1- Collect progress data.

2- Update the schedule.

3- Prepare the weekly report and dashboards (input data in the same fields, apply the same formula, do the same formatting, etc)

4- Review the outcome.

5- identify project delays.

6- Prepare progress presentations for meetings.

7- Voila! Rinse and repeat.

Boring, right? Well, I am here today to tell you that there is a golden opportunity in this routine.

Here is an example of just one routine step. Every week, you calculate the SPI on Tuesday morning. It is when you’ve just completed the schedule update and started preparing the report. You divide the Earned Value Cost by the Planned Cost. This means that you apply the “same” mathematical operation every week on Tuesday morning. It doesn’t matter if you use excel for calculation purposes. You would still need to copy data from P6 or input a figure manually into your excel report. The same concept will apply when you try to calculate the Actual %, variance %, etc. In other words, you actively participate in the development of your report. Despite the current technology and software tools that we currently have at our disposal, 99.9% of planning engineers perform their duties in such a traditional way which impacts their productivity and limits their potential to add value.

Planning Engineers should find a way to apply technology leverage and code such routine tasks so that most of their work is passively completed; thanks to our boring routine. On the other hand, doctors can’t follow an exact routine every time they diagnose a patient because factors such as gender, age, and health problems must be taken into consideration. Hence, doctors must perform their duties in an active manner on a case-by-case basis. Planning engineers are just so lucky to have a routine whenever a reporting task is requested or completed.

Disadvantages of performing task routine

According to the above, when you “actively” perform your tasks and follow the routine, you will:

1- Feel bored by an overwhelming amount of repetitive work to produce static reports which make your work less enjoyable.

2- Spend more time, effort and energy performing the same tasks on weekly basis.

3- Have high friction in your workflow as you would need to apply numerous steps to prepare your report. Moreover, you will need to constantly review your outcome, apply P6 filters, deal with formula errors, format reports, update the cell range of your excel formula and refer to the baseline schedule as necessary.

4- Follow the “same” steps to prepare your progress presentation manually.

5- Struggle with meeting deadlines.

Advantages of coding your task routine

In this case, it makes far more sense to use data analytics processors such as Power BI to code the task routine which helps planning engineers:

1- Automate tasks and complete interactive reports and presentations on autopilot within seconds.

2- Analyze any area in the project with a click of a button using one tool.

3- Save time and effort by eliminating low-impact activities such as formatting or applying mathematical operations.

4- Not feel bored by doing the exact same work every week.

5- Enjoy less friction as you will need to worry less about excel formulas errors, reviewing your outcome or constantly referring to the baseline schedule, as necessary.

I am not talking about a few routine steps here. I mean the whole process that you follow to complete your reporting tasks such as trend analysis, progress curve, breakdown analysis, variance analysis, etc.

Conclusion

Your biggest enemy is sometimes your best ally. Your “boring” routine that you always complain about could be the reason for you to become more productive, add more value and unlock the best career opportunities. Your routine can be the way to have the time, freedom, clarity, efficiency and energy that you exactly need for a prosperous career. It is also how you stand out from the competition.

Regards,

Osama Saad, MBA, PMP, PSP, PMI-SP

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The post Bored from your planning task routine? Think Again! appeared first on Smart PM Blog.

I understand that this statement might be shocking to you but I am a practical person who loves to make conclusions based on logic and practical frameworks so let’s break this down. First, let’s review what “experienced” planning engineers currently do after they complete the schedule update.

• Assign the Baseline Schedule to the Schedule Update inside P6.
• Apply filters as necessary.
• Copy data into a configuration Excel sheet where formulas are established.
• Review the front end (the report itself) and make sure that there are no errors.
• Repeat the same cycle as many times as necessary to complete other report sections and dashboards (e.g. milestones, progress curve, resources, cost, work categories, variance analysis, breakdown analysis, delay highlights, long lead items, performance %’s and other indicators).
• Import historic XER files to analyze the progress further.

