An open source project scheduling tool for Windows, Macintosh, and Linux.

Measuring productivity and expenses

Install measurements feature

In order to use the measurements feature:

1. Run the "Install Measurement Tracking" Script
2. Create a report to display the measurement ID's.
   • Add Measurement report to "All Projects".
   • Insert the desired columns (at least MeasurementID and Label).
3. Create a report to enter project start dates
   • Add a Projects report to "All Projects"
   • Insert desired columns (must include Start Date and Target End Date)
   • Enter Start Date and Target End Date for each project (except for the "All Projects" project)

Monitor productivity

To monitor actual team productivity w/ expected productivity:

1. Measurement shows whether the team is as productive as expected.
   • Requires capturing the estimated effort for each task and
   • the weekly project effort per person.
2. Change Task (Gantt) report so that it captures estimated effort and task completion dates
   • Add new Effort and Actual End Date columns to Task (Gantt) Report.
   • Enter estimated effort for each task. (In the future this will default to the duration, but for now it defaults to zero.)
3. Create a report to display the desired measurements.
   • Add ProjectMeasurement report to target project (if you haven't already done so).
   • Insert the desired columns.
   • Insert six blank rows.
   • Under the column MeasurementID enter the ID of each of the six earned value measurements. (Usually 1-6)
4. Add the names of the people who will work on the project to either the projects resource report or the all projects resource report.
   • Insert a row for each person that hasn't already been added
5. Create a report where the actual project effort can be entered.
   • Add ProjectResource Report to the project.
   • Insert desired columns (use Week/ActualEffortHours, not Day/ActualEffortHours -- the Day version hasn't been tested)
   • Insert one blank row for each person who will be working on the project.
   • Under the column ResourceID enter the ID of each person who will work on the project.
6. Record actual effort and compare with planned effort.
   • Enter the effort hours for each person each week into the ProjectResouce report.
   • Enter the actual completion date of any tasks that have been completed.
   • Run the "Update Measurements" script.
   • Compare actual effort with earned value effort.
   • (Note that actuals are only calculated for weeks that are completed.)

For more information on earned value, what it means and what the calculation is, see "Simple Project Management: What everyone needs to know about project management."

Monitor Expenses

To monitor planned vs. actual expenses:

1. Measurement shows planned non-labor expenses and compares them with the actual expenses.
   • Requires entering each expected expense and
   • updating each with the actual amount of the expense.
2. Create a report to display the desired measurements.
   • Add ProjectMeasurement report to target project (if you haven't already done so).
   • Insert the desired columns.
   • Insert six blank rows.
   • Under the column MeasurementID enter the ID of each of the six expense measurements. (Usually 7-12)
3. Create a Expense report to enter planned and actual non-labor expenses.
   • Add Expense report to the project
   • Insert desired columns
   • Insert one blank row for each expected expense.
4. Record actual expenses and compare with planned expenses.
   • Enter the actual expense into the Expense report.
   • Run the "Update Measurements" script.
   • Compare planned and actual expenses. The outlook combines the actual expenses with the remaining planned expenses.