggling. Schedules get out of
whack all the time when people actually enter My Tasks work and the Project
center indicators don't reflect reality. Our projects are complex and we
add/remove people, do tasks out of order and change project direction/scope
all the time. This is driving a bit of extra chaos and resistance -- as the
rigid structure of the tool works against the value proposition of the data
that we need to collect. The Project leads are not full time MS Project
experts and we can't affort to just hire project admins. Also -- for now -
they rebelled against Timesheets + My Tasks - seemed to just be duplicate
work for everyone.....

If I could come up with a way for the status indicator to just look at one
section - I would be moving in the right direction.

Thanks for any suggestions....

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Donna --

Given your current level of chaos and resistance, instead of using a field
with a formula, why don't you use a field with a Lookup Table instead? And
then set up a process by which each PM would need to specify a value in this
field after every reporting period? The value the PM selects would be
his/her "best guess" as to the schedule status of the project, or whatever
status you are trying to capture. In the field, you can use Graphical
Indicators that will show up in the Project Center. I worked with a client
years ago who used this process, and it worked for them. Hope this helps.

 

[Donna]

Dale -
I don't think that is a good idea. We've got lots of schedules.

Feature levels -> which then get inserted into Engineering levels -> which
then get inserted into Cross Functional Levels

I might get my PM team to do this on CFT level schedules - but no way will I
get 100+ Project & Feature leads to comply. They can't even remember to flip
some custom fields for doc status - FSD/DSD and lifecycle which happen
infrequent.

I need a way to automate - not add extra steps. I am already getting killed
on the publish front and just getting them to do that so that we can use the
tool vs an external word document to hold a status meeting.

Got anything else up your sleeve??

 

[Gaurav Wason]

Donna,

We actually did something similar for our company. We had to use very
complex calculations and multiple fields to rollup the information (You sill
have to specify the range some how either by macro or by field to use a
section). If you can post the status indicator formula. I can give you some
recommendations.
--
Gaurav Wason
(e-mail address removed), MCP - Project Server
Project Made Easy (Project Server Archive Tool) and (Project Owner Tool)
http://projectmadeeasy.com

 

[Donna]

Hi Gaurav

Our current project level status indicator formula - I think is pretty canned.

I created a task level custom field to help us differeniate between time
tracking vs Progress tracking.

Any help is truly appreciated.

Switch([% Complete]=100,"Complete",(([% Complete]<100) And
([Finish]<Date())),"Overdue",(([Baseline Start]=ProjDateValue("NA")) Or
([Baseline Finish]=ProjDateValue("NA"))),"No BL",[Finish Variance]<=0,"On
Schedule",[Finish Variance]<=(ProjDateDiff([Project Start],[Project
Finish])*0.1),"Late",[Finish Variance]>(ProjDateDiff([Project Start],[Project
Finish])*0.1),"> 10% Late")

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Donna --

Guarav has given you some ideas from the technical end. The one thing we
cannot fix for you, however, is your people and process issue. The greatest
challenge in implementing Project Server 2007 is people, and the processes
by which people use the tool. The high level of resistance you are facing
reveals that your organization probably did not address the people and
process issues before you attempted to roll out this tool. Just my two
cents' worth. Hope this helps.

 

[Donna]

Dale -
Preaching to the choir
But - the tool doesn't exactly do everything nice and neat as advertised
either.

We are finally just getting the infrastructure update rolled out - took 3+
months with MS support and in the end - we would up just having to do a
complete new build of our development environment server infrastructure.
First they told us we installed spanish language packs (which we didn't) -
last week they claimed it was arabic. I have to laugh some of this stuff off
- only way to keep sane.

Appreciate the support!

 

[Gaurav Wason]

Donna,

Do you want to Roll-up just one milestone information or multiple? Example
if this milestone is delayed then project is delayed....

Let me know.

--
Gaurav Wason
(e-mail address removed), MCP - Project Server
Project Made Easy (Project Server Archive Tool) and (Project Owner Tool)
http://projectmadeeasy.com

Hi Gaurav

Our current project level status indicator formula - I think is pretty canned.

I created a task level custom field to help us differeniate between time
tracking vs Progress tracking.

Any help is truly appreciated.

