MSProject Reporter Blog

This post is the third in a series of posts describing several methods of generating reports using MS Project on the desktop. Last time we discussed how to create custom Tables to expose the data that we need for our Project Reports. Now that we are able to display the Columns that we need for our Reports, perhaps we don't want to include all of the line items (whether they are Tasks, Resources, or Assignments). For example, perhaps we've been asked to generate a Report which only shows Project Milestones, Critical Tasks, or Upcoming Tasks within the next two weeks. This is a job for Filters.

Depending upon the type of Report, there may be a pre-built Filter which suits your needs, or you may need to build your own Filter. We'll save Filter-building for another day and focus on using a pre-baked Filter for this example.

1. Select Project > Filtered for > More Filters… to display a list of available pre-built Filters:

    

   

    

2. In the More Filters dialog box, select the Filter which suits your needs, then click the Apply button:

    

   

    

3. The selected Filter should be applied to the Table, resulting in a more concise view of the data for reporting purposes:

    

   

    

You can also make use of the AutoFilter functionality in MS Project to manually, yet quickly filter the items listed in the Table; here's how:

1. Select Project > Filtered for > AutoFilter:

    

   

    

2. With the AutoFilter function enabled, click the drop-down arrow next to the heading of the Column that you would like to use to Filter the data; you can then select a specific value from the drop-down list to only show line items which have that exact value, or you can select (Custom…) to create a custom Filter:

    

   

    

3. If you selected a specific value from the AutoFilter drop-down list, then the Filter will be applied immediately; if you selected the (Custom…) option, then the Custom AutoFilter dialog box will be displayed:

    

   

    

4. Enter one or more conditional tests into the Custom AutoFilter dialog box, then click the OK button:

    

   

    

5. The Filter should be applied to the Table, showing the desired line items for your Report:

    

   

    

Preparing the Data for Presentation

As mentioned in the previous posts, once the Project data is exposed and formatted to your liking, there are several options for presenting the data to the Project stakeholders:

• Print the Table directly from MS Project
• Convert the Table to PDF for electronic distribution, printing, or publishing on a web page
• Copy or export the data to another program such as MS Excel, MS Word, or MS PowerPoint
• Use the snapshot tool to capture a screenshot of the data, then paste into another program
• Use any of the multiple File > Save As… options to convert the data to another format

Next time, we'll look at how to integrate custom Fields and Indicators into our Tables for displaying richer data in our Project Reports.