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Blog > Analysis > XER Reader is a free tool to run DCMA 14 point checks
Then the unexpected has happened. I had to deal with MS Project le for a new
assignment. I was quite concerned aboutthe best way to approach a PM that used
MS Project exclusively, and tell him, maybe there is a better approach and although
MS Project permitted incomplete work in the past,it is stillnonsense.
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I am quoting here a passage from the DCMA 14point checkstraining manual, which
better explains the purpose of the metrics.
Project Statistics
A Gantt chart
DCMA 14 metrics for your schedule.
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Before you start, please understand that XER Reader is just a personal project, there
is no guarantee whatever that the results are correct, or it does even work for your
particular windows installation, the utility is free to use and the code is released under
an open source license.
Download: XER-READER
You can view the wiki with more technical details here, New revisions will be issued
regularly so if you want to report bugs or suggestions, make sure you are using the
latest release. For bug reporting, send a screenshot of the error and your systems
description (32 or 64 bit), and I will have a look and try to x it.
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Only the rst 10 Metrics of DCMA 14 are included. The rest ( Missed Task, Critical Path
test,CPLI, BEI) either require a baseline or should be done manually withinthe
planning software.
The DCMA 14 Metrics count only Uncompleted Tasks , so Milestones, Level of Eort,
WBS Summary Activities and completed Activitiesare excluded from the analysis.
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I added a separate section for Milestones. Please note that Milestone are not included
in the DCMA 14 standard, but in my view excluding the milestones is wrong.
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2.4 The list of tables imported from the XER Table_Summary tab.
When you click on the table name, the data will be shown.
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Genesis
Initially the spreadsheet was for MS Project, using only formulas and include extra
features that the software permits but make no sense whatsoever (like manual task
mode!!!, and constraints for summary Task). Then after a random search I came
across this article, although I am quite familiar with MS Access, I never knew it was
possible to use the jet database engine with Excel to develop a database application.
Although technically it is much easier to write a macro for MS project, because VBA is
already included (thats one of the strength of MS Project); I was more interested in
Primavera (because thats what I do for living), as I am more familiar with the
XERformat. A good example on how to load an XERis already provided in the
XERparser and builder utility (although I am using a dierent code, as it is much
faster).
Once the tables are loaded into Excel, the rest is a bunch of SQL Queries, so why limit
to DCMA metrics? Lets add a gantt chart and some Earned Value Management
features.
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Please note that some data isvery easy to query from an XERle like budget hours,
actual hours, remaining duration in hours, etc; as they are stored in a simple list of
records, others not so much. For example, WBS (Parent node, child node), calendar (a
blob with xml like structure).
You might ask, why no S-curve? The answer is simple: the spread is not stored in the
XER.It has to be calculated, which involves some crazy code (hint: extract list of non
working time from the calendar that may or may not be inherited from global
calendars and then apply it to start and nish dates of tasks, taking into account
resource curves if they arent linear! And dont forget the suspend and resume
dates.
Wrap Up
You dont need to be a professional programmer to use VBA for EXCEL (I am not by
the way), If you already use Excel, you are already familiar with the basics. There are
plenty of free tutorials and resources in the internet, and the community is very
friendly and helpful.
Maybe it is time to start that macro recorder, and dont be intimidated by some
obscure technique, I am still trying to grasp those recursive algorithms.
For now, enjoy using XER-Reader to assess your schedule against the DCMA 14 point
checks. I hope it helps you improve your schedules.
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AboutMimouneDjouallah
Mimoune is a Project Controls Engineer with solid Planning and Cost
experience in Oil/Gas EPC projects, Drop him a line at
mimoune.djouallah@gmail.com
Comments
Reply
PlannerTuts says:
May 20, 2014 at 9:27 am
Care to share the error with us?
Reply
Tokunbo says:
May 22, 2014 at 1:47 pm
Very good tool, works perfectly well, though does not support multi-projects.
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How does one get to reduce the time scale of the gantt chart from
weeks/months/years to say quarters/years.
Reply
Reply
thanks for your feedback, regarding multi project, maybe i can add it later, when i
gure out the best way to use a combobox ( because i have no clue how to do it
properly)
for the timescale it is hard coded :), all i can suggest is to select all the columns in
the gantt chart and adjust their width, you can hide the row for the weeks.
please keep in mind the whole thing is just a hack.
regards
mimoune
Reply
Tokunbo says:
May 23, 2014 at 2:20 am
Thanks Mimoune,
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I take it that all the codes for the Gantt Chart can be found in the Gantt module? I
know a bit of VBA, so will review the codes this weekend and see if there is any
tweak I can make so that the timescale is adjustable.
