Analyzing and Reporting on Project Information
by Teresa S. Stover
Microsoft® Office Project 2007 Inside Out
- Microsoft® Office Project 2007 Inside Out
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- A Note Regarding Supplemental Files
- Your All-in-One Resource
- Acknowledgments
- About the CD
- Conventions and Features Used in This Book
- I. Project Fundamentals
- 1. Introducing Microsoft Office Project 2007
- 2. Understanding Projects and Project Management
- II. Developing the Project Plan
- 3. Starting a New Project
- Focusing the Project Vision
- Creating a New Project Plan
- Entering Tasks
- Sequencing and Organizing Tasks
- Organizing Tasks into an Outline
- Setting Up Your Work Breakdown Structure
- Adding Supplementary Information to Tasks
- 4. Viewing Project Information
- 5. Scheduling Tasks
- 6. Setting Up Resources in the Project
- Understanding the Impact of Resources in the Project Plan
- Adding Resources to the Project
- Removing a Resource from the Project
- Identifying Tentative, Generic, or Budget Resources
- Setting When Resources Are Available for Work
- Adding Detailed Resource Information
- 7. Assigning Resources to Tasks
- 8. Planning Resource and Task Costs
- 9. Checking and Adjusting the Project Plan
- Working with the Critical Path and Critical Tasks
- Bringing in the Project Finish Date
- Reducing Project Costs
- Balancing Resource Workloads
- Changing Project Scope
- Reviewing the Impact of Changes
- Obtaining Buyoff on the Project Plan
- 3. Starting a New Project
- III. Tracking Progress
- 10. Setting a Baseline and Updating Progress
- 11. Responding to Changes in Your Project
- IV. Reporting and Analyzing Project Information
- 12. Reporting Project Information
- Establishing Your Communications Plan
- Using Views to Report Project Information
- Generating Text and Visual Reports
- Running Reports for Your Requirements
- Summarizing with Overview Reports
- Focusing on Tasks with Schedule Progress Reports
- Using the Unstarted Tasks Report
- Using the Tasks Starting Soon Report
- Using the Tasks In Progress Report
- Using the Completed Tasks Report
- Using the Should Have Started Tasks Report
- Using the Slipping Tasks Report
- Using the Baseline Report in Visio
- Using the Baseline Work Report in Excel
- Using the Task Status Report in Visio
- Using the Budget Work Report in Excel
- Analyzing Budget Status with Cost Reports
- Using the Cash Flow Report
- Using the Cash Flow Report in Excel
- Using the Cash Flow Report in Visio
- Using the Baseline Cost Report in Excel
- Using the Budget Report
- Using the Budget Cost Report in Excel
- Using the Resource Cost Summary Report in Excel
- Using the Overbudget Tasks Report
- Using the Overbudget Resources Report
- Using the Earned Value Report
- Using the Earned Value Over Time Report in Excel
- Evaluating Resource Allocation with Assignment Reports
- Using the Who Does What Report
- Using the Who Does What When Report
- Using the To-Do List
- Using the Overallocated Resources Report
- Using the Resource Availability Report in Visio
- Using the Resource Work Availability Report in Excel
- Using the Task Usage Report
- Using the Resource Usage Report
- Using the Resource Work Summary Report in Excel
- Using the Resource Remaining Work Report in Excel
- Using the Resource Status Report in Visio
- Revising a Built-In Report
- Building a Custom Report
- Saving Project Data Fields
- 13. Analyzing Progress Using Earned Value
- 12. Reporting Project Information
- V. Managing Multiple Projects
- 14. Managing Master Projects and Resource Pools
- 15. Exchanging Information Between Project Plans
- VI. Integrating Microsoft Project with Other Programs
- 16. Exchanging Information with Other Applications
- 17. Integrating Microsoft Project with Microsoft Excel
- Copying Between Microsoft Project and Excel
- Embedding Between Microsoft Project and Excel
- Linking Between Microsoft Project and Excel
- Importing and Exporting with Excel
- Producing a Visual Report of Project Data in Excel
- 18. Integrating Microsoft Project with Microsoft Outlook
- 19. Integrating Microsoft Project with Microsoft Visio
- VII. Managing Projects Across Your Enterprise
- 20. Understanding Enterprise Project Management
- 21. Administering Your Enterprise Project Management Solution
- Logging On and Off
- Managing Users and Permissions
- Administering the Enterprise Resource Pool
- Establishing the Enterprise Portfolio
- Standardizing Enterprise Project Elements
- Setting Up Team Member Work Pages
- Managing Pages, Views, and Reports
- Managing and Maintaining the Server
- 22. Managing Enterprise Projects and Resources
- Connecting to Your Project Server
- Working with Enterprise Projects
- Building Your Enterprise Project Team
- Finding Resources to Meet Your Needs
- Adding Enterprise Resources by Name
- Identifying Resource Attributes Using Custom Enterprise Fields
- Using Generic Resources as Placeholders
- Adding a Team Assignment Pool to Your Project Resource List
- Finding Enterprise Resources That Meet Specific Criteria
- Replacing an Existing Project Resource with an Enterprise Resource
- Matching an Existing Project Resource
- Matching and Replacing Generic Resources
- Proposing Tentative Resources
- Assigning Tasks to Enterprise Resources
- Finding Resources to Meet Your Needs
- Collaborating with Your Project Team
- Creating Proposals and Activity Plans
- 23. Participating on a Team Using Project Web Access
- Getting Started with Project Web Access
- Working on Your Assignments and Updates
- Submitting Text-Based Status Reports
