What is a Gantt Chart?

The Gantt Chart is a tool used in project planning. In Project 2080 we like to consider the Gantt Schedule as the final result of the planning work. After carrying out all the tasks during the planning process of a project, we obtain a bar chart that helps us to identify within a timeline the activities, activity packages, and Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) that visually represent the scope of our project. In other words, a Gantt Chart shows us which activities need to be completed and by what date.

Although we have already seen what a Gantt Chart is, we must distinguish the Gantt Graph when it is part of the tendering phase and when it is part of the execution phase of the project.

Gantt Chart on the tendering phase

In the planning phase of a project, the first Gantt Schedule that we must create is in the tendering phase. In this case, the Gantt Chart that represents the scope of our project presents a lower and constant level of detail from the beginning to the end of the project.

Gantt Chart as part of the execution phase

However, in the execution phase of the project, the Gantt Chart will be a much more detailed bar graph. It is important to note that, in long-term projects, the level of detail of certain activities that are carried out at a later stage of the project is less than that of activities that are in the beginning phase of the project. As the project progresses, the level of detail of our activities is expanded, thus breaking down the initial Gantt Chart.

What is a Gantt Chart for?

Once we already answer the question about what is a Gantt Chart and its level of detail, the question that addresses us is what is a Gantt Chart for. In general, the Gantt Chart can show us:

• Activities: activities, activity packages, and project Work Breakdown Structure. When we create the Gantt Chart of our activity schedule, thanks to the WBS or Work Breakdown Structure we are able to assign our activities to the corresponding project phase.
• Dates: start date and finish date of the project. In this case, the bar chart can show the dates of the project baseline, monthly versions of the schedule, as well as the estimated forecast made in the current month. In addition, our Gantt Chart can show us the earliest and latest dates, as well as dates linked to restrictions, or dates in which an activity has been suspended.
• Resources: the resources necessary to carry out each activity. Within each activity, the estimate of necessary resources can be included.
• Activity Relationship. The Gantt Chart also shows what is the logical relationship between activities, such as Finiss-Start, Finish-Finish, Start-Start, Start-Finish.
• Progress: it is one of the most important characteristics of a Gantt Chart. Thanks to the Gantt chart, it is shown exactly how the execution of the project is developing. Thanks to the Gantt Chart, we are able to compare both dates, resource times, and percentage of performance.
• Earned Value Management (EVM): the Gantt Chart also serves to show us all the indicators that are taken into account in Earned Value Management. All these indicators will help us to carry out an adequate Project Control, including everything related to S-curves.
• Other types of information, such as project progress photographs, “curtains” to visually identify certain moments of the project.

Why is a Gantt Chart so important in project planning and project controls?

To answer the question of why is a Gantt Chart so important in project planning, we have to take into account the objectives we seek in project management.

Clear projects thanks to the Gantt Chart

First of all, clarity. Both our client and our project team seek to be able to clearly review the current status of the project and its progress. The Gantt Chart facilitates the reading of the project, being able to clearly identify where we are in the project, what we have done to date, and what work is still pending. Likewise, we can clearly compare project progress to the progress we expected based on the project baseline. In addition, the fact of being able to add the necessary resources to execute the tasks to our schedule of activities gives us visibility on whether we are using the resources properly or if, on the contrary, the project is executing under lower performance than expected. Finally, clarity is also shown at the cost level.

The Gantt Bar Chart improve communication with your team

Thanks to the clarity with which the Gantt Chart shows the status of a project, communication with the rest of the project team and with our client is carried out in a more comfortable way. The Gantt Chart is the “language” that all parties involved in the project know. Thanks to it, they can more effectively review the project status in the different planning meetings during the life of the project.

New collaboration links in your projects

In a project, due to the connection between the different phases and work teams, it is important that all parties have an understanding of the progress of the project at a general level and of its package of activities at a particular level. When someone is aware that a delay in their tasks impacts the progress of the tasks of other departments and colleagues, a nexus of collaboration between departments is created, as well as a better organization of the tasks to be carried out.

The Gantt Chart improves the organization of resources

A good Gantt Chart helps us to clearly visualize the impact that some tasks have on others. In the same way, it shows us the relationship that exists between departments for the correct development of the project. That is why during planning meetings, the schedule of activities will help us set target dates. Thus, the rest of the project team will take them into account for a better organization of their own resources.

