PSA Project Scheduling Risk dashboard

The PSA Project Scheduling Risk dashboard enables you to:

  • View a prioritized list of your projects that are most at risk of going over or under schedule based on hours variance percentage.
  • Track the scheduled versus actual hours variance on your projects, and see how the variance has affected historical revenue and costs.
  • Predict risks to future project scheduling based on historical hours variance for each resource.
  • Define the number of past weeks to include in variance calculations and the number of future weeks to apply predictions to.
Note: The intended user for this dashboard is the project manager or services leader.

The dashboard is available only on the PS Cloud Advanced Analytics app, and is designed to complement the enhanced Project Management Workspace functionality available in PSA. For more information, see Project Management Workspace.

Prerequisites

The PSA Project Scheduling Risk dashboard only displays active projects that have at least one week of historical scheduled and actual hours data and information for individual resources that have submitted at least one week's worth of hours on the project. You must also have at least one EvA record with the Time Period Type of Week. For more information, see Estimates Versus Actuals.

Notes:
  • This dashboard does not support daily bill rates.
  • This dashboard does not calculate revenue hours variance for fixed fee projects.

PSA Project Scheduling Risk Dashboard Guide

The PSA Project Scheduling Risk dashboard has a revenue view and a costs view, which you can toggle between to see the impact of schedule variance on your projects based on either revenue or costs. Calculated values displayed in each view are dependent on the past weeks and future weeks values selected in the Weeks to Include filters.

Project Revenue View

The revenue view of the dashboard has the following elements.

PSA Project Scheduling Risk dashboard schematic highlighting the key elements of the project revenue view.

Project Costs View

The costs view of the dashboard has the following elements that differ from the revenue view.

PSA Project Scheduling Risk dashboard schematic highlighting the key elements of the project costs view.

The dashboard displays data from the Project Reporting dataset. For more details about the fields used in the dashboard calculations, see Project Reporting Dataset Output Fields.

PSA Project Scheduling Risk Dashboard Elements
Element Number Name Description Calculation Referenced Calculation
1. View By Project Revenue or Project Costs Picker Determines if project revenue or project cost data displays in the dashboard. Not applicable Not applicable
2.

Project List

Lists your projects with the schedule variance, with the project with the highest absolute variance at the top.

 Not applicable Not applicable
3.

Sort By Picker

Sorts the project list by variance according to the following options:

  • Predicted Impact on Scheduled Revenue / Costs, which is the impact of the project's historical hours variance on scheduled revenue or costs for the selected number of future weeks.
  • Future Scheduled Revenue / Costs, which is the scheduled revenue for the selected number of future weeks.
  • Past Hours % Variance, which is the percentage difference between the scheduled hours and actual hours for the selected number of past weeks.
  • Past Hours Variance Total, which is the total difference between the scheduled hours and actual hours for the selected number of past weeks.

 Past Hours Variance % = (EvA Actual Hours - EvA Estimated Hours) / EvA Estimated Hours None
4.

Project Variance Bar

Project variance shown as an absolute value, with over scheduled values displayed in pink and under scheduled values displayed in blue.

A project is over-scheduled when the hours variance is over 0%, which indicates that there are more actual hours than scheduled hours for the selected number of past weeks.

A project is under-scheduled when the hours variance is less than 0%, which indicates that there are fewer actual hours than scheduled hours for the selected number of past weeks.

EvA Hours Variance filtered by EvA Time Period Type = Week and Project Name, then grouped by End Date (Week)

This value is derived by calculating the variance per resource, and aggregating to the project level.

None
5.

Total Hours Variance % (Last XX Weeks)

Consolidated hours variance percentage for the selected project, where XX indicates the number of past weeks selected in the Weeks to Include filter. 

The colors in the widget are represented in the same way as the legends on the project variance bar.

(Actual Hours - Scheduled Hours) / Scheduled Hours

(EvA Actual Hours - EvA Estimated Hours) / EvA Estimated Hours

or

EvA Hours Variance / EvA Estimated Hours
6.

Line Chart (Last XX Weeks)

Displays the scheduled and actual for the selected number of past weeks.

Scheduled hours = EvA Estimated Hours

Actual Hours = EvA Actual Hours

Revenue Variance = EvA Actual Billable Amount - EvA Scheduled Amount

 None
7. Prediction Flag Indication of where the future hours prediction begins on the line chart. Predictions run from the start of the current week until the end of the selected future weeks period. Not applicable Not applicable
8.

Line chart (Next XX Weeks)

Displays the scheduled and predicted hours for the selected number of future weeks.

