Reports can be created in Microsoft Project to support various stages of your project lifecycle. There may be some standard reports that your organization has defined that are produced to support all projects. In addition, ad-hoc reports will be needed to support analysis and other processes. This section covers three types of reports:
- Gantt Chart Reports – Schedule related information that includes tasks and/or milestones in a Gantt format.
- Timeline View Reports – High level bar reports with selected schedule information.
- Dashboard Reports – High level graphical reports that may include bar charts, tables, pie charts, and more. Dashboard reports are available in Microsoft Project 2013 and later versions.
The first step in creating any report is to identify the the audience for the report.
Timeline and Dashboard reports are typically used for presentation purposes for audiences interested in less detailed information. This may include your sponsor, customer, manager and other senior level stakeholders. Dashboard reports can highlight key performance indicators (KPIs) that are most relevant to your audience. Both Timelines and Dashboard reports are easily copied into PowerPoint and Word.
Gantt Chart reports support any level of audience, depending on what information is included. We will look at a few examples, and describe the audience for each.
Gantt Chart Reports
Gantt Chart reports display selected tasks and milestones to highlight key information for diverse audiences.
- Milestone Schedule Report – A milestone schedule is often created for the sponsor, customer, or other senior level managers to identify when key milestones are expected to be accomplished.
The milestone schedule is created using a standard filter that is part of Microsoft Project. To create it:
1. Make sure all rows are visible. On the View ribbon, in the Data section, select the Outline pulldown, and select All Subtasks. Then, press the F3 key. This removes all filters.
This is a step we will perform for all of our Gantt Chart reports to ensure that any filters, etc. being applied are considering all rows.
2. On the View ribbon, in the Data section, select the Milestones filter from the Filter: pulldown.
This displays all milestones, and the summary structure above each, as shown below in the top screenshot.
3. To display only the milestones, and not the summary tasks, select the Filter: pulldown again, and toggle off the bottom option, Show Related Summary Rows.
The result is shown below in the bottom screenshot.
Master Schedule/Summary Schedule – This is another high level look at information about the project.
It also, is typically used to communicate information to senior level stakeholders that do not need to see the detailed tasks for the project.
The summary schedule is created using a standard filter that is part of Microsoft Project. To create it:
1. Make sure all rows are visible. On the View ribbon, in the Data section, select the Outline pulldown, and select All Subtasks. Then, press the F3 key. This removes all filters.
2. On the View ribbon, in the Data section, select the Summary filter from the Filter: pulldown.
This displays all summary tasks in the project.
Look-Ahead Schedule – This report display tasks that are scheduled to start or finish during a specified timeframe – near term tasks.
It enables you and the project team to focus on which tasks should be starting or finishing in the next one or two reporting cycles. It is a great tool to use in your weekly meeting to discuss any issues with upcoming work.
The look-ahead schedule is created using a standard filter that is part of Microsoft Project, in combination with an autofilter. To create it:
1. Make sure all rows are visible. On the View ribbon, in the Data section, select the Outline pulldown, and select All Subtasks. Then, press the F3 key. This removes all filters.
2. On the View ribbon, in the Data section, select the Incomplete Tasks filter from the Filter: pulldown.
This will filter out all tasks that have an Actual Finish (100% Complete) and only display tasks that are in-progress or not started.
3. Using the autofilter for the Start field, select Filters, and select Before.
Type in the end date for the time window you want to view. For example, if today is 7/7/17, and you want to display all tasks that are scheduled to start, finish, or have progress in the next 2 weeks, type in 7/21/17, and click OK.
All tasks that are schedule to Start, Finish, or have ongoing work, will be displayed.
There may be summary tasks displayed because they have subtasks that are already complete (Start before the date you typed), and other subtasks in the future (Incomplete Tasks), but have no subtasks that fall in this time window.
To display only the detailed tasks for review with the team, on the Format ribbon, in the Show/Hide section, uncheck Summary Tasks.
Only detailed tasks are displayed.
Baseline versus Current – Baseline versus Current schedules show each task’s baseline plan and current schedule.
This schedule shows the project manager, project team, and other stakeholders how the project is performing compared to the baseline plan.
The Baseline versus Current schedule is created using a standard view that is part of Microsoft Project. We also applied a different standard table. To create it this report:
1. Make sure all rows are visible. On the View ribbon, in the Data section, select the Outline pulldown, and select All Subtasks. Then, press the F3 key. This removes all filters.
