Updating - Statusing

OVERVIEW – User-defined fields enable you to add your own custom fields and values to the project database. For example, you can track additional activity data, such as delivery dates and purchase order numbers, or resource and cost-related data, such as profit, variances, and revised budgets.

To create user-defined fields, choose Enterprise, User Defined Fields. In the drop-down list at the top of the dialog box, select the subject area of the product where you want to use the new field, such as Activities, Activity Steps, Activity Resource Assignments, Projects, Resources, WBS, Expenses, Issues, Risks, and Work Products & Documents. Click Add. Enter the user-defined title and data type for the new field. - Primavera

1. Copy the project, BAS – Baselines, and paste it under the statusing node.  On the Copy Project Options window make sure the Baselines box is checked.  Click OK on the Copy Baselines window and then proceed like normal for the rest of the dialogue boxes.  Give the new project a Project ID of STS & a Project Name of Statusing.  Open the project.
   
   
2. In the Activity View, go down to the activity details panel and click the Status tab.  This is the area where you can update progress on any highlighted activity. 
   
   
3. But before we start giving status to any of our activities, let’s add an activity and name it Rm. 201 Complete and assign the Rm. 201 Calendar to it.
   
   
4. Click on the General tab on the Activity Details panel.  On the very first box, change the Activity Type to Finish Milestone. 
   
   
5. Once the Activity Type is deselected, the activity’s Start cell in the activity table will disappear.  Give the activity a predecessor of L2-1140 and then recalculate the schedule by pressing F9.  We now have a milestone to mark the end of our project.
   
   
6. Now, go to the columns window and replace Schedule % Complete with Physical % Complete since that is what we will be using for this project.  Save the layout.
   
   
7. Click on the Status tab again and highlight activity L2-1000.  Let’s go ahead and actualized the activity’s schedule start date of 15-Jun-11 by checking the box next to Start.  Notice that an “A” is to the right of the start date indicating that the activity has started. 
   
   
8. Now, give the activity an actual finish date of 16-Jun-11.  Once you check the Finish box, the activity automatically is given a 100% status as well as 0 remaining days.  The activity bar in the Gantt chart also will turn blue when the activity is complete (covered in more detail in the Display section).
   
   
9. Give the following activities the actuals presented below.  For the last activity where you have to give it a physical % complete and a remaining duration, enter these directly into the activity table cells.
   
   
1. L2-1010
   Start – 17-Jun-11
   Finish – 21-Jun-11
2. L2-1020
   Start – 20-Jun-11
   Finish - 20-Jun-11
3. L2-1030
   Start – 21-Jun-11
   Finish – 22-Jun-11
4. L2-1040
   Start – 23-Jun-11
   Finish – 27-Jun-11
5. L2-1050
   Start – 28-Jun-11
   Finish - 28-Jun-11
6. L2-1060
   Start – 29-Jun-11
   Finish – 29-Jun-11
7. L2-1070
   Start – 30-Jun-11
   Finish – n/a
   Physical % Complete – 15%
   Remaining Duration – 4
   
   Note – Notice that the Physical % Complete and Duration % Complete do not match each other.  The reason for this is that sometimes the bulk of the work can be done in a very short period of time while more fine-tuning work takes longer but does not necessarily account for most of the end product. 
   
   This issue becomes important for a project’s payment application and is also the reason why physical % complete is often what is used in cost loaded schedules.
   
   
10. To see what the new completion will be let’s press F9, but before pressing schedule, change the data date on the project to July 1st.  Click Schedule.
    
    TIP – A monthly update schedule should have the 1st of the next month as its data date.  Placing the data date there will ensure that all non-progressed activities will have their start and finish dates calculated from 12 midnight of the first day of the next month.
    
    
11. Once rescheduled, we see that the project has slipped a day and now finishes on 27-Jul-11 instead of 26-Jul-11.  To reflect this slippage in the float column, we have to add a constraint to the Rm. 201 Complete milestone.
    
    
12. Make sure that activity L2-1150 is highlighted.  Go back down to the Status tab window and pick Finish On or Before from the Primary Constraint drop-down menu.
    
    
13. Once you have the constraint assigned to the activity, the Constraint Date window becomes activated and shows the activity’s current date, 27-Jul-11.  Change it to 26-Jul-11 to reflect the non-progressed schedule’s finish date.
    
    Note – An asterisk becomes visible next to the constrained date once the constraint is applied.
    
    
14. Reschedule the project now by pressing F9 and then schedule. 
    
    
15. Notice that a –1 is displayed in the Total Float column now instead of a 0.  This –1 reflects the number of days the current project is behind schedule based off of the constraint date we just applied to the finish milestone.  If we instead has chosen 28-Jul-11 as the constraint date, a positive 1 day float would be in the column instead.

TIP – Most information in Primavera is displayed in several locations even though it is the same data.

Note – Primavera gives you the option to use three different Percent Complete Types on any given project.  This setting can be set on the Defaults tab in the Projects View.  It should be noted that you should set this option on your project prior to adding any activities.  Once an activity is added when the default is set to use Physical % Complete, it can not be changed to Duration % Complete after it has been added.

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