SOFTWARE PROJECT MANAGEMENT

LAB # 09

Course Instructor: Dr. Muhammad Nadeem Majeed

Lab instructor: Engr. Nazia Bibi
 LAB 09
TRACKING PROJECT PROGRESS

MS Project supports several ways to track progress. Your choice of a

tracking method should depend on the level of detail or control required by
you, your project sponsor, and other stakeholders. Tracking the fine details of
a project requires additional work from you and, possibly, from the resources
working on the project. Therefore, before you begin tracking progress, you
should determine the level of detail you need.
The different levels of tracking detail include the following:

 Record project work as scheduled.This level works best if everything

in the project occurs exactly as planned.
 Record each task’s percentage of completion, either at precise values
or at preset increments such as 25, 50, 75, or 100 percent.
 Record the actual start date, actual finish date, actual work, and actual
and remaining duration for each task or assignment
 Track assignment-level work by time period. This is the most detailed
level of tracking. Here, you record actual work values per day, week,
or other interval.

1- Saving a baseline of your plan

After developing a plan, one of your most important activities as a project

manager is to record actuals and evaluate project performance. As you record
actuals or update your plan, the original plan will likely change. This makes
it difficult to keep track of the plan in its original state.
To judge project performance properly, you’ll find it helpful to compare the
performance with your original plan. This original plan is called the baseline
plan, or just the baseline.
BASELINE:

A baseline is a collection of important schedule, cost, and work values,

including some values distributed over time (called timephased values).

The scenario: At Lucerne Publishing, the new book launch plan is now
fully developed. Actual work on the project will soon begin. To allow a
later comparison of actual work and the current schedule with the
original plan, you will first save a baseline.

EXERCISE:
In this exercise, you save the current state of a schedule as a baseline and
then view the baseline task values.

1 On the Project tab, in the Schedule group, click Set Baseline, and then
click Set Baseline.
The Set Baseline dialog box appears.

You’ll set the baseline for the entire plan by using the default settings
of the dialog box .
2 Click OK .
 Project saves the baseline, even though there’s no indication in the
Gantt chart view that anything has changed. You will now see some of
the changes caused by saving the baseline.
3 On the Task tab, in the View group click the down arrow below Gantt
chart, and then click Task Sheet.
The Task Sheet view appears. Because this is a tabular view, it does not
include the Gantt chart, so more room is available to see the fields in the
Entry table.
Now you’ll switch to the Variance table in the Task Sheet view. The
Variance table is one of several predefined tables that include baseline
values.
4 On the View tab, in the Data group, click Tables.
In the listed tables, note the check mark next to Entry. This means that
the Entry table is currently displayed in the Task Sheet view. You’ll
switch to another table next.
5 Click Variance.
The Variance table appears. This table includes both the scheduled and
baseline start and finish columns, shown side by side for easy
comparison.

Select All button

Because no actual work has occurred yet and no changes to the

scheduled work have been made, the values in the Start and Baseline
 Start fields are identical, as are the values in the Finish and Baseline
Finish fields.
After actual work is recorded or later schedule adjustments are made,
the scheduled start and finish values might differ from the baseline
values. You would then see the differences displayed in the variance
columns.
6 On the View tab, in the Task Views group, click Gantt chart.

2-Tracking a plan as scheduled through a specific date

The simplest approach to tracking progress is to report that the actual work is
proceeding exactly as planned. For example, if the first week of a five-week
project has elapsed and all its tasks have started and finished as scheduled,
you can quickly record this in the Update Project dialog box.
When you record progress through a specific date, Project calculates the
actual duration, the remaining duration, actual costs, and other values up to
the date you entered. This approach might be fine even if the actual work and
cost values generated by Project won’t exactly match what happened in the
real world, but are close enough for your schedule tracking purposes. This is
a judgment call that you as a project manager (in consultation with your
project sponsors and other stakeholders) can consider.

The scenario: At Lucerne Publishing, some time has passed since saving
the baseline in the new book launch plan. Work has been completed
through the first week and a half, as planned. You need to account for
the completed work in the plan.

EXERCISE:
In this exercise, you track the plan as scheduled through a specific date,
resulting in Project recording project actuals.