Preparing progress reports is a time and effort vampire. Project control is simple because most of the above reporting tasks are repetitive. You probably apply the same steps and perform the same mathematical operations in the same order when you prepare the report every week. While this workflow is perceived by many planning engineers as a lot of boring work, I see a golden opportunity. Power BI allows planning engineers to code the process, automate these tasks and complete the whole report within seconds on autopilot. This means that planning engineers don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time they prepare a progress report.

With every client I do consultations with, project managers expect more contributions and involvement from their planning engineers. However, they don’t want to push their planners further because they can see them work so hard on preparing reports. At the same time, companies don’t want to hire more expensive “qualified” planners because this will compromise their budget. It is an endless loop that got many large projects completed late and over budget. After planning engineers use power BI and have so much time saved up, they can focus on things that matter the most. They can do the followings:

• Identify and communicate project delays to their team.
• Prepare and monitor recovery measures.
• Identify more opportunities for Extension of Time Claims.
• Draft correspondences to Subcontractors that are in default to ensure that the progress is in accordance with the plan.
• Perform more comprehensive interactive analysis, give recommendations, attend meetings and prepare progress presentations for the decision-makers and the client.
• Monitor the progress of engineering and procurement and work closely with the respective departments.
• Review performance trends and highlight the potential delays before they occur to the project.
• Analyze the causes of payment deficits and recommend actions to get back on track with the original cash flow.

Nobody has enough time in a day to “manually” prepare a comprehensive progress report AND carry out the above tasks effectively. Both the decision makers and Planning engineers are fully aware of what is expected to perform effective project control. The number one challenge faced by planning engineers is not the lack of knowledge; it is the lack of time. We need to shift our mindset on progress reports and consider them as input instead of output to deliver the results we need. It is something that project control books or certifications don’t teach. This poor mindset of solely focusing on progress reports has been sold to all planning engineers across the globe and got us nowhere. As a result, planning engineers continue to struggle with delivering what is expected from them.  In other words, the main work of planning engineers should start AFTER the progress report is completed. The quicker you complete the report, the more effective and qualified you become. Finally, not only can Power BI help planning engineers achieve amazing results but also help companies hire fewer planning engineers to do even more work.

Don’t work for your report. Make your reports work for you.

Regards,

Osama Saad, MBA, PMP, PSP, PMI-SP

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Here is what the main workflow for most planning engineers looks like.

• Assign the Baseline Schedule to the Schedule Update in P6.

• Apply filters as necessary to perform the analysis.

• Copy data into multiple Excel sheets where formulas are established.

• Compile all outputs into a single report.

• Prepare presentations using PowerPoint.

The Problem

Here are some of the problems associated with working with multiple files:

• You might run the risk of referring to the wrong XER file while you work.
• You forgot to update some excel formulas when you prepare the report.
• You may have typing errors.
• You will most likely deal with excel formulas errors.
• It is hard to set up validation points to identify the root cause of the problem in your configurations.
• You will waste a lot of time following this process.

Moreover, this workflow has many problems beyond the progress report preparation. The report review doesn’t get any easier. You will probably need to import multiple XER files as necessary or navigate among different files in the report to look for the information that you need.

Working with many files causes huge friction, constraints, limitations, congestion and tasks traffic. Dealing with many planning files may help you arrive at the desired destination but you never reach your full potential. Moreover, you will also feel exhausted and unable to deliver “value”. In addition, this process often produces static reporting, not interactive.

The solution

You should have all your project control work in one file under one layout using one tool only. This helps you connect all project control data easily and build interactive reports effectively. Here is what it looks like inside Power BI.

Your project control model should operate like a subway where you:

• Avoid friction and the constant task “traffic”.

• Utilize systems to reach your full potential and add value.

• Perform your tasks using shortcuts.

• Maximize efficiency and improve the task flow in your operations.

• Create presentations with a click of a button without the need to spend time using PowerPoint.

