Track and manage

1
Track and manage
2
Track and manage progress

• When you manage a project, you need to monitor
  the elements of the project triangle time,
  money, and scope. Adjusting one of these elements
  affects the other two. Events such as unexpected
  delays, cost overruns, and resource changes can
  cause problems in your schedule.
• If you keep your project information up to date,
  you can always see the latest status of the
  project. That way, you can identify problems
  early that might affect your project's success
  and use Microsoft Project to find solutions.
• The lessons in this section will show you how to
  track and manage work on your project. Click
  Begin lessons to get started.

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Lesson How do you track the actual progress on
tasks?

• Once you've set up your project and work has
  begun, you can keep track of actual start and
  finish dates, tasks' percentage of completion,
  and actual work. Tracking actuals shows you how
  changes affect other tasks and, ultimately, the
  project's finish date.
• When you've completed this lesson, you'll know
  how to enter actual task information and see its
  effects on the schedule.

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Check if tasks are progressing according to plan

• To keep your project on schedule, make sure that
  tasks start and finish on schedule. The Tracking
  Gantt view helps find trouble spots, tasks that
  vary from the baseline plan. You can then adjust
  task dependencies, reassign resources, or delete
  some tasks to meet your deadlines.
• The Tracking Gantt view pairs the current
  schedule with the original schedule for each
  task. When you've saved the project with a
  baseline, but before you've entered actual data
  on progress, the Tracking Gantt view shows tasks
  with the baseline bars and the scheduled or
  actual bars synchronized.
• As you enter actuals, the top bar may move to
  show a departure from plan. For example, if the
  start date of "Inventory artifacts" moves by two
  days and is over half complete at 55, the red
  scheduled bar extends two days beyond the lower
  baseline bar.

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How

• 1 On the View menu, click Tracking Gantt.
• 2 To view the variance fields, on the View menu,
  point to Table, and then click Variance.
• 3 If necessary, press TAB to see the variance
  fields.
• 4 On the View menu, point to Toolbars, and then
  click Tracking.
• 5 Update the progress of the tasks in your
  project.
• If the task has started as scheduled, click the
  task, and then click Update as Scheduled .
• If the task is not progressing as scheduled, in
  the next lessons you'll learn how to enter actual
  start and finish dates, enter the actual duration
  of the task, or update a task's progress as a
  percentage.

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Note

•    You must have saved a baseline in order to
  have variance information.

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Enter actual start and finish dates for a task

• Tasks that start or finish late can throw an
  entire project off schedule by delaying the start
  or finish dates of related tasks. Tasks that
  start or finish early can free resources to work
  on other tasks that are behind schedule.
  Microsoft Project uses the actual values you
  enter to reschedule the remaining portions of
  your project.

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How

• 1 On the View menu, click Gantt Chart.
• 2 On the View menu, point to Toolbars, and then
  click Tracking if it is not already selected.
• 3 In the Task Name field, select the tasks you
  want to update. To select nonadjacent tasks, hold
  down CTRL, and then click the tasks. To select
  adjacent tasks, hold down SHIFT, and then click
  the first and last task to update.
• 4 Click Update Tasks .
• 5 Under Actual, type or select a date in the
  Start or Finish box.
• If you enter a finish date, make sure that the
  task is 100 complete Microsoft Project will
  assume the date is correct and reschedule tasks
  accordingly.
• 6 Click OK.
• Note   Entering an actual start date or actual
  finish date for a task changes the corresponding
  scheduled date for that task. Baseline dates,
  however, are not affected.

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Enter the actual duration of a task

• If you know the number of days a task has been in
  progress and if it is progressing as planned, you
  can track progress by entering the duration that
  the resource has been working on the task.
• When you enter the actual duration of a task,
  Microsoft Project updates the actual start date,
  the task's percentage of completion, and the
  duration of the task remaining in the schedule.

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How

• 1 On the View menu, click Gantt Chart.
• 2 In the Task Name field, click the task for
  which you want to enter the actual duration.
• 3 On the Tools menu, point to Tracking, and then
  click Update Tasks.
• 4 In the Actual dur box, type the actual duration
  of the task.
• 5 Click OK.

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• Tip   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.
• Note   If you enter an actual duration longer
  than or equal to the scheduled duration, the task
  becomes 100 complete, and the scheduled duration
  then equals the actual duration.

