It seems to be that you have a different approach from Mr. Paul Harris. Yours seems to follow the KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) philosophy because you say that with just ONE target you get everything, but others find it difficult to get graphs like the one posted here. Could you please explain how you get your graph so easily?
To answer your query, it is true that you can use the column to display the variance but P3 do not have the function to display CPI & SPI only P3e have that column to select.
In addition, the power of the graphic report is far better than only display the column, because
1: in a graph you can see trend
2: in a graph you can see time diminson
3: in a graph you can do analysis without a calculator
4: in a graph you can see history and future
...
these are only some of the advantages using a graphical representation of the variance. you can simple use the graph to tell how many months is the project going to be late.
So it is nessary to display these information in a S-Curve to gain indepth information about a project.
Budget(Plan), Actual $, and Earn Value in a Graphical Formate is easy. You only need to display it in the histogram layout formate with 1 baseline schedule (TARGET) setted. That it;
All you need to do next is to use a PDF writer to generate a pdf S-Curve that you can paste it in any report.
In my last job, I have a team of 12 schedulers produce S-Curve for each project & regions every month without any issues.
If anyone want to have a copy of the PDF please pm me
Cheers
Alex
Member for
20 years 3 months
Member for20 years4 months
Submitted by felipe rodriguez on Wed, 2005-07-13 19:36
This issue is interesting and I have some questions about it:
1) If you wish to display Schedule/Cost Variance in the column area, you can select the Schedule/Cost Variance fields from the drop-down list in the Format->Columns option, but how do you get the Schedule/Cost Performance Index?
2) Many organizations dont do cost control using P3, they dont get the earned value from P3, so does it make sense to track these indexes (variances and performance indexes) from P3?
For those that are keen to use P3 for Earned value there are a couple of methods using P3 to produce S-Curves.
1. You may open the resource profile window and select the required data from the Resource Profiles Display Options form. You will need to have a baseline project and check that your Tools, Options, Summarization options are set correctly.
2. The second method is using Graphical Reports. You will need two Targets to produce three curves. The Current Schedule will give you the ACWP and EAC curves, Target 1 could be the Baseline schedule which would give you the BCWS and then Target 2 needs to be a copy of the Current schedule with a global change to set the Actual Cost to equal the Budget x Percent complete and make the Cost to Complete zero. This curve will give you the BCWP. You may overlay the S-Curves on summary bars to give you a report like the one on page 16 of my paper "Practical Application of Earned Value Performance Measurement Using P3" on my web site. You will need to read up on the report writer to achieve this output.
I do not use the P3 report functions very often for a number of reasons including:
1. The graphics are poor quality.
2. The difficulty of getting the cost information back into P3.
3. The difficulty of getting people to book to Activity Codes correctly.
Therefore I use Excel to produce curves normally at a summary level.
Paul E Harris
Eastwood Harris Pty Ltd, Melbourne, Australia
Planning and Scheduling Book Publishers, Training & Consulting
I too feel that P3 fails on the presentation of curves part..its been taken care of in P3e/c but still it leaves much to be desired for.Its always better to transfer the data to excel and then prepare the curve.
Member for
21 years
Member for21 years
Submitted by Philip Jonker on Sun, 2005-07-10 15:16
[Rude comment deleted by Moderator.] The best way is to create your curves in excel and update them from the P3 curves. I wish somebody from Primavera would join PP and fix these little problems.
Regards
PS Bill,
My e-mail is acting up, will try and help you with that spreadsheet in the near future, however it is a tricky one.
Member for
20 years 7 monthsRE: RE:
Hi alex,
Can i get a copy pls. emaile me at rsunilr1@yahoo.co.in
Thanx
Sunil
Member for
22 years 8 monthsRE: RE:
Everyone PM me about the S-Curve:
I send the copy of the S-Curve in PDF file format to everyone that send a Private Message to me.
