Schedule Tab
Use the Schedule tab to define the high-level project schedule based on project phases and to link the project phases to the billing fees of the project.
The project schedule is used to associate dates with the key phases of work. These dates are then carried through other modules. For example, the Billing tabuses the schedule dates to calculate expected billings for each billing period. These dates become the basis for Estimate at Complete (EAC) calculations as well.
Using the ribbon bar Schedule tab, you can approve the schedule to prevent other team members from making changes. Once the schedule is approved, users are unable to edit the values in the data grid. In addition, if the end date of the phase has passed, the row in the data grid will be grayed out. To make this row available for editing, click on Lock By Date on the ribbon bar Schedule tab.
Until you begin defining the project parameters, the Gantt chart will look pretty sparse.
Chart: Project Schedule
The Gantt chart depicts the project schedule on a phase by phase basis. Each orange bar represents a phase that is assigned a Start and End date in the data grid.
The vertical green line represents the current date.
The blue bars laid over the schedule bars represent the percent complete value for the phase as shown in the Complete column in the data grid. The percent complete is calculated as elapsed time unless tasks have been created for the project. For more information, please see the Tasks tab.
Status
The current status of the phase. Possible values include:
Active. A start and end date have been established for the phase. The end date of the phase is in the future.
Done. The phase end date has passed.
Not Used. No start and end date have been set for the phase.
Billing in Progress. Appears when a phase is linked to billing using the Billing Link column and the linked billing phase is being edited for billing. Phases with a Billing in Progress status cannot be edited. This prevents discrepancies in billing projections and allows project progress reports to be kept in context of when the review was made.
This status is set when billing has been reviewed and will clear automatically at the beginning of the next billing period.
Phase
The project phase. The available phases are populated directly from the financial system.
Project Analyzer does not currently support creating additional phases for active projects beyond those available from your financial system. Phase names for opportunities can be changed on the Schedule tab as these are not actual projects in the financial system.
Follows
The name of the phase that precedes the selected phase. Used to link a phase's Start date to another's End date.
A Follows value is not required, especially if a phase has a Start / End date that is independent of other phases.
Lag
Indicates the amount of time by which the Start date of the selected phase overlaps or follows after the End date of the phase it follows. For example, a Lag value of "-3 weeks" (negative weeks) causes the Start date of the selected phase to be set three weeks prior to the End date of the phase it follows. A Lag value of "2 weeks" (positive weeks) causes the Start date of the selected phase to be set two weeks after the End date of the phase it follows.
Start
The starting date for the phase. The value can be entered directly or calculated automatically based on Follows, Lag, End and Duration values. For example, entering a Start date and Duration value for a phase automatically calculates the End date. Revise a phase's End date and the Duration is adjusted accordingly, as well as the Start and End dates for all phases that follow the selected phase.
Click the drop-down arrow to access a date picker to select a date from a calendar, or enter date values directly.
Duration
The length of the phase in weeks. The value can be entered directly or calculated automatically based on Start and End date values.
Using a phase duration that is greater than 27 years is not presently supported.
If changes are made to the dates for a phase after detailed staffing assignments have been made on the Team tab, those detailed assignments are retained. However, if the duration of the phase is compressed, the overflow is added to the last week of the assignment to indicate that an adjustment needs to be made to the staffing of that resource.
End
The ending date for the phase. The value can be entered directly or calculated automatically based on Start, Follows, Lag and Duration values.
Complete
The percent complete value for the phase. The Complete column is automatically populated based on a rolled up percent complete using data in the Tasks tab.
If the Tasks tab is not being used the phase complete percentage will follow the percentage of elapsed time.
Billing Link
The BillingLink column is used to relate the project schedule to the financial system's fee dollars shown in the Billing tab. This relationship is what allows billing projections to work as well as provides a structure for monthly billing review. This list is populated from the fees entered in the billing terms of the financial system and cannot be edited in Project Analyzer.
- Linking work phases on the Schedule tab to Fees on the Contract/Fees tab at the phase level enables phase level profitability
- On the Contract/Fees tab total fee dollars will be broken out by Phase automatically once linked
- If the linked fee in the Billing Fee column is unlinked the fee amount for that phase will be reset to zero however the total dollar fee dollars for the will be correct
- Fee dollars identified in the financial system that are not specifically tied to a phase will be shown in the total with the label Project Level
Billing Type
The type of billing established for the phase. Options include Even Distribution, Start of Phase and End of Phase.
People
The number of full time equivalents (FTEs) budgeted for the phase as calculated on the Labor Budget tab. As the phase dates are modified, this value is updated in real time.
FTEs values are shown to two decimal points. 1 FTE = 40 hours/week.
This field is not editable
Notes
Any additional notes about the phase.
Additional Columns
The field chooser contains additional columns which may be added to the grid. For the Schedule tab these include:
Billing Status – The current billing status of the linked billing phase.
Edit By - The name of the user that last modified the phase schedule.
Edit Date - The date the phase schedule was last modified.
To access this tab
Click the Schedule tab in the main Project Analyzer window.