You simply have full control when you have everything available and connected in one place. While you still need scheduling software such as P6, you will definitely need a powerful data analytics processor to have everything under ONE.

 Power BI provides planning engineers with great tools that help them complete most of the project control tasks on autopilot and in a seamless way. That’s the power of ONE in project control.

Regards,

Osama Saad, MBA, PMP, PSP, PMI-SP

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The post The Power of ONE appeared first on Smart PM Blog.

The disadvantages of static reports

A static report is like a template that you fill out after each progress update cycle. This can include “pre-defined” key indicators, tables and visualizations. As a result, both the planning engineer and the reviewer will have limited ability in making decisions because their analysis cannot go beyond what they see in the report.

The advantages of interactive reports

On the other hand, if you have an interactive project control model, everyone has the potential to analyze other areas which they wouldn’t have thought of before. They can dig deeper, identify more causes of delays or review the progress status on any data date with a click of a button, as necessary. In addition, they can review the planned work for other areas and have effective preparation in advance. These questions and the corresponding answers change every week based on any improvements and shortfalls that you have in your project. In other words, your current progress status dictates the type and level of analysis that you wish to perform. For example, you might observe a delay that occurred in one area of the project and decide to prepare a breakdown analysis or trend performance report to identify the root causes of the delay. This type of analysis can’t be achieved with static reports/templates.

The interactive report in practice

But how can we do that? Well, Power BI helps planning engineers perform interactive analysis with a click of a button. Just to give you an idea, the below image illustrates an example of how this looks like. You can click on any area and instantly present the corresponding status. You can also navigate among all the different report sections with a click of a button.

However, for some reason, you might need to produce static reports. This might happen because it is stipulated in the Contract or requested by the Employer. If you decided to produce such reports, at least don’t spend any time doing so (Power BI allows you to do that). Your time and effort should be directed towards high-impact valuable tasks that help the project move forward. Moreover, a comprehensive interactive report can be communicated via a web link. Anyone who has access to this link can perform an interactive analysis across all report areas. The interesting part is that the reviewers don’t have to install Power BI on their computers to review the report. To give you an idea of how this looks like, you can access an interactive report at the below link.

Click here to access the interactive reports

Impress Stakeholders

When key decision-makers review the static progress reports, they will often have follow-up questions to understand how the issue can be dealt with. In return, the planning engineer will promise to prepare and provide the answers later. Does this scenario sound familiar? If so, you will probably agree with me that this is a nightmare and also ineffective.

On the other hand, imagine that you instantly provide accurate answers within seconds without leaving the meeting. All you need is a laptop (or even a mobile phone). Moreover, you will be able to present the project progress like a pro. You can analyze any area in the project and recall the progress status on any data date with a click of a button. Not only will you impress the stakeholders with supreme skills but also scarce ones because very few planning engineers know how to use Power BI effectively. The meeting participants will be impressed by your beautiful dashboards, speed of analysis, convenience, reliability, practicality, valuable contributions, efficiency, clarity and professionalism. This is Project Control.

The red pill

Not only are planning engineers conditioned to focus only on progress reports but also the static ones and I am really disappointed with that. As a result, they don’t add the expected value to their projects which are often completed late and over budget. We need to shift our mindset on progress reporting, interactive dashboards, workflows and what an effective contribution to the project’s success means. This is a tough red pill to swallow but this is the reality. You need to open your eyes and see things for what they truly are. You need to unplug from the false beliefs we currently have in project control and change your tools and methods to become more effective and stand out from the competition.

Regards,

Osama Saad, MBA, PMP, PSP, PMI-SP

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The post Static Progress Reports Are Dead appeared first on Smart PM Blog.

There are many ways to add value in the project control profession. However, I would recommend that you start improving yourself in the below areas where most planning engineers really struggle.

• Progress reporting and presentation.
• Progress analysis.
• Project control systems and automation.