When carrying out changes in the scope of a project, due to additional projects or new annexes to the contract, as well as when project schedule compression techniques are performed, the Gantt Chart is very useful since it offers us a general view of the project, being an elastic and flexible tool in the face of such changes.

IN PROJECT 2080 WE WOULD LIKE YOU TO REMEMBER

Our article about the first steps to know what a Gantt Chart is served as a first approach to the Gantt Diagram. In the same way, we taught you how to make a Gantt Chart step by step. This article has helped you to keep progressing your knowledge about the Gantt Chart. What is a Gantt Chart, why is a Gantt Chart so important in project planning, and what is a Gantt Chart for. As we have already mentioned, it is one of the key tools in the world of Planning and Project Controls. The Gantt Chart is capable of turning the complexity of a project into something easy to understand.

The Gantt Chart can be done using an excel sheet, in word, or in professional project planning tools, such as Primavera P6. In any case, these bar schedules need to be fed regularly. In this way, we can know the status of the project, as well as the progress and pending tasks for its completion.

The post What is a Gantt Chart and what is it for? was first published on Project 2080.

As is usual in our posts on Planning and Project Controls, the tool with which we are going to know how to make a Gantt Chart step by step will be Primavera P6 from Oracle. We also want to highlight that the next steps to follow are aligned with Earned Value Management.

How to make a Gantt Chart step by step

Step 1. what is the project scope

The first step to follow when we face the question of how to make a Gantt Chart step by step is to know the scope of the project. The scope of a project is the sum of all the parts required to reach a project completion milestone. These work packages of the project can be of a different nature, such as engineering package, purchasing package, logistics package, work execution package, or project closure package. Each of these packages will in turn contain different sub-packages that will house the different tasks to be carried out to complete the project.

In addition to the work packages that we have identified, the different contractual milestones and/or milestones are also part of the scope of a project that, despite not being contractual, will serve to monitor the project on a regular basis.

For this post, we have chosen a project whose scope is the manufacture and assembly of 25 “sleeper cars” on a railway production line, with a total duration of 44 months.

Step 2. Define the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

Once we know the scope of our project, within traditional project management, one of the tools to describe it clearly is the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). You can visit our Project Scheduling Glossary and learn more about what is a WBS.

A good Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is already halfway in the achievement of a project. That is why we recommend guiding the WBS of each project correctly. In this way, the WBS can focus on:

1. Deliverables
2. Tasks or Activities
3. Project Phases
4. Mix

When creating the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) for our project under study, we have taken into account the following project constraints:

1. There are 2 assembly buildings in the factory, which in turn are made up of different zones: 3 zones in the first building and 7 zones in the second building
2. among the 25 sleeper cars to assembly, there is only one considered as a prototype
3. prototype car must be approved by the client on every single zone, before the rest of cars start on that zone

Step 3. Create a list of activities

You have already seen that making a Gantt Chart step by step in Primavera P6 is very simple and a matter of organization. Create packages and sub-packages that are able to organize and show the scope of our project in a simple way. Once we know the scope of our project and we have divided it into packages thanks to our WBS, it is time to see what activities make up each of those packages. We already talked about this step in our post about the collaborative planning meeting.

When defining or creating the list of activities for a project, we try to create only activities that can be measurable during their lifetime within the project. And in cases where the activities are not measurable, we turn to Galileo Galilei when he said: “measure what is measurable, and make measurable what is not”.

In the project on which this post is based, we have identified all the activities that take place in each of the assembly areas. This list of activities also includes intermediate milestones that can be “gates” to new areas. These milestones will help us to create specific reports at the project management level.

Step 4. Calculating activity durations

We have almost reached the end. But one of the key points remains to know how to make a Gantt Chart step by step. This is to calculate the duration of each of the activities. For this, we can base ourselves on experience or make an assessment of what resources are necessary for these activities to be carried out. We are talking about resources such as materials, labor, or specific machinery.

In our project, we have relied on the man-hours needed to do the different assembly, electrical, painting, and other jobs required on a train production line to calculate the duration of our activities.

Step 5. Activity Relationships

The last step we need to do before we can create a Gantt Chart is to relate each of the activities. A golden rule of thumb in project planning is that all activities, except the start milestone and the finish milestone, must have at least one predecessor activity and one successor activity.

In our example, the relationships between activities have been carried out, first, taking into account the logical relationship between activities to be carried out during the assembly of a sleeping car. And second, taking into account the restriction that there cannot be 2 sleeping cars mounted at the same time in the same area.

