The Overview tab is a project’s front page. It brings together on one screen the progress, the variance against the planning baseline, the workload against the budget, the project’s health, its upcoming deadlines, the breakdown of its tasks, the time consumed or the finances, and recent activity. This article explains each card and what it calculates. It is aimed at project leads, managers and anyone who follows a project.
Before you start #
- The Projects module must be active in your workspace (see Getting started with project management).
- Opening the Overview requires the Project — Overview tab permission (Access level), and being an active member of the project unless you are a cross-project manager.
- The cards that count tasks (progress, baseline, workload, breakdowns, activity) also require Project task at the Access level.
- The budget is shown with Budget — View; spending, with Budget — View or Margin preview; billing milestones among the deadlines, with Billing milestones — Manage at the Access level. Without these permissions, the amounts do not appear.
The top indicators #
Open a project: the Overview is displayed. The first row counts the project’s tasks.
- Progress: the share of completed tasks, as a percentage.
- Completed tasks: the number of completed tasks out of the total.
- Overdue: tasks whose due date has passed and which are neither completed nor cancelled.
- Members: the number of project members.
The Planning baseline card #
A planning baseline is a snapshot of the project’s dates, taken at a chosen moment (see Planning a project and measuring time spent). The card compares the current schedule with the active baseline:
- Baseline end: the project’s end date in the baseline;
- Planned end: today’s end date, with the variance in days;
- Late tasks and Late milestones: those whose due date has slipped beyond their baseline date;
- Not in baseline: tasks added since the baseline was taken.
Without a baseline, the card says “No baseline: the project lead freezes the schedule from the Gantt chart.”
The Workload card #
The Workload card sets what was planned against what has been done, in the project’s unit (hours or days, set in Settings):
- Estimated (tasks): the sum of the tasks’ estimated effort; a task without an estimate does not count;
- Actual (logged): the time members have allocated to the project, entered or clocked in their timesheet;
- Budget: the project’s time budget, if you can see it;
- Remaining work: what is left to do on open tasks;
- At completion: actual plus remaining work, i.e. the end-of-project projection;
- Variance to budget: the at-completion projection minus the budget. A negative variance, in green, means headroom; a positive one, an overrun.
Below these figures, one bar per main assignee shows their estimated workload; tasks without an assignee are grouped under “Unassigned”. Once time has been logged, the card adds Actual per person and flags tasks that are Over the estimate. With no estimated task, it shows “No estimated task.”
Health, progress and deadlines #
- Project health: Good with no overdue task, Warning with one or two overdue tasks, Critical beyond two.
- Overall progress: the progress ring and the number of completed tasks.
- Upcoming deadlines: the five nearest dates, open tasks and unpaid billing milestones together. An overdue task is shown in red; a billing milestone is labelled “Milestone”.
The breakdowns #
- Priority breakdown: the number of tasks per priority.
- Workload by member: the number of tasks for which each member is the main assignee, and their share.
- Task breakdown: a ring per status (To do, In progress, Done, Cancelled).
Click a priority or a status: the Tasks tab opens, already filtered on that value, and a message reminds you of it.
Time consumed or finances #
The next card depends on the project’s budget type, and appears only with Budget — View or Margin preview.
Time budget: the Time consumed card #
It compares the hours consumed with the budget over a period. By default, the period covers the project’s dates; change the From and To dates to narrow it. It shows Consumed, Budget, Remaining and the Budget used gauge. These hours are fed by clocked attendance.
Cost budget or no budget: the Finances card #
It shows what has been Spent and, with Budget — View, the Budget, the Remaining amount and the Budget used gauge. Spending adds up the project’s cost lines and the approved expense reports allocated to it. A cost line in a currency other than the project’s, or an expense report without a reliable exchange rate, is not counted; the card says so.
Timeline and recent activity #
The Timeline lists the tasks that are not cancelled in order of due date, with their progress (100% for a completed task, otherwise the share of its ticked sub-tasks) and their due date.
Recent activity traces what has happened: task created, edited, moved, reassigned or deleted, sub-task added or completed, comment, preceding task added, member added, removed, blocked or reactivated, role changed, planning baseline frozen, project status changed. A person who has left the company appears as “Former employee”.
Good to know #
- The indicators are calculated on the project’s tasks; if there are many, a notice states how many tasks they cover.
- Actual time comes from the time logged by members: only an active member of a project with the Active status can log time against it (see Filling in and submitting your timesheet).
- Spending is calculated by Illizeo with every cost line, even if you cannot read their details.
- The Overview cannot be edited: each figure is corrected at its source (tasks, settings, timesheets).
Frequently asked questions #
Why does the Workload card show 0 h actual? #
No member has logged time against the project yet. Actual time fills in as soon as a member logs time on one of the project’s tasks or allocates it in their timesheet.
I can’t see the project budget. Is that normal? #
Yes, if your role does not have the “Budget — View” permission. The budget, the remaining amount and the gauge are then hidden.
Why is the Planning baseline card empty? #
Nobody has frozen the schedule yet. The project manager does so from the Gantt view of the Tasks tab.