Power BI is free software for the most part and a powerful data analytics processor. It helps you overcome the above-mentioned challenges. You have to learn Power BI and its applications in project control if you want to stand out from the competition and improve your career. In this article, I will share how planning engineers can develop a very powerful CV by presenting their Power BI skills.

Your work speaks for itself

You can follow the traditional way of listing your experience and duties but you have just become one of the so many planning engineers who continuously compete with you in the market. In addition to listing your duties, you can also share a link to your Power BI interactive reports in your CV.

Many CVs are sent and reviewed in a digital format. As a result, there is a very high chance that the hiring managers will review your CV on a computer where they can access your dashboard link. The reviewer doesn’t have to install Power BI to see your work which is super convenient because 99% of planning engineers don’t know about Power BI or how to use it. That’s why you shouldn’t expect hiring managers to have Power BI installed on their computers.

Here is an example of a Power BI dashboard shared via a link. That’s how the reviewer will see your work. You can check it and perform interactive analysis even though you don’t have Power BI software installed.

Click here to view my comprehensive interactive report with Power BI

Magical Duties

I have read many CVs for planning engineers and I observed patterns in those CVs. They are all similar. The only difference is the Employer and the number of years of experience. Some of the duties that planning engineers mention in their CVs include:

• Prepare Baseline Program.
• Prepare progress reports.
• Prepare Extension of Time Claims.
• The list goes on but you got the idea.

Remember, you are not alone and tens of thousands are competing with you for a better life and career. I am not saying that you should do something different; rather it should be valuable. Companies shortlist candidates based on the expected potential value that they will bring to the workplace. Therefore, the higher value you can bring to your potential employer and improve its existing conditions, the better career opportunities you will have. As a Power BI user, you can add a significant value and list the below duties in your CV to get shortlisted.

• Prepare progress reports in seconds.
• Analyze any area in the project with a click of a button.
• Develop powerful systems and automation.

How often do you see these duties listed among planning engineers? I am sure you can guess the answer. If I were the hiring manager and read these duties, I will immediately pause, ignore the other “typical” CVs and become interested to know more about this planning engineer. That’s how you add value, become different, get shortlisted and stand out from the competition.

Colours matter

I will always recommend that you present accurate information in your reporting. However, it is extremely important to prepare professional and eye-catching reports too. Humans love colours!

We love rainbows. They are formed through a process called refraction but nothing is really magical about rainbows. It is pure physics. Yet, we don’t care about how they are formed; we just love them. Moreover, between 80 and 90 percent of the information that our brain processes are visual (Source: Udomon, Iboro, Xiong, Chuyee, et al. Visual, Audio, and Kinesthetic Effects on Memory Retention and Recall). In addition, Two-thirds of the brain’s electrical activity is dedicated to vision. In my experience, if you can attach eye-catching, colourful and professional reports with your CV, it can make a huge difference. Refer to the below snapshots as an example of how this works in practice. You can attach similar snapshots with your CV to grab the hiring managers’ attention and impress them.

I am not trying to explain shortcuts here. You have to put in the work and be a planning engineer who can add significant value. I am just trying to help you utilize powerful tools such as Power BI that very few planning engineers have and also help you explore effective ways to improve your career and life.

Regards,

Osama Saad, MBA, PMP, PSP, PMI-SP

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The post 3 ways for a killer planning engineer’s CV with Power BI appeared first on Smart PM Blog.

• Open the XER file and add any relevant columns to your layout.
• Apply P6 filters
• Copy data into Excel, apply formulas and continue the analysis further.
• Prepare a variance report for all project areas.
• Determine the areas that require your attention.
• Refine and prioritize your selections based on certain metrics (e.g. cost, manhours, etc).
• Open the Baseline XER file to extract any necessary data (e.g. planned weekly cost or manhours for specific project areas).
• Make sure that the excel formulas are properly configured in the different sections of the report.
• Format the report.
• You receive feedback from your management.
• Repeat many tasks to incorporate this feedback.