1 On the Project tab, in the Status group, click Update Project.

The Update Project dialog box appears.
2 Make sure the Update work as complete through option is selected. In
the adjacent date box, type or select 3/14/19.

3 Click OK.

Project records the completion percentage for the tasks that were scheduled
to start before March 14. It displays that progress by drawing progress
bars in the Gantt bars for those tasks.

Check marks appear in the Indicators

column for tasks that have been completed.

Progress bars indicate the portion

Of each task that has been completed.

 In the chart portion of the Gantt chart view, the progress bar shows how
much of each task has been completed.
Because tasks 2, 3, and 4 have been completed, a check mark appears in
the Indicators column for those tasks, and the progress bars extend
through the full length of those tasks’ Gantt bars. Task 5 is only
partially completed, however.
3-Entering a task’s completion percentage

After work begins on a task, you can quickly record its progress as a
percentage. When you enter a completion percentage greater than 0, Project
sets the task’s actual start date to match its scheduled start date. Project then
calculates the actual duration, the remaining duration, actual costs, and other
values based on the percentage you enter.
For example, if you specify that a four-day task is 25 percent complete,
Project calculates that it has had one day of actual duration and three days of
remaining duration.
Here are some ways of entering completion percentages:

 Use the 0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% Complete buttons in the Schedule
group of the Task tab.

 Add the percent complete column (labeled % Complete in the interface) to a

table in a task view, and enter the value you want.

 Enter any percentage value you want in the Update Tasks dialog box. (To
access this dialog box, on the Task tab, in the Schedule group, click the down
arrow to the right of Mark on Track, and then click Update Tasks).

 Use the mouse to set progress on Gantt bars.

 The scenario: At Lucerne Publishing, work continues on the new book
launch. You have additional progress to record in the plan as percent
complete values.
Exercise
In this exercise, you record completion percentages of some tasks.

1 In the Task Name column, select the name of task 5, Design and order
marketing material.
This task has some progress reported against it from the previous
exercise, but it has not yet been set as complete.
2 On the Task tab, in the Schedule group, click 100% Complete .
Project records the actual work for the task as scheduled and extends a
progress bar through the length of the Gantt bar.

Next you’ll record that the completion milestone for the Planning Phase
and the first task of the Internal Launch Phase are complete .
3 In the Task Name column, select the name of task 6, Planning
complete!, and while holding down the Ctrl key, select the name of task
8, Kickoff book launch meeting .
4 On the Task tab, in the Schedule group, click 100% Complete .
 Because task 6 is a milestone task with no duration, there is no change
in appearance of its symbol in the chart portion of the Gantt Chart view
as there is for task 8 . You do, however, see the completion check marks
for both tasks in the Indicators column .

Next, you’ll get a better look at how progress is displayed in a task’s

Gantt bar.You will enter a completion percentage value for a different
task.
5 Click the name of task 9, Prepare book P&L statement .
6 On the Task tab, in the Schedule group, click 50% Complete .

Project records the actual work for the task as scheduled and then draws
a progress bar through part of the Gantt bar .
 Note that although 50% of the work on task 9 is completed, the progress
bar does not span 50% of the width of the Gantt bar.
This is because Project measures duration in working time but draws the
Gantt bars to extend over nonworking time, which in this case includes
April 22, the nonworking day.
7 In the chart portion (on the right) in the Gantt Chart view, hold the
mouse pointer over the progress bar in task 9’s Gantt bar. When the
mouse pointer changes to a percent symbol and right arrow, a Progress
ScreenTip appears.

Depending on the type of bar or symbol you point

to—in this case, the progress bar—a ScreenTip pops up,
providing information about that item.

The mouse pointer changes to a percent symbol

and arrow when pointing to a progress bar .

The Progress ScreenTip informs you of the task’s completion percentage

and other tracking values.
So far, you have recorded actual work that started and finished on
schedule. Although staying on schedule might prove true for some tasks,
you often need to record actuals for tasks that lasted longer or shorter than
planned, or occurred sooner or later than scheduled. This is the subject of
the next topic.
4-Entering actual values for tasks

A more detailed way to keep your schedule up to date is to record what

actually happened for each task in your project. You can record each task’s
actual start, finish, work, and duration values .
For example, when you enter 3 days of actual duration on a task with 5 days
of scheduled duration and 40 hours of work, Project calculates the actual
work to be 24 hours, the percent complete to be 60%, and the remaining
duration to be 2 days .

