Summarizing project information with Overview reports (book excerpt)
Posted: Saturday, April 28, 2012 by Tyler Durden in
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Summarizing project information with Overview reports (book excerpt)
Applies to: Microsoft Office Project 2003
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| Microsoft Office Project 2003 |
 | This article was excerpted from Microsoft® Office Project 2003 Inside Out by Teresa S. Stover. Visit Microsoft Learning to buy this book.View other articles written by Teresa Stover. |
This is the second in a sequence of six articles excerpted from Chapter 12, "Reporting Project Information."
In this article
The Overview reports in Microsoft Office Project 2003 are well-suited for executives and upper management who need more generalized project information and status. The Overview reports provide summary project information at a glance.
To see the available Overview reports, follow these steps:
- On the View menu, click Reports.
- In the Reports dialog box, click Overview, and then click Select.
The Overview Reports dialog box appears.
- Double-click the report you want.
A preview of the report appears, showing how the report will look when printed.
Using the Project Summary report
The Project Summary report focuses on the most important information in the project plan and is particularly useful to upper management because of its concise presentation of overall project data.
The information in the Project Summary report is the same as that available in the Project Statistics dialog box. It includes a high-level summary of rolled-up dates, duration, work, costs, work and resource status, and notes. The format is designed for easy comparison of baseline (planned) versus actual data.
The header of this report shows the company name, the project title, the date produced, and the name of the project manager. The source of this header information is the properties data entered for the project.
TIP To enter project properties, click Properties on the File menu, and then complete the information on the Summary tab.
Using the Top-Level Tasks report
The Top-Level Tasks report presents information about the project plan’s summary tasks. It displays the results of the top summary tasks, rolling up all the data from any subtasks. This is most useful for organizations that are clearly divided into functional groups. If each group has its own section at the same level in the project plan, the Top-Level Tasks report quickly shows the status of each group’s efforts.
The Top-Level Tasks report is based on the Summary table for tasks, with the Top Level Tasks filter applied. The report includes the top-level summary tasks and their rolled-up durations, start and finish dates, percentage complete, cost, and work.
NOTE If you have applied the project summary task, that is the only task that will show in this report. To hide the project summary task, click Options on the Toolsmenu. Click the View tab, and then clear the Show Project Summary Task check box. Generate the report again, and then show the project summary task again.
Using the Critical Tasks report
The Critical Tasks report filters your project information to show only those tasks that are most likely to affect the project finish date; that is, critical tasks. In addition to displaying task notes, this report provides a subtable containing successor task information under each task, which shows the other tasks that will be affected by progress on the critical task.
Because task information is always changing, it is a good idea to print the Critical Tasks report very shortly before presenting it for review. For example, on the day of the report’s presentation, a predecessor task to a critical task might finish early, thus allowing the critical task to start earlier and no longer be critical. This report also lists any summary tasks to the critical tasks and any indicators from the Task Entry view.
The Critical Tasks report is typically used to explain why problems are occurring in a project. This report does an excellent job of showing the source of some problems, but it must be used with the understanding that the listing of critical tasks can change easily and often. The inclusion of summary and successor tasks in the report helps present a more expanded description of how the critical tasks relate to other tasks in the project. If the list becomes too lengthy, you can filter it down further:
- In the Overview Reports dialog box, click Critical Tasks, and then clickEdit.
- Make sure that the Definition tab is showing in the Task Report dialog box.
- In the Filter list, click any of the filters to define the type of critical tasks you want to see in the report.
The Critical Tasks report is based on the task Entry table with the Critical filter applied. The report includes durations, start and finish dates, indicators, notes, and successor fields for all critical tasks.
Using the Milestones report
The Milestones report filters your project tasks to show only milestone tasks and associated information. This high-level report helps you focus on key events and dates in your project.
The Milestones report is based on the task Entry table with the Milestone filter applied. The report includes durations, start and finish dates, indicators, and notes for all milestone tasks.
Using the Working Days report
The Working Days report specifies which days are working days and which are nonworking days for each base calendar used in the project. You might use several base calendars to reflect the scheduled working days of different functional groups or to reflect working times specified by labor contracts.
The Working Days report is formatted as a table; with columns for day of the week, hours of the day, and nonworking days. One table is drawn for each calendar. The data in this report might not change very often, so it would be appropriate to include it in a comprehensive project review or a quarterly or annual report.
Next article in this sequence
About the author Award-winning author Teresa Stover has written 11 computer books and countless user manuals, tutorials, and online help systems. She is a project management expert who's served as a consultant to the Microsoft Project team since Version 4. Teresa is the author of Microsoft® Project Version 2002 Inside Out and manages her own technical and business writing consultancy.