Before you know it, your dream of performing an effective progress analysis has turned into a nightmare.

Don’t blame your systems or your management because the human brain doesn’t know what it is looking for until it sees “triggers”.

You prepare a report that shows an overall variance of -5%. As the project is in delay, you are motivated to investigate further. After some analysis, you found that concrete is the dominant cause of delay in the project. You analyzed further and determined that the formwork activities take longer than planned. However, you wouldn’t have looked at the formwork activities if you didn’t see a “trigger” in the concrete activities. Similarly, you decided to analyze the concrete performance when you saw a “trigger” related to the overall project delays.

An interactive report or dashboard allows you to review the progress status and act on “triggers” with a click of a button and within seconds. It is not really a science. The idea is to find a way to code the process of performing the above 11 steps that I mentioned. Although the steps may vary but you got the idea. You basically set up a report template, present your indicators and create your charts. You also develop systems that use technology leverage to perform certain steps or loops and add them to your workflow.

This will allow any planning engineers to dig deeper and analyze any area in the project quickly and effectively. Planning Engineers can then deal with “triggers” in a better way because they can perform their analysis, recall information and receive feedback from the system instantly. This is only possible if the analysis is performed in a dynamic way using technology leverage, not humans.

That’s why interactive dashboards are so important because it gives planning engineers the flexibility, motion and freedom to explore analysis opportunities that aren’t possible to get with the traditional static reports.

Static reports might present the triggers but don’t help you a lot in the next step.

Moreover, interactive dashboards are not popular among planning engineers. If you can create interactive dashboards for your projects, you will impress all stakeholders, help your company save money and unlock better career opportunities.

Power BI allows you to create interactive reports and dashboards in a seamless way. The software is also free for the most part.

Regards,

Osama Saad, MBA, PMP, PSP, PMI-SP

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The post Interactive dashboards in project control appeared first on Smart PM Blog.

1- Don’t spend all of your time figuring out how you can use P6 in every project control area. The role of P6 is limited. You will need to do a lot of work using other tools such as Excel or Power BI.

2- Don’t try to master every scheduling software out there. It is better to improve your skills with the tools that you use on a daily basis unless it is necessary to add a new tool to your workflow.

3- You can become an expert in software but it doesn’t necessarily mean you are a qualified planning engineer. Softwares are just tools. Your mind controls them.

4- Developing your project control mindset and growing your skills take time. There is no quick fix or an easy shortcut.

5- Working hard doesn’t always mean that it is a good sign. Being productive and able to deliver results matter the most.

6- Experience is the greatest teacher. It is better to put the time into work than to watch tutorials all day long. Consuming knowledge and practicing its applications improve your skills.

7- There is no universal way on how you should implement project control tasks. That’s the beauty of it. Everyone is unique in his/her operations. Most of your decisions should be based on a strong mindset, logic and common sense.

8- A schedule can consist of thousands of activities. Every activity has many attributes (e.g. budgeted total cost, earned value, % complete, etc). Some attributes even change every week. You must learn data analytics and use leverage to manage such huge sets of data. There is no way around it.

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Regards,

Osama Saad, MBA, PMP, PSP, PMI-SP

The post Career Advice for Planning Engineers appeared first on Smart PM Blog.

You can’t control what you can’t measure! That’s why progress reports are so important. However, such reports are prepared in different forms for different purposes. Although there are many factors on how to prepare an effective report, I will only explain the value of connecting the drawings to your project control model in this article. Here are the benefits of establishing this connection using Power BI:

1- Convenience

It is more effective to view the project drawings and generate a comprehensive report for any area with a click of a button. This is particularly helpful for management and key decision makers because they are not typically the ones who will read the 200 pages report that you prepared. In a meeting, they will have many questions and expect quick answers. Power BI allows you to build dashboards and provide instant answers within seconds. All you need is a laptop.

