Project Schedule Overview

One of the first steps a project manager takes in creating a project in Project Analyzer is creating the project schedule. The project schedule is used to associate dates with the key phases of work. These dates are then utilized in other areas of Project Analyzer as a basis for assigning resources and determining overall project health and progress. For example, the Billing tab uses the schedule dates and billing link to calculate expected billings for each billing period. These dates are also the basis for Estimate at Complete (EAC) calculations in conjunction with actuals coming from the accounting system for JTD (job-to-date).

Schedules are created on the Schedule tab, which allows you to set the start and end dates for the phases of a project, and to manage schedule changes as needed. The Schedule tab also includes a Gantt chart for the project that provides a quick visual indicator of the lag between dependent work phases, duration and percent complete of the project phases.

Important considerations

The Gantt chart on the Schedule tab is created dynamically as the schedule is being built, making it easy for the project manager to review the project schedule and catch potential issues.

Project phases and phase statuses are automatically populated from the accounting system and cannot be modified.

The follows column for each phase allows the project manager to build phase dependencies into the schedule.

When using the follows column, Project Analyzer automatically calculates lag times for dependent project phases.

Project managers can place project phases on hold and Project Analyzer automatically updates the project schedule as well as resource assignments (if the option to update resource assignments is selected when executing a hold), allowing the project manager to adjust the project plan and make the best use of available resources. Changes to subsequent phases required as a result of the hold are made automatically when phase dependencies are in place and are included in the Gantt chart so that the project manager can easily see the impact of the hold on the remaining project schedule.

When a hold exists in the project, an additional line labeled HOLD appears on the Gantt chart. During the hold period of the project, the phases affected by the hold appear in yellow.

All changes made to the schedule appear in blue in the data grid and are "what if" until the schedule is saved.

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.