User Guide

Project Reporting

Importance of Reports in a Project
Reports will help you communicate the status of your project to your staff and stakeholders. Project
Reports enable you to keep people regularly informed of the progress of the project and to raise any
items for their attention. The Project Status Report enables you to tell your team whether the
project is on track and likely to finish within the schedule.

Therefore Report is a vital tool in the project management since it focuses on the most important
information in the project plan and especially useful to upper level management because of its
concise presentation of overall project data in the form of summary.

Reports criteria
You can choose a project from the Project drop down (see Figure: 13.1). The reporting feature
consists of 7 canned Reports (or reports criteria).

Figure: 13.1 Selecting a project.

Figure: 13.2 List Reports

When the number of canned reports(or reports criteria) exceeds the Num of records per page
preference field then the reports criteria will be listed in terms of pages. Each page has the
number of records equal to the value set to Num of records per page preference field. You
can select a page number from the Page drop down (see Figure: 13.3 and Figure: 13.4 )

Figure: 13.3 Selecting a page number.

Figure: 13.4 List in the selected page.

For more information on preference settings, see section “Making Global Settings” of the chapter
on Preferences.

Viewing Reports In HTML Format

Tasks In Progress
Tasks in Progress report provides timeline and timesheet summary information for the
tasks which are activ \e. It is a handy tool that enables you to keep close track of the work
currently being done. This helps managers see the longest ongoing tasks that are still unfinished.
Using this report regularly helps prevent managers from overlooking (or forgetting) the status
updates and long-overdue tasks.

To view tasks in progress summary click Tasks in Progress criteria from the list which will
take you to the page where a report for that particular day along with the date and the name of
the project which you have selected from the Project drop down as report heading will be
displayed (see Figure: 13P.5). If there a no tasks with active progress in a project then a
message “There are no Tasks to Display. ValleySpeak Project Server does not print views or
reports on which no tasks or resources are displayed.” will be displayed. If there are any
ongoing tasks in a project then the summary of these tasks will be displayed in rows with the
following fields (see Figure: 13P.5):

1. Id indicates the id (in ascending order) of a task in a selected project.
2. Task Name indicates the name of the task.
3. Resource Name indicates the name(s) of resource(s) for whom the task is
   assigned.
4. Duration indicates the specified duration within which the task has to be
   completed. This will be specified when a task is added in a project.
5. Units indicates the number of units for which a resource is assigned to a
   task. It’s likely that many of your resources will work full-time on your project. But
   suppose you have two part-timers: one is available half-time, and the other is available
   three out of the five working days. You can specify this kind of resource availability by
   setting the resource’s maximum units, also referred to as resource Units. The
   full-time resources are each available at 100 percent maximum units.
6. Work indicates over all task duration in hours. It is calculated based on
   the duration and the number of working hours per day.
7. Delay gives information that helps you determine how long it will take to
   complete your tasks, given the resources you have and the amount of time that has been
   alloted for a given task.
8. Start indicates the start date of your task when it is added but not an
   actual start date of a task.
9. Finish indicates the finish date of your task but it is only an estimate not
   an actual finish date of a task. Its calculated using the start date and the duration that
   you specify while adding a task in a project.
10. Predecessors Displays task(s) which has to be completed before this task is
    started.



Figure: 13.5 Tasks in progress.

If you want to get back to the reports criteria list then click List Reports action (see Figure: 13.5).

Top level Tasks
Top Level Tasks report provides information about the project plan’s summary tasks.
It displays the results of top summary tasks, rolling up all the data from the sub tasks. To view
top level tasks click Top Level Tasks criteria from the list (see Figure: 13.2) which will
take you to the page where a report for that particular day along with the date and the name of
the project which you selected from the Project drop down as the report heading
(see Figure: 13.6) will be displayed. If there are no top level tasks available in a project then
a message “There are no Tasks to Display. ValleySpeak Project Server does not print views or
reports on which no tasks or resources are displayed.” will be displayed. If there are any
top level tasks in a selected project then the summary of these tasks will be displayed as rows
with the following fields (see Figure: 13P.6):

1. Id indicates the id (in ascending order) of a task in a selected project.
2. Task Name indicates the name of the task.
3. Duration indicates the specified duration within which the task has to be
   completed. This will be specified when a task is added in a project.
4. Start indicates the start date of a task when it is added but not an actual
   start date of a task.
5. Finish indicates the finish date of a task but it is only an estimate not an
   actual finish date of a task. Its calculated using the start date and the duration that you
   specify while adding a task in a project.
6. % Complete indicates the amount of work completed associated with that task
   in terms of percentage.
7. Cost($) is associated with resources and are calculated based on resource
   rates and assigned work. However, sometimes you have a cost associated with a task that’s
   independent of any resource. In that case you can enter a fixed cost for a task of any
   resource. In this case, you can enter a fixed cost for a task.
8. Work indicates over all task duration in hours for that task. It is
   calculated based on the duration and the number of working hours per day.



