For detail explanation of duration type, % complete type and correct updating of your program please follow this thread. I have a very detail explanation on each type including their synchronisation.
Also as I mentioned on my earlier post, always tick started or finished before changing the date. This technique will override any logic behind because it considers actuals or fixed.
You can used suspend only to those activities tick started or in progress. This normally used when activities was stop for a reason and resume after so many days. This will split your activity durations and decrease the amount of actual durations.
For example:
Some activities stop due to rain for 1 week. You don’t want to show an actual duration accumulate for 1 week with no work therefore you can suspend the work and resume after 1 week. All your resources assigned to this activities will be stop and resume and not spread through out the non working week.
Exp Finish is almost the same as constraining your activities forward or backward and it can be override if not attainable but unlike constrain it does not remove the float on your activities.
Progress override means all remaining duration of in progress activities will schedule from the data date or sit on data date ignoring the relationship.
Ex: An in progress activity having a not started or in progress predecessor with FS relationship, the remaining duration will sit on the data date ignoring the FS relationship.
Retain Logic means all remaining duration of in progress activities will schedule based on the relationship. Meaning if the predecessor is not started or in progress and the successor are also in progress having a FS relationship, the successors remaining duration will schedule after the finish date of the predecessor date.
Hope this answer your queries.
Regards,
Rodel
Member for
18 years 6 months
Member for18 years6 months
Submitted by Jacob Mathew on Wed, 2007-05-09 04:33
For the Item 2)My duration type is set as : Fixed Duration & Units. But Im not clear with these options of Duration type. It would be helpful if you could provide me some informations on these settings.
Thanks for the methods that you have mentioned for updation, I suppose there may be error in the way that I update schedule. So I request you to explain the proper method of updating an activity. And I would like to know about the suspend, resume & Exp Finish options also.
As mentioned by you, Im moving the finish dates of some activities before the predecessor finish dates, because I want the Successor to overide the predecessor activity due to some emergency works. Earlier while upadting I had kept the option of When Scheduling progressed activities used - Retained Logic. But now as adviced by Mr.Ramakrishna, I changed this option to Progress overide. By using this I was able to overide the predecessor finish dates. So the issue that I have mentioned in point 2 is solved.
Still I suppose you might be able to provide some extra tips on this.
You expert advice is awaited.
Regards,
Jacob
Member for
19 years
Member for19 years
Submitted by Rodel Marasigan on Wed, 2007-05-09 02:12
As I explained previously you won’t get correct WBS summary because your setup is different from what you’re trying to show. As you mention you have a mixture of duration and physical duration type. But because you are using Fixed Duration and Unit as % complete type therefore you can use units % complete as your basis of actual % complete and Schedule % Complete for comparison. Fixed Duration and Unit % complete type setup will synchronise your duration and units together. Your budget units are also the basis of your weightings and that gives you the clearer picture of the project status and % complete.
Regards,
Rodel
Member for
18 years 6 months
Member for18 years6 months
Submitted by Jacob Mathew on Wed, 2007-05-09 01:51
I accept your advice that if we use the % unit type and update the resource, the total percentage may show a reasonable value. But here I want to show the % of work that should have been done in the elapsed time(Before data date) and the actual % of work performed in the elapsed time. So I believe that it is more dependent on time than resource. So I used the column % Duration complete ( Earlier I tried with % Performance complete and later changed that to % Duration Complete). But its not showing the correct % summary against each WBS and also against the Total main WBS unit.
Regards,
Jacob
Member for
19 years
Member for19 years
Submitted by Rodel Marasigan on Tue, 2007-05-08 03:11
The reason why its giving you wrong total is because you’re using Performance % complete which is taken only those activities which set to Physical as % complete type. I highly recommend displaying the unit % complete column instead of Performance % complete and rename the column as Actual % complete. If you progress the actual hrs/ unit every update you should have a reasonable result and it is weighted based on your budget labor units.
Please let me know how you go so I can assist you further.
Regards,
Rodel
Member for
18 years 6 months
Member for18 years6 months
Submitted by Jacob Mathew on Tue, 2007-05-08 02:54
1. The word error is not shown in the WBS sum /Total. But I meant to say that the total sum up that it shows in the WBS is wrong. That is, it shows some percentage value which is not the actual one.
2.In the activity setting I have used the Activity type as: Task dependent & Duration type as: Fixed Duration & Units for all the activities. But for % Complete type I have assigned Duration for most of the activities and Physical for some.This is because, I had initially placed all the % Completion type as Duration, but at that time some of the activities were found not to show the actual percentage of progress, so inorder to edit the value, I have assigned the % Complete type as Physical for some.