Once we relate all the activities with others, adding predecessor and successor activities, we press the calculate button (F9 in Primavera P6) and all the activities will be reallocated in time.

Gantt Chart on Primavera P6

It is done! We have reached the point where we can see our project fully represented by a horizontal bar diagram, located in time thanks to the duration of each of the activities that feed the WBS (Work Breakdown Structure) of the project. Thanks to Primavera P6 we will be able to show the levels of detail that we have defined in the definition phase of the WBS (level 1, level 2, level 3, etc). This would be a summary Gantt Chart case. We can even see a Gantt Chart in Primavera P6 at the activity level. This is very useful when we have to present reports of critical activities where we are interested in seeing the day-to-day of these activities in order to analyze or manage risks in a more detailed way of the project.

One of the options that Primavera P6 offers us is that, even though we are showing a summarized Gantt Chart, we will be able to see if there may be critical activities at that level of WBS since critical activities can be displayed with a different color from the ones not critical. That’s where the project planner’s artistic judgment comes in.

Next, we show you what the Gantt Chart of our project would look like in Primavera P6.

IN PROJECT 2080 WE WOULD LIKE YOU TO REMEMBER

The Gantt Chart of a project is one of the most important points in project management. It is the tool that the project manager has to control and analyze the progress of a project, from an activity point of view, as well as from a point of view of the project phase to be analyzed. We have shown you how to make a Gantt Chart step by step in Primavera P6. However, you can also use other tools such as Microsoft Project, a spreadsheet, or some other software that you can find on the net for this purpose.

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The post How to make a Gantt Chart step by step was first published on Project 2080.

What is a WBS (Work Breakdown Structure)?

Imagine that you are the coach of a soccer team and you have nine months ahead of you where you have to play three different tournaments and each tournament consists of a series of back and forth matches. Also, you know that in each game you must play against a team of eleven players. If you intend to get to the games without having structured the season, you have a high probability of not achieving your goals and that you will not get to eat the nougat at Christmas. Therefore, you should organize the season to try to win the largest number of tournaments and use all your players efficiently.

The same happens in a project. The size of a project requires that the scope of the project have to be broken down into small portions that are easier to understand, plan and control. This decomposition into small pieces of work is what we call WBS.

How is the WBS (Work Breakdown Structure) shown?

There is something else we want you to know. There are two ways to represent the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS): as an organization chart hierarchy; or through a list of packages, each with its unique identification number. Alexander the Great already said it: “divide and conquer”.

What is the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) for?

There are two characteristics that all WBS must meet:

1. to provide transparency to the project. The execution of mega-projects requires a high degree of transparency. This is where the WBS becomes a good control tool. The WBS (Work Breakdown Structure) is in turn composed of another series of lower structures called work packages. Similarly, WBS is essential for creating a workstream and planning project costs.
2. to make the scope of the project understandable. You know what Albert Eisntein said: “you understand something when you are able to explain it to your grandmother”. Well, the WBS of a project has that objective. The scope of a project may not be too clear. In other words, the WBS is for the Project Manager what an organization chart is for the managers of a company. It shows the hierarchy that summarizes all the elements of a project.
3. to identify the “make or buy”. The WBS also serves to clearly identify which elements of the project we create and which are subcontracted or provided by third parties, such as suppliers, clients, consultants, etc. Outsourcing some project packages always means greater dependency and higher risk during the project execution phase. So the decision to do it yourself or to outsource certain packages must be seen in the WBS and thus be able to do the regular monitoring of it.

If this is the first time you see one of our videos, we remind you that we are Project 2080 and we speak very clearly about Planning and Project Controls. If you are interested in these topics, do not hesitate to subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell to be the first to access our content.

The post What is a WBS (Work Breakdown Structure)? was first published on Project 2080.

What is a Project Baseline?

In Project Management, the Project Baseline is the first schedule that includes the whole scope of the project. It is the initial photo of our project, prior to the start of the works. This scope represents all the work packages and activities that are reflected in the project contract. This will present a series of deliverables, contract milestones, payment milestones and activities related to project management, among others. In Project 2080 we like saying that the Base Line is created with the inputs we have at a given moment in time. Always prior to the beginning of the work to be done during the project life cycle.

The Project Baseline will be the first schedule against which we will compare the progress of our project on a regular basis. That is why the creation of the Baseline is so important since it will be key when it comes to controlling and monitoring our project.