- Logging Time Using Timesheets
- Setting Up E-Mail, Reminders, and Calendars
- Managing Resources in Project Web Access
- 24. Making Executive Decisions Using Project Web Access
- Getting Started with Project Web Access
- Viewing Project Portfolio Information
- Working with the Project Portfolio
- Working with Resource Information
- Analyzing and Reporting on Project Information
- Setting Your Alerts and Reminders
- VIII. Customizing and Managing Project Files
- 25. Customizing Your View of Project Information
- Customizing Views
- Customizing Tables
- Customizing Fields
- Working with Outline Codes
- Customizing Groups
- Customizing Filters
- Sharing Customized Elements Among Projects
- 26. Customizing the Microsoft Project Interface
- 27. Automating Your Work with Macros
- 28. Standardizing Projects Using Templates
- 29. Managing Project Files
- 25. Customizing Your View of Project Information
- A. Installing Microsoft Office Project 2007
- B. Online Resources for Microsoft Project
- C. Keyboard Shortcuts
- D. Index to Troubleshooting Topics
- E. About the Authors
- Index
- About the Author
- SPECIAL OFFER: Upgrade this ebook with O’Reilly
One of the primary capabilities of the Project Server enterprise features is that it can show information about all projects, tasks, resources, and assignments in the entire enterprise. Although it’s great to have all this data available, it’s not practical to review the details of every project throughout the organization. However, it’s highly advantageous to see a high-level summary of project schedules, costs, and resource utilization. It’s also helpful to be able to roll information from multiple projects together and to make comparisons between them.
Using the Data Analysis services available in Project Server, you can analyze schedule performance or resource utilization for a single project, multiple projects, or even all projects in the enterprise portfolio. Such analysis can provide a wealth of usable information, from whether you’re spending too much on material and equipment costs to whether it would make good business sense to follow through on your proposal for a new ambitious project.
Data Analysis dynamically generates reports in Project Web Access that provide summary or detailed project information necessary for a single project or any collection of projects.
Data Analysis is implemented through the use of online analytical processing (OLAP) tools provided by SQL Server Analysis Services and the Cube Building Services in conjunction with Project Server and Project Web Access.
Typically, the project server administrator or portfolio manager first configures the Data Analysis Services and creates the OLAP cubes, or dynamic reports, available to you and other users in the form of a spreadsheet (PivotTable) or column chart (PivotChart). These views are added to the View list of the Data Analysis page for you to select and manipulate. You can add, move, or delete fields in the resulting PivotTable or PivotChart.
Note
For more information about how the OLAP cubes are built by the project server administrator, see the section titled Setting Up Project Report Cubes for Data Analysis in Chapter 21.
When you want to see a PivotTable or PivotChart that analyzes various aspects of current enterprise project, resource, or portfolio data, follow these steps:
On the Quick Launch task bar, click Data Analysis.
If you’re working in Project Professional, you can open the Data Analysis page from there. Click Collaborate, Data Analysis. Or, on the Collaborate toolbar, click Data Analysis. The Project Web Access Data Analysis Updates page appears in your Project Professional workspace.
In the View box, click the view you want to use.
To change the fields used in the view, click Show Field List. Drag the fields you want from the list onto the appropriate areas of the view, as follows:
Drag a field you want for a PivotTable column into the area labeled Drop Filter Fields here.
Drag a field you want for a PivotTable row into the area labeled Drop Row Fields Here.
Drag a field you want for the Y-axis on a PivotChart to the area labeled Drop Filter Fields Here.
Drag a field you want for the X-axis on a PivotChart to the area labeled Drop Category Fields Here.
The following are more methods for manipulating how you view the information in your PivotTable or PivotChart:
Click Expand to increase the level of detail in the view.
Click Collapse to decrease the level of detail in the view.
Click Save PivotTable As Image to save the PivotTable as a GIF graphics image for use elsewhere, for example, in a Word report document.
Click Save PivotChart As Image to save the PivotChart as a GIF graphics image for use elsewhere, for example, in a Microsoft Office PowerPoint presentation.
Get more options for manipulating your view with the PivotTable toolbar. Click Settings, View Options. In the pane that appears, select the Show PivotTable Toolbar. The PivotTable toolbar appears.
Note
For more information about working with PivotTables and PivotCharts, click the Help button on the PivotTable toolbar. Categories of topics include "Getting Started," "Using PivotTable List Tools," "Adding and Removing Fields," and "Filtering Data."
Work with your project server administrator or portfolio manager to learn how best to use the OLAP cubes that have been set up. Also let them know if you need different cubes designed that will help you analyze project and portfolio information in the way you need.
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