Flagging a Problem within a Task

Question

I am using a Gantt Chart to map tasks out for the construction of a product. I would like to visually notate that a problem has occurred during a task on the chart with either a pin or flag that I can click on to see a description of the problem. I'm not sure if this capability is available.

Thanks!

Answer 1

Using Visual Basic for applications, you can write any code/note you wish.  The challenge becomes defining what problems you are looking for, and then how to notify the user.  I have written an Add-In for MS Project 2007 and later that makes over 30 tests on the schedule and then displays in the flag or text field of your choice. It also will put it into Excel very nicely.  Not freeware, just letting you know what is possible with code ...

What you can do quite quickly and easily is insert the column "Status" or "Status Indicator" and it will let you know if a task is behind schedule, etc.  That comes as out of the box behavior.

Now to get a bit more robust.  Suppose you are looking for detail tasks that have a finish date that has slipped from the baseline.  You can set a formula in any of the 20 custom flag fields iif([Finish Variance]>0, "yes", "no") which will set the Flag to "yes" of there is a positive finish variance.  You can change the 0 to 5 or whatever is a desired threshold.  Then, rename the Flag field to be something like "Late Finishes" and that becomes your note.  Since there are multiple custom text, flag, and number columns, you have a lot of places to store your results.

To create the formula, insert the field of your choice into a view.  Right click on it (say Flag1) and select "Customize Fields"  In the dialog box, you can set a formula.

Finally, after customizing the Flag field, you can use a display indicator.  The ability to display a flag, circle, dot, triangle, square, etc. of various colors is a good way to bring attention to a specific set of tasks (you can even filter to it, ie: Flag1="yes").

To get much more complicated than this will require the use of code.

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If this post was helpful, please click on something :) I am also at http://www.msprojectblog.com Jim

Answer 2

I'll add up to this :)

You can also create a flag field that turns to yes (true) whenever notes are written (or another custom text field, if you want to preserve the notes field). Then, you can add a bar style (right-click the Gantt chart > Bar styles / Bars and styles in 2010), with the following parameters, assuming you used Flag1 :

Name = Problem indicator;

Format = [choose you own, like a yellow triangle (warning type), on the Start only];

For tasks = Flag1;

Row = 1;

Start = Finish = Task Start or Task Finish, depending on where you want to show the icon.

Add it at the end of the list so it shows on top of the Gantt bars -- bars are drawn in the list's order.

 The formula for Flag1 would be :

IIf([Notes]<>"";1;0)

You don't have to show the Flag1 field in your table for it to work.

Good luck.

Answer 3

NSGH929 --

In addition to the sage advice offered by Jim and Julie, if you are using Microsoft Project 2007 or 2010, you can apply Cell Background Formatting to the task.  If you use a bright color like Yellow or Lime, the task will really stick out in the project!  This will call attention to the task, which is what you want the color to do.  In addition to adding a Note to the task, you also have the options to double-click the Gantt bar for the task in question and change it's color to the same color used with Cell Background Formatting.  Just a couple of extra thoughts.  Hope this helps.

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Dale A. Howard [MVP]

VP of Educational Services

msProjectExperts

http://www.msprojectexperts.com

http://www.projectserverexperts.com

"We write the books on Project Server"

Answer 4

Yes, Jim is too high tech sometimes. :)  My assumption was the user wanted to have MSP do the work of finding the problem.

Other than that, nothing is easier than hovering over a note icon is it?  Thanks for keeping it simple.

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If this post was helpful, please click on something :) I am also at http://www.msprojectblog.com Jim

Answer 5

Hello NSGH929,

Jim has given you a very 'high tech' method through code.  A simpler method would be to use the Notes field to enter details on the problems.  If the notes field has data, an indicator appears in the indicator column. Double clicking on the task will show the Task Information dialog where you can read the note on the Notes page.

I hope this helps.

Julie