Status Reporting to Your Sponsor
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By Dick Billows, PMP, GCASummary: An effective way to begin status reports is the tracking Gantt which displays bars for the planned and actual duration of tasks. It's the best way to get everyone up to speed quickly because it shows the ripple effect of overruns all the way through the project. |
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| We spend a lot of time in the AdPM™ methodology on status reporting because much of a project manager's credibility with executives and the organization comes from a PM's performance in status meetings. Of particular importance, is the ability to give an executive the "big picture" quickly. The tracking Gantt in MS Project® is a great tool even if the executive knows nothing about project scheduling. |
We'll use a Gantt Chart that compares the baseline to the current schedule. This Gantt shows two bars for each task. One runs from the baseline start to finish and the second bar runs from the currently scheduled start to finish. Thus, if the two bars for a task are on top of one another, the task is on schedule. If the task has slipped, you see the amount of slippage. In the screen shot below, the gray task bars are the baseline (plan) and the blue or red task bars are the current schedule. We see that the 4th task on the WBS started late and is scheduled to finish more than 3 weeks later than planned. We also see how this slippage has "rippled" through the rest of the schedule, delaying other tasks. This form of Gantt chart is a clear way of illustrating schedule status to your sponsor and project team. |
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We get this report by clicking on FORMAT, then click on BAR STYLES (Format, Control Tower in 3.0). Next, in a blank row at the bottom of the list, type "baseline" or "plan" in the definitions column. Then TAB over one column to the right and select the bar shape for the baseline (plan). Use a smaller size bar and a different pattern than you use for your normal tasks. Skip the next column and in the "From" column type or select "Baseline Start" (or Start 1 in 3.0). Tab over one column and in the "To" column, type "Baseline Finish" or (Finish 1 in 3.0). Then click OK.
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