Calculation/Indicator SmartColumn

Insert the Calculation/Indicator Column

1. Click the arrow   next to Insert | Rows, Columns | New Column.
2. For Column Type pick Calculation/Indicator.
3. A new column will be inserted directly to the left or right of the column whose heading was clicked.  If on the left side of the schedule, the new column will appear to the left.  If on the right side of the schedule, the new column will appear to the right.

Set the Calculation/Indicator column's properties

1. Right-click the calculation/indicator column and choose Properties.
2. Enter a column heading for Column Heading (2 lines.)
3. On the Column Type (SmartColumn) Settings tab click the Properties button.
4. Pick one of the 4 calculation types or pick Indicator only to display an Indicator based on values in another column.
5. On the Graphical Indicators tab, make selections as shown below.

Pick the columns and calculation type

1. Pick two columns.  (Or pick one column and choose Constant.  If Constant is chosen, enter a constant in the field.)
2. Pick a calculation type ( x + - or /).

3. Do not do calculation on summary rows - Values will roll-up (add up) from lower levels to upper levels (no calculation will be done on the summary row).

4. Show result as a percent - The resulting calculation values are multiplied by 100, with a % sign added (e.g., .35 becomes .35 x 100 = 35%).

5. Just add a % sign after values - The calculated value will be followed by a %. (e.g., 35 becomes 35%).

6. Automatic EV BCWS calculation is based on Baseline Dates (if possible) - Earned value calculations will use baseline symbols in the schedule.

7. Interpret column value as a Julian date and display as a date.

   • This setting lets the user designate that a column of numbers can be displayed as dates. For example, 4/9/2009 has a Julian value of 733500 (which is 733,500 days after the first day of year 1.) When date SmartColumns are used in calculations, they are first converted to their Julian date, so if the result is also a Julian date and the result is to be displayed as a date, then use this option. Values less than 1 and more than 2,000,000 are ignored.  

8. Display resultant value as a Duration -  Converts values entered into duration values. This feature is needed for importing duration values from an XML file.

9. Treat subtraction between two date columns as a duration calculation - This setting will display the difference between two date columns as a duration value. Holidays and non-working time will be excluded from the result.

To make indicators easier for standard operations, three types of pre-selects are available.

		Red<0  Yellow=0  Green>0.
		Red<0  Amber=0 Green>0
		1=Green 2=Yellow 3=Red 4=Blue

Use predefined indicators

1. Right-click the calculation/indicator column and choose Properties.
2. Click the Properties button.
3. On the Calculation Settings dialog box, click the Graphical Indicators tab. 
4. Pick one of the Pre-Selects. 

red, green, yellow

red, green, amber

green, yellow, red, blue

Change indicator color based on value

Change color and text based on value

Custom symbol indicators

Up to 20 conditions can be customized. 

Add a custom condition:

1. Set up the schedule's toolbox so that it includes the symbols to be used for the custom conditions.
2. Right-click the calculation/indicator column and choose Properties.
3. Click the Properties button. 
4. On the Calculation Settings dialog box, click the Graphical Indicators tab.
5. Click the drop down below
6. Pick the first indicator (1).  This displays the Indicator Condition Settings Dialog.
7. Pick an Indicator Symbol.  
8.  Fill cell with symbol color instead of drawing symbol to display just a color.
9. Enter text for Indicator Text to overlay text on the color or symbol.

Take the results of one calculation and use it in a second calculation. This makes it possible to use calculation results in deriving another calculation. Once you use one calculation in another calculation column, you cannot use that result in yet another calculation.  

For example, if Column A + Column B = Column C, and then Column C + Column D = Column E....the Column E results cannot be used in an additional calculation.

This schedule has three Values SmartColumns -- "Units Sold," "Price Each," and "Target Sales" -- and two Calculation/Indicator SmartColumns -- "Item Sales" and "Target vs. Actual."  

"Item Sales" multiplies "Units Sold" and "Price Each."  "Target vs. Actual" uses the calculation result in "Item Sales" and subtracts the "Target Sales" values.

Calculations tab options:

1. Under the Calculations tab, choose  Calculation of Two Columns.

2. Choose two columns and a calculation operator (- + x /.)

Graphical Indicators tab options:

1. Select the Graphical Indicators tab.

2. For Column to compare, the newly inserted column No Name Assigned should already be selected:

1. • Display numerical value also to show the calculation/percent results.

   • Align the percent pie as a left, center, or right position in the column cell.

1.   Interpret value from compare column as a % and use the Percent symbol.  
2. If the calculated values will be between 0 and 1 (for example, .35), then:
   1. Click Values between 0 and 1 represent the percentage. 
   2. Check Show result as a percent (result*100 with % sign added).
3. If the calculated values will be between 0 and 100 (for example, 35), then:
   1. Click Values between 0 and 100 represent the percentage.
   2. Check Just add a % sign after value.

Under the Column Formatting tab, make decimal, alignment, and other selections.

Example: Calculated values converted to percent with pie

This schedule has two Values SmartColumns -- "Total Units" and "Units Sold."  There is one Calculation/Indicator SmartColumn -- "Percent Sold" -- that is a calculation of "Units Sold" divided by "Total Units."  

Selections made:

The result is a decimal value that is automatically converted to a percent value. For example, on the "Item 1" task row, 80 divided by 100 is .80; .80 is then multiplied by 100 to generate a percentage of 80%.  The percent pie matches the percent value.

In this case make the following selection: