Create Graphical Indicators

Quick reference

• 00:04 One of the biggest challenges in reviewing a project schedule is all of this data.
• 00:11 It's really hard to read.
• 00:11 It all kind of flows together.
• 00:13 It's a little taxing to the eyes.
• 00:15 So what we want to do is create some graphical indicators to make it very clear
• 00:20 the message that we're sending to the reader.
• 00:22 The first thing we're going to do to create a graphical indicator
• 00:26 is to right-click on our custom field, which is present duration variants.
• 00:31 Right-click on there, choose Custom Fields.
• 00:36 And now you see a custom fields dialog.
• 00:39 We already created the formula.
• 00:42 So what we're going to do is create some graphical indicators.
• 00:45 So click the graphical indicators button.
• 00:49 First I'm going to show you how graphical indicators work at a high level, and
• 00:53 then we'll go ahead and finish defining them.
• 00:56 So here's our test field.
• 00:58 And the test field we're going to start with is less than and choose zero.
• 01:04 And what this is saying is, if our percentage is negative,
• 01:09 meaning we're actually doing better in the schedule
• 01:14 than we thought, then display this image.
• 01:18 I'm going to choose an image with this dashed green.
• 01:22 And the dash green essentially says hey, we're doing well,
• 01:26 although why are we doing?
• 01:28 Well, this is going to make us ask the question, are we ahead of schedule because
• 01:34 maybe things are not getting done, or we could move things a little bit faster?
• 01:39 So even though we're ahead of schedule doesn't necessarily mean that
• 01:43 everything's okay.
• 01:44 So that's why I'm not just having a check box or a smiley face there.
• 01:50 The next thing we'll do is choose equals and type 0.
• 01:55 And for the image, I'm going to just choose this neutral grey.
• 02:00 Cuzwhat this is saying is we're neither ahead of schedule or behind schedule.
• 02:05 We're neutral.
• 02:06 Everything's at 0.
• 02:08 Before we go any further, I'm just going to click the OK button and
• 02:12 click the OK button again.
• 02:14 Notice how our values have turned into images.
• 02:18 And all these gray's represent zeros.
• 02:21 Now you might be wondering how come this acquire land is blank?
• 02:25 Well, that's because it doesn't meet our criteria.
• 02:28 If I mouse over, you can see it says, I'm over by 33%.
• 02:34 So now I'm going to show you how to finish configuring all of your indicators.
• 02:39 We'll just go back to the percent duration variance column,
• 02:44 right-click and choose Custom Fields.
• 02:47 We'll choose graphical indicators one more time.
• 02:52 Now underneath equals, we're going to say is greater than or equal to 0.1.
• 02:59 And this is saying if it's greater
• 03:05 than 10% then make it red.
• 03:09 Here I'm going to choose this red, sad face.
• 03:13 The next thing I'm going to do is greater than or equal to,
• 03:21 0.05, 5% over, then we'll make this yellow.
• 03:28 And here's this sad face.
• 03:32 And now we're going to go ahead and
• 03:38 choose is less than 0.05.
• 03:43 And we'll choose green saying that everything's okay and
• 03:49 we're still on schedule.
• 03:51 Now, you might be wondering, why would project say if it's less
• 03:57 than 0.05 make it green yet it would still display if it's 0 or
• 04:02 less than 0, make it these two images instead.
• 04:06 You might be wondering, how does project figure out which image to display?
• 04:11 Well, the answer is right here.
• 04:12 Tests are applied in the order listed and
• 04:15 processing stops at the first successful test.
• 04:19 So what it's saying is, if it sees a zero first it's going to do that.
• 04:22 If not, it moves on to the next one, if not, it moves on to the next one.
• 04:26 So that's how that works.
• 04:28 Now here's a quirky thing with setting up graphical indicators.
• 04:32 If you want them to be available for not only tasks but
• 04:36 summary tasks, you need to come over here and
• 04:39 click the summary rows and check the summary row checkbox.
• 04:44 It's basically saying use the formula, the indicators, rather that we just created.
• 04:49 And come down here one more time and check that checkbox and click yes.
• 04:53 I know it looks like radio buttons so you're selecting one or the other, but
• 04:58 you are actually selecting multiples.
• 05:00 So now go ahead and click the OK button and click the OK button once more.
• 05:05 And now we have our indicators displayed.
• 05:08 So basically what we have here is a situation where prepare house purchase
• 05:13 is over the 10% mark that the homeowner wants us to track against.
• 05:18 Yet the new house is not but it's at point 0.06
• 05:23 which is basically 6% over the schedule duration.
• 05:29 You can go ahead and
• 05:30 add that same exact graphical indicator set to this percent cost variance.
• 05:36 I'm going to show you a real quick tip.
• 05:38 I can click this import indicator criteria button, choose my project,
• 05:44 choose the field that already has one of the formulas in it and click OK.
• 05:50 And that brings in the formula.
• 05:51 Then all I need to do is click these checkboxes like we did before in
• 05:56 the other one.
• 05:57 And once we click OK, our formula
• 06:03 is now set up in both fields.

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