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Update a task's progress as a percentage

• You can indicate how much progress has been made
  on a task by entering the percentage of the task
  duration that is complete. For relatively short
  tasks, it may not be worthwhile to track progress
  in such detail but for long tasks, indicating
  the percentage of completion for the task helps
  you track actual progress against the baseline
  plan.

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How

• 1 On the View menu, click Gantt Chart
• 2In the Task Name field, click the task for which
  you want to update progress.
• 3Click Task Information , and then click the
  General tab.
• 4In the Percent complete box, type a whole number
  between 0 and 100.
• 5Click OK.

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• Notes
• Microsoft Project calculates the summary task's
  percentage of completion based on the progress of
  its subtasks. You can also manually enter the
  summary task's percentage of completion, which
  Microsoft Project will use to calculate the
  percentage of completion for its subtasks.
• By default, Microsoft Project indicates the
  task's percentage of completion as a thin, black
  line drawn horizontally through the middle of
  each Gantt bar on the Gantt Chart.
• When you mark a task as 100 complete, Microsoft
  Project displays a check mark in the Indicators
  field.
• Tip  
• You can use the buttons on the Tracking toolbar
  to update progress on a task and to perform other
  tracking activities. To view the Tracking
  toolbar, point to Toolbars on the View menu, and
  then click Tracking.

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Update actual work by time period

• You can track actual work using the timephased
  fields in Microsoft Project. Tracking using the
  timephased fields helps you keep your project up
  to date periodically because you can enter
  information for a particular day in your
  schedule.
• 1 On the View menu, click Task Usage.
• 2 On the Format menu, point to Details, and then
  click Actual Work.
• 3 In the timephased portion of the view, in the
  Actual Work field, type the actual work of each
  assigned resource.

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Tips

• If it makes no difference which of the resources
  assigned to a task performs the work, in the
  Actual Work field for the task, type a value for
  the combined work done on the task by all the
  resources. Microsoft Project divides the actual
  and remaining work among the resources based on
  when they are scheduled on the task and the
  remaining work for each assignment.
• You can also type actual work for a week at a
  time. On the View menu, click Zoom, and click 1
  month to display the timescale in weekly
  increments. Then, type actual work for the week
  in the Actual Work field.

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See if tasks have more or less work than planned

• If you're managing resource assignments in your
  project, you need to make sure resources complete
  tasks in the time scheduled. If you've saved a
  baseline for your project, you can check the
  variance information.
• Variances in your schedule can be good as well as
  bad, depending on the type and severity of the
  variance. A task with less work than planned, for
  example, is usually good news but may indicate
  that your resources are not allocated efficiently.

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How

• 1 On the View menu, click Gantt Chart.
• 2 On the View menu, point to Table, and then
  click Work. If necessary, press TAB to view the
  Actual field.
• 3 Compare the values in the Work, Baseline, and
  Actual fields. The values in the Variance field
  show the difference between the work scheduled
  and the originally planned amount of work saved
  in the baseline.

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Compare actual task information to the baseline

• When you save 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 the areas of the project
  that are not going as planned.
• To keep your project on schedule, make sure that
  tasks start and finish on time as much as
  possible. Every project has variances, but it is
  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.

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How

• 1 On the View menu, click Tracking Gantt. The
  Tracking Gantt view shows task variances
  graphically, making it easier to see variances in
  your schedule.
• 2 On the View menu, point to Table, and then
  click Variance. If necessary, press TAB to view
  the variance fields.
• Note   You must update tasks' actual start and
  finish dates, actual work values, or actual
  durations before variances will appear. Microsoft
  Project calculates the other task information
  based on the information you enter.

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Track Work
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Enter the total actual work done by a resource

• If you schedule tasks based on the availability
  of resources, track the progress of your tasks by
  updating the work completed on a task. Using this
  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 do.

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How

• 1 On the View menu, click Task Usage.
• 2 On the View menu, point to Table, and then
  click Work. In the Task Name field, both task and
  resource names are listed. If necessary, press
  TAB to view the Actual field.
• 3 In the Actual field for each resource, type the
  updated work value and the duration abbreviation
  for the actual work of each assigned resource.
• Tip   If it makes no difference which resource
  assigned to a task performs the work, then type a
  value for the combined work done on the task by
  all the resources in the Actual field for the
  task. Microsoft Project divides the actual and
  remaining work among the resources based on when
  they are scheduled on the task and the remaining
  work for each assignment.

