Did you know you can slip a planned project in Deltek Cobra to a new start date? This neat feature allows you to tell Cobra the new start date and shift the entire project to the new starting date. This is cool because it sometimes happens that you setup a project ready to go, and the customer puts a hold on the start date: making this a terrific time saver. Keep in mind that you should only use this feature if you are NOT using an Integrated Master Schedule (IMS) as part of your EVMS.
Here’s an example of the slip feature in action. We’re going to move a planned project out by 5 years to demonstrate the point.
Step 1 – Make sure the project’s calendar goes out as far as the planned finish date of the moved project.
We used the Generate Dates feature in the Calendar area to extend the calendar by five years.
Step 2 – Run the Slip Feature to Move out the Project
To do this, go to the Processes ribbon and click on the Slip button.
Select the project you wish to slip. Note: this field will display the last project opened within the current Cobra session.
Select the elements of the project you wish to slip – in this case the entire project.
Set the start date for your slip. Note you can also slip the project start by some number of days using the Days option.
Click Finish to run the process.
When the process has completed you will see the following message.
Summary
The slip feature is most useful for slipping the start date of a not started project. It’s simple to use and slips any planned control accounts and work packages out relative to the new slip date you specify, or by the number of days you specify during the process.
If you have completed or in-progress control accounts and work packages, the Slip process ignores these and will only slip planned work. Even remaining work on an in-progress item will not be slipped. Therefore if you are doing more than just slipping the start day for a newly planned project, you may want to consider managing the delays in an integrated master schedule; or working with the Replan feature to manage such changes.
Use Slip with Caution
When using this feature: you should check the revised durations of your control accounts and work packages after you slip the project. In some situations we have observed work packages getting stretched out to new finish dates that are further into the future than expected, so it’s important to verify your project dates following a slip operation.
So again, while this feature can be useful, you may have better control of this slip by making the changes in an Integrated Master Schedule (IMS). And if you already have an IMS, don’t use this feature at all as you will loose schedule synchronization.