2. Right-click on the current view name to the left of the table. Select Tracking Gantt.
3. Apply the Variance table by right-clicking in the top left corner of the table, and selecting Variance from the list. This displays our Baseline Start, Baseline Finish, Start Variance, and Finish Variance.
In this example, the lower dark gray bar is the baseline, and the upper blue bar is the current schedule. The current schedule has % Complete filled in with a darker blue color for any tasks with progress.
Timeline View Reports
Timelines allow you to present whatever key information is most critical to a specific audience. You individually select exactly what items are shown on the Timeline. You can even create more than one Timeline containing different elements for different audiences.
In Microsoft Project 2016, you are also able to display multiple Timeline Bars at the same time in a single report.
The Timeline below displays a bar at the top representing the overall project, and additional bars for each major deliverable. Also shown is the Start Project milestone, the Current Finish milestone, and the milestone for the Target Complete due date.
To build a Timeline, the Timeline View must first be displayed.
On the View ribbon, in the Split View section, select the Timeline checkbox. The pulldown to the right should show Timeline.
Adding Tasks and Milestones to the Timeline
To add a task or milestone to the Timeline, right-click on the Task Name and select Add to Timeline from the menu displayed. You may select tasks individually, or select multiple tasks using the Shift or Ctrl keys.
The example shown at the beginning of the Timeline View Reports section, was created by selecting all of the (WBS) Outline Level 1 items and adding them to the Timeline.
To filter for a specific outline level, on the View ribbon, in the Data section, click on the Outline pulldown, and select the level to filter.
Select the rows to include, right-click and select Add to Timeline,
The bars and milestones are added to the Timeline as shown below.
Formatting the Timeline
Bars may be moved up or down by clicking and dragging them. Milestones may also be moved by clicking and dragging, and/or the names of the milestones may be moved around as needed.
Formatting of the Timeline is done by clicking anywhere in the Timeline view and using the Timeline Tools Format ribbon.
You may format the text either by type of element (Text Styles section), or for an individual bar or milestone (Font section). Font also allows you to color the bars for better visibility.
In the example below, the font for Milestone Names was reduced in size and made bold. Each of the bars was colored.
In the Show/Hide section, you may change the Date Format for your Timeline. If you are using a longer default date format, you may want to adjust it for the Timeline.
You may also control how many lines of text the Task Name uses. In our example above, the Task Name for Project Management (in the green bar) is not entirely visible due to the length of the bar. If we change Text Lines: to 2, as in the example below, we can see the entire name.
Note: When you change Text Lines:, it is changed for all bars and makes the Timeline taller.
In the Insert section, we recommend you not use any of the options, except Existing Tasks (which simply gives you a list of current rows in your project so that you can add them to the Timeline), and Timeline Bar. The other options are actually adding rows to your projecct schedule, and it is not recommended to add them in this way.
You will see the Timeline Bar button only if you are using Microsoft Project 2016. Clicking on this will add a second (and third, etc.) bar to the current Timeline view. Below, there are now three Timeline Bars in the Timeline view. You may drag task bars from the current Timeline Bar to the new one or, click on the new Timeline Bar, and add tasks to it in the same way we did previously.
A typical use is to create multiple Timeline Bars where each displays key tasks and milestones for specific WBS deliverable. See the example below:
Notice that, by default, each Timeline Bar spans the entire project which leaves blank space for the middle and bottom Timeline Bars in our example above. You may change the Date Range in the Show/Hide section, for any Timeline Bar that doesn’t span the project.
Click on the Timeline Bar, and in the Show/Hide section, select Date Range, and specify the range you want to see.
The Date Range for the middle Timeline Bar below, has been modified.
You can also use the Date Range option if you only have a single Timeline Bar.
By default, tasks are added to the Timeline as bars. When you click on a bar in your Timeline, you will see the option Display as Bar selected under the Current Selection section. If you click on Display as Callout the currently selected bar is reformatted as a callout. See the project level Artemis Bicycle Project task in the example below.
If you want to format different Timelines for different audiences, you may use the Timeline: option under the Switch Timeline section. This is different than adding multiple Timeline Bars to a single Timeline view as we did above. This is creating a new separate Timeline view that contains a single Timeline Bar. This option is NOT limited to Microsoft Project 2016.
To create a new Timeline view, in the the Switch Timeline section, select the pulldown, and select More Views…
In the More Views dialog shown below, select New… and click OK to select Single View.