During the execution of the project, due to different changes required through its own nature or from the client’s side, a new Baseline may be approved with new contractual dates. Once the client approves this new Baseline, this will become the new Project Baseline and will be against which we will compare the progress of the project.

Once we are clear about what the Project Baseline is, we will see how to create it, features and advantages.

How to create and show a Project Baseline?

When creating a Baseline, the 9 steps to create a project schedule from scratch we talked about in our post about  Project Schedule will be followed. Broadly speaking these would be:

1. WBS definition
2. To identify activities
3. Resource identification and allocation for every single activity
4. Bill of Quantities (BOQ)
5. To work out activity duration thanks to resource outputs
6. Activities relationship in a logic way
7. To add constraints if any
8. Critical Path Method to find out critical activities
9. Histogram analysis based on the project critical path

Project Baseline features

One of the main characteristics is that the Project Baseline Critical Path shows activities with Total Float equal to zero. Therefore, it is not possible within the Critical Path to there be activities with negative Total Float. Regarding the Critical Path, highlight that there will be only one main Critical Path, where all activities´ total float is equal to zero. However, a few subcritical paths will be shown.

It is also important to understand that in a baseline there will be no activities either in progress or completed. In other words, all project activities will start from the date we call Data Date onwards.

Project Baseline ADVANTAGES

Among the advantages that the creation of a Project Baseline brings, we highlight an improvement in the assessment and monitoring of our project. This makes that you do not miss the reference of the work to be done.

Another great advantage of the Project Baseline comes with the Earned Value Analysis as a tracking and monitoring tool. The EVA helps to generate and understand project trends in terms of time and cost. The Project Baseline, as long as the schedule has been cost loaded, helps us in this process. It will give us the breakdown by a period of time of the Planned Value of each of the work packages.

Finally, we will improve the work and resources´ estimates until the end of the project. This is thanks to the trends that the Earned Valued Analysis gives us. In other words, we will have tools to help us channel projects that do not comply with the delivery of contractual milestones.

DISADVANTAGES of not having a Project Baseline

The absence of a Project Baseline will lead to a multitude of problems:

1. We will not be able to have a resource estimation to use in the project life cycle. These resources include the engineering team, procurement team, and logistics, among others. But also the materials and machinery to be used are susceptible to be controlled within Project Management. When we have the entire projects portfolio in the same database, not being able to have an estimate of resources can lead to a total lack of control of indirect and direct costs of our projects and our Cash Flow.
2. The management of resources can also impact the delay in our project. This is because if we are unable to know when the need for certain resources is expected, such as the segmental tunnel linings for the execution of a tunnel, we will not be able to manage the entire process of design, purchase, and logistics of the material until we reach to the work.
3. Change Management is very important in changing projects and exposed to a large number of risks. The absence of an initial baseline prevents us from following up from the beginning of the project. Follow-up regarding the changes that occur and how they impact on the achievement of contractual milestones.
4. In Project Planning Management an important point is the periodic reports that talk about the progress of the project. These reports deal with issues such as delays, deliveries, changes, etc. One of the reports is one that compares the real progress with the expected progress until a certain time.
5. The dissatisfaction of our client and of all the stakeholders involved in the project. Creating a Project Baseline helps us gain credibility with our client. In addition, it generates confidence since it shows that we know the scope of our project and that we know how we are going to execute it. Therefore, the absence of a Baseline makes us lose all that trust that our client had deposited in us.

IN PROJECT 2080 WE WOULD LIKE YOU TO REMEMBER

We all like to see how we change and evolve throughout our lives. We see photos of when we were born, our first year of life, arrival at 18, etc. A project is like life. We need that first photo with which we will compare our progress, the progress of each of the work packages, the real costs compared to what we had planned before starting work. The Project Baseline will be responsible for representing that first photo with which to compare each period. There are many advantages but the disadvantages that their absence in our project implies are more problematic.

If you are thinking about obtaining the PMP Certification, do not hesitate to take a look at the PMBOK Guide Sixth Edition book to find out much more about Planning and Project Controls.

The post Project Baseline was first published on Project 2080.

Do you know what a Gantt Chart is?

The Gantt Chart is a graphical tool used to show the planned time of dedication for the execution of different tasks or activities of a project within a given period of time. In other words, it is the graphic representation that is used when we create a schedule of activities for a project.

Originally, the Gantt Chart does not indicate the relationships between activities. However, we will see how today project planning tools such as Primavera P6 gives us the possibility to show the relationships between activities in the Gantt Chart.

