Displaying a programme dashboard view

The 'Finish Variance (days)' section of the dashboard shows the number of days by which the live programme finish date varies from the planned programme finish date, taken from the baseline. A positive value means that the programme is due to finish earlier than was planned in the baseline; a negative value means that the programme is due to finish later than was planned in the baseline.

A coloured variance indicator gives you a visual indication of the status of the programme's finish date: green shows that the programme finish date should give you no cause for alarm; red shows that the programme finish date is in a poor position when compared to the baseline, so you should take action; amber shows that the programme finish date is somewhere in between - so although there is no cause for alarm, you should monitor the finish date closely to ensure that it does not fall behind.

You specify the number of days' variance at which the different colours of the variance indicator are triggered, using the Finish Variance Green (Upper) Boundary and Finish Variance Red (Lower) Boundary fields, on the Dashboard Options page.

The (untitled) 'User-Defined Fields' section of the dashboard displays one or two project-level user-defined fields that help to identify the programme. For example, 'Sector' and 'Sub-Sector' user-defined fields, or a 'Region' user-defined field, may be displayed.

You specify the user-defined fields to display, using the Project UDF Name 1 and Project UDF Name 2 fields, on the Dashboard Options page. If the user-defined fields you specify do not exist in the project, the (untitled) 'User-Defined Fields' section does not appear in the dashboard. If you display a user-defined field in the dashboard and subsequently change its name, the user-defined field name is not updated on the dashboard until you have edited the dashboard options and reselected the renamed user-defined field.

The 'Cost To Date' section of the dashboard is a simple bar graph that displays:

• Forecast cost - the total cost of the programme in the live data, up to the report date of the last used progress period in the project.
• Planned cost - the planned cost of the programme in the baseline, up to the report date of the last used progress period in the project.
• Actual cost - the total cost of the programme that has been completed in the live data, up to the report date of the last used progress period in the project.

If no cost is recorded in the programme, the 'Cost To Date' section does not appear in the dashboard.

The 'Activity Days' section of the dashboard is a simple bar graph that displays:

• Planned activity days - the total number of days in all tasks in the baseline, up to the report date of the last used progress period in the project.
• Actual activity days - the total number of completed days in all tasks in the live data.

If a task spans the report date, only those days that occur before the report date are counted.

The 'Activity Count To Date' section of the dashboard is a simple bar graph that displays:

• The total number of tasks that have started (or finished) in the live data, up to the report date of the last used progress period in the project.
• The total number of tasks that were planned to have started (or finished) in the baseline, up to the report date of the last used progress period in the project.

You specify whether to count tasks that have started, or finished, by the report date using the Count Activities By Start Date check box, on the Dashboard Options page.

You can specify whether or not milestones are included in the task count, using the Include Milestones In Activity Count check box, on the Dashboard Options page.

The 'Activity Count By Code To Date' section of the dashboard displays the same data as the 'Activity Count To Date' section, but grouped by the codes in a specific code library. For example, if you chose to group the tasks according to the codes they have been assigned from a 'Floor Level' code library, you might see one comparison graph for 'Ground Floor', one for '1st Floor', and so on.

You specify the code library by which to group the tasks in the Activity Count Code Library Name field, on the Dashboard Options page.

You specify whether to count tasks that have started, or finished, by the report date using the Count Activities By Start Date check box, on the Dashboard Options page.

You can specify whether or not milestones are included in the task count, using the Include Milestones In Activity Count check box, on the Dashboard Options page.

The 'Allocated Resources vs Planned' section of the dashboard is a simple bar graph that displays:

• The number of resources that are allocated in the live data for each of the next six weeks.
• The number of resources that are allocated in the baseline for each of the next six weeks.

The 'Critical Path Upcoming Activities' section of the dashboard lists any critical tasks that are due to take place in the future.

You specify the number of weeks into the future in which to look for upcoming critical tasks, using the Critical Path Look Ahead (Weeks) field, on the Dashboard Options page.

The 'Key Milestones' section of the dashboard lists the following details for all milestones that have been assigned a code from a specific code library:

• Name.
• Planned Date - taken from the baseline.
• Forecast/Actual Date - taken from the live data, and displayed in bold for milestones that are completed.
• Variance - the number of days by which the milestone date in the live date varies from its date in the baseline date. A positive value means that the milestone is due to finish (or has finished) earlier than was planned in the baseline; a negative value means that the milestone is due to finish (or has finished) later than was planned in the baseline.
  
  A coloured variance indicator gives you a visual indication of the status of each milestone: green shows that the milestone date should give you no cause for alarm; red shows that the milestone date is in a poor position when compared to the baseline, so you should take action; amber shows that the milestone date is somewhere in between - so although there is no cause for alarm, you should monitor the milestone closely to ensure that it does not fall behind.

You specify the code library to use in this section of the dashboard in the Key Milestone Code Library Name field, on the Dashboard Options page. If the code library you specify does not exist in the project, the 'Key Milestones' section does not appear in the dashboard.

You specify the number of days' variance at which the different colours of the variance indicator are triggered, using the Milestone Variance Green (Upper) Boundary and Milestone Variance Red (Lower) Boundary fields, on the Dashboard Options page.