'Invalid dates' quality metric
Use this metric to check the proportion of tasks that are late or early, when compared to the report date of the progress entry period. A task is considered to be late if is incomplete and it is positioned before the report date of the progress entry period. A task is considered to be early if it is complete and it is positioned after the report date of the progress entry period. Completed tasks should be positioned before the report date; incomplete tasks should be positioned after it.
This metric meets the requirements of CIOB stress test 9 (Invalid dates) and DCMA test 9 (Invalid dates).
Examples of tasks with invalid dates
In the following illustration, Task 2, which is incomplete, is positioned earlier than the report date of the progress entry period, indicated by the blue progress line. The task is late, so its dates are invalid. This task would fail this metric:
In the following illustration, Task 2, which is complete, is positioned later than the report date of the progress entry period, indicated by the blue progress line. The task is early, so its dates are invalid. This task would fail this metric:
You can change the impact that this metric has on the weighted total result of a quality check by entering a factor by which the quality metric should be multiplied in the Weighting field. For the weighting to have any effect, a quality check must have more than one quality metric.
Pass and fail criteria
| Pass or fail? | Criteria |
|---|---|
| Pass | A project passes this metric if it contains no tasks with invalid dates. |
| Fail | A project fails this metric if it contains one or more tasks with invalid dates. |
Suggested settings
N/A: this metric is either passed or failed.
Does the metric force a project to be rescheduled?
No.
Suggested actions if a project fails this metric
If a project fails this metric, select the metric in the Quality Check Results dialog and click Show Failing Tasks to view the tasks that have failed the metric.
You could take the following actions to remedy the failing tasks:
- If an incomplete task is positioned before the report date of the progress entry period, consider whether the task really is late, or whether you have neglected to record progress against it in the project. If the task really is late, look into this then revise the schedule. If you have neglected to record progress against the task, progress it.
- If a completed task is positioned after the report date of the progress entry period, consider whether the task really is complete, or whether you have recorded progress against it in error. Remove the progress from the task and move it to an appropriate position in the project. If the task really is complete, record progress against it in its new position.