Is it possible in MS Project 2007 to report actual quantities completed vs. % 
complete or hours complete?

Example - Our crew has 1500 linear feet on their task of directional boring. 
 They have completed 750 linear feet.  This is how we want to enter our 
updates - is this possible?

TKGerdie --

For your purpose, the Physical Percent Complete field would work very 
nicely.  In any task View, such as the Gantt Chart view, click View - 
Table - Tracking.  You will see the Physical Percent Complete field in this 
table and you can enter physical progress in the field.  Hope this helps.

-- 
Dale A. Howard [MVP]
VP of Educational Services
msProjectExperts
http://www.msprojectexperts.com
http://www.projectserverexperts.com
"We write the books on Project Server"


"TKGerdie" <TKGerdie@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message 
news:2B73A62B-3568-418E-8D20-7D47EA049A51@microsoft.com...
> Is it possible in MS Project 2007 to report actual quantities completed 
> vs. %
> complete or hours complete?
>
> Example - Our crew has 1500 linear feet on their task of directional 
> boring.
> They have completed 750 linear feet.  This is how we want to enter our
> updates - is this possible? 

In your response, we would still be entering a percentage instead of an 
actual number of units completed (750).  So, I am assuming you mean that you 
can't actually track or see total units of the task?

"Dale Howard [MVP]" wrote:

> TKGerdie --
> 
> For your purpose, the Physical Percent Complete field would work very 
> nicely.  In any task View, such as the Gantt Chart view, click View - 
> Table - Tracking.  You will see the Physical Percent Complete field in this 
> table and you can enter physical progress in the field.  Hope this helps.
> 
> -- 
> Dale A. Howard [MVP]
> VP of Educational Services
> msProjectExperts
> http://www.msprojectexperts.com
> http://www.projectserverexperts.com
> "We write the books on Project Server"
> 
> 
> "TKGerdie" <TKGerdie@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message 
> news:2B73A62B-3568-418E-8D20-7D47EA049A51@microsoft.com...
> > Is it possible in MS Project 2007 to report actual quantities completed 
> > vs. %
> > complete or hours complete?
> >
> > Example - Our crew has 1500 linear feet on their task of directional 
> > boring.
> > They have completed 750 linear feet.  This is how we want to enter our
> > updates - is this possible? 
> 

TKGerdie --

Correct.  The alternative would be to create a Material resource named 
Directional Boring and set the Material Label to Linear Feet.  Then you need 
to assign this resource to a task in which the Directional Boring will take 
place, along with the number of Linear Feet required to complete the task. 
Each time you enter actual progress on the task, you enter the number of 
Linear Feet of progress to date in the Actual Work field.  This approach 
might work better for you, given your reporting requirements.  Hope this 
helps.

-- 
Dale A. Howard [MVP]
VP of Educational Services
msProjectExperts
http://www.msprojectexperts.com
http://www.projectserverexperts.com
"We write the books on Project Server"


"TKGerdie" <TKGerdie@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message 
news:2B2A8325-CE10-4E40-B747-144B95F7F820@microsoft.com...
> In your response, we would still be entering a percentage instead of an
> actual number of units completed (750).  So, I am assuming you mean that 
> you
> can't actually track or see total units of the task?
>
> "Dale Howard [MVP]" wrote:
>
>> TKGerdie --
>>
>> For your purpose, the Physical Percent Complete field would work very
>> nicely.  In any task View, such as the Gantt Chart view, click View -
>> Table - Tracking.  You will see the Physical Percent Complete field in 
>> this
>> table and you can enter physical progress in the field.  Hope this helps.
>>
>> -- 
>> Dale A. Howard [MVP]
>> VP of Educational Services
>> msProjectExperts
>> http://www.msprojectexperts.com
>> http://www.projectserverexperts.com
>> "We write the books on Project Server"
>>
>>
>> "TKGerdie" <TKGerdie@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:2B73A62B-3568-418E-8D20-7D47EA049A51@microsoft.com...
>> > Is it possible in MS Project 2007 to report actual quantities completed
>> > vs. %
>> > complete or hours complete?
>> >
>> > Example - Our crew has 1500 linear feet on their task of directional
>> > boring.
>> > They have completed 750 linear feet.  This is how we want to enter our
>> > updates - is this possible?
>> 

Consider this.
Say there is a task named "drill a hole 750 feet".
This is no different from a task named "lay 10000 bricks" or "install 5 
windows", which are typical of the kind of tasks which occur in any 
construction project.
In a way, the quantity that's mentioned in the task name is just there to be 
descriptive.
In a way, every task has some sort of quantity associated with it, even 
"start one project" or "write one report".
But MSP doesn't know the difference between a task named "lay 10000 bricks" 
and one named "shoot 3000 pigeons".
They are all just tasks to MSP.
You could name the tasks "lay bricks" or "shoot pigeons" or "drill a hole" 
and it would not make any difference to MSP but it would just be a bit less 
descriptive for the humans.
What MSP does know about, because you input this, is the duration, work and 
cost.
Every update of the plan is about recording actual duration, actual work and 
actual cost, and re-estimating the remaining duration, remaining work and 
remaining cost.
The actuals are facts, so there can be no argument about them, but the 
remaining is always a matter of estimation and everything that is not done 
is subject to and available for re-estimation.
Updating the plan is a combination of what MSP knows and what the human 
knows about the task.
So, perhaps you estimate that you will drill a 750 foot hole in 75 days 
because, well, just because.
After 10 days you look at the task, perhaps hoping to have drilled 100 feet 
but having actually drilled whatever.
You then take the information about what has been achieved, plus everything 
else that you know or can estimate about the task and what remains of it, 
and re-estimate the remaining duration, which is what you really want to 
know.
So if after 10 days you find that you have drilled 50 feet instead of the 
hoped for 100 feet, you might re-estimate the task remaining duration to be 
140 days.
Or if after 10 days you find that you have drilled 200 feet instead of the 
hoped for 100 feet, you might re-estimate the task remaining duration to be 
37.5 days.
But this is always a matter of judgement for the human project planner.
MSP cannot make enough assumptions to do this part automatically.

All of that said, there are ways to sort of build the calculation into MSP 
and/or display the information. You can use spare number fields to record 
the feet at each status date, or the Physical % Complete field, or even 
create a resource named "feet of hole", as Dale says.

Hope this helps.
-- 
Trevor Rabey
0407213955
61 8 92727485
PERFECT PROJECT PLANNING
www.perfectproject.com.au

"TKGerdie" <TKGerdie@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message 
news:2B2A8325-CE10-4E40-B747-144B95F7F820@microsoft.com...
> In your response, we would still be entering a percentage instead of an
> actual number of units completed (750).  So, I am assuming you mean that 
> you
> can't actually track or see total units of the task?
>
> "Dale Howard [MVP]" wrote:
>
>> TKGerdie --
>>
>> For your purpose, the Physical Percent Complete field would work very
>> nicely.  In any task View, such as the Gantt Chart view, click View -
>> Table - Tracking.  You will see the Physical Percent Complete field in 
>> this
>> table and you can enter physical progress in the field.  Hope this helps.
>>
>> -- 
>> Dale A. Howard [MVP]
>> VP of Educational Services
>> msProjectExperts
>> http://www.msprojectexperts.com
>> http://www.projectserverexperts.com
>> "We write the books on Project Server"
>>
>>
>> "TKGerdie" <TKGerdie@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:2B73A62B-3568-418E-8D20-7D47EA049A51@microsoft.com...
>> > Is it possible in MS Project 2007 to report actual quantities completed
>> > vs. %
>> > complete or hours complete?
>> >
>> > Example - Our crew has 1500 linear feet on their task of directional
>> > boring.
>> > They have completed 750 linear feet.  This is how we want to enter our
>> > updates - is this possible?
>>