TK
Reply
yes, time scale and drawing is in the module Gantt, good luck with the spaghetti
code.
regards
mimoune
Reply
Nicholas says:
May 29, 2014 at 6:04 am
Hi Mimoune,
Nice programming!
The code looks pretty well written to me. A bit light on the comments maybe. aahh
the lazyness.
Regards,
Nicholas
Reply
mimoune says:
May 29, 2014 at 10:21 am
Nicholas
thanks a lot, I appreciate your comments, yes denitely, i need to add more
comments.
Regards
mimoune
Reply
Reply
mimoune says:
May 29, 2014 at 10:35 am
Nick
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you can use the Primavera export facility for that, you dont need any external utility
regards
mimoune
Reply
Reply
mimoune says:
May 29, 2014 at 11:34 am
Nick
ah i see, in this case, you can give the guys the excel gantt chart, then they can add
actual dates, then you lookup the new values with the primavera excel export and
import back to P6.
regards
mimoune
Reply
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Ash says:
June 05, 2014 at 5:36 am
Very impressive.
Keep it up.
Be nice if you can add some manning histograms lol. make alife really easy for some
of us? thoughts??
Thanks,
Ash
Reply
S curve !!, i cant nd any reference on how to deal with resource curves.
for the simple case of normal Task dependent, i guess it can be
straightforward, but resources dependent can be quite complex.
Reply
elhoussany says:
June 05, 2014 at 3:51 pm
thanks, Nice programme
Reply
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thanks elhoussany
Reply
Maybe by denition I am wrong but I also consider as hard contraint those that can
generate negative oat (Finish On, Start On)
Kind regards,
Ismael
Reply
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Ismael
Act. with Actual Dates > DD this check is already done in the invalid actual
dates.
for the rest, I see what you are suggesting, it make perfect sense.
regarding hard constraints, if you read Ron paper, the hard constraints is
the constraints that overwrite the logic, but I maybe I am wrong !!
Regards
mimoune
Reply
Sorry for my bad English, I really know that Ron Winter and You are
completely right
Keep it up!
Ismael
Reply
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Regards
Mimoune
Reply
Reply
AMES says:
August 28, 2014 at 10:17 am
When I run the macros it is erroring out
VBA Error: Run-0time error 2147217900 (80040e14):
Any ideas. The macro is not running for me. I am using latest version of
oce/windows. I did enable macros etc.
Reply
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Good tool, it works wonderfully on the samples given, is my le just too big?
Reply
regards
Mimoune
Reply
mohsen says:
June 19, 2015 at 4:06 pm
How can this tool be used to extract baseline cost data (i.e., cash ow
distribution over time) at the project or EPS root level?
Reply
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Best Regards,
Jan
Reply
Yassine says:
September 03, 2015 at 8:11 am
Hi Mimoun,
Reply
Run-time error 6:
Overow.
c = c + UBound(splitTarget, 1)
Many thanks I want to print calenders with this excellent tool you have developed.
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Cheers
Reply
Mohamed says:
November 08, 2015 at 1:28 pm
Mimoune
Thank you very much. it work perfectly using Oce 2013. Is there any other updated
version you can share?
Mohamed
Reply
Please advise I am getting following error when I click on Load XER File Run-time
error 438:
Thanks,
Femi
Reply
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Garry says:
March 14, 2016 at 5:05 am
I get the following error when I try and load an XER le. Is there an issue with
Excel 2010?
I have the macros and active X settings set to enable.
Run-time error 438:
Object doesnt support this property or method
Reply
Ryan says:
March 22, 2016 at 10:00 am
Hi,
I have tried the le. It seems really interesting.
I have faced an error as follow:
With Worksheets(dashboard)
.Activate
cnn.Open
> rssql.Open strsqlFinal, cnn
.Cells(10, 15).CopyFromRecordset rssql
.Range(o10:r10).Copy
.Range(n10).PasteSpecial Paste:=xlPasteValues, Transpose:=True
.Range(o10:r10).ClearContents
.Range(n10:n14).NumberFormat = #,##0
.Cells(1, 1).Select
.Columns(m:n).AutoFit
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cnn.Close
Set cnn = Nothing
Set rssql = Nothing
Reply
Reply
Zabi says:
June 06, 2016 at 11:06 pm
Do you have a copy which works for MS Project? Thanks
Reply
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Reply
[Microsoft][ODBC Excel Driver] The connection for viewing your linked Microsoft Excl
Worksheet was lost.
regards Udo
Reply
Nelson HM says:
February 21, 2017 at 4:27 am
Excellent tool and eort!
Reply
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