Asta Development

Earned Value Analysis with Progress Expert 2

Version 2-2-6

Document Description
Author Department Description Created For Notes
Richard Ormerod , Andrew Lote Asta - Professional Services Division User Documentation General release

Revision History
Revision
1 2

Description of change
Original V12 tested

Date
20 May 2011 08 Feb 2012

Asta Development User Guide for PE2

Page 2

Contents
INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................................4 WHAT IS PE2 ? .....................................................................................................................................4 WHAT IS EARNED VALUE ANALYSIS ? ..........................................................................................................4 INSTALLING PE2 ....................................................................................................................................7 MACRO REQUIREMENTS ............................................................................................................................... 7 PREPARATION ............................................................................................................................................. 8 CREATING A TOOLBAR & BUTTONS .................................................................................................................. 8 USING PE2 .........................................................................................................................................9 CHOOSING A REPORT TYPE ........................................................................................................................9 COST BASED REPORTS .................................................................................................................................. 9 EFFORT BASED REPORT................................................................................................................................ 10 DURATION BASED REPORT ........................................................................................................................... 10 OPC WEIGHT BASED REPORT ....................................................................................................................... 10 CREATING A REPORT ............................................................................................................................. 11 READING THE REPORT ........................................................................................................................... 15 S-CURVE GRAPH ........................................................................................................................................ 15 VARIANCE TABLE ....................................................................................................................................... 18 PROGRESS ENTRY METHODS ................................................................................................................... 18 REPORT OPTIONS ...................................................................................................................................... 20 ADDING ACTUAL COSTS BY PERIOD. ............................................................................................................... 22 TO BASELINE A PROJECT ......................................................................................................................... 22 CREATING AN ALAP BASELINE ...................................................................................................................... 24 UNDERSTANDING MESSAGES AND ERRORS ................................................................................................. 25 CONTACTING ASTA SUPPORT ................................................................................................................. 26

Asta Development User Guide for PE2

Page 3

Introduction
Progress Expert has been around for several years in various forms. With this latest and most sophisticated version, it was felt that the time had come for an extended user guide which explains not just how to use Progress Expert (PE2) but also explains the principles of Earned Value Analysis (EVA) and what the results actually tell you about your project.

What is PE2 ?
The purpose of PE2 is to provide a clear overall view of the progression of your project. Progress measurement by S-Curves
When a project is underway and tasks are progressing at different speeds it is sometimes contentious what the exact status of the project is at any one time. Here one task is progressing slowly and another faster than expected. It is difficult to make a judgement whether the overall project is on time or not.

Progress Expert takes a more global and cumulative view of the progress status and compares this to the position that should have been achieved when compared to a baseline (snapshot) of the project.
By Using EVA techniques or the more convenient approximations, PE2 can deliver anything from a simple progress s-curve of progress to a full EVA projection broken down by resource , cost centre or code library.

What is Earned Value Analysis ?

EVA is an attempt to provide a meaningful measure of progress which is resistant to the problems faced by the simpler more obvious methods. For example, Suppose you have two weeks to build a wall. After one week you report that the wall is 50% percent complete. This suggests that you will finish on time.

Asta Development User Guide for PE2

Page 4

The catch here is that we did not say by what measure the wall is 50% complete. Yes we have used 50% of the time scheduled (duration percent complete) but that would be true even if we had only laid one brick. Powerproject supports several alternative methods to measure progress including by materials, by the amount of man hours required or by money spent. Unfortunately none of these methods are perfect for every situation and combining them together can be confusing to say the least. We could simply say that the job is only forty percent done and mark the duration as only forty percent used but this does not reflect the true cost of doing the job as it took a week to do 40 not fifty percent of the job. To get round this problem the US Air force employed a system we know today as EVA which involved assigning a cost value to every task. The planned cost could then be compared to the actual money spent to achieve the job whilst accurately reflecting the time used. This system is robust and accurate but involves a lot of extra work on behalf of the planner. Cost based EVA was the method used in Progress Expert 1 and is still one of the four methods supported today for those who prefer it. Note: We keep the cost based acronyms (ACWP,ACWS etc.) when using non cost measures as there are enough confusing abbreviations in EVA as it is. Most of our customers today however find cost based EVA cumbersome and time consuming and would prefer a method does not require much extra work. As most people plan in time , durations are the most desirable measure. We have already seen this does not give an indication of how much of the job has been achieved in the time spent. The most practical solution is to use whats known as Overall Percent Complete (OPC) and a baseline. OPC is a deliberately vague measure of progress which allows the user to arrive at a percentage complete based on the factors that are most important to them. Since OPC breaks the relationship between time and progress we need to record the work as happening against the day or more commonly the week the work was performed.