The Gantt Chart shows on the vertical axis the list of all the activities that represent the scope of the project. On the horizontal axis, the scale of time is shown. The time scale will be used to graphically represent the activity duration, the start and finish date of each of the project’s activity.

Note the use of the Gantt Chart to represent the progress of our project. Also, we can graphically represent the comparison with the Project Baseline.

You can already get an idea of the potential that this tool has within the field of Project Planning.

Who created the Gantt Chart

Although today is a very common technique in project planning and scheduling, the Gantt Diagrams were considered as something revolutionary in its beginnings. In 1912, Hermann Schürch published what was considered a kind of Gantt Diagram while discussing a construction project. These diagrams did not show inter-dependencies and were static representations of the planned schedule.

The Gantt Chart is named after Henry Gantt (1861-1919), who designed his diagram around the years 1910 and 1915. One of the main applications of the Gantt Chart was carried out by the United States during the First World War.

The first Gantt Charts were drawn on paper. They had to be drawn completely in order to adjust the changes that occurred in the schedule. For many years, Project Managers used pieces of paper to create the Gantt Chart bars so they could be adjusted according to need.

In the 80s, the arrival of personal computers allowed the creation of more complex and elaborated Gantt Diagrams. The first desktop applications will be made for Project Managers and Project Planners. Thanks to the Internet and collaborative networking systems, at the end of the 1990s Gantt Diagrams were already a feature within web applications. In 1999, Gantt Diagrams were identified as one of the most used management tools in project planning and controls.

In 2012, almost all Gantt Charts were made by software that could easily adjust to the changes in the schedule. One of this software was Primavera P6 from Oracle.

Best Tools for Gantt Chart development

The 3 most used tools to create a Gantt Schedule, or a schedule of activities that incorporate the Gantt Chart:

1. Primavera P6: within the world of project planning, the most widely used tool is Primavera P6 from Oracle. Thanks to it, creating a Gantt Chart is to sew and sing as we will see in the next point. In addition, each of the activities can be loaded with resources, costs, and budget. This will help to better control and manage our project.
2. Microsoft Project: this is one of the most used tools by Project Managers due to its intuitive operation. However, to carry out full control of the planning of a project may not be the most appropriate tool.
3. Excel (Microsoft Office): this tool is of mandatory use in Project Management. We have become so accustomed to the use of Excel in our day to day that we have come to adapt it to many other fields within Project Management. In our opinion, Excel is a very simple way to graphically represent the activities of a schedule through the introduction of data in a table. Data such as the name of the activity, the start and finish date of each task. As a negative point, the changes in the activities´relationships would not be automatically updated and we should enter the data again.

There are other Gantt Chart tools out there. However, if what you are looking for are an opensource free project scheduling and management apps, you have to have a look at the Gantt Project.

Creating a Gantt Chart in Primavera P6

The first thing that we must do is to create a list of activities that encompass the project scope. In the same way, we will also have previously created the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). Once this is done, the way to create a Gantt Chart with Oracle’s Primavera P6 planning tool is very simple. For this, it will be enough to select the Gantt Chart option.

As usually happens in Primavera P6, there are several ways to get to this option:

1. First, the simplest way is to click on the Gantt Chart icon  from the Primavera P6 toolbar.
2. A second way would be through the route View / Show on top / Gantt Chart .

IN PROJECT 2080 WE WOULD LIKE YOU TO REMEMBER

The Gantt Diagram in a project is one of the most used tools within Project Management. Much more used in Project Planning and Scheduling. Whatever the magnitude of our project is, the schedule of activities should include a Gantt Chart. Why? to graphically represent the status of project activities. Through the Gantt Chart, we can be able to visually identify the status of each activity through the color of the bars that represent them. For example blue for performed activity, green for0 remaining activity, and red for critical activity.

The post First steps… what is a Gantt Chart? was first published on Project 2080.

The Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) has developed a set of standards to ensure a well-constructed schedule of activities, which we have adjusted to your needs. These criteria will always depend on the type of schedule we have, its level of detail, the expected periods for schedule updating (weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc.) or the type of activities (dependent tasks, “level of effort”, summary bars, etc). It is necessary that you evaluate your schedule taking into account the metrics that we show you before you send it to your client.

16-point for project schedule quality assessment

Before I teach you how to create a “Project Schedule Quality Analysis” Dashboard on Power BI as the one shown below:

let me introduce the 16-point project schedule quality assessment.