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Update a resource's actual work by time period

• You can track actual work for individual
  resources using the timephased fields in
  Microsoft Project. Tracking resources' actual
  work by using the timephased fields can help you
  keep your project up to date by time period
  because you can enter information for a
  particular day (or other time period) in your
  schedule.
• 1 On the View menu, click Resource Usage.
• 2 On the View menu, point to Table, and then
  click Work.
• 3 On the Format menu, point to Details, and then
  click Actual Work.
• 4 In the Act. Work field for the resource, type
  the actual work value.

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See the variance between a resource's planned and
actual work

• If you schedule tasks based on the availability
  of resources and you track actual work, you can
  analyze how much total work a resource is
  accomplishing by looking at the variance between
  the baseline work and actual work. You can also
  compare those figures to the baseline work and
  actual work over time to see how the resource's
  work is progressing in greater detail.

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How

• 1 On the View menu, click Resource Usage.
• 2 On the View menu, point to Table, and then
  click Work. If necessary, press TAB to view the
  Baseline and Actual fields.
• 3 Compare the values in the Baseline and Actual
  fields for each resource.
• 4 Make sure the Work and Act. Work fields are
  displayed in the the timescaled portion of the
  view. On the Format menu, point to Details, and
  then click Work if it's not already selected. On
  the Format menu, point to Details, and then click
  Actual Work, if it's not already selected, to
  display it as well.
• 5 In the timescale portion of the view, compare
  the Work and Act. Work fields for a daily summary
  of each resource's work.

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Track Cost
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Enter actual task costs manually

• Microsoft Project automatically updates actual
  costs as a task progresses based on the task's
  accrual method and the rates of the resources.
  But if you want to track actual costs separately
  from the actual work on a task, you can enter
  costs manually instead.
• To update costs manually you must first turn off
  the automatic updating of actual costs and then
  enter your own actual cost for an assignment
  after the remaining work is zero.

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How

• 1 On the Tools menu, click Options, and then
  click the Calculation tab.
• 2 Clear the Actual costs are always calculated by
  Microsoft Project check box.
• 3 Click OK.
• 4 On the View menu, click Task Usage.
• 5 On the View menu, point to Table, and then
  click Tracking.
• 6 If necessary, press TAB to view the Act. Cost
  field.
• 7 In the Act. Cost field, type the actual cost
  for the assignment whose costs you are updating.

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Tips

• You can set the fixed cost for a task to accrue
  at the beginning or the completion of a task or
  to be prorated for the length of the task. Click
  Gantt Chart on the View menu. On the View menu,
  point to Table, and then click Cost. In the Fixed
  Cost Accrual field, type or select the accrual
  method you want.
• In addition to a standard rate, sometimes
  assignment costs include a fixed amount charged
  for a resource each time the resource is assigned
  to a task, such as equipment costs, setup
  charges, delivery, or rental fees. You can enter
  this per-use cost by clicking Resource Sheet on
  the View menu, and then typing a new cost in the
  Cost/Use field for the resource whose per-use
  cost you want to change.

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Update actual costs by time period

• You can track actual costs using the timephased
  fields in Microsoft Project. Tracking actual
  costs using the timephased fields can help you
  keep your project up to date by time period
  because you can enter information for a
  particular day or other time period in your
  schedule.

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Balance Workload
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Find overallocated resources and their task
assignments

• People and equipment are overallocated when they
  are assigned more work than they can complete in
  their scheduled working hours. Before you can
  resolve overallocations, you must determine which
  resources are overallocated, when they are
  overallocated, and what tasks they are assigned
  to at those times. To resolve the problem, the
  people and equipment must be allocated
  differently or the task must be rescheduled to a
  time when the resource is available.

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How

• 1 On the View menu, click Resource Usage. The
  Resource Usage view shows the total hours the
  resource is working, the total hours the resource
  is working on each task, and the hours worked per
  time period on the timescale.
• Resources with no tasks yet assigned do not have
  tasks listed under their names.
• Tasks with no resources assigned are listed under
  Unassigned in the Resource Name field.
• 2 On the Project menu, point to Filtered for and
  then click Overallocated Resources. Any work
  resources that are overallocated are displayed
  and highlighted.