Here we can see that although the time taken to do the work was half of that scheduled, only 40% of the task has been completed according to the supervisor.

Asta Development User Guide for PE2

Page 5

The obvious problem now is that the task is going to run out of time in the project plan. We can either extend the time by getting the supervisor to report an estimated duration remaining along with the OPC figure, or simply let Powerproject expand the task using fill to line mode (covered later). Now that we have a figure for how much is done over time and a plan that said how much should have been done in the same time we can draw a basic graph.

A bit overkill for a single task I agree but it illustrates a point. The blue line Actual Cost of Work Performed (ACWP) is 50% indicating that we have used 50% of the budget and the red line Budget Cost of Work Performed (BCWP) is 40% indicating that we have only achieved 40% of the total work. So we are effectively 10% behind. These figures are useful but only give us a relative measure to the current project. When durations are increased or shortened or the project is rescheduled, the shape of the graph can change over time. By using the progress percentages against a baseline (a snapshot of the project at a point in time) rather than the current duration of the task we can make our comparison against fixed points in time.

In the example above the task was originally 10-days long (the baseline shown in red). 40% of the task has been completed during the 5-days of work and there are still 7-days work remaining. For the cumulative graph of completed activity days this task will contribute 4-days. That is the original duration multiplied by the %-complete i.e. 10d * 0.4 = 4d. For the cumulative graph of forecast activity days this task will contribute 7-days. That is the original duration multiplied by the remaining %-complete i.e. 10d * 0.7 = 7d.

Asta Development User Guide for PE2

Page 6

The other reason for doing this is that the baseline is often used to represent the contractual value , that is the work you have contracted for and will get paid for. When the amount you earn is fixed regardless of how long or how expensive the job is to complete, then the percentage of the baseline task you have completed is how much you have EARNED. So in effect the BCWP is your earned value and the ACWP represents how much you spent to earn it. These meanings are less literal when using durations rather than costings but for most practical purposes they are close enough to be valuable. As we are measuring our performance relative to the baseline it makes sense to include it in the graph. PE2 allows you to include two baselines to show both the earliest date that tasks can be completed, known as the As Soon As Possible (ASAP) baseline and the last possible time to complete a task within the schedule known as As Late As Possible (ALAP) baseline.
The Budget Cost of Work Scheduled (BCWS) is the cumilative amount of work to be done by each day in your baseline. By using a copy set to As Soon As Possible scheduling and one set to As Late As Possible scheduling, you can see where you are in relation to the best and worst planned scenarios.

Installing PE2
Macro Requirements To use progress expert version 2-2-0 you need Powerproject version 11. Excel 95 or later , Excel 2007 Recommended . A project with multiple progress periods and a baseline

Asta Development User Guide for PE2

Page 7

Preparation Progress Expert is supplied as a ZIP file or a zipped executable (EXE) file. Place the ProgressExpert2.Exe or Zip in a temporary folder (directory) and in the Windows Explorer double-click on the icon, or right click and choose extract here.
This will unpack the files you need. You can now delete

ProgressExpert2.Exe or Zip if you wish.

3.2 Installation
Copy (or move) all the files to a folder called \addins under the folder where Powerproject is installed by default this would be \Program Files\ Asta\PowerProject\. If the \addins directory does not exist, then create it.

Once the files are in this folder they will be recognised by Powerproject the next time you start it.

Creating a Toolbar & Buttons Start Powerproject. Take the Tools Customise menu option (or right-click on a grey area of the Toolbar and choose Customise). Choose the New Toolbar button. Choose Toolbar01 from the end of the list of Toolbars tab on the Customise dialog. Choose the Rename button. Type Progress Expert and choose OK.

