Examples of Generic Enterprise Custom Fields

Most portfolio managers and executives seek answers to questions such as the following:

• Which projects are on schedule, and which ones are not? If there are projects not on schedule, how much behind (or ahead) are they in comparison to the baseline?

• Which projects are within the budget, and which ones are not? If there are projects not within the approved budget, how much over are they in comparison to the baseline?

To answer questions such as these, the deploying organization may use the traffic light indicators for schedule and budget performance.

Enterprise Custom Field: Schedule Indicator

The basis for the schedule formula is Planned Start/Finish against Baseline Start/Finish expressed as a percentage of Baseline Start/Finish.

The rules are

• If Planned Start/Finish is over the baseline by greater than 20%, the project is late and will not finish on schedule.

• If Planned Start/Finish is over the baseline by greater than 10%, the project is somewhat late and may not finish on schedule or could finish late by a manageable percentage).

• If Planned Start/Finish is over the baseline by 10% or less, the project schedule is within tolerance (green ball indicator).

Any and all projects that have not been baselined will be indicated as such No Baseline.

Given these rules, the following is the schedule formula:

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 IIf([Baseline Finish]>#1/1/2900#,"No Baseline", IIf(((ProjDateDiff([Start],[Finish])-ProjDateDiff([Baseline Start], [Baseline Finish]))/(ProjDateDiff([Baseline Start], [Baseline Finish])))*100>20,"  +" & ((ProjDateDiff([Start], [Finish])-ProjDateDiff([Baseline Start], [Baseline Finish]))/(ProjDateDiff([Baseline Start], [Baseline Finish])))*100 & "%", IIf(((ProjDateDiff([Start],[Finish])-ProjDateDiff([Baseline Start], [Baseline Finish]))/(ProjDateDiff([Baseline Start], [Baseline Finish])))*100>10," +" & ((ProjDateDiff([Start], [Finish])-ProjDateDiff([Baseline Start], [Baseline Finish]))/(ProjDateDiff([Baseline Start], [Baseline Finish])))*100 & "%",IIf(((ProjDateDiff([Start], [Finish])-ProjDateDiff([Baseline Start],[Baseline Finish])) /(ProjDateDiff([Baseline Start],[Baseline Finish])))*100>0,"+" & ((ProjDateDiff([Start],[Finish])-ProjDateDiff([Baseline Start],[ Baseline Finish]))/(ProjDateDiff([Baseline Start],[Baseline Finish])))*100 & "%",IIf(( (ProjDateDiff([Start],[Finish])-ProjDateDiff([Baseline Start], [Baseline Finish]))/(ProjDateDiff([Baseline Start], [Baseline Finish])))*100=0,"0%",((ProjDateDiff([Start], [Finish])-ProjDateDiff([Baseline Start],[Baseline Finish]))/ (ProjDateDiff([Baseline Start],[Baseline Finish])))*100 & "%"))))) 

CAUTION

The preceding formula does not apply to tasks. It applies only to project duration, and it shows the percentage increase in duration. Also, note that if you slip the start date out, the formula will not show any problems as long as the duration of the project is the same.

Enterprise Custom Field: Budget Indicator

Budget performance is another important indicator for the health of the project. Different organizations have different requirements, and their tolerance to budget overruns varies. For example, consider the case of an organization that flags as "green" any project that is under budget, "yellow" any project that has a budget overrun up to 20%, and "red" any project that has a budget overrun of 20% or more. In this case, the short formula is

 Switch(Len(CStr([Baseline Finish]))<3,"No baseline", ([Cost]+1)/([Baseline Cost]+1)>1.2,"Overbudget by 20% or more", ([Cost]+1)/([Baseline Cost]+1)>1,"Overbudget",True,"Under budget") 

Other custom fields can be designed by each deploying organization to suit the organization's specific need. Some of the more common custom fields are

• Project's Billable Rate

• Project ROI

• Project Brief Description