Switch([% Complete]=100,"Complete",(([% Complete]<100) And
([Finish]<Date())),"Overdue",(([Baseline Start]=ProjDateValue("NA")) Or
([Baseline Finish]=ProjDateValue("NA"))),"No BL",[Finish Variance]<=0,"On
Schedule",[Finish Variance]<=(ProjDateDiff([Project Start],[Project
Finish])*0.1),"Late",[Finish Variance]>(ProjDateDiff([Project Start],[Project
Finish])*0.1),"> 10% Late")

Donna,

We actually did something similar for our company. We had to use very
complex calculations and multiple fields to rollup the information (You sill
have to specify the range some how either by macro or by field to use a
section). If you can post the status indicator formula. I can give you some
recommendations.
--
Gaurav Wason
(e-mail address removed), MCP - Project Server
Project Made Easy (Project Server Archive Tool) and (Project Owner Tool)
http://projectmadeeasy.com

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Donna --

You are more than welcome for the support. I'm sorry your Project Server
2007 implementation has run as smoothly as you had hoped. I agree that
laughing is sometimes the only way to maintain one's sanity!

 

[Donna]

Gaurav -

Sorry for my delay -

We would want multiple milestones to determine project delayed.
The task level indicator work for each task

I need an exec view for overall project.

Donna,

Do you want to Roll-up just one milestone information or multiple? Example
if this milestone is delayed then project is delayed....

Let me know.

--
Gaurav Wason
(e-mail address removed), MCP - Project Server
Project Made Easy (Project Server Archive Tool) and (Project Owner Tool)
http://projectmadeeasy.com

Hi Gaurav

Our current project level status indicator formula - I think is pretty canned.

I created a task level custom field to help us differeniate between time
tracking vs Progress tracking.

Any help is truly appreciated.

Switch([% Complete]=100,"Complete",(([% Complete]<100) And
([Finish]<Date())),"Overdue",(([Baseline Start]=ProjDateValue("NA")) Or
([Baseline Finish]=ProjDateValue("NA"))),"No BL",[Finish Variance]<=0,"On
Schedule",[Finish Variance]<=(ProjDateDiff([Project Start],[Project
Finish])*0.1),"Late",[Finish Variance]>(ProjDateDiff([Project Start],[Project
Finish])*0.1),"> 10% Late")

Donna,

We actually did something similar for our company. We had to use very
complex calculations and multiple fields to rollup the information (You sill
have to specify the range some how either by macro or by field to use a
section). If you can post the status indicator formula. I can give you some
recommendations.
--
Gaurav Wason
(e-mail address removed), MCP - Project Server
Project Made Easy (Project Server Archive Tool) and (Project Owner Tool)
http://projectmadeeasy.com



:

Dale -
I don't think that is a good idea. We've got lots of schedules.

Feature levels -> which then get inserted into Engineering levels -> which
then get inserted into Cross Functional Levels

I might get my PM team to do this on CFT level schedules - but no way will I
get 100+ Project & Feature leads to comply. They can't even remember to flip
some custom fields for doc status - FSD/DSD and lifecycle which happen
infrequent.

I need a way to automate - not add extra steps. I am already getting killed
on the publish front and just getting them to do that so that we can use the
tool vs an external word document to hold a status meeting.

Got anything else up your sleeve??

:

Donna --

Given your current level of chaos and resistance, instead of using a field
with a formula, why don't you use a field with a Lookup Table instead? And
then set up a process by which each PM would need to specify a value in this
field after every reporting period? The value the PM selects would be
his/her "best guess" as to the schedule status of the project, or whatever
status you are trying to capture. In the field, you can use Graphical
Indicators that will show up in the Project Center. I worked with a client
years ago who used this process, and it worked for them. Hope this helps.




Hi -

Does anyone have a formula or a way to just use 1 section of a project
schedule to feed the status indicator that would be displayed in Project
Center.

We've currently got a method in place for ontime/late/overdue - but it
looks
at the full schedule.

The project leads in my company - just want to use a milestone section to
indicate status of a project vs the full detailed section.

We want to use fixed work to get this time and drive schedule progress,
but
we've been at this for 1 year now and still struggling. Schedules get out
of
whack all the time when people actually enter My Tasks work and the
Project
center indicators don't reflect reality. Our projects are complex and we
add/remove people, do tasks out of order and change project
direction/scope
all the time. This is driving a bit of extra chaos and resistance -- as
the
rigid structure of the tool works against the value proposition of the
data
that we need to collect. The Project leads are not full time MS Project
experts and we can't affort to just hire project admins. Also -- for now -
they rebelled against Timesheets + My Tasks - seemed to just be duplicate
work for everyone.....

If I could come up with a way for the status indicator to just look at one
section - I would be moving in the right direction.

Thanks for any suggestions....