Click on the Commands tab of the Customise dialog. Scroll the list down until you see the symbol. Click on the + sign to expand. Scroll this list down until you see the modProgressExpert.Run_PE_Graph listed. Place the cursor on the name and drag onto the new, empty toolbar. When you see an Insertion cursor shape, release. An icon should be placed in the new toolbar and should look something like .

Click on the Text only radio button under the Display as section in the top right of the dialog.

Asta Development User Guide for PE2

Page 8

Select the Text, at the foot of the dialog, and replace modProgressExpert.Run_PE_Graph with Run PE and confirm with Enter. Repeat the last 3-steps and make a button for the modProgressExpert.AddUnits (rename as Load with Units) and modProgExUpdate.ProgressUpdate (rename as Progress Update) macros. You can re-order the sequence of buttons on the Toolbar whilst the Customise dialog is open. Close the Customise dialog.

Using PE2
Choosing a report type
All four report types conform to the basic EVA method described in the chapter on EVA. Where they differ is in the quantities they measure. Each has unique benefits and limitations.

Cost Based Reports Cost reports are the most powerful version of EVA but also require the most work to get a meaningful result. There are two basic ways to setup for a cost report. One is to simply assign a pound per hour for each and every task in the project. This will give you a good approximation of your earned value but has no real advantage over the other methods. The Second is to actually cost your project so that the cost on each task accurately reflects the monies involved in doing the work. This means that a task such as Roof could have a radically different cost per hour to Block work. You can use multiple cost centres to apply your costs and select individual or rolled up groups of cost centres for the report. The report will pickup directly allocated costs in cost centres, calculated costs on resources and calculated costs on materials on any task that has the selected cost center(s) directly allocated. The filtering does not allow you to pick out specific costs within a task, only which tasks are included based on the cost centres they have directly allocated. So a task with a resource thats rate used cost center A would not qualify it for inclusion in a filter that had no direct allocation of cost A but if it had a direct allocation of cost B and we were looking for cost B, all costs on the task including the resources cost A would be included.

Asta Development User Guide for PE2

Page 9

To get a true EVA cost report rather than an approximation based on progress you need to enter actual costs along with your progress. This can be done on a task by task basis or as a total for the progress period at summary level. If you do not enter true actual costs or use time based cost modelling your Cost To Date (ACWP) will not reflect the fact that your costs are higher or lower than planned.

Effort based report The effort based variation uses the number of man hours assigned to each task as the basic measure of work rather than cost or duration. Tasks that have permanent resources assigned will default at 1man hour per hour of task duration. You can modify this by assigning multiple resources or changing the allocation amount or calculation parameter. Tasks without resources assigned will not be included in the report. Effort based reporting is useful when manpower is your primary concern or measure for the project. Effort based reports can be filtered by resource and or code library. Duration based report Using duration is effectively the same as assigning a cost of 1 per hour to all tasks but without having to do so. Its primary advantages are simplicity and the fact you can run reports on projects which are already underway. This is not possible with cost reports unless you have the costs in the baseline. The first disadvantage of duration based reports are that they are only a measure of overall progress relative to the planned work and not a true costing tool. The second disadvantage is that if you merge into the baseline, your changed and progressed values will change to reflect the current and progressed values in the project. This issue which is particularly noticeable if fill to line mode is used was the reason for the creation of the OPC weight method. OPC Weight based report This report combines the resilience of the simple cost based method with the simplicity of the duration based method. Its a little more tricky to understand but overall this method provides the best performance to effort ratio for most users. The disadvantage is that you must create a separate ALAP baseline if you wish to use one as the baseline float option will not be available. Asta Development User Guide for PE2 Page 10

It takes advantage of a little known feature of Powerproject called Overall Percent Complete Weighting. What makes this useful to PE2 is that when a task is first baselined its OPC weight is set to equal its duration. This is effectively the same as assigning a pound per hour cost to every task. As the OPCW does not change unless you intentionally recalculate it, this measure is immune to the problems of duration as it remembers the original duration regardless of changes to the task. This will also work for existing projects provided the baseline was created in version 11 of Powerproject . By default the report displays units as O.P.C.W () which is effectively hours. There is an option to display as days in the settings.

Creating a Report
Step 1. Choose the type of report as described in choosing a report type above.

