Creating a new schedule quality check

Quality checks are library objects. You create and edit them in the same way as other library objects.

To create a new schedule quality check:

  1. Open Library Explorer.
  2. Open the Quality Check library. All existing schedule quality checks appear in the list view.
  3. Right-click a blank area of the list view and select New Quality Check. A new schedule quality check is created.

    You can also create new schedule quality checks by right-clicking a blank part of the Quality Checks pane and selecting New Quality Check from the menu that appears.
  4. Enter a name for the schedule quality check in the Name column and press ENTER.
  5. Right-click the schedule quality check and select Properties. The Quality Check Properties dialog appears.
  6. Click the Details tab.
  7. In the Weighted total fail boundary field, enter the percentage that constitutes a fail for the schedule quality check as a whole. When you execute a schedule quality check, a weighted total percentage for the quality check as a whole is calculated. If the weighted total percentage is less than the fail boundary that you enter here, the quality check as a whole is shown to have failed.
  8. In the Weighted total pass boundary field, enter the percentage that constitutes a pass for the schedule quality check as a whole. When you execute a schedule quality check, a weighted total percentage for the quality check as a whole is calculated. If the weighted total percentage is greater than or equal to the pass boundary that you enter here, the quality check as a whole is shown to have passed.
  9. The Metrics field lists the quality metrics you can include in a schedule quality check. Click the check box to the left of a quality metric to include it in the quality check, or clear the check box to exclude a quality metric from the quality check.
  10. Use the fields to the right to specify the settings for each metric. The fields that appear to the right depend on the type of metric that is selected:
    • In the Weighting field, enter the factor by which the quality metric should be multiplied to affect its impact on the weighted total result of the quality check - an indication of whether the quality check as a whole has passed or failed. For example, enter 2.00 to double a metric's impact, or 0.50 to halve it; a weighting of zero would mean that the metric had no effect on the weighted total result. Giving those metrics in which you are most concerned a higher weighting than other metrics increases their impact on the weighted total result.
    • For quality metrics that must be compared against a given duration, enter the duration in the Duration field.
    • For quality metrics that must be compared against a given number, enter the number in the Count field.
    • For the 'link logic' quality metric, specify whether you want to exclude the start and finish tasks in a project using the Start / finish activities check box. If the scope of a quality check is the entire project - from start to finish - it makes sense to do this, as if you include the start and finish tasks in this quality metric, they will fail the metric even though they are correctly linked.
    • For the 'link activity finishes' quality metric, specify whether you want to exclude the finish task in a project using the Allow finish activity check box. If the scope of a quality check is the entire project - from start to finish - it makes sense to do this, as if you include the start and finish tasks in this quality metric, they will fail the metric even though they are correctly linked.
    • In the Pass boundary field, enter the percentage - or number, for quality metrics involving ratios - that signifies a "pass". For example, if you enter a pass boundary of 90%, the project is judged to have passed this quality metric if 90% or more of all tasks meet the metric description.
    • In the Fail boundary field, enter the percentage - or number, for quality metrics involving ratios - that signifies a "fail". For example, if you enter a fail boundary of 40%, the project is judged to have failed this quality metric if 40% or less of all tasks meet the metric description.
  11. Click the Scope tab.
  12. Select the check boxes to the left of the charts and summary groups that you want to include in the schedule quality check. Selecting a chart or summary group selects the entire branch that leads off the chart or summary group automatically.
  13. Select the Include fully completed tasks check box to include tasks that are 100% complete in the schedule quality check, or clear the check box to exclude them.
  14. Select the Include milestones check box to include milestones in the schedule quality check, or clear the check box to exclude them.
  15. In the Results field, specify the way in which the results from individual charts and summary groups are presented:
    • Select 'Combine result from selected scope' to join the results for each selected chart and summary group into a single value for each quality metric.
    • Select 'Separate results for each chart scope' to group the results by chart or summary group and display a separate entry for each quality metric for each chart or summary group.
  16. Click Close.

Related Topics:

Introduction to schedule quality checking

Available quality metrics

Executing a schedule quality check

Understanding the results of a schedule quality check

Using the Quality Checks pane to review quality check results

Sharing quality metric settings between quality checks and projects