Scheduled Hours = EvA Estimated Hours

Predicted Hours =

EvA Estimated Hours - (Average Variance % for the last XX weeks * EvA Estimated Hours)

This value is derived by calculating the variance per resource, and aggregating to project level.

Note:

XX indicates the selected number of past weeks.

 None
9.

Chart legend

Legend for the information displayed on the chart, which consists of the following:

  • Actual Hours for the selected number of past weeks

  • Scheduled Hours for the selected number of past and future weeks

  • Predicted Hours for the selected number of future weeks. This calculation is performed at the resource level and aggregated for the project.

    The resource's hours average variance % for the selected number of past weeks is applied to the scheduled hours for the selected number of future weeks, and a predicted hours value is calculated.

    Example:

    Resource A has an average of +20% variance for the last 13 weeks and the resource is scheduled for 5 hours per day for the next 13 weeks. So, the predicted hours for Resource A will be: 5*80% = 4 hours per day. The predicted hours for all the resources in the project are consolidated to arrive at the predicted hours for a project.

Actual Hours = EvA Actual Hours

 

Scheduled Hours = EvA Estimated Hours

 

Predicted Hours = EvA Estimated Hours - (Average Variance % for the last XX weeks * EvA Estimated Hours)

Note:

XX indicates the selected number of past weeks.

 None
10.

View project details

Click to view more details about the selected project. You can drill down further to view information to role and resource level. For more information, see Viewing Project Details.

 Not applicable Not applicable
11. Weeks to Include Filter panel used to refine the number of past weeks to include in variance calculations and the number of future weeks to apply predictions to. By default, both past weeks and future weeks are set to 13. Not applicable Not applicable
12.

Filters

Filter panel used to refine the data displayed in the dashboard. For further information on the available filters, see Managing Filters.

Not applicable

 Not applicable
Calculations for Revenue
13a.

Hours Variance Impact on Revenue for the Last XX Weeks

The impact of the hours variance on revenue for the selected number of past weeks, expressed as a percentage.

Last XX weeks' Actual Revenue - Last XX weeks' Estimated Revenue

Note:

XX indicates the selected number of past weeks.

EvA Actual Billable Amount - EvA Scheduled Amount
13b.

Predicted Revenue Variance for the Next XX Weeks

The predicted variance in revenue variance for the selected number of future weeks, expressed as a percentage, and based on the revenue variance for the selected number of past weeks.

Next XX weeks Predicted Revenue Variance = Next XX weeks Predicted Revenue - Next XX weeks Scheduled Revenue

 

Next XX weeks Predicted Revenue = Next XX weeks Predicted Hours * Scheduled Bill Rate

 

Next XX weeks Predicted Hours = Next XX weeks Scheduled Hours + (Next XX weeks Scheduled Hours * Last XX weeks Hours % Variance)

 

Next XX weeks Scheduled Revenue = Scheduled Hours * Scheduled Bill Rate

Note:

XX indicates the selected number of past weeks.

Next XX weeks Predicted Revenue Variance =

Predicted Hours Variance * EvA Scheduled Bill Rate

 

Where Predicted Hours Variance = Predicted Hours - Scheduled Hours

 

Where Predicted Hours = EvA Estimated Hours * variance for the last XX weeks

 

Where variance for the last XX weeks = the sum of EvA Actual Hours over the last XX weeks / EvA Estimated Hours over the last XX weeks

 

 

Next XX weeks Scheduled Revenue

EvA Total Hours * EvA Scheduled Bill Rate

Note:

XX indicates the selected number of past weeks.
13c.

Predicted Impact on Revenue

The impact of the selected project’s predicted revenue variance on the total scheduled revenue for all projects in the project list, expressed as a percentage.

Predicted Revenue Variance for this project / Scheduled Revenue for all projects

None
Calculations for Costs
14a.

Hours Variance Impact on Cost for the Last XX Weeks

The impact of the hours variance on costs for the selected number of past weeks, expressed as a percentage.

Last XX weeks Actual Costs - Last XX weeks Estimated Costs

Note:

XX indicates the number of selected past weeks.

 (EvA Actual Hours * Assignment Cost Rate) - (EvA Estimated Hours * Assignment Cost Rate)
14b.

Predicted Cost Variance for the Next XX Weeks

The predicted variance in costs for the selected number of future weeks, expressed as a percentage, and based on the cost variance for the selected number of past weeks.