2- Flexibility

If you implement the traditional P6/Excel type of work, your report is probably static. This means that both the planning engineers and the reviewers will have limited ability in making decisions because their analysis cannot go beyond what they see in the report. On the other hand, if you have the project layout connected with your “dynamic” model, everyone has the potential to analyze other areas which they wouldn’t have thought of before. Moreover, they can dig deeper and identify more causes of delays. In addition, they can review the planned work for other areas and have effective preparation in advance. This flexibility can’t be achieved with static reports or where the project drawings aren’t a part of the model.

3- Efficiency

Any data analytics model should be designed and developed to reduce friction. If I receive more data, inputs or report modification requests, I don’t want to spend the whole afternoon revising and customizing the report. That’s not effective. Power BI allows you to customize your drawings-based report within seconds. The above image is only an example but you can add as many parameters, elements and sections as you want with a “drag and drop” feature inside Power BI. Moreover, you can apply any necessary filters and immediately have your PDF reports or PowerPoint presentation ready. You can also save hours on report formatting by doing so.

4- Speed

It takes less than 30 seconds to update the progress data inside Power BI after the schedule update is completed. The data are also synchronized with the project drawings/layout so you don’t need to do any additional work after each schedule update. This is another reason why we should apply more automation and leverage in project control.

5- Cost

You can do all of the above using Power BI which is free software for the most part. The process of connecting the drawings with the schedule is seamless compared to other similar “expensive” software solutions in the market. Power BI can also help companies save money in some ways.

6- Career

In my experience, there are very few planning engineers who use this type of connection in their work. If you establish this connection, you look more professional in front of management and clients. Moreover, you can attach some snapshots with your CV to stand out from the competition. You will also get shortlisted for vacancies listed by reputable organizations.

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Regards,

Osama Saad, MBA, PMP, PSP, PMI-SP

The post Why should planning engineers connect the drawings with the schedule model? appeared first on Smart PM Blog.

After I graduated, I realized that my skills can’t add any value to the marketplace. Yes, it is a broken system but more on that later. During that time, there was no guide or training that teaches fresh graduates the practical application of knowledge. I had an ambition, but I was angry and disappointed. It is funny how time flies so quickly.

I receive many messages from young engineers who share the same frustration. If you are one of them, I just want to tell you that I can exactly resonate with your feelings because I have been there myself. I am going to share what I would do or tell myself if I have to start all over again. I hope this can help someone out there understand the job market and life better.

1- It takes time

We live in a world where you can get whatever you want so quickly with high certainty. Are you hungry? Order your food and it will be there within 30 min. Would you like to change your phone? Make the order and you will receive it tomorrow. You get the idea.

Similar daily behaviors affect our actions, feelings and expectations but career success can’t be achieved that fast. Many young engineers get disappointed because they don’t subconsciously feel a certainty that is similar to the forecasted delivery dates. However, life is not smooth and full of changes. You need to embrace this change and enjoy the process. You need to work hard every day even if you don’t realize any career improvements. You need to keep working until you create enough momentum and your snowball gets bigger before you unlock better opportunities. Rinse and repeat. A plane should have a runway before it takes off. As a planning engineer, your runway is time.

2- Be different

You might have average skills and are applying for online job vacancies but if you do what 99% of people are doing, you get similar results. When you improve your skills over time, these small daily improvements will compound and you will feel more confident. After you improve your skills (it takes time), you can be innovative on how to present your offering. For example, you can share the link to this amazing Power BI dashboard and attach your comprehensive Extension of Time Claim with your CV. Moreover, finding a job is a job. You need to do your best to put yourself in front of the available opportunities, both in-person and online. The bottom line is to be different.

