What is the Microsoft Project status date? The status date in Microsoft Project is similar to the closing date on your checking account monthly statement. Your checking account monthly statement includes all transactions that took place up to and including the statement closing date. Similarly when your progress a schedule in Microsoft Project you include all progress that took place up to and including the status date.
So, before you progress your schedule you will want to pause and consider the Microsoft Project status date. This article demonstrates a quick tip to progress your schedule using the Microsoft Project status date.
In Figure 1 we have our demonstration project, including a baseline.
Figure 1
The status date in this schedule is set to June 3rd, 12-am. (It is difficult to see, but the status date is the green line on June 3rd.) We first want to move the status date forward one week to June 10th, 12-am, which is the end of the reporting period. Let’s proceed and select to update the status date, Figure 2.
Figure 2
In Figure 3 we choose the June 10th 12-am status date.
Figure 3
Great! Our status date is now set to the closing date of our performance period. Now we enter all the task progress that took place up to and including the status date. We begin by entering the completion of Contract Award Date and continue on down to Install Piping & Couplings. Let’s proceed and highlight Contract Award Date and select the Task tab, Schedule ribbon group, and 100% progress icon.
Figure 4
In Figure 5 we have all the task progress that took place up to and including the status date.
Figure 5
Note that Install Piping & Coupling task only progressed 2 days when it was scheduled to progress 3 days. So 1 day of Install Piping & Couplings is still incomplete and remaining work. The next step is to take all incomplete and remaining task duration on the left side of the status date and move it to the right side of the status date. To do this we continue and choose update project, Figure 6.
Figure 6
We then elect to to start after our status date, Figure 7.
Figure 7
All incomplete work on the left of the status date is moved to the right and our final updated schedule, as per the status date, appears in Figure 8.
Figure 8
If you compare the baseline to the current progress you will observe that Install Piping & Couplings was scheduled to conclude on Monday. But after rescheduling incomplete work to start after the status date of June 10th it is now scheduled to conclude on Tuesday.
Summary
The Microsoft Project status date is an important concept in scheduling. It essentially is the dividing line between completed work and work that is remaining to be done. The process of updating the schedule includes:
- moving the status date forward the end of the reporting period
- entering all task progress that took place up to and including the status date
- taking uncompleted work on the left of the status date and moving it to the right of the status date
In this way we are able to show schedule progress, as per the status date.