For Item 2 & 3 Ill check the suggestions and will get back to you soon.
With thanks & regards,
Jacob Mathew
Member for
19 years
Member for19 years
Submitted by Rodel Marasigan on Sat, 2007-05-05 12:56
1) Is the word “error” shown on your WBS sum/ total or the column width is not enough to show all the numbers?
2) On your Activity setting what Duration type and % Complete type are you using?
Note: If you set your % complete type as Unit you can use unit % complete instead of Performance % complete and If set to duration then use duration % complete or if Physical, use Performance % complete.
Item 2:
The behaviour of start and finish date is base on your logic and setting of duration type so I need to know the setting you used in order to determine the cause of your problem. If you progress the activity you must tick the started box first before changing the actual date then adjust the finish date on the remaining duration box. If the activity is 100% complete you must tick the finished box first before changing the date to actual finish date. Some cause of your problem are as follows.
1) Moving the finish date, lower or below than the predecessor date.
2) If Finish date and actual date is the same, you need to display the time (Edit-> User Preferences-> Dates tab-> Time) Usually time are set to 12:00AM so when you set the early finish date the early start date maybe 08:00AM therefore Early finish date is earlier than early start date.
3) You Data Date is greater than finish date.
Item 3:
If your project is resources loaded with budget cost and updated with actual cost you should be able to show your cash flow, forecast and S-Curve.
For S-Curve:
1) Select Tracking Icon or Enterprise-> Tracking.
2) Select Edit-> User preferences-> Resources Analysis tab
3) Tick Open project Only then close
4) Select View-> Hide Top Window
5) On the right side Display – Resources Analysis: Total Allocation Profile right click and select Profile Settings
6) On the data tab Tick Cost and tick Cumulative Budgeted and Actual
7) Remove tick on all by date
8) On the bottom left Display: Current Project’s Resources panel right click and select Filter by-> Current Project Resources
9) Right Click again and select Group and Sorted by-> Customise
10) Change the Group by: to Resources Type and Tick Show Summary Only and Tick Show Grand Totals then click OK
11) Select Total on bottom right current project resources panel
It should show your S-Curve Budget Cost and Actual Cost
If you are not happy on the result and having problem with filtering resources and organise resources using group and sort by: use the spreadsheet option below
For Spreadsheet cost allocation:
You can use resource Assignment module by showing Resource Usage Spreadsheet.
1) Organise the grouping and sorting by pointing your mouse on the layout panel (left side of the monitor) and right click. Ex: Project and tick the show summary only
2) Change the spreadsheet fields by pointing your mouse on right side of your monitor (spreadsheet panel) and right click and select Spreadsheet Fields-> customised.
3) Select Time Interval-> Cost-> Budget Cost and Actual Cost. Then Select Cumulative-> Cost-> Cum Budget Cost and Cum Actual Cost. (Remove other field that you don’t require).
4) Click Right Panel display and press “Ctrl A” to select all.
5) Open Excel Program and press “Ctrl V” to paste you data into excel spreadsheet.
6) Use this data and create S-Curve from this (I assumed that you are familiar in creating S-Curve in excel)
Hope this help. Please let me know how you go so I can assist you further.
Regards,
Rodel
Member for
18 years 6 months
Member for18 years6 months
Submitted by Jacob Mathew on Sat, 2007-05-05 12:26
For Item 2) the progress overide option worked well.
For Item 1) I already have added and assigned the baseline. But the problem is that, In percentage summary shown against each WBS, the sum up seems to be wrong. For instance, under a particular WBS title, I have 5 activities. 2 of them has to be updated as per the data date as their baseline start date is before the data date and the baseline finish date is also before data date. But the actual start date of the activity was before the Baseline start date and the actual percentage completion of the activity is 50%. In such cases the percentage of Scheduled % completion and Duration % completion should be different. But I see that they are showing the same value or in some cases they show 0% completion and 0% scheduled, which is not actual. Because of this I belive the total percentage summary shown along with the Main WBS may also be wrong. Is this an error in the software? Does this have any patches or solutions.
Member for
19 years
Member for19 years
Submitted by Rama Krishnan on Sat, 2007-05-05 07:18
For Item 2) the activity start may be constraint by the logic such as SS 10 days etc. To overcome his, use Progress Overide option during Project scheduling. In the schedule command choose options "Progres Overide" radio button.
For Item 1) Note that Scheduled % is picked from Baseline Plan Start Plan finish dates. So set Project Baseline First by assigning the appropriate baseline.