1. Logic

This is one of the key criteria when assessing the quality of the project schedule in which you are working. It is measured through the percentage of activities that lack predecessors or successors. If it is decided not to link some of the activities, this should be reflected in the initial report of the baseline.

Target: to have less than 5% of the total activities.

2. Leads (negative Lags)

Lead is an acceleration in the successor activity and its use could be justified only in activities with an FS (Finish to Start) relationship. In other words, a Lead is a Lag with a duration less than zero. The use of leads implies intractability of the schedule since the visibility of how the works are developed will be lost.

Target: to have less than 1% of the total logic links.

3. Lags

A Lag is a delay of the successor activity. Relationships with a duration of Lag greater than zero. In this case, the relationship between activities could be any. As in the previous point, the use of lags implies that the logic of the schedule is not completely visible, reaching to show empty spaces between two consecutive activities. We will have to be able to replace a Lag with an activity that gives visibility to what is happening.

Target: have less than 5% of the total logic links.

4. High Lags

This is one of the criteria that we will have to take when preparing our first Project Baseline. Depending on factors such as the duration or project budget, the use of these two tools (leads and lags) could even not be accepted. A priori, we can establish a limit in values equal to 10 days.

Target: to have less than 5% of the total activities.

5. Relationships

Most of the relationships between activities should be Final to Start (Finish to Start). However, there are situations in which the use of other types of activities is justified. From our point of view, this is one of the most important criteria when evaluating the quality of the project schedule.

Target: to have more than 90% of total relationships.

6. Hard Constraints

These constraints prevent an activity from moving. It would be the case of constraints such as “Mandatory Start” or “Mandatory Finish”. This criterion will influence the calculation of the gaps in our project and, therefore, will have a direct impact on the calculation of the critical path. If its use is justified, then we should keep in mind the option to calculate the Critical Path under the criterion of the Longest Path.

Target: to have less than 1% of the total activities.

7. Soft Constraints

Unlike the previous case, these constraints do not prevent an activity from moving in the line of time. Its use will modify fields such as Early Start / Finish or Late Start / Finish.

Target: to have less than 5% of the total activities.

8. High Float

This is another criteria that must be defined at the beginning, depending on the nature of the project. In our case, we consider as very large gaps those greater than 120 working days (6 months).

Target: to have less than 1% of the activities.

9. Negative Float

Activities with a Total Float less than zero are those that belong to this group. Negative Float occurs in those projects that are in progress and whose hard constraints have been exceeded. In other words, due to the update of our schedule, our new planned date of completion of work exceeds the contractual completion date, which was fixed by means of a Mandatory Finish constraint, for example. In those schedules where a change in contractual dates has not been approved by the client and where we incur delays, the percentage of negative slack will be very high.

Target: to have less than 1% of the total activities.

10. High Duration

When assessing the quality of the project schedule, one of the key criteria is to establish the maximum duration allowed for our activities. This point will be established taking into account the activity package and the update period of the schedule. The criterion that we establish in Project 2080 for a very high activity duration is the lowest between 4 update cycles or 44 working days.

Target: to have less than 5% of the total activities.

11. Invalid Progress Dates

These activities would be those that are being declared as started or completed on dates subsequent to the Data Date of our schedule.

Target: to have less than 1% of the total activities.

12. Resource / Cost

This criterion indicates those activities that do not have either cost or a resource assigned.

Target: to have less than 1% of the total activities.

13. Late Activities

Activities with a planned completion later than the Project Baseline.

Target: to have less than 5% of the total activities.

14. BEI (Baseline Execution Index)

An indicator of the execution of the Base Line. Neither in Primavera P6 nor in Microsoft Project there is the variable BEI. To solve this, in Primavera P6 we can apply a filter and count all activities with a variation of the final date with respect to the project baseline equal to or greater than zero. This number would be divided by the total number of activities with a “Planned Finish Date” less than or equal to the “Data Date”. It should be noted that the only way to achieve a BEI> 1 is by executing activities out of sequence or earlier.

Target: a value greater than 0.95.

15. Critical Path Test

This test is carried out when an activity of the critical path is selected and we enter 600 days as the pending duration. If the final project date does not move with the same number of days, then it is assumed that the schedule presents a break in the logic used and the Test is declared as not approved.

