Projects Overview Tab

This tab displays details about the project such as manager name, percent complete, start and end dates, and benchmark attributes.

For a description of the fields and menus above the tabs, see Projects Common Fields.

Field Description
Project Name Enter or view the name of the project. It can have a maximum of 20 characters. Alphanumeric and special characters are accepted.
Description Enter or view a description of the project.
Program

View the associated program, or select a program to associate with this project. When you click the program name, Touchstone displays the program in the Programs hub view. If you do not have rights to view the program, a message displays letting you know.

In Edit mode (click the pencil next to the field name), you can use the drop-down list to select a different program or click the X on the right side of the drop down field to disassociate the project from a program.

All programs to which you have access are listed in the drop-down.

A project must be associated with a program and have an acceptance criteria template in order for you to submit a schedule. Projects only display in the Submittals view when they are associated with a program and an acceptance criteria template. You cannot use benchmark attributes for the project if it is not linked to a program.

Manager Select or view the name of the project manager. The list of names is from the records in EPM Security Administrator (EPM SA).
Phase Enter or view the phase that the project is in. For example, Proposed, Open, or Closed.
Contract ID Enter or view the contract name or number.
Contract Start Date Enter or view the date when the contract begins. If you enter a date in this field, you must also enter one in the Contract Finish Date field. This date is required in order to add missing snapshots on the Snapshots tab.
Contract Finish Date Enter or view the date when the contract finishes. If you enter a date in this field, you must also enter a date in the Contract Start Date field.
Current Project % Complete

This is an estimate of the project percent complete based on duration, based on data from the latest uploaded snapshot. Touchstone uses the following calculation: ((Sum of Original Duration - Sum of Remaining Duration) / Sum of Original Duration) where only activities that are not summaries are taken into account. In some cases, activities may have original duration that is smaller than remaining duration which may cause the Project % Complete to be a negative number. In these situations, Touchstone displays Project % Complete as zero.

This field is blank until at least one snapshot is uploaded.

Current Activity Count

This is the total number of activities in the project, based on data from the latest uploaded snapshot and is calculated by counting activities of all tasks that are not summaries.

This field is blank until at least one snapshot is uploaded.

Last Submitted This is the upload date of the last uploaded schedule snapshot. This field is blank until at least one snapshot is uploaded.

Current Dates

The date fields are populated using data from the last uploaded snapshot. They are blank until at least one snapshot is uploaded.

Field Description
Start This is the project actual start date or the earliest activity start date if the project does not have a start date.
Finish This is the project actual finish date or the latest activity finish date if the project does not have a finish date.
Time Now

This is the Time Now date from the latest snapshot. It displays as a UTC date and is not adjusted to the local time zone. It is populated using data from the last snapshot for each associated project and displays None until at least one associated project has an uploaded snapshot.

Time Now is called Data Date in P6 and Status Date in Microsoft Project.

Baseline Start

This is the project planned start date or the earliest activity baseline start date if the project does not have a baseline start date.

This field is blank when the project is from Primavera P6.

Baseline Finish

This is the project planned finish date or the latest activity baseline finish date if the project does not have a baseline finish date.

This field is blank when the project is from Primavera P6.

Budgets

Field Description
Negotiated Cost Enter or view the estimated cost negotiated in a cost-plus-fixed-fee contract, or the negotiated contract target cost in either a fixed-price incentive contract or a cost-plus-incentive-fee contract. This field is not used in any calculations and is for information purposes only.
Current Projected Cost

This is the sum of the budgeted costs for all activities within the project. It is populated using the latest snapshot for the project and is blank until at least one snapshot is uploaded.

The budget cost is calculated in the following manner:

  • Primavera P6 XER files: The sum of the budget costs for all activities including summaries.
  • Deltek Open Plan BK3 files: The sum of the budget costs for all top-level activities including the rolled-up budget costs from the children.
  • Microsoft Project MSP files: The sum of the budget costs for all top-level activities including the rolled-up budget costs for the children; however, if the project has a baseline cost, Touchstone uses the baseline's budget cost.
Contingency Enter or view the reserve that is set aside for unexpected events and is usually part of the contract's base budget.