Member for
19 yearsRE: EXPERT ADVICE REQUIRED ON PRIMEVERA 5
Jacob,
For detail explanation of duration type, % complete type and correct updating of your program please follow this thread. I have a very detail explanation on each type including their synchronisation.
http://www.planningplanet.com/forum/forum_post.asp?fid=1&Cat=8&Top=31801
Also as I mentioned on my earlier post, always tick started or finished before changing the date. This technique will override any logic behind because it considers actuals or fixed.
You can used suspend only to those activities tick started or in progress. This normally used when activities was stop for a reason and resume after so many days. This will split your activity durations and decrease the amount of actual durations.
For example:
Some activities stop due to rain for 1 week. You don’t want to show an actual duration accumulate for 1 week with no work therefore you can suspend the work and resume after 1 week. All your resources assigned to this activities will be stop and resume and not spread through out the non working week.
Exp Finish is almost the same as constraining your activities forward or backward and it can be override if not attainable but unlike constrain it does not remove the float on your activities.
Progress override means all remaining duration of in progress activities will schedule from the data date or sit on data date ignoring the relationship.
Ex: An in progress activity having a not started or in progress predecessor with FS relationship, the remaining duration will sit on the data date ignoring the FS relationship.
Retain Logic means all remaining duration of in progress activities will schedule based on the relationship. Meaning if the predecessor is not started or in progress and the successor are also in progress having a FS relationship, the successors remaining duration will schedule after the finish date of the predecessor date.
Hope this answer your queries.
Regards,
Rodel
Member for
18 years 6 monthsRE: EXPERT ADVICE REQUIRED ON PRIMEVERA 5
Rodel,
Reply to your earlier posting.
For the Item 2)My duration type is set as : Fixed Duration & Units. But Im not clear with these options of Duration type. It would be helpful if you could provide me some informations on these settings.
Thanks for the methods that you have mentioned for updation, I suppose there may be error in the way that I update schedule. So I request you to explain the proper method of updating an activity. And I would like to know about the suspend, resume & Exp Finish options also.
As mentioned by you, Im moving the finish dates of some activities before the predecessor finish dates, because I want the Successor to overide the predecessor activity due to some emergency works. Earlier while upadting I had kept the option of When Scheduling progressed activities used - Retained Logic. But now as adviced by Mr.Ramakrishna, I changed this option to Progress overide. By using this I was able to overide the predecessor finish dates. So the issue that I have mentioned in point 2 is solved.
Still I suppose you might be able to provide some extra tips on this.
You expert advice is awaited.
Regards,
Jacob
Member for
19 yearsRE: EXPERT ADVICE REQUIRED ON PRIMEVERA 5
Jacob,
As I explained previously you won’t get correct WBS summary because your setup is different from what you’re trying to show. As you mention you have a mixture of duration and physical duration type. But because you are using Fixed Duration and Unit as % complete type therefore you can use units % complete as your basis of actual % complete and Schedule % Complete for comparison. Fixed Duration and Unit % complete type setup will synchronise your duration and units together. Your budget units are also the basis of your weightings and that gives you the clearer picture of the project status and % complete.
Regards,
Rodel
Member for
18 years 6 monthsRE: EXPERT ADVICE REQUIRED ON PRIMEVERA 5
Rodel,
I accept your advice that if we use the % unit type and update the resource, the total percentage may show a reasonable value. But here I want to show the % of work that should have been done in the elapsed time(Before data date) and the actual % of work performed in the elapsed time. So I believe that it is more dependent on time than resource. So I used the column % Duration complete ( Earlier I tried with % Performance complete and later changed that to % Duration Complete). But its not showing the correct % summary against each WBS and also against the Total main WBS unit.
Regards,
Jacob
Member for
19 yearsRE: EXPERT ADVICE REQUIRED ON PRIMEVERA 5
Jacob,
For item 1)
The reason why its giving you wrong total is because you’re using Performance % complete which is taken only those activities which set to Physical as % complete type. I highly recommend displaying the unit % complete column instead of Performance % complete and rename the column as Actual % complete. If you progress the actual hrs/ unit every update you should have a reasonable result and it is weighted based on your budget labor units.
Please let me know how you go so I can assist you further.
Regards,
Rodel
Member for
18 years 6 monthsRE: EXPERT ADVICE REQUIRED ON PRIMEVERA 5
Rodel,
For Item 1)
1. The word error is not shown in the WBS sum /Total. But I meant to say that the total sum up that it shows in the WBS is wrong. That is, it shows some percentage value which is not the actual one.
2.In the activity setting I have used the Activity type as: Task dependent & Duration type as: Fixed Duration & Units for all the activities. But for % Complete type I have assigned Duration for most of the activities and Physical for some.This is because, I had initially placed all the % Completion type as Duration, but at that time some of the activities were found not to show the actual percentage of progress, so inorder to edit the value, I have assigned the % Complete type as Physical for some.
