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Merlin – Do a bit of magic in Merlin reports – PART XXII

Vicky Stamatopoulou on 3. May 2013

Those of you who do project management with Merlin on your Mac  and have checked our post series explaining how to create custom templates for Merlin reports, know by now…

• How to modify existing reports
• How to edit description or report template names
• How to create your own report templates
• How to localize a Merlin report template
• Further tips for localizing an xslt report template
• How to add  an option in an xslt report template
• How to add  an option in a python / wbl report template
• How to add a property into an existing xslt report
• How to add a property into an existing python /wbl report template

Now let’s do some magic with the reports.

• Map a status or flag information to a graphic file
• Define the size of the project image over the options
• List overdue tasks along with the next activities, in “Next Due Activities” report
• Report planned, actual and planned vs actual work per phase in a chart
• Report expected work costs per role for your resources
• Report expected work costs per resources’ group
• Report the project’s name in the Next Due Activities report
• Modify the “Milestone Trend Report” to show the WBS in the table and in the chart
• Report expected or actual resources’ work per phase
• Report resources work cost per phase
• Report cash flow for expected cost or approved budget
• Report billable costs entered on elements
• Report element costs by type
• Report issues
• Report Events
• Output Project’s WBS
• Resources Time allocation to various tasks and subtasks
• Calendar View
• Working hours distributed in time per resource and assignment
• Work Chart
• Information report with hierarchy
• Complete vs Expected Complete % Analysis

Complete vs Expected Complete % Analysis

Merlin color codes tasks automatically according to their scheduling. If they are behind schedule they are shown red. If they are in progress and in time they will be colored yellow. Tasks which are completed are green, and non yet started tasks planned on future dates are blue. Merlin also calculates the overall progress of your project and you can compare this with the time line to see how much behind, or a head you might be currently. It does not provide however a column showing the expected complete percentage or the current deviation from it. This Merlin report was implemented to output such information by project, activity group, task and/or assignment.

The code for gathering all tasks and sub tasks was first introduced in the ‘Crash Flow’ report. Please see methods contained ‘MERComplete.py’ if interested in finding out how we calculate the expected complete % (based on the expected start of the task or project and the current date). We added an option for the numbering, so you can view the # or WBS code if you like. The flags are implemented as explained here. Should you require other colors for the deviation, simply check and modify the colors for styles red, green and neutral in the Style.wbl and PrintStyle.wbl files.

Remember: The custom Merlin reports we provide as templates, can be downloaded and used for free. Furthermore, you may modify and distribute as you like and find appropriate.

An output sample:

Available options… (more…)

Tags: Customize, Deviation from expected, Expected Complete, Reports, Template

Written by Vicky Stamatopoulou
Vicky Stamatopoulou works at ProjectWizards. She contributes to the MacPM.net blog, Merlin user forums, or other web spaces of ProjectWizards. The content provided is about Merlin or Mac usage, documentation, AppleScripting, or customization. Google+