Observatory Reporter for Microsoft Project
Detailed Project Planning and tracking is hard work, but keeping management informed should not have to be.
With Observatory Reporter for Microsoft Project , project leaders can
send reports about their projects to the observatory with the click of a button.
This tool is a macro that runs within Microsoft Project 98 or 2000 which is provided as
part of the Project Observatory System.
Installation
Installing OR98 could not be easier. The software is provided as a self-installing .mpp file. You simply open it
and give it permission to install itself. Once installed, it creates a new
toolbar button labeled "Observatory." Full source code is provided.
Operation
When a project leader presses the Observatory button, the Observatory Reporter Dialog Box is displayed.
This lets him provide details about the project status, goals, and issues to supplement the schedule data.
When the "OK" button is pressed, the software scans your project plan to gather the information needed to compose a project abstract.
From the project plan it gets the schedule start and finish dates and a list of the
milestones in the plan with the dates and status of each.
From the work assignments, the system computes a work plan (histogram) for each of your resources.
This has planned, actual and baseline work "by the week" for each resource. The project leader can choose whether to report at
the level of individuals, groups, or just provide a total for all of the resource use
in the project.
From the dialog box, it gets your issues, summary of status, and management targets.
The project abstract that is created is emailed directly from within Microsoft Project to the
Observatory Center database.
For more information
Read about Observatory Reporter for Microsoft Project in the System Guide
Adobe Acrobat Format