Step 2. Report by code library (optional step).

If the Report by code library is un-ticked the all tasks in the project are examined. If the Report by code library is ticked and you choose one or more code library entries then a separate Worksheet (and graph) will be produced for each selected code library entry. This allows you to use S-curve progress monitoring for sub-sets of the project and for your trade contractors where they are assigned as code library entries. Asta Development User Guide for PE2 Page 11

To include an combined report then tick All code libraries in addition to your selected choices. Only tasks which have the selected code will be included in the relevant page. Any tasks that have more than one code allocation within or between selected libraries will be duplicated. Note this can produce a lot report pages so try to use a small library if experimenting.

Step 3. Report by cost centre (cost report only)

If you selected a Cost type report then you are here presented with a further dialog where you can choose the cost Centres you wish to include in the graph. You can produce a single graph for the values from all the Cost Centres selected, or a different graph for the selected Cost Centres. If you have also selected report by code library in the previous dialog then only the single graph option will be available other wise there would be a report for each cost center and each code entry which would get very large very quickly. You can use different currencies on separate cost rates without concern. Incomes are always excluded from EVA graphs.

Option Include Resource Costs. If this option is checked then any resource allocations which use a cost rate that includes a qualifying cost centre will have their cost values included in the appropriate chart. Warning: If a single resource allocation uses multiple cost rates then if any of the cost rates use a qualifying cost centre then the total cost for the allocation will be included. There is no mechanism to import proportionate costs from multiple rates.

Step 3. Report by Resource (Resource report only) Asta Development User Guide for PE2 Page 12

If you selected a resource type report then you are here presented with a further dialog where you can choose the resources you wish to include in the graph. You can produce a single graph for the man-hour effort value from all the resources selected, or a different graph for the selected resources. As with costs if you chose report by code library in the previous dialog then only a single report will be available.

Step 4. Set Baselines

It is fundamental to the working of Progress Expert that a baseline is selected. So if you have no baseline then Progress Expert will not produce an earned value s-curve. Select the baseline you require from the drop-down list of baselines in the project. You can select more than one baseline and if the location of tasks within each baseline if different you can have an envelope to compare to, rather than a single line. This is often used to compare the projects progress compared to the As-Soon-As-Possible (ASAP) position of tasks in the baseline and the As-Late-As-Possible (ALAP) position of tasks in the baseline. If the progressed graph line is between the extremes of the ASAP and the ALAP the project can still be said to be on a stable footing even if it is behind the ASAP position it is ahead of the ALAP position. Use float dates on ALAP tells PE2 to use the baseline tasks late end and late start dates as if they were the current start and end dates. This saves you having to create an As Late As Possible baseline. Asta Development User Guide for PE2 Page 13

Which baseline the comparison values ahead/behind are calculated from is also selected on this form. If you require a graph line for future tasks then tick the Show Forecast Line option. If the Show Forecast Line option is un-ticked then no forecast lines are included on the graph. To show the Actual Cost of Work Performed (ACWP) line in the graph the option must be checked here.

Step 5. Report Scope

How much of the current project will be analysed is determined by this form: Current View only those tasks shown in the bar chart whose scope is set via the Project View and which may be filtered are included in the report. The contents of Summary, Expanded or Hammock tasks which are not expanded are not included. Branch all as for the Current View option, but the contents of Summary, Expanded or Hammock tasks are included. Project the whole of the file open in Powerproject. All Marked as Projects only those tasks (at any level) contained in Expanded or Summary tasks which has Is A Project set will be included in the report. This option is used for Enterprise Projects which are a Portfolio of Projects.

Step 6. Execute the report

Asta Development User Guide for PE2

Page 14

Click on the Finish button and the indicators and feedback panel show the progress of the processing. If any errors are produced you will be warned at the end of processing. If no errors have been produced Excel will be open on your computer with an un-saved workbook containing the graphs you requested.

