RAG Status on Project 2013

[deepsk]

Can someone help?!

Created a plan in MS Project 2013 but need the RAG status to be based on the baselined dates.

e.g.


Task will go red if new date entered is after the baselined date.
But when baselined date is updated it will go to Green
Along with the % complete making the RAG blue when it hits 100%

Is there anyway this can be done?

[JulieS]

I'm afraid I don't follow completely. Are you talking about tasks with a Finish Variance where Baseline Finish < Finish? Have you considered using the built-in Status Indicator field?

[deepsk]

Hi Jules,
Please see example below

Task Start End Baseline Start Baseline Finish
Testing 23/04 23/04 22/04 22/04

with the above I need the status indicator to show a Red RAG status

but when you change the baseline dates to 23/04 it will go back to green indicating the task is no longer overdue

does that help?

[JulieS]

I understand, but you should not be manually editing the baseline fields. In your scenario, the task both starts and ends late as compared to the baseline data. Do you want to focus on late starts or only late finishes?

The short answer is you need to add a custom field (text) with a custom formula. For example:

IIf([Finish Variance]>0,"Red",IIf([% Complete]=100,"Blue",""))

You can then display graphical indicators for the "red" and "blue". You'll also want to figure out what you want to do for summary tasks. If one task is late, should the summary be marked late - even if its dates haven't yet changed?

However, that formula doesn't address issues like the task finished early, or the task has no baseline. I suggest coming up with a more complete metric than just late or done. Again, the Status indicator field is quite nice and no custom fields needed.