This document provides instructions for tracking project progress in Microsoft Project. It describes setting a baseline for a project plan, recording progress by specific date, tracking task completion percentages, and entering actual start dates, durations, and work values. Recording actual information allows comparison to the original plan to evaluate project performance. The most detailed tracking involves recording actual work values per time period.

1. Soe Naing Win
Email: snw1975@gmail.com

2. 1. Save current values in a schedule as a
baseline.
2. Record progress on tasks through a specific
date.
3. Record a task’s percentage of completion.
4. Enter actual work and duration values for
tasks.

3. • Are tasks starting and finishing as planned? If not, what
will be the impact on the project’s finish date?
• Are resources spending more or less time than
planned to complete tasks?
• Are higher-than-anticipated task costs driving up the
overall cost of the project?

4. The different levels of tracking detail include the following:
• Record project work as scheduled. This level works best if
everything in the project occurs exactly as planned.
• Record each task’s percentage of completion, either at
precise values or at increments such as 25, 50, 75, or 100
percent.
• Record the actual start, actual finish, actual work, and actual
and remaining duration for each task or assignment.
• Track assignment-level work by time period. This is the most
detailed level of tracking. Here, you record actual work
values per day, week, or other interval. (taught in part 12)

5. Baseline
After developing a project plan, one of a project
manager’s most important activities is to record actuals
and evaluate project performance. To judge project
performance properly, it is helpful to compare it with your
original plan. This original plan is called the baseline
plan, or just the baseline.

6. You should save the baseline when,
• You have developed the project plan as fully as
possible. (However, this does not mean that you cannot add
tasks, resources, or assignments to the project after work has
started, for this is often unavoidable.)
• You have not yet started entering actual values, such as
a task’s percentage of completion.

7. Exercise : Save the baseline for a project plan and then view the
baseline task values.
• Project tab > Schedule group > Set Baseline.

8. We’ll set the baseline for the entire project by using the default settings
of the dialog box.
• Set Baseline > ok

9. See some of the changes caused by saving the baseline.
• View Tab > Task view > Other views > Task sheet

10. • View tab > Data group > Tables > Variances
•

11. • This table includes both the scheduled and baseline start and finish
columns, shown side by side for easy comparison
• No actual work has occurred yet and no changes to the
scheduled work have been made,

12. • View Tab > Task View > Gantt Chart

13. • The simplest approach to tracking progress is to report
that the actual work is proceeding exactly as planned.
◦ For example, if the first month of a five-month project has elapsed
and all its tasks have started and finished as scheduled, you can
quickly record this in the Update Project dialog box.
• When you record progress through a specific date,
Project calculates actual duration, remaining duration,
actual costs, and other values up to the date you
entered.

14. Exercise : Record project actuals by updating work to a specific
date.
• Project tab > Status group > Update Project.

15. • In the Gantt Chart view, the progress bar shows how much of
each task has been completed.
Check marks appear in the
Indicators column for tasks
that have been completed.
Progress bars indicate the
portion of each task that has
been completed

16. Some ways of entering completion percentages:
• Use the 0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100%
(Complete buttons in the Schedule group of the Task tab)
• Enter any percentage value you want in the Update Tasks
dialog box.
(to access this dialog box, on the Task tab, in the Schedule group,
click the down arrow to the right of the Mark on Track, and then
click Update Tasks).

17. Exercise : Record completion percentages of some tasks in the
new book launch project plan.
• Try for 100% in any incomplete task
• Try 50% in any incomplete task
• Try 25% in any incomplete task
• Try 50 in any task 18.
Note that although 50% of the work on task 18 is completed, the
progress bar does not span 50% of the width of the Gantt bar.
This is because Project measures duration in working time but
draws the Gantt bars to extend over nonworking time, which in
this case includes Sat & Sun, the nonworking day.

18. In chart portion of Gantt Chart view:
• the mouse pointer changes to a percent symbol and right arrow, a
Progress ScreenTip appears.
The mouse pointer
changes to a percent
symbol and arrow when
pointing to a progress bar

19. Project uses the following rules:
• When you enter a task’s actual start date, Project moves the scheduled
start date to match the actual start date.
• When you enter a task’s actual finish date, Project moves the scheduled
finish date to match the actual finish date and sets the task to 100%
complete.
• When you enter a task’s actual work value, Project recalculates the task’s
remaining work value, if any.
• When you enter a task’s actual duration, if it is less than the scheduled
duration, Project subtracts the actual duration from the scheduled duration
to determine the remaining duration.
• When you enter a task’s actual duration, if it is equal to the scheduled
duration, Project sets the task to 100% complete.
• When you enter a task’s actual duration, if it is longer than the scheduled
duration, Project adjusts the scheduled duration to match the actual
duration and sets the task to 100% complete.

20. Exercise : Record actual work values for some tasks as well as
start dates and durations for other tasks.
• View tab > Data group >Tables > Work

21. • Actual field for task 12 > change 250 >

22. • Task Name column > task 8 >
• Task tab > Schedule group, click the down arrow to the right of the
Mark on Track button, and then click Update Tasks.

23. • In the Start field in the Actual group on the left side of the dialog
box, type or select 12/29/13.
• In the Actual dur field, type or select 7d

24. • In the Start field in the Actual group on the left side of the dialog
box, type or select 12/29/13.
• In the Actual dur field, type or select 7d