Target: to pass the Critical Path Test

16. CPLI (Critical Path Length Index)

The CPLI is a measure of the efficiency that is required to complete a milestone in time. It measures the “realism” of the critical path relative to the final date of the baseline when it is constrained. A CPLI greater than 1.00 means that the schedule is running efficiently with respect to achieving the baseline milestone. The CPLI is, therefore, an indicator of the efficiency according to the activities within the critical path.

Target: a value greater than 0.95.

IN PROJECT 2080 WE WOULD LIKE YOU TO REMEMBER

The likelihood of success within a project depends directly on how to assess the quality of the project schedule. The Department of Defense of the United States and its “Defense Contract Management Agency” (DCMA) establish a series of criteria to take into account. These criteria should serve as a guide and be established before preparing the Project Baseline. In the same way, they will be taken into account in each update of the schedule.

The post How to do the Project Schedule Quality Assessment in Primavera P6 was first published on Project 2080.

Progress Control: create a schedule updating layout

Why creating a layout helps you to update a schedule?

At this point, you will be a real expert planner when it comes to creating a schedule of activities. Now it is time to progress or update our project. The first thing we must do to update a schedule in P6, the tool we use in Project 2080 to manage the project planning properly, is to create a layout that will help us:

1. To reflect the activities planned for the next 3 or 6 months
2. To highlight the specific activities of the next reporting period, which may be a week, a month, etc.

A priori, we might think that we only need to update the start and finish dates of the activities in our schedule. However, updating a project requires much more. The layout will show the information that we need to capture in month by month and thus be able to progress our schedule of activities in the right way.

Info needed in our layout

Under our criteria the information that is reflected in the table of activities would consist of:

1. Activity ID: a short ID which uniquely identifies the activity within the project.
2. Activity Name: The name of the activity. The activity name does not have to be unique.
3. Responsible: through the Activity Code called “Responsible” we will assign a person responsible for each activity of our schedule in Primavera P6. These can be Engineering, Purchasing, Logistics, Civil Subcontractor, Installations Subcontractor, Client, Project Manager, etc.
4. Start: the current start date of the activity. Set to the activity remaining early start date while the activity is not started, and the actual start date once the activity is started.
5. Actual Start: the date on which the activity is actually started. It should not be over Data Date.
6. Finish: the current finish date of the activity. Set to the activity remaining early finish date while the activity is not started or in progress, and the actual finish date once the activity is completed.
7. Actual Finish: the date on which the activity is actually finished. It should not be over Data Date.
8. Remaining Duration: is the total working time from the activity remaining start date to the remaining finish date. The remaining working time is computed using the activity’s calendar. Before the activity is started, the remaining duration is the same as the Original Duration. After the activity is completed the remaining duration is zero.
9. Activity % Complete: is the work performed to Data Date. This value is tied to the activity Duration % Complete, Units % Complete, or Physical % Complete. This depends on the Primavera P6 setting for the activity’s Percent Complete Type, which is one of “Duration”, “Units”, or “Physical”. Always in the range 0 to 100.
10. % up to XX, being XX the expected Data Date up to we can collect all inputs of the period.
11. Comments: a comments column helps us to collect relevant information from stakeholders abouts delays, scope, etc.

But to update the schedule is not just a matter of tables.We show you below a configuration that will make this report more visual and good looking.

Gantt Chart Diagram

To complement the information in the table, we will graphically represent our activities in the Gantt Chart diagram. There are many options to represent the bars, giving them a certain color depending on whether they are finished activities, remaining activities or critical activities. We could also represent the project baseline of each activity and thus see graphically whether the activities are being performed as planned, behind or ahead of schedule.

Filtro “Look Ahead” Filter

As we want this report to show us the activities at a certain period lookahead (3 months, 6 months, 12 months, etc), we need to filter our schedule. Therefore, I leave you a filter that I call “XX months Look Ahead”, where XX represents the lookahead time so that you can configure it in your Primavera P6. Do not forget to copy this filter “as layout” so that when you save the layout you always have it set as default.

Using Progress Spotlight option

With this option, what we are going to do is to highlight in yellow all those activities that are developed during the period we are studying. In our example, we will highlight the activities of the first month that follows the cut-off date of our current project.

Page and Pring Setup

Finally, and before saving the layout, we will configure the Print Setup so that it reflects the information correctly and as clearly as possible. Remember that our working layouts will save us a lot of time in our day-to-day life as planners.

And that’s it, we have achieved it. We already have our layout for Progress Control and it will help us to capture the progress that has been performed at the end of the period we are studying.