Reading the Report

The graph values are produced in Excel as everyone is familiar with this software tool and can change the graphs easily. The graphs are produced from an Excel Template file (PE2Template.xls) that is installed in the C:\Program File\Asta\Asta Powerproject\Addins\ folder. You can open this file and make changes to suit yourself company logos, page size, graph types, font size, grid-lines, etc. The next time that Progress Expert executes your customisations will be included in the graphs. You can access the data which creates the graphs as they are on hidden Worksheets in the Excel Work Book. In Excel 2003 choose the Format Sheet Unhide menu option and choose the Data Unfiltered sheet from the list. In Excel 2007 right-click on any sheet tab at the bottom of the page and unhide the Data Unfiltered sheet from the list. S-curve Graph The graph line from completed tasks ends at the final Progress Period date. The value of this line compared to where the graph line from the baseline tasks shows how far ahead/behind you are in both a percentage of the overall project (or No activity days) and a number of working days (elapsed days are also possible and this takes into account weekends and holidays). These values are printed under the graph as exact values. An interesting effect of calculating everything in relation to the baseline is that the BCWS, & BCWP will always meet at 100%. The ACWP can however finish anywhere.
Pre start. Here we can see the project ASAP baseline in Pink and ALAP baseline in Green. There is no progress in the project so far. Note the progress line is at the end of week one eventhough we have yet to start. This is because we have not bothered to create a progress period for week 0.

Asta Development User Guide for PE2

Page 15

Late Project start. In this exapmle the progress period date has been moved on several months but no progress has been entered. This is typical of a project which has not had the baseline updated to reflect a delayed start..

On Time. Below we see a project with three weeks of progress. The red BCWP line is comfortably between the ASAP and ALAP lines. Whilst individual jobs may be ahead or behind schedule the average project progress is within the tollerence allowed for by the programme float.

Ahead. Here we can see the BCWP has got ahead of the project plan. This is typical of the graphs you will see when you have completed activities faster than plan.

Behind. Here we can see that despite a good initial start the project has fallen behind the allowed date range.

Asta Development User Guide for PE2

Page 16

Earned actual split. Having turned on the actual cost line (ACWP, blue) you can see very little difference between the earned and actual values. In fact very often you will only see which ever line is on top. This is because up to this example the Duration Percent Complete (DPC) and Overall Percent Complete (OPC) values have been left in step.

Once we start changing the entering Overall Percent Completes that are different for the Duration Percent Complete in the same time period. We will begin to see a difference between Actaul Cost (ACWP) and Earned Value (BCWP). If you cant remember the difference now might be a good time to go back and re-read the opening chapter on EVA.

In this final expample we have turned the forecast line on. Note the BCWP will finish at a 100% regardless but the ACWP can be significantly different. In this case suggesting a cost overrun of about 7% by the end of the programme.

Nice as the graphs are, values should always be read from the statistics table not the graph.

Asta Development User Guide for PE2

Page 17

Variance Table The variance at the latest progress Period date is shown for the main graph. However you can obtain a table of the variances for all Progress Periods. This allows the trend for the progress of the work over an extended period. In the example below the work was falling further and further behind schedule every week until some remedial action was taken at Week 39 and from that time on the work has started to catch up and the trend of the project is in the right direction.

Progress Entry Methods

Key to getting a meaningful ACWP curve is the entry of progress. If we simply progress everything to a new percent complete we will get a difference between the baseline (BCWS) and the Earned (BCWP) bit no difference between the Earned (BCWP) and Actual Cost(ACWP). Powerproject Supports a number of ways for entering progress and you are free to use those you prefer but for those new to EVA we have included some example techniques to get you started.
Duration Entry Methods. These apply equally to Duration or OPC weighted methods.

Method one 1) Create a spreadsheet column for Overall Percent complete. Asta Development User Guide for PE2 Page 18

2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8)

Set the column to show the current progress period in the live programme. Select multiple tasks to be progressed. Right click one of the tasks and select Progress UPTO Select the current entry period. All tasks will now be progressed up to the date of the current progress period. This accurately represents the time that the work was done in. For each task enter the amount of the job that has been completed in the OPC column.

Method Two 1) Add a column for overall percent complete 2) Add a column for Actual duration set to the current entry period. For each task enter the amount of the job that has been completed in the OPC column and the number of days it took to do it in the actual duration. Other methods You may also wish to investigate using fill to line mode or a Duration Remaining as entry methods depending on the way your company likes to report progress.
Effort Entry Methods

Resources can be progressed from the task using one of the duration methods above or you can progress individual allocations using the dialog below and then roll progress up onto the task.