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Tips

• If you see number signs () in the timescale
  portion of the Resource Usage view, the columns
  in the timescale are not wide enough to display
  the information. To change the width of the
  columns, click Timescale on the Format menu, and
  then increase the value in the Size box.
• You can see how much of a resource's work is
  allocated to particular tasks and per time
  period. On the Format menu, click Detail Styles.
  Click the Usage Details tab and in the Available
  fields list, click Percent Allocation, and then
  click Show.

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Reduce a resource's work

• After you've assigned a resource to a task, you
  can change the total work values for the
  resource's work on the task or change work values
  for a specific time period when the resource
  works on the task. Tailoring work values this way
  can make your schedule more accurate at a finer
  level of detail.
• 1 On the View menu, click Task Usage. Resources
  are grouped under the tasks they are assigned to.
• 2 In the table (left) portion of the view, enter
  a new value in the Work field to change the total
  work value for an assignment.
• Tip  
• You can also use the Resource Usage view to see
  and edit work values for tasks grouped under the
  resources are assigned to them. On the View menu,
  click Resource Usage.
• Note   You can also change the individual work
  values (or hours) for the assigned resources on
  the timescale portion of the view.
•  

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Reassign work to another resource

• If you have tried to resolve a resource
  overallocation using other methods and the
  overallocation persists, it may be time to
  reassign the task to another resource with more
  time. This is an alternate method of manually
  leveling your schedule by reassigning work rather
  than delaying work.

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How

• 1 On the View menu, click Resource Usage.
• 2 On the Format menu, point to Details, and then
  click Overallocation.
• 3 Look at the timescale on the right and, for
  each highlighted overallocation, examine the
  availability of other resources on that day.
• 4 Click the ID field to select the entire row of
  the task you need to reassign.
• 5 Drag the task to the resource that you want to
  reassign it to.

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Delay a task

• A simple way to resolve a resource overallocation
  is to delay a task assigned to the resource until
  the resource has time to work on it. You can add
  delay to a task, check the effect on the
  resource's allocation, and then adjust the delay
  further if necessary.
• Delaying a task also delays the start dates of
  its successors and can affect the finish date of
  your schedule. To avoid this, delay tasks with
  free slack first (noncritical tasks) and only
  delay them up to the amount of slack that is
  available for each task. Experiment with adding
  delay to different tasks to see the effect on
  your schedule.

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How

• 1 On the View menu, click More Views.
• 2 In the Views list, click Resource Allocation,
  and then click Apply.
• In the timephased portion on the top right,
  overallocation for a resource is displayed in
  red.
• In the bar chart below, slack for tasks to which
  the resource is assigned appears graphically as a
  thin slack bar adjoining the regular Gantt bar.
• 3 In the Resource Name field in the top left
  portion of the view, click the resource name for
  the overallocated resource with a task you want
  to delay.
• 4 In the Leveling Delay field (bottom left
  portion of the view) for the task you want to
  delay, type the amount of time that you want the
  task to be delayed. To ensure that successor
  tasks are not affected, do not enter more lag
  than the amount of free slack for that task.
• 5 To return to a single view, on the Window menu,
  click Remove Split.

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Change a resource's working days and hours

• The project calendar designates the default work
  schedule for the project, but you can create a
  resource calendar to indicate work hours,
  vacations, leaves of absence, and sick time for
  individual resources.

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How

• 1 On the Tools menu, click Change Working Time.
• 2 In the For box, click the resource whose
  calendar you want to change.
• 3 On the calendar, select the days you want to
  change. To change a day of the week for the
  entire calendar, select the day at the top of the
  calendar.
• 4 Click Use default, Nonworking time, or
  Nondefault working time.
• 5 If you clicked Nondefault working time in step
  4, type the times you want work to start in the
  From boxes and the times you want work to end in
  the To boxes.
• 6 Click OK.