Capture and Collect all INFO for Schedule Updating

Once we have created our Progress Control layout (in this case we name it RE40 Progress Control), we distribute it to all the parties involved in the project, such as: Engineering, Purchasing, Logistics, Subcontractors, Client, Project Managers, etc. That is why we include a column that we call “Responsible” to our table. There are several ways to capture information:

1. Through a monthly meeting with the project team to see the progress of the month.
2. That each one of those responsible fills in their part of the project and return it to the planner so that he can compile it in a single document.
3. With meetings held between the planner and those responsible where progress and work performed is collected.

Among the three ways of data collection, the first option represents the most efficient since the work is done only once and information can be exchanged between the different parties.

But what data are we capturing? From all the columns that we create in our template, the columns that we must fill in are the following:

• Actual Start: in case the activity has started during the period.
• Actual Finish: in case the activity has finished during the period.
• % up to XX: percent work performed to Data Date
• Comments: in this column, all the relevant information that could justify a likely delay in activities will be written. In addition, it is good to record here the new expected starting and/or finishing date of each activity, as well as the duration that remains in case we have this information. In the case of not having the necessary information, we could make an estimation taking into account the progress of the activity during the study period.

Add all the new inputs in your schedule

It is time to add everything collected during the progress control period to Primavera P6 and this is, with no doubt, the simplest step of the whole process. To do this we will go to the Status tab and begin to dump the data in the schedule. In order to know that you have been adding the data correctly do not forget to highlight everything that you have already written to Primavera P6.

It’s time to schedule updating and move the Data Date

Once we have all the new date updated it is time to make our scheduling tool-P6 work a bit. It’s time to press F9 or go to the Schedule icon to press the Schedule button. Do not be scared if you see that all the dates and the bars have been moved forward. Even some negative Total Float might be shown. Next, let’s take a look at the quality of the schedule through the option “View Log”. This option helps us to identify activities that do not meet quality features we demand our schedule, such as:

1. Activities without predecessors
2. Activities without successors
3. Out-of-sequence activities
4. Activities with Actual Dates > Data Date
5. Milestone Activities with invalid relationships
6. Finish milestone and predecessors have different calendars

All of them must be solved, but we are going to make more emphasis on the “out-of-sequence activities”. Please, keep reading.

Sort Out-of-Sequence activities of your updated schedule

We call Out-of-Sequence activity when it is not executed according to the logical sequence that we had originally planned. A very simple example would be to plan our morning: we get up, shower and have breakfast. But it may be the case that today we have decided to get up, have breakfast and shower. This implies that the breakfast action was carried out outside the logical sequence originally planned.

In order to solve the out-of-sequence of Primavera P6 activities, Project 2080 method is shown below:

• Step 1: copy the activity ID of the “out-of-sequence” activity and look for it in Primavera P6 table.
• Step 2: in the “Relationships” tab we will only look at the predecessors’ activities. The out-of-sequence can happen for different reasons. The most common is that activities initially related by FS (Finish to Start) relationship are finally carried out ahead of schedule. To sort it, we can either remove the initially planned relationship and replace it with a new logical relationship or we can change the type of relationship between both activities, from FS (Finish to Start) to either SS (Start to Start) or FF (Finish to Finish). We recommend studying the out-of-sequence. When needed, add the necessary notes in the comments column for future claims or forensic analysis that we might get to perform in our project lifecycle.
• Step 3: verify that we no longer have any Out-of-Sequence. For this, we will schedule and have a look at the report “View Log” to check that there are no activities out-of-sequence any more.

Analyze the new Critical Path of the project

The end of the process of the schedule update is when we analyze the new Critical Path of the project. In the same way, we will check that there has been no impact on our contractual dates. When contractual milestones have been delayed, we should start a process to mitigate these delays.

IN PROJECT 2080 WE WOULD LIKE YOU TO REMEMBER

The most expected thing by a planner when planning a new project is the schedule updating on a regular basis. Why? because we love comparing the actual progress with the Project Baseline. Even the planner may need to compare the current situation of the project with previous periods and analyze the trend. The act of progressing a schedule is an important area of project planning management. This allows us to analyze what happened during the last period. We will identify impacts on our schedule which delayed or not the contract planned schedule.

The method is very simple. Create a working template, capture all the inputs, dump the information into P6 and schedule update to a new cut-off date. After that, we will analyze the updated schedule and prepare a detailed report of the period events.

The post 6 STEPS of Progress to update a schedule was first published on Project 2080.