Figure: 13.6 Top level tasks.

If you want to get back to the reports criteria list then click List Reports action
(see Figure: 13.6).

Unstarted Tasks
Unstarted Tasks report provides information about the tasks in a selected project
that have not had any actual progress reported. Generally, the number of tasks displayed decreases
as the project progresses, so this report can be especially useful towards the end of the project.
This report is also effective at showing project owners and team members the scope
of their required efforts. This information helps in planning expenditures, deploying tools and
materials and assessing quickly the amount of the work yet to be done.

To view tasks summary which haven’t recorded any active progress click Unstarted Tasks
criteria from the list which takes you to the page where a report for that particular day along
with the date and name of the project as the report heading will be displayed (see Figure: 13.7).
If there are no unstarted tasks then a message “There are no Tasks to Display. ValleySpeak
Project Server does not print views or reports on which no tasks or resources are displayed”.
will be displayed. If there are any tasks which haven’t reported any progress in a selected
project then then the summary of these tasks will be displayed as rows with the following fields
(see Figure: 13.7):

1. Id indicates the id (in ascending order) of a task in a selected project.
2. Task Name indicates the names of task associated with that particular
   project.
3. Resource Name indicates the name(s) of resource(s) for whom that task is
   assigned.
4. Duration indicates the specified duration with in which the task has to be
   completed. This will be specified when a task is added in a project. Usually the duration
   will be specified in terms of day, hour, month, minutes etc.
5. Units indicates the number of units for which a resource is assigned to a
   task. It’s likely that many of your resources will work full-time on your project. But
   suppose you have two part-timers: one is available half-time, and the other is available
   three out of the five working days. You can specify this kind of resource availability by
   setting the resource’s maximum units, also referred to as resource units. The full-time
   resources are each available at 100 percent maximum units.
6. Work indicates over all task duration in hours for that task. It is
   calculated based on the duration and the number of working hours per day.
7. Delay gives information that helps you to determine how long it will take to
   complete your tasks, given the resources you have and the amount of time that has been
   alloted for a given task.
8. Start indicates the start date of your task when it is added but not an
   actual start date of a task.
9. Finish indicates the finish date of your task but it is only an estimate
   not an actual finish date. Its calculated using the start date and the duration that you
   specify while adding a task in a project.
10. Predecessors indicates task which has to be completed before the this task
    has to be started.



Figure: 13.7 Unstarted tasks.

If you want to get back to the reports criteria list then click List Reports action
(see Figure: 13.7).

Who Does What
Who Does What report provides information about the list of tasks with assigned
resources and their assigned work. It clearly shows the relative number of assignments for all
project resources. This report can help you or a resource manager plan for coverage when a
resource becomes unavailable.

To view the project summary about who is doing what in a project click Who Does What
criteria from the list which takes you to the page where a project summary report for that

particular day along with the date and name of the project as the report heading will be displayed.
If there are no tasks in a selected project then a message “There are no Tasks to Display.
ValleySpeak Project Server does not print views or reports on which no tasks or resources are
displayed.” will be displayed. If there are tasks available in project he summary of these
tasks will be displayed as rows with the following fields (see Figure: 13.8):

1. Task Id indicates the id (in ascending order) of a task in a selected
   project.
2. Task Name indicates the name of task associated with that particular
   project.
3. Resource Name indicates the name(s) of resource(s) for whom that task is
   assigned.
4. Units indicates the number of units for which a resource is assigned to a
   task. It’s likely that many of your resources will work full-time on your project. But
   suppose you have two part-timers: one is available half-time, and the other is available
   three out of the five working days. You can specify this kind of resource availability by
   setting the resource’s maximum units, also referred to as resource units. The full-time
   resources are each available at 100 percent maximum units.
5. Work indicates over all task duration in hours for that task. It is
   calculated based on the duration and the number of working hours per day .
6. Delay gives information that helps you to determine how long it will take to
   complete your tasks, given the resources you have and the amount of time that has been
   alloted for a given task.
7. Start indicates the start date of your task when it is added but not an
   actual start date of a task.
8. Finish indicates the finish date of your task but it is only an estimate
   not an actual finish date. Its calculated using the start date and the duration that you
   specify while adding a task in a project.



