Activity Field Descriptions

Field Name

Description

Activity Description

This is a description of each project activity.

Activity ID

These are the IDs of the project activities. It uses the following format: <changeNumber>_7-digit random number.

Activity Logic Flag

This is the activity logic flag for an activity in a baseline. Valid values are: Start Activity, None, End Activity, Start and Finish Activity, and Isolated, which are stored in the database as S, null, F, SF, and I, respectively.

Activity Type

This is the activity type stored in a baseline for an activity. Valid values are:

• ALAP (L)

• ASAP (N)

• Discontinuous (D)

• Effort Driven (R)

• External Subproject (E)

• Finish Milestone (F)

• Hammock (H)

• Subproject (P)

• Start Milestone (S)

The letters in parenthesis indicate how the values are stored in the database.

In multi-projects where not all external subprojects are opened, the types Foreign Project, Foreign Subproject, and Foreign Activity may be present, but these types are not stored in the database. If exported, the short forms for Foreign Project, Foreign Subproject, and Foreign Activity are Z, Y and G, respectively.

Actual Finish

This is the actual finish date for the activity. See Actual_Start/Finish for more information about this column.

Actual Start

This is the actual start date for the activity. See Actual_Start/Finish for more information about this column.

Baseline Finish

This is the Baseline Finish date from the baseline selected in the Project Form View on the Schedule Integration tab.

Baseline Start

This is the Baseline Start date from the baseline selected in the Project Form View on the Schedule Integration tab.

Calendar ID

This is the unique identifier that links an activity record to a unique calendar record.

Computed Remaining Duration

This is the remaining portion of the original duration for an activity, calculated by time analysis. Based on progress information supplied by the user or calculated during progress calculations.

When Microsoft Project is the scheduling tool, and an MSP file is loaded into PM Compass, the value in this column will be zero because PM Compass doesn't run Time Analysis on the project.

Constraint Finish

This is a manually entered date that constrains an activity. A constraint finish is the same thing as a target finish date.

Constraint Finish Type

This field indicates how the constraint finish is applied to the activity for the date calculations.

Constraint Start

This is a manually entered dates that constrains an activity. A constraint start is the same thing as a target start date.

Constraint Start Type

This field indicates how the constraint start is applied to the activity for the date calculations.

Critical Flag

This is the critical flag for an activity, calculated by time analysis. Valid values are:

• Not Critical (0)

• Critical (1)

• Most Critical (2)

• Controlling Critical (3)

The numbers in parenthesis indicate how the values are stored in the Open Plan database.

Delaying Resource

This is the unique identifier of the resource that caused the activity to be delayed during resource scheduling.

Duration

This is the original duration for the activity.

Earliest Feasible Start

This is the earliest date on which the scheduling system was able to consider scheduling the activity. It might be the same as the early start date (it should never be earlier), or it might be later due to delays in previous activities.

Earned Value Techniques

This is the Earned Value Technique (EVT) that is used to objectively measure performance.

Expected Finish

This is the expected finish date for the activity at the date of the progress entry. Use this column to update the expected finish date. This field is not available in MSP and is therefore not exported back into the MSP project.

Finish Free Float

This is the finish free float calculated by time analysis for an activity.

Finish Total Float

This is the finish total float calculated by time analysis for an activity.

Forecast Finish

This is the date that represents the best estimate of when the work will end.

Forecast Start

This is the date that represents the best estimate of when the work will start.

Free Float

This is the free float calculated by time analysis for an activity.

Last Updated

This is the date of the last progress update.

Late Finish

This is the late finish date calculated by time analysis for an activity.

Late Start

This is the late start date calculated by time analysis for an activity.

Out-of-Sequence

This is the flag on the activity record indicating if the activity has been progressed out of sequence.

Physical % Complete

This is the estimate of the amount of work that has been completed in percent.

When you enter progress at the resource level, PM Compass calculates the progress at the activity level and displays it in the Physical % Complete column of the Enter Schedule Progress form grid.

If you enter an activity PPC, the same PPC is copied to all resource assignments. If you then change the resource assignment PPC, the activity PPC is updated using the following formula:

Activity PPC = (Resource Qty x (PPC per resource assignment)) / Total Resource Qty on the activity.

Example

Activity PPC = (5000 * 0.25) + (1000 * 0.75) = (1250 + 750) / 6000 = 33.3%

To calculate the Budgeted Cost, the quantity is multiplied by the Unit rate in the Open Plan resource file — the rate escalation is not used.

If the resource is defined as a rate per day, the total quantity is calculated by multiplying the rate per day by the duration (in the same units) and then converting the total quantity units to match the units in the rate.

For more information, see Percent Complete and Physical % Complete.

Priority

This is the activity priority used in schedule analysis.

Progress Type

This is the type of progress being tracked for the selected activity. The value in this column determines how the Progress Value column is used. See Progress Type for more information about the options in this column.

Progress Value

This is the amount of work done based on the option in the Progress Type column. See Progress_Value for more information about this column.

Schedule Finish

This is the finish date calculated by resource scheduling.

Start percent complete

This is the opening percent complete when the EVT is user defined.

Start No Earlier Than

The Start no Earlier Than date is typically used to stagger/delay activities to level the resource requirements. For example, if there are 50 activities in the schedule that could start when the project starts, the company may not want to hire extra people to do the work on the first day when there is float in the project schedule. They use the Start No Earlier Than target type to move some of the activities out to level (reduce the peaks and valleys) the resource requirements. This exercise is typically done by the CAM because they are responsible for the resources working on the tasks in their control accounts.

This field is available on the General Tab of the Enter Schedule Progress form and the Progress History report.

Schedule Project

This is the schedule project to which the activity belongs.

Schedule Start

This is the start date calculated by resource scheduling.

Status

This field indicates if the activity has yet to start (planned), is in progress, or is complete.

Total Float

This is the total float calculated by time analysis for an activity.

Code Fields

These are the code fields that were defined on the User-Defined Data form.

For more information, see Codes Tab of the Enter Schedule Progress Form.

User Fields

These are the user fields that were defined on the User-Defined Data form.

For more information, see User Fields Tab of the Enter Schedule Progress Form.