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How

• 1 Microsoft Project automatically updates actual
  costs as a task progresses based on the accrual
  method you set. You must first turn off the
  automatic updating of actual costs to edit actual
  costs. On the Tools menu, click Options, and then
  click the Calculation tab.
• 2 Clear the Actual costs are always calculated by
  Microsoft Project check box.
• 3 Click OK.
• 4 On the View menu, click Task Usage.
• 5 On the View menu, point to Table, and then
  click Cost.
• 6 On the Format menu, point to Details, and then
  click Cost.
• 7 On the Format menu, point to Details, and then
  click Actual Cost.
• 8 To enter actual cost values for a task, select
  a day or other time period in the timescale
  portion of the view, and then type a value into
  the Act. cost field for the task.
• To enter actual values for a resource, select a
  day or other time period in the timescale portion
  of the view, and then type a value into the Act.
  cost field for the resource.

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Tip 

•   You can enter actuals in other time increments,
  such as weeks. On the View menu, click Zoom, and
  click the increment you want.

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See if tasks cost more or less than budgeted

• If you assign fixed costs to tasks or specify
  wages for resources, you may want to see tasks
  that cost more than budgeted. By creating a
  budget using a baseline plan and closely tracking
  your project costs, you can catch cost overruns
  early and adjust either your schedule or your
  budget accordingly.
• Microsoft Project calculates the cost of each
  resource's work, the total cost for each task and
  resource, and the total project cost. These costs
  are considered scheduled or projected costs,
  which reflect the latest cost picture as the
  project progresses.

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How

• 1 On the View menu, click Gantt Chart.
• 2 On the View menu, point to Table, and then
  click Cost. If necessary, press TAB to view the
  Total Cost and Baseline fields.
• 3 Compare the values in the Total Cost and
  Baseline fields. For the cost variance, look at
  the value in the Variance field.

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Tips

• To see the total cost, baseline, and variance
  information for the entire project, you can
  display the project summary task. On the Tools
  menu, click Options, and then click the View tab.
  Under Outline options, select the Project summary
  task check box, and then click OK.
• You can view the resources assigned to a task and
  the resource costs related to that task. On the
  View menu, click Task Usage. On the View menu,
  point to Table, and then click Cost. Drag the
  divider bar to the right and compare the values
  in the Total Cost, Baseline, Actual, and
  Remaining fields for the resources assigned to
  that task.

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See the total project costs

• You can view your project's current, baseline,
  actual, and remaining costs to see whether you're
  staying within your budget. These costs are
  updated each time Microsoft Project recalculates
  your project.
• 1On the Project menu, click Project
  Information.2Click Statistics. The current,
  baseline, actual, and remaining costs are
  displayed in the Costs column.

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Analyze costs with the Earned Value table

• When you want to compare your expected progress
  with the actual progress to date, you can use the
  Earned Value table. It compares, in terms of
  costs, each task's baseline schedule with the
  actual schedule.
• You can also use the Earned Value table to
  forecast whether the task will finish under or
  over budget based on the cost incurred while the
  task is in progress. For example, if a task is
  50 complete and the actual cost incurred to date
  is 200, you can see if 200 is more than, less
  than, or equal to 50 of the baseline (or
  budgeted) cost. The VAC field displays the
  variance at completion between baseline cost and
  scheduled cost for a task.

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How

• 1 On the View menu, click Gantt Chart.
• 2 On the View menu, point to Table, and then
  click More Tables.
• 3 In the Tables list, click Earned Value, and
  then click Apply.
• 4 Drag the divider bar to the right to display
  all of the Earned Value table fields. The values
  are calculated based on the actual work and costs
  up through and including the current date. To
  change the calculation date, on the Project menu,
  click Project Information. In the Status date
  box, type the date you want to use, and then
  click OK.

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Tips

• Move the mouse pointer over a field name to get a
  description of the field for example, position
  the pointer over the VAC field and click Help on
  VAC for a description of the field.
• In the Task Usage view, you can view earned value
  data over time periods such as daily, weekly,
  monthly, quarterly, or yearly. On the Format
  menu, click Detail Styles, and then click the
  Usage Details tab. In the Available fields list,
  hold down CTRL, click the earned value fields you
  want to display (such as ACWP, BCWP, CV, or SV),
  and then click Show. Double-click the timescale
  to change the time periods that you see.
• To see cost variances for the entire project, you
  can display the project summary task. On the
  Tools menu, click Options. Click the View tab and
  under Outline options, select the Project summary
  task check box.