Figure: 13.8 Who does what.

If you want to get back to the reports criteria list then click List Reports action
(see Figure: 13.8).

Critical Tasks
Critical Tasks report filters your project information to show only those tasks that
are most likely to affect the project finish date. This helps to explain why problems are
occurring in a project. To view the critical task summary click Critical Tasks criteria
from the list which takes you to the page where a task summary report for that particular day
along with the date and name of the project as the report heading(see Figure: 13.9) will be
displayed. If there are no tasks available in a selected project then a message “There are no
Tasks to Display. ValleySpeak Project Server does not print views or reports on which no tasks or
resources are displayed.” will be displayed. If there are any critical tasks in a selected
project then the report generated includes following fields(see Figure: 13.9).

1. Id indicates the id (in ascending order) of a task in a selected project.
2. Task Name indicates the names of task associated with that particular project.
3. Resource Name indicates the name(s) of resource(s) for whom that task is
   assigned.
4. Duration indicates the specified duration with in which the task has to be
   completed. This will be specified when a task is added in a project. Usually the duration
   will be specified in terms of day, hour, month, minutes etc.
5. Start indicates the start date of your task when it is added but not an actual
   start date of a task.
6. Finish indicates the finish date of your task but it is only an estimate not
   an actual finish date. Its calculated using the start date and the duration that you specify
   while adding a task in a project.



Figure: 13.9 Critical Tasks Report.

If you want to get back to the reports criteria list then click List Reports action (see Figure: 13.1).

Completed Tasks
Completed Tasks report is significant for both historical reference and as a record
of the term’s accomplishment. It helps to estimate task durations for future projects and gives
you a general idea of how much work is left to do in the current project. So, it gives a list of
tasks which are 100% complete. To view the completed tasks summary click Completed Tasks
criteria from the list which takes you to the page where a task summary report for that
particular day along with the date and name of the project as the report heading
(see Figure: 13.10) will be displayed. If there are no tasks available in a selected project then
a message “There are no Tasks to Display. ValleySpeak Project Server does not print views or
reports on which no tasks or resources are displayed.” will be displayed. If there are any
completed tasks in a selected project then the report generated includes following fields
(see Figure: 13.10).

1. Id indicates the id (in ascending order) of a task in a selected project.
2. Task Name indicates the name of the task.
3. Duration indicates the specified duration with in which the task has to be
   completed. This will be specified when a task is added in a project.
4. Start indicates the start date of a task when it is added but not an actual
   start date of a task.
5. Finish indicates the finish date of a task but it is only an estimate not an
   actual finish date of a task. Its calculated using the start date and the duration that you
   specify while adding a task in a project.
6. % Complete indicates the amount of work completed associated with that task
   in terms of percentage.
7. Cost($) is associated with resources and are calculated based on resource
   rates and assigned work. However, sometimes you have a cost associated with a task that’s
   independent of any resource. In that case you can enter a fixed cost for a task of any
   resource. In this case, you can enter a fixed cost for a task.
8. Work indicates over all task duration in hours for that task. It is
   calculated based on the duration and the number of working hours per day.



Figure: 13.10 Completed Tasks Report.

If you want to get back to the reports criteria list then click List Reports action
(see Figure: 13.10).

Over Allocated Resources
Over Allocated Resources report lists only the resources who are assigned work in
excess of their availability. The report does not actually show which specific tasks are actually
causing the overallocation. You have to analyze the task start and finish dates and the amount of
work scheduled during those timespans to find the periods of overallocation.

To view the resource summary then click Over Allocated Resources criteria from the list
which takes you to the page where the resource summary report for that particular day along with
the date and name of the project as the report heading will be displayed. If there are no
resources available or if there are no resources are over allocated in a selected project then a
message “There are no Tasks to Display. ValleySpeak Project Server does not print views or
reports on which no tasks or resources are displayed.” will be displayed. The column of data
in the generated report are same as in who does what report.

Figure: 13.11 OverAllocated Resources.

If you want to get back to the reports criteria list then click List Reports action
(see Figure: 13.11).

Viewing Reports in PDF format
You can print the generated report to a PDF file using Print To PDF action. To print
report in PDF format follow the steps below: