Work Breakdown - Monitor

This topic will cover how to monitor the progress of the work breakdown structure for a project. Compare the Budget values against Actuals, or the Scheduled values for the project. Check if each work breakdown item is currently being over or under delivered. NEW 4.8

*Synergy Enterprise Feature* 

ClosedGetting Started

Setup required before use

 Who can use it? Where is it?

Rates

Staff

Timesheet Tasks

Sub Projects

Assistant Project Manager

Project Manager

Director

Administrator

System Administrator

 Projects > Project Plan > Work Breakdown

Tips:

Monitor the Work Breakdown Structure

Use the Display options in the toolbar to monitor the progress of the project, sub project, and each work breakdown item. Check the work breakdown for an active project and see if the budget is being over or under delivered. Monitor the following items in the work breakdown structure:

Detailed information on each of the work breakdown views

ClosedBudget for each Sub Project - Default view

Use the work breakdown tab to view the budget defined for each Sub Project. The budget band of columns is shown by default upon opening the work breakdown tab. The budget columns allow you to view how many hours or units are included in the budget at a summary level, and the value of these items towards the sub project. Use the budget band of columns to view the details of each individual work breakdown item.

View this information at the following levels:

  1. PhaseClosedTotal budget for number of staff hours, number of expense units, total budget value can been seen. This is a sum of all the sub projects linked to the phase, and the row has a grey shading applied.
  2. Sub ProjectClosedTotal budget for the Sub Project displayed the number of staff hours, number of expense units, total budget value (time and expenses). This summary row is shown in bold text.
  3. Individual Task / Rate Budget rowClosedThe budget details for the individual work breakdown item are shown.

Click the image above to view the Budget band of columns.

Enter the task % complete or mark the task as completed

Track the progress of each of the tasks listed for a Sub Project by entering a percent complete value or marking a task as completed. The complete column lets you create a checklist view, to easily see at a glance the orange % complete bar to view the progress for each task or the entire Sub Project.

Click the image to see the percent complete entered for each WBS task.

ClosedEnter the complete percentage for a task by
  1. Select the task in the work breakdown tab.
  2. Click into the 'Complete %' column for the task.
  3. Type the '% complete' into the cell. Or click the button to update the task to 100% complete.
  4. Press the tab key to move to the next row.
  5. Press the tab key again to open that cell for data entry. Type the % complete for the next task.
  6. Repeat for each task that requires the % complete to be updated.
  7. The changes made in the grid view are automatically saved as you exit the % complete field.
ClosedMark a task as completed by either
  1. Click into the % complete field for the task and type 100.
  2. Highlighting the task in the work breakdown list and select the complete button in toolbar.
  3. Or double click to open the task and click the complete button in the top right corner of the window.

Tip: The work breakdown budget view details can be added as columns to the 'Sub Project Budget' report layout. Use the Downloads area in the Report Library to get this sample report called 'Sub Project -Work Breakdown Budget'.

ClosedSummary Actuals View

The Summary view allows you to view how many hours have been allocated within staff timesheets for the work breakdown item. Use this information to compare against the budget values, to see if the work breakdown item has been over or under delivered.

Expenses (Office Items) and Expenses disbursed against the project are also shown against the expenses budgeted. Monitor expenses in the work breakdown to see if the actual expenses are over or under the budgeted values.

ClosedThe logic used to match the actuals with the budget is
ClosedExample in the image below highlights
  • The blue highlighted row shows that the budget has been under-delivered. The budgeted hours for this row is 15, and the entered total from staff timesheets is 14 hours. This shows that this work breakdown item is not yet complete.
  • The green highlighted row shows that the budget has been over-delivered. The budgeted hours for this row is 22.5, and the entered total from staff timesheets is 37 hours. When a row is over-delivered the Actuals Units and Value columns are shown with red shading.
  • The purple highlighted row shows a mismatch of task / rate / staff. This occurred as the timesheet entry for the sub project was for a task / rate / staff combination that was not entered as part of the sub project budget in the work breakdown structure. When a mismatch occurs the entire row is shown with an orange shading. The Rate detail of the timesheet entered is shown only. To see the Task and Staff detail, use the Detailed Actuals view.

Click the image above to see a sample of the Summary Actuals view.

ClosedDetailed Actuals view

The detailed actuals view allows you to view more information about the items that are not budgeted. Use the Detailed Actuals button in the toolbar to switch this view on, to display the task, rate, and staff details for each item entered in staff timesheets and expenses which was not included in the work breakdown structure.

ClosedThe logic used to match the actuals with the budget is
ClosedExample in the image below highlights
  • The blue highlighted row shows that the budget has been under-delivered. The budgeted hours for this row is 15, and the entered total from staff timesheets is 14 hours. This shows that this work breakdown item is not yet complete.
  • The green highlighted row shows that the budget has been over-delivered. The budgeted hours for this row is 22.5, and the entered total from staff timesheets is 37 hours. When a row is over-delivered the Actuals Units and Value columns are shown with red shading.
  • The purple highlighted row shows a mismatch of task / rate / staff. This occurred as the timesheet entry for the sub project was for a task / rate / staff combination that was not entered as part of the sub project budget in the work breakdown structure. When a mismatch occurs the entire row is shown with an orange shading. The Task, Rate and Staff member who entered the item into their timesheet is shown.

Click the image above to see a sample of the Detailed Actuals view.

ClosedSchedule view

The schedule view allows you to compare the budgeted hours vs the hours scheduled for the project. This view allows you to view at a glance if you have over / under scheduled the number hours required to complete the entire sub project, all staff / inspection rate tasks for a sub project, or a specific sub project task. The details shown for each task are the number of scheduled hours, the from date shows the first date the task is scheduled, and the to date shows the last date the task is scheduled.

ClosedTo turn on the schedule view
  1. Open the Project Plan > Work Breakdown tab.
  2. In the toolbar click the 'Schedule' button, found in the top right corner.
  3. The additional columns of Hours, From and To are shown within the Schedule band.
  4. Click the Schedule button again to switch off the schedule view.

Click the image above to see a sample of the Schedule view.

Tips:

  • The schedule band of columns have data populated after tasks are scheduled to be completed. Schedule tasks using the Project Plan > Schedule tab.
  • When the schedule view is ON, the work breakdown items are not available for edit. Switch off the schedule view by clicking the button again to be able to edit an item, or to mark an item as complete.
  • Learn more about how to Schedule tasks.

Want to learn more?

Looking for more help? Try reviewing the following Resource and Capacity Management topics: Concept Link IconView Topics

 

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