Cheers
Alex
Member for
20 years 3 monthsRE: RE:
Hi Alex,
It seems to be that you have a different approach from Mr. Paul Harris. Yours seems to follow the KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) philosophy because you say that with just ONE target you get everything, but others find it difficult to get graphs like the one posted here. Could you please explain how you get your graph so easily?
Bye.
Member for
22 years 8 monthsRE: RE:
Felipe
To answer your query, it is true that you can use the column to display the variance but P3 do not have the function to display CPI & SPI only P3e have that column to select.
In addition, the power of the graphic report is far better than only display the column, because
1: in a graph you can see trend
2: in a graph you can see time diminson
3: in a graph you can do analysis without a calculator
4: in a graph you can see history and future
...
these are only some of the advantages using a graphical representation of the variance. you can simple use the graph to tell how many months is the project going to be late.
So it is nessary to display these information in a S-Curve to gain indepth information about a project.
Cheers
Alex
Member for
22 years 8 monthsRE: RE:
Dear All,
Reading from the original question, to display
Budget(Plan), Actual $, and Earn Value in a Graphical Formate is easy. You only need to display it in the histogram layout formate with 1 baseline schedule (TARGET) setted. That it;
All you need to do next is to use a PDF writer to generate a pdf S-Curve that you can paste it in any report.
In my last job, I have a team of 12 schedulers produce S-Curve for each project & regions every month without any issues.
If anyone want to have a copy of the PDF please pm me
Cheers
Alex
Member for
20 years 3 monthsRE: RE:
Hi,
This issue is interesting and I have some questions about it:
1) If you wish to display Schedule/Cost Variance in the column area, you can select the Schedule/Cost Variance fields from the drop-down list in the Format->Columns option, but how do you get the Schedule/Cost Performance Index?
2) Many organizations dont do cost control using P3, they dont get the earned value from P3, so does it make sense to track these indexes (variances and performance indexes) from P3?
Bye.
Member for
24 years 6 monthsRE: RE:
For those that are keen to use P3 for Earned value there are a couple of methods using P3 to produce S-Curves.
1. You may open the resource profile window and select the required data from the Resource Profiles Display Options form. You will need to have a baseline project and check that your Tools, Options, Summarization options are set correctly.
2. The second method is using Graphical Reports. You will need two Targets to produce three curves. The Current Schedule will give you the ACWP and EAC curves, Target 1 could be the Baseline schedule which would give you the BCWS and then Target 2 needs to be a copy of the Current schedule with a global change to set the Actual Cost to equal the Budget x Percent complete and make the Cost to Complete zero. This curve will give you the BCWP. You may overlay the S-Curves on summary bars to give you a report like the one on page 16 of my paper "Practical Application of Earned Value Performance Measurement Using P3" on my web site. You will need to read up on the report writer to achieve this output.
I do not use the P3 report functions very often for a number of reasons including:
1. The graphics are poor quality.
2. The difficulty of getting the cost information back into P3.
3. The difficulty of getting people to book to Activity Codes correctly.
Therefore I use Excel to produce curves normally at a summary level.
Paul E Harris
Eastwood Harris Pty Ltd, Melbourne, Australia
Planning and Scheduling Book Publishers, Training & Consulting
www.eh.com.au
Member for
22 years 4 monthsRE: RE:
Better to plot S Curve in excel as repeatedly said in this forum.
You may get better results in Excel for S -curve than P3
Member for
21 years 5 monthsRE: RE:
I too feel that P3 fails on the presentation of curves part..its been taken care of in P3e/c but still it leaves much to be desired for.Its always better to transfer the data to excel and then prepare the curve.
Member for
21 yearsRE: RE:
Hi Don,
[Rude comment deleted by Moderator.] The best way is to create your curves in excel and update them from the P3 curves. I wish somebody from Primavera would join PP and fix these little problems.
Regards
PS Bill,
My e-mail is acting up, will try and help you with that spreadsheet in the near future, however it is a tricky one.