Because of the number of ways resource can be modeled and the effort of entering progress for each and every user it is best to simply progress the tasks to which the resources are allocated. Asta Development User Guide for PE2 Page 19

Note Generating an ACWP for Effort based reports when progressing allocations directly is possible but strongly discouraged as it is very easy to get wrong.
Cost Progress Entry Methods For costs you can use

Any of the duration progress methods. An Actual cost column. Alternative actuals. Allows you to set the actual cost at summary level rather than for each individual task.

Report Options When you first start PE2 we recommend that you accept the default settings and concentrate on having a project with the correct detail to obtain an S-curve graph. When you have successfully achieved this principle objective then the Options can help refine the result.

Create a graph of Variance by progress period If this option is ticked an extra Worksheet is included in the Excel document which shows for each Progress Period the variance ahead/behind so that you can easily see a trend. Smooth the Graph The cumulative values of progress (activity days, cost or effort) are only really known at each Progress Period Date. The calendar in the project set via the menu option Tools Bar Chart Defaults on the Task tab is the one used to determine the non-working time. With no smoothing the non-working periods are flat on the graph and the number of intervals between known Progress Period values are evenly plotted. I.e. Sat + sun are flat and Mon Fri have an even number of steps. This leads to a saw-tooth effect on the graph which some people do not like. If you choose the Smoothing option then the values at nonworking periods are averaged out by taking an even number of steps between known Progress Period values. I.e. Mon Sun have an even number of steps. The data values are plotted from Friday to Friday. With the Smoothing option the value being compared can be affected by the Progress Period date set in the project.

Asta Development User Guide for PE2

Page 20

If the time of the Progress Period is before 13:00 then the data comparison date will be the day before that set for the Progress Period. If the time is after 13:00 the day set for the Progress Period will be used for analysis purposes. Y axis as percentage The vertical axis will show values between 0% and 100% if this option is ticked. If the option is un-ticked the Y-axis will show the number of units (activity days, , man-hours). Shade Non Working Time If a period of time is set as a weekend or holiday in the project the graph will have vertical shaded sections showing where these times are if this option is ticked. If this option is un-ticked then no weekends or holiday shading will be shown on the graph. Show Intro Page in Wizard If this option is ticked the first explanatory page of the Wizard will be displayed when Progress Expert is started. Use Alternate Actuals for Cost Alternate actuals is a special data entry mode for assigning Actual cost at summary level rather than on a task by task basis. See Adding Actual costs by period Forecast Line Options The forecast line starts at the cumulative total that the graph line from completed. If the Forecast Line is chosen to be shown on the graph these options determine how future uncompleted tasks are positioned in time: Perform a temporary reschedule. A reschedule of the project is carried out and the position of future tasks (and their allocations) is recorded before the reschedule is undone. Simplified Estimate. The forecast curve is generated by projecting the current live values forward from the last progress date and adjusting for non working time. This is much faster than a temporary reschedule of the project, but does not support the sophisticated logic of a reschedule. No reschedule. No reschedule is carried out and the future tasks (and their allocations) are simply recorded where they are. If a task happened to be behind the Progress Period date then the forecast line would start at this point. Override Hrs per Day Where calendars of different day lengths are used in the same project, reporting the number of days as a single figure will always be inaccurate. Whilst there is no solution to this problem you can force the calculation of days to be based on your choice of hours per day. Otherwise Progress Expert will use the default calendars number of hours per day.

Asta Development User Guide for PE2

Page 21

Update OPCW This option will recalculate the overall percent complete weightings on your project. It should only be used if you have renegotiated your contract and wish the baseline to be updated to reflect the current state of the project as the new baseline. It is in effect the same as right clicking on each summary in the project explorer and selecting Calculate task weightings. You will then need to create a new baseline as task weighting in an existing baseline cannot be updated.