When you enter various actual values, Project uses the following rules to
update the plan:
a. When you enter a task’s actual start date, Project moves the
scheduled start date to match the actual start date .
b. when you enter a task’s actual finish date, Project moves the
scheduled finish date to match the actual finish date and sets the task
to 100% complete.
c. When you enter a task’s actual work value, Project recalculates the
task’s remaining work value, if any .
d. when you enter a task’s actual duration, if it is less than the scheduled
duration, Project subtracts the actual duration from the scheduled
duration to determine the remaining duration.
e. When you enter a task’s actual duration, if it is equal to the scheduled
duration, Project sets the task to 100% complete .
f. When you enter a task’s actual duration, if it is longer than the
scheduled duration, Project adjusts the scheduled duration to match
the actual duration and sets the task to 100% complete .
Because your plan is updated with actuals, your plan as scheduled will likely
change . The original plan as saved in a baseline is not altered, however .
The scenario: At Lucerne Publishing, a few more days have passed and
work on the new book launch has progressed. Resources performing the
work have given you actual progress that differs somewhat from the
plan, and you want to record these actuals and observe the effect on the
overall plan.
Exercise:
In this exercise, you record actual work values for some tasks, as well as
actual start dates and durations for other tasks.

1 On the View tab, in the Data group, click Tables and then click
Work.
The Work table appears.
2 If needed, drag the vertical divider bar to the right to expose the last
column in the Work table, %W. Comp (% Work Complete).

3 This table includes both the total scheduled work (labeled Work) and
Actual and Remaining work columns . You’ll refer to the values in
these columns as you update tasks.

In the chart portion of the Gantt Chart view, you can see that task 9 is
partially complete. In the Work table, note the actual work value of 8
hours.This 8 hours is the result of setting the task at 50% complete in the
previous exercise .
The task had 16 hours of work total, so 50% complete equals 8 hours of
actual work completed and 8 hours remaining . You want to record that the
task is now complete but required more actual work than expected .
4 In the Actual field for task 9, Prepare book P&L statement, type or
select 24, and then press Enter .
Project records that 24 hours of work have been completed on task 9 .
Because 24 hours is greater than the originally scheduled 16 hours
(visible in the tasks’ baseline field), Project marks the task as completed
and extends the Gantt bar of the task to indicate its longer duration .
 Actual work is rolled up from the
subtask to the summary tasks.

To conclude this exercise, you will enter actual start dates and durations
of other tasks in the Internal Launch Phase .
5 In the Task Name column, click task 10, Plan author’s travel
itinerary.

This task started one working day ahead of schedule (the Tuesday
before its scheduled start date) and took a total of seven days to
complete . You will record this information in the Update Tasks dialog
box .
6 On the Task tab, in the Schedule group, click the down arrow to the
right of the Mark on Track button, and then click Update Tasks .The
Update Tasks dialog box appears .
This dialog box shows both the actual and scheduled values for the
task’s duration, start, and finish, as well as its remaining duration . In
this box, you can update the actual and remaining values .
7 In the Start field in the Actual group on the left side of the dialog box,
type or select 3/20/19 .

8 In the Actual dur field, type or select 7d .

9 Click OK .
Project records the actual start date, duration, and scheduled and actual
work of the task . These values also roll up to the Internal Launch
Phase summary task (task 7) and the project summary task (task 0), as
indicated by the change highlighting.

To conclude this exercise, you will record that task 11 started on time
but took longer than planned to complete .
10 In the Task Name column, click task 11, Channel Sales prep .
11 On the Task tab, in the Schedule group, click the down arrow to the
right of the Mark on Track button, and then click Update Tasks .
The Update Tasks dialog box appears .
12 In the Actual dur field, type 7d, and then click OK .
Project records the actual duration of the task . Remember that an actual
duration value of “7d” means seven working days, not seven calendar
days.

Because you did not specify an actual start date, Project assumes that the
task started as scheduled. However, the actual duration you entered causes
Project to calculate an actual finish date that is later than the originally
scheduled finish date. Likewise, the actual work value (112 hours) is larger
than the originally scheduled work (80 hours).