Deltek Acumen has advanced analysis metrics for inspecting the quality of schedules. Schedulers can use Acumen dashboards and published reporting features to also this analysis to stakeholders.
Deltek Acumen has over 300+ metrics for analyzing the quality of schedules. In light of this, Deltek aptly named its schedule analysis software Acumen, which stands for the ability to make good-judgements and quick-decisions. This decision-making ability is predicated, of course, on a clear and understandable presentation of the analysis to stakeholders. One way Deltek Acumen supports analysis presentation is with its dashboards feature that includes configurable layouts.
This article demonstrates the Deltek Acumen dashboards capabilities as a way to present analysis results to stakeholders.
Deltek Acumen ships with 14 configurable dashboard layouts, Figure 1.
Figure 1
As Figure 2 displays, each dashboard layout is made up of an arrangement of widgets:
Figure 2
Each widget is a named box or portlet that displays a specific graph, chart, meter or other informative graphical element, Figure 3.
Figure 3
Let’s demonstrate dashboards on a sample schedule. We begin by choosing to select a single Primavera P6 XER file in S1 // Projects tab, Figure 4.
Figure 4
In the resulting ‘Select a Primavera P6 Project’ dialog we choose the Wellmont-9 project, Figure 5.
Figure 5
We then import the Wellmont-9 project XER file, Figure 6.
Figure 6
After our file is imported it appears in S1 // Projects. We can then run S2 // Diagnostics on the schedule and/or choose S5 // Dashboards to display schedule information, Figure 7.
Figure 7
We decide to dive into S5 // Dashboards, again, Figure 7. In Figure 8 we have the S5 // Dashboards Layout 1 results of our Wellmont-9 schedule. This layout is three distinct widgets displaying different schedule analysis.
Figure 8
Inspect the analysis in each widget. The schedule quality widget is displaying the results of the Schedule Quality metric group. The Schedule Quality metric group is a set of metrics that Acumen developers consider the most common or relevant metrics for inspecting schedule quality. Select the banner for the Schedule Quality widget, which activates the Widgets drop down menu, Figure 9.
Figure 9
We then can choose from any of the Overview analysis widgets or a Fuse Analysis widget from one of the many Fuse metric groups, Figure 10.
Figure 10
This feature has a lot of breadth to it. This is because you can choose from one of the many metric groups that come standard with Acumen, as mentioned, or select a unique metric group made up from any number of the 300+ metrics available in the Acumen system. In Figure 11 we have the results of the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) 14-Point Assessment, DCMA-14 Point, metric group.
Figure 11
The ability to choose a personalized metric group for display in dashboards, opens the door to an essentially limitless possibility of metric group analysis results to display.
Summary
Deltek Acumen provides schedulers several ways to present results. In the S5 // Dashboard feature you can show any one of 14 configurable layouts. The power of Acumen dashboards comes from the possibilities of displaying one of the many metric groups that come standard with the tool. Or, to show results from a unique metric group created specifically for your schedule.
Note further, that Acumen dashboard layouts can be copied to other reporting programs, such as Microsoft Word or PowerPoint.