Tracking Changes to a Project Schedule

How to show where a project schedule changes

Keeping track of schedule changes in a project can be a difficult activity because there are so many components of a schedule that can change: start dates, finish dates, percent complete, task dependencies, resource availability and performance, budget, and the list goes on.

Fortunately for users of Microsoft Project, OnePager Pro provides a means to not only gain access to changes in schedule but to put them in visual form so that the reasons for the changes can be understood better and proper actions can be determined. If you don’t already have OnePager Pro, you can download a 15-day free trial to see how it works.

This article shows you a method for tracking schedule changes that are made to Microsoft Project files as part of the normal project management status maintenance function and how these changes can be quickly visualized with OnePager Pro. OnePager Pro can be used with Microsoft Project and your normal project status and analysis best practices to help you track schedule changes. Here’s how it can be done!

1. Suppose we start with a newly defined project that has just started. Everything is in place for the project to commence and there is a Microsoft Project file which represents this information. The Microsoft Project file might look like the following example:
   
   
   
   This is a typical consulting organization schedule for this example to which we’ve added the “Flag20” column shown in the Microsoft Project file as “Show it.” The “Yes” and “No” contents of this column controls what Microsoft Project file data is imported to OnePager Pro. We’ve also established a baseline start and finish dates.
   
   
2. Now it’s time to create a the initial view of the project with OnePager Pro. Simply click on the OnePager Pro button on the Microsoft Project toolbar or add-ins tab, and the OnePager Pro wizard will appear. Just fill it in as shown below:
   
   
   
   
3. Simply click the Create project view button on the wizard and OnePager will create a project view like this:
   
   
   
   We’ve used OnePager Pro’s powerful editing features to organize the project by Stage and Resource Name. We’ve also used color in the same way so that task/milestone markers that belong to the same resource assignments.
   
   
4. Now suppose this project started on the desired date but ran into some delays in the first stage. The Microsoft Project file was updated accordingly. You can now create an updated snapshot of your project as of 7/1/2010. Click the OnePager Pro button again. This time, instead of creating a new project view, you want to UPDATE an existing project view and specify the new status/snapshot date of 7/1/2010 as shown below:
   
   
   
   After clicking New, OnePager will refresh your Gantt chart as of 7/1/2010 to look like this:
   
   
   
   Comparing the project view on 7/1/2010 with the project view on 5/7/2010 we can see the change. Things have slipped. Likewise, since all the downstream tasks were dependent on the predecessor task show corresponding slippage compared to their baseline start and finish dates.
   
   
5. Again, let’s look downstream to 9/1/2010 after the project has moved forward and take a snapshot on this date. The 9/1/2010 snapshot will look like this:
   
   
   
   Since OnePager Pro keeps snapshots of your project in a consistent form and format, you now have three snapshots that clearly track the change visually when placed side-by-side in a PowerPoint presentation. Note further that each snapshot not only shows the snapshot date at the bottom but the time cursor (vertical blue line) is visible as well.
   
   
6. Access to your snapshots is easy from the OnePager project view by just toggling back and forth using the “back” and “forward” buttons on the OnePager tool bar as shown:
   
   

By periodically making a snapshot of the project, usually after the task start and finish information is updated into your Microsoft Project file, you are able to have clear, concise, and complete information to present in visual form.

This article presented a method useful in tracking project change using OnePager Pro’s visualization capabilities. In the process we discussed how OnePager Pro maintains a database of snapshots which represent a historical look-back at the project over time to see how it changed. Using these snapshots it is possible to construct vivid presentations to support any project schedule conversation with senior management, within the project team, or with customers.

Using OnePager Pro allows you to create dynamic, informative project presentations with the click of a button, and it eliminates the need to rebuild your presentation by hand every time your project schedule changes.

Get started today by downloading a free trial or attending one of our demonstration webinars.