Provide a descriptive name for the view, and from the Screen pulldown, select Timeline. and click OK, and Apply. The new blank Timeline is displayed and you can format it as needed.
You will now see two Timeline views listed in the Timeline: pulldown, both here in the Switch Timeline section on the Timeline Tools Format ribbon, and on the View ribbon, in the Split View section.
Once you have formatted your Timeline as needed, you may copy it into other applications. On the Timeline Tools Format ribbon, in the Copy section, click the pulldown and select the needed option.
Open the application needed (PowerPoint, Word, and email are the most commonly used), and paste the Timeline.
By default, it will be pasted in as individual objects so you may do additional formatting. We often find however, that pasting it in as a picture gives a better result – even though you can no longer format it.
Here we have pasted it as a picture into our slide deck for the monthly senior staff status meeting.
Dashboard Reports
Starting with Microsoft Project 2013, Dashboard reports became available. These provide a set of predefined graphical reports that meet many presentation needs. In addition to using the predefined reports, you may customize them or create your own additional reports.
Before we look at how to customize these reports, below are a few of the default reports available.
These reports contain text boxes, tables, and bar charts. They may also include pie charts and other graphs.
To demonstrate how to display and customize Dashboard reports, we will work with the Project Overview report.
To access a Dashboard report, on the Report ribbon, in the View Reports section, click the pulldown to select the desired report. We will select the Project Overview, from the Dashboard pulldown.
When you select a Dashboard report to view, a new Report Tools Design ribbon is displayed.
** Best Practices:
Make a copy of the report by renaming it. You are renaming a version of the report that was copied into your project. The original is still available.
To rename the report, on the Report Tools Design ribbon, in the Report section, select the Manage pulldown and select Rename Report.
Provide a meaningful name for the report and select OK.
We are now working on the new copy of the report. Below is the new report with each of the elements identified.
For Text Boxes, you may click in the box and change the text directly.
When you click on one of the Tables, a Field List pane is displayed on the right side of the report with information about the definition of that table.
The top two tables are single row tables. The other two tables display multiple rows.
The fields being displayed as columns in the table will show a check next to the field name. You may add or remove columns in the table by checking and unchecking specific fields. The fields that have been selected are displayed directly under the list of fields. They are shown in the order, top to bottom, that they are displayed left to right in the table. If you want to change the order, click and drag one of the field names to change the order.
The current Filter, Group By, Outline Level, and Sort By values are displayed. Any of these may be changed using the pulldowns.
When you click on the Bar Chart, the Field List is also displayed, with the same options.
The fields that are selected will show as bars on the graph. You may add or remove fields. For each field, an additional bar is displayed for each value along the X-axis.
The fields that have been selected are displayed directly under the list of fields. If more than one is selected, they are shown in the order, top to bottom, that they are displayed as bars, left to right in the bar chart. If you want to change the order, click and drag one of the field names to change the order.
As with the table, the current Filter, Group By, Outline Level, and Sort By values are displayed. Any of these may be changed using the pulldowns.
When you select the bar chart, three additional formatting buttons are displayed.
The top button allows you to add or remove Chart Elements such as Axes, Titles, and Gridlines.
The middle button allows you to format the Style of the bar chart and the Color scheme.
The bottom button allows you to individually deselect the items displayed along the X-axis. This is in addition to whatever Filter you have already applied.
When a table or chart (bar chart, pie chart, etc.) is selected, additional ribbons are displayed enabling even more customization.
We will let you discover the hundreds (or maybe thousands) of options and combinations on your own. However, we will point out that it is in on the Chart Tools Design ribbon, that you may change your chart to a different type.
On the Chart Tools Design ribbon, in the Type section, select Change Chart Type.
You may then choose from Line charts, Pie Charts, etc. to fit your needs.
Note: What we have been calling a Bar Chart, is actually called a Column Chart in Microsoft Project.
Once you have formatted the Dashboard report as needed, you may copy it into other applications. On the Report Tools Design ribbon, in the Report section, click Copy Report.
Open the application needed (PowerPoint, Word, and email are the most commonly used), and paste the Dashboard.
By default, it will be pasted in as individual objects so you may do additional formatting. We often find however, that pasting it in as a picture gives a better result – even though you can no longer format it.
Here we have pasted it as a picture into our slide deck for the monthly senior staff status meeting.