Alternative Actuals This button adds the User defined fields required to use alternate actuals to the project. Adding Actual Costs by period. You may if you wish add an actual cost for the period at summary level rather than adding detailed actual costs on a task by task basis. PE2 will use these figures when drawing the actual cost curve (ACWP). To create the required entry udfs open the options page in PE2 and select 'use alternate actuals for costs'. Click the 'alternative actuals' button. This will add a numeric udf at expanded task level for each progress period in the project. You may re-run this later to add additional periods without issue. To assign costs it is recommended to create a view containing all the progress UDFs. By default the are named actCost_dd_mm_yy. You can change the display name but not the udf name. . You can assign costs in the udfs against any summary or expanded but it will only be read if it also has the desired cost center assigned. Alternate actuals can be used in any view but this may produce undesirable results if used illogically. Note the forecast on ACWP under alternative actuals rules always uses estimated forecast regardless of the forecast setting chosen.

To baseline a project
These instructions do not apply to Enterprise projects.

Asta Development User Guide for PE2

Page 22

To baseline a project first decide which parts of the project are to be included in the baseline. When you use the baseline wizard it will ask you if you want to add all items in the current view so it is important to navigate to a position in the project where everything you want to include is in or below the current chart. e Go FILE > BASELINE\ WHAT IF MANAGER

Click NEW. Enter a name for the baseline and click NEXT Accept the default file save location by clicking NEXT Choose the all tasks in view option. Click FINISH

Asta Development User Guide for PE2

Page 23

Creating an ALAP baseline If you need to create a separate ALAP baseline rather than use the float option. 1) Create a. b. c. d. e. f. a filter to hide all summaries. Go View > Filter > New Tick use an SQL statement Click SQL Paste the TQL below into the where box. Click Ok Click Ok

( TASKBASE.objectType ~ 'TASK' OR TASKBASE.objectType ~ 'MILESTONE' )

2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8)

Set the view to the globe in project explorer to include all tasks. CTRL + A to select all tasks Change tasks to ALAP under task properties > constraints > placement. Reschedule the project Create a new baseline Undo the reschedule Change all tasks back to ASAP placement.

If there is little or no float in your programme you will get very little separation between the lines . You can create a corridor effect by moving the progress period forward a week or two and rescheduling to that date before creating an ALAP baseline. This is useful when you wish to show a target deadline which should be met and a client deadline that must be met.

Asta Development User Guide for PE2

Page 24

Understanding Messages and Errors

Most errors will be brought to your attention via message boxes, but not all messages are errors. It is all too easy to just read the main message and miss much of the information given to you in a message box.

Title Firstly the title should give you an indication of the type of message you are dealing with. Is it about the data entered or a user error? These can normally be resolved by the user. If on the other hand the title is UNEXPECTED ERROR or PROGRAM ERROR it may be time to call for help.

Icon The Icon Will give you a further contextual clue to the severity of the situation and may imply things which are not explicitly stated but help you understand what happens after you close the message. The exact graphics used may vary with each windows operating system.

Message Box Icons

Question Information The program wishes you to make a decision. The program is informing you of a fact.

Caution

Used with warnings and non critical errors. These may also ask you to make a decision. An error which will stop or close the program. This is also the default icon if no other has been specified.

Critical

Asta Development User Guide for PE2

Page 25

Messages and the Option Buttons If there are more than one option button available then you are being asked a question, regardless of any other information on the screen. In a well designed message this should be obvious, unfortunately this not always the case. Part of the reason for this is that there is only a limited list of buttons available to a standard message and these may not always be appropriate. So take your time reading the message and ask yourself how the buttons relate to whats written above them.

Pay particular attention to any specific pieces of information such as object names or error numbers which appear in the message and consider writing them down before closing the dialog. These bits of information are often of vital importance in fixing the problem and will save you having to recreate the error which may take considerable time for some macros. If writing things down is too much trouble, consider holding down the ALT key and pressing the PRINT SCREEN button on your keyboard. This will place a picture of the active dialog into the windows clipboard which can then be pasted into a word document.

The dotted focus line (DEFAULT LINE) around one of the buttons indicates the initial default choice. This is also triggered if you press SPACE or ENTER rather than using the mouse, or if you close the dialog using the CLOSE BOX. You can change which button has the focus by using the tab and arrow keys.

Contacting Asta Support

If you are experiencing problems and require advice then please contact Asta Development plcs Help Desk: By phone on 01844 261609 By email on support@astadev.com

Asta Development User Guide for PE2

Page 26