For Item 2 & 3 Ill check the suggestions and will get back to you soon.
With thanks & regards,
Jacob Mathew
Member for
19 yearsRE: EXPERT ADVICE REQUIRED ON PRIMEVERA 5
Jacob,
Can you explain more your query?
Item 1:
1) Is the word “error” shown on your WBS sum/ total or the column width is not enough to show all the numbers?
2) On your Activity setting what Duration type and % Complete type are you using?
Note: If you set your % complete type as Unit you can use unit % complete instead of Performance % complete and If set to duration then use duration % complete or if Physical, use Performance % complete.
Item 2:
The behaviour of start and finish date is base on your logic and setting of duration type so I need to know the setting you used in order to determine the cause of your problem. If you progress the activity you must tick the started box first before changing the actual date then adjust the finish date on the remaining duration box. If the activity is 100% complete you must tick the finished box first before changing the date to actual finish date. Some cause of your problem are as follows.
1) Moving the finish date, lower or below than the predecessor date.
2) If Finish date and actual date is the same, you need to display the time (Edit-> User Preferences-> Dates tab-> Time) Usually time are set to 12:00AM so when you set the early finish date the early start date maybe 08:00AM therefore Early finish date is earlier than early start date.
3) You Data Date is greater than finish date.
Item 3:
If your project is resources loaded with budget cost and updated with actual cost you should be able to show your cash flow, forecast and S-Curve.
For S-Curve:
1) Select Tracking Icon or Enterprise-> Tracking.
2) Select Edit-> User preferences-> Resources Analysis tab
3) Tick Open project Only then close
4) Select View-> Hide Top Window
5) On the right side Display – Resources Analysis: Total Allocation Profile right click and select Profile Settings
6) On the data tab Tick Cost and tick Cumulative Budgeted and Actual
7) Remove tick on all by date
8) On the bottom left Display: Current Project’s Resources panel right click and select Filter by-> Current Project Resources
9) Right Click again and select Group and Sorted by-> Customise
10) Change the Group by: to Resources Type and Tick Show Summary Only and Tick Show Grand Totals then click OK
11) Select Total on bottom right current project resources panel
It should show your S-Curve Budget Cost and Actual Cost
If you are not happy on the result and having problem with filtering resources and organise resources using group and sort by: use the spreadsheet option below
For Spreadsheet cost allocation:
You can use resource Assignment module by showing Resource Usage Spreadsheet.
1) Organise the grouping and sorting by pointing your mouse on the layout panel (left side of the monitor) and right click. Ex: Project and tick the show summary only
2) Change the spreadsheet fields by pointing your mouse on right side of your monitor (spreadsheet panel) and right click and select Spreadsheet Fields-> customised.
3) Select Time Interval-> Cost-> Budget Cost and Actual Cost. Then Select Cumulative-> Cost-> Cum Budget Cost and Cum Actual Cost. (Remove other field that you don’t require).
4) Click Right Panel display and press “Ctrl A” to select all.
5) Open Excel Program and press “Ctrl V” to paste you data into excel spreadsheet.
6) Use this data and create S-Curve from this (I assumed that you are familiar in creating S-Curve in excel)
Hope this help. Please let me know how you go so I can assist you further.
Regards,
Rodel
Member for
18 years 6 monthsRE: EXPERT ADVICE REQUIRED ON PRIMEVERA 5
Rama Krishnan,
Thank you very much for the valuable advice.
For Item 2) the progress overide option worked well.
For Item 1) I already have added and assigned the baseline. But the problem is that, In percentage summary shown against each WBS, the sum up seems to be wrong. For instance, under a particular WBS title, I have 5 activities. 2 of them has to be updated as per the data date as their baseline start date is before the data date and the baseline finish date is also before data date. But the actual start date of the activity was before the Baseline start date and the actual percentage completion of the activity is 50%. In such cases the percentage of Scheduled % completion and Duration % completion should be different. But I see that they are showing the same value or in some cases they show 0% completion and 0% scheduled, which is not actual. Because of this I belive the total percentage summary shown along with the Main WBS may also be wrong. Is this an error in the software? Does this have any patches or solutions.
Member for
19 yearsRE: EXPERT ADVICE REQUIRED ON PRIMEVERA 5
For Item 2) the activity start may be constraint by the logic such as SS 10 days etc. To overcome his, use Progress Overide option during Project scheduling. In the schedule command choose options "Progres Overide" radio button.
For Item 1) Note that Scheduled % is picked from Baseline Plan Start Plan finish dates. So set Project Baseline First by assigning the appropriate baseline.
Regards,
rama