 Next XX weeks Predicted Costs Variance =

Next XX weeks Predicted Costs - Next XX weeks Scheduled Costs

 

Next XX weeks Predicted Cost =

Next XX weeks Predicted Hours * Assignment Bill Rate

 

Next XX weeks Predicted Hours: = Next XX weeks Scheduled Hours + (Next XX weeks Scheduled Hours * Last XX weeks Hours % Variance)

 

Next XX weeks Scheduled Cost: = Next XX weeks Scheduled Hours * Assignment Cost Rate

Note:

XX indicates the number of selected past weeks.

Next XX weeks Predicted Costs Variance = Predicted Hours Variance * Assignment Cost Rate

 

Where Predicted Hours Variance = Predicted Hours - Scheduled Hours

 

Where Predicted Hours = EvA Estimated Hours * variance for the last XX weeks

 

Where variance for the last XX weeks = the sum of EvA Actual Hours over the last XX weeks / EvA Estimated Hours over the last XX weeks

 
Next XX weeks Scheduled Costs = EvA Total Hours * EvA Assignment Cost Rate
Note:

XXindicates the number of selected past weeks.
14c.

Predicted Impact on Costs

Costs calculation displaying, as a percentage, the impact of the selected project’s predicted costs variance on the total scheduled revenue of all projects in the project list.

Predicted Costs Variance for this project / Scheduled Costs for all projects

 None

Managing Filters

The following filters are available on the PSA Project Scheduling Risk dashboard. For more information about the dataset fields that provide the values for the dashboard filters, see Project Reporting Dataset Output Fields.

PSA Project Scheduling Risk Dashboard Filters

Name

Description

Filter Source Information

Account Name

Select the account name you want to view all projects for, or select "All" to view projects for all accounts.

Dataset Field: Account Name

Group

Select the specific groups to filter by, and apply the relevant operators to include or exclude them from the displayed data.

 Dataset field: Project Group Name
Group Level Select the specific group levels to filter by. Selections determine the options displayed in the Group filter. Dataset field: Project Group Level XX, where XX represents a number between 00 and 12.
Hours Variance % Select a value to display only the data for projects with variance percentage higher than the selected value. Fixed values: 0+ , 10+, and so on, up to 100+.
Practice Select the specific groups to filter by, and apply the relevant operators to include or exclude them from the displayed data. Dataset field: Project Practice Name
Practice Level Select the specific practice levels to filter by. Selections determine the options displayed in the Practice filter. Dataset field: Project Practice Level XX, where XX represents a number between 00 and 12.
Project Billing Type Select a specific billing type to filter by. Dataset field: Project Billing Type
Project Manager Select the specific project managers to filter by, and apply the relevant operators to include or exclude them from the displayed data. Dataset field: Project Manager Name
Region Select the specific groups to filter by, and apply the relevant operators to include or exclude them from the displayed data. Dataset field: Project Region Name
Region Level Select the specific region levels to filter by. Selections determine the options displayed in the Region filter. Dataset field: Project Region Level XX, where XX represents a number between 00 and 12.
Resource Select the specific resources to filter by, and apply the relevant operators to include or exclude them from the displayed data. Dataset field: Resource Name
Role Select the specific resource roles to filter by, and apply the relevant operators to include or exclude them from the displayed data. Dataset field: Resource Role
Zero Hour Assignments Select if you want to include or exclude resources that are assigned zero hours schedules on project assignments from calculations and charts. Includes or excludes resources with a Scheduling Strategy value of "Zero Hours Schedule" on project assignments.
Note: The Region, Practice and Group levels support a maximum of 12 levels. The number of levels configured for your org is displayed in the associated picker filter lists.

Suggested Use Cases

You can explore and view the data displayed in this dashboard to analyze the trends and take critical business decisions, such as:

  • Prioritize the projects that have the most variance or have caused the most impact on revenue at a glance.
  • Track the changes in hours variance for a selected number of past weeks for problematic projects.
  • Predict future hours variance based on past actual hours variance.
  • Take the necessary action to mitigate hours variance in the future to reduce its impact on project revenue.

We recommend you embed the dashboard on either a new tab of your project Lightning page, or the Project Management Workspace. For more information, see Embedding the PSA Project Scheduling Risk Dashboard.

The dashboard is created as part of the PS Cloud Advanced Analytics app.

Note:  

  • Ensure you have the EvA process configured in your org before you start using this dashboard.

  • This dashboard is ideal only for Time and Material projects.

Use case for Fixed Fee projects

  • Fixed Fee projects are those that have a fixed revenue. The hours variance in these projects do not have an impact on revenue. However, if resources work more and submit timecards with more hours than the scheduled hours then the project margin will be lower.