Examine this project plan. The plan is complete and has baseline information stored within it.
You will now begin recording progress against the tasks in this plan. The first step is to examine
project statistics to ascertain estimated duration and costs at this point in time.
Review the project statistics. Project duration is estimated at 103 days, work is estimated at
1,136 hours and cost is estimated at $178,300.
The Update Project dialog box can be used to update work as complete, or to re-schedule
uncompleted work to start at a later date. In this case, you use Update Project to mark work
complete as of 6/27/14.
Notice the changes to the left side of the Gantt Chart view. In the Indicator column on the far
left, several checkmarks appear. These checkmarks represent completed tasks. As a result of
updating the project, tasks 1 through 6 are now marked complete.
Notice changes to the right side of the Gantt Chart view. The Gantt bars for completed tasks
have thin dark lines drawn through them, called progress bars.
Notice the Gantt bar for Task 7. The progress bar does not fill the entire length of the Gantt bar
because you updated progress to only 6/27/14. This task is scheduled for completion on
7/1/14, so the progress bar for Task 7 indicates that this task is only partially completed.
Now compare project statistics after updating the project to the numbers at the beginning of
this exercise.
Review the project statistics displayed. Project duration is still estimated at 103 days, work is
still estimated at 1,136 hours, and cost is still estimated at $178,300. There is no change in
these values because you updated the project to reflect work had been completed as
scheduled.
However, now examine the Actual row. As a result of updating Tasks 1 through 6 as complete,
actual values for duration, work, and cost have been recorded. These values are calculated by
adding up the hours of work for each task completed, then multiplying by the cost of the
resources used.
The actual values are then subtracted from the current values for duration, work, and cost to
calculate the remaining values at the bottom of the project statistics dialog box.
Let Me Try!
Finally, display your cost and variance tables to display task costs and any variance from the
project baseline.
This view contains your task list, dates, and assignment information without the Gantt bars to
the right.
A list of available tables is displayed. Verify that the Variance table is selected.
Notice the additional columns in this table; they include Baseline Start, Baseline Finish, Start
Variance, and Finish Variance.
Examine tasks 1 through 6. Notice that all the variance values are zero. This is again because
you indicated tasks up to 6/27/14 were completed as scheduled.
14. From the list of available tables, select the Cost table.
Let Me Try!
Part of the Cost table is shown above. Recall that Project Statistics showed an actual cost of
$14,700 for the six completed tasks, with a partial completion of Task 7. Examine the Cost
table view, focusing on Tasks 1 through 7. Notice the costs allocated to each of these tasks,
some of which are summary tasks.
Summary tasks display a rollup of all the costs subordinate to the summary task. This means
that Task 3 displays a rollup of the costs for Tasks 4, 5, and 6.
Note also that Task 7 shows only a partial allocation of costs. Because this task is only partially
complete, Microsoft Project has only allocated $300 of the expected $900 cost.