3- Curiosity is punished

Our education system punishes someone who is asking many questions in the classroom. Students don’t feel comfortable asking questions because they fear being seen stupid. Curiosity is a human gift. How is this related to a project control career? I am glad you asked. In my experience, planning engineers often lack execution-related knowledge because they don’t ask their team enough questions. They don’t want to be seen as inexperienced or stupid. On the other hand, modern project management frameworks recommend having open and clear communication. My advice is to go ahead and ask so many questions to improve your knowledge. Your current employer won’t probably be the one that you will work for until your retirement. You will unlikely continue to work with your current colleagues forever too.

4- Postgraduate Education

During your frustration, you might think that a master degree will solve all your problems. I am here to tell you that this is not true. While construction is getting more complicated every day (e.g. Expo, Iconic Towers, High Rise Buildings, whole cities to support urbanizations), the university curriculum hasn’t been updated much to support the practical market requirements. A university degree doesn’t teach you advanced P6 shortcuts, comprehensive progress reports, KPIs, progress curves, Power BI or extension of time claim tips – just to name a few.

If you want another proof, I am sure that we all know someone who is not even an engineer but gets a decent salary. The reason is simple. He offers great value and gets the job done. While a university degree is very expensive and time-consuming, it doesn’t provide an attractive ROI. You should seek knowledge from an experienced practitioner or practical books. Moreover, I believe that pursuing certifications such as PMP or PSP is a good thing to do. However, such certifications should be complementary and not the focus of your career because they won’t entirely solve your problems.

5- Content consumption

There are so many resources on the internet to learn project control from. In my opinion, there is only limited content that provides the desired “practical” benefit. Before you consume any piece of content, ask yourself: will this help me get the job done? I recommend that you improve your P6, advanced excel, Power BI and delay analysis skills because such skills can be directly applied to the workplace. Some theoretical content about management behaviors? Not so much.

Conclusion

You might not have had the best of everything. There are so many uncontrolled variables that happen to you by default(e.g. education, demographics, wealth, etc). However, we need to work hard on the things that we can control. In this article, I shared my own opinion about the common misconceptions in the project control career and explained the importance of doing hard work over the long term.

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Regards,

Osama Saad, MBA, PMP, PSP, PMI-SP

The post Planning Engineer’s Career Tips appeared first on Smart PM Blog.

– Forecasted Completion date and project delays.

– Project overall or area-wise variance %.

– Cost Variance Breakdown.

– Earned Value Breakdown.

Planning Engineers may also wish to open progress reports on their computers to find this information but this doesn’t make the pain go away. Here are some of the challenges associated with this process.

1- The task is time-consuming

Waiting for many large XER files to import is not very pleasant. Moreover, opening progress reports on your hard disk to retrieve any information requires a considerable amount of time.

2- You might make mistakes

How many times did we copy an XER file for a quick what-if scenario but forgot about it later on? You might refer to the wrong XER file by mistake when you try to retrieve certain progress data. You will also need to type the results into your excel report. I don’t know about you but I made fatal typing mistakes in the past.

3- Ease of access

It is not uncommon for your P6, excel or PDF reader to crash. You will literally do nothing until you get some IT support. Moreover, your work files are likely stored on a server that can be down anytime. You would better hope that the server will be up and running again before the deadline of your report.

The solution

Power BI establishes a comprehensive system that solves the above issues. With Power BI, you can:

– Avoid importing XER files and save both time and money.

– Have seamless access to your current and historic progress data with a click of a button.

– Store all your planning work in one place and one layout using one tool.

– Never worry about a software crash (e.g. P6, Excel, server or the PDF reader) as everything is stored in the model.

– Have tremendous leverage and prepare instant reports without worrying about any typing mistakes or formatting.

– Configure an automated validation function within Power BI.

– Set up a machine or coding that processes all tasks. This way, you don’t have to create, track or validate your excel formulas every time you prepare a report.

And my favourite: Power BI is a free service for the most part.

Let’s have a look at the below images to see the application in practice.

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Regards,

Osama Saad, MBA, PMP, PSP, PMI-SP

The post Never import an XER file or open a report again with Power BI appeared first on Smart PM Blog.