Project Health & Status

Overview

A project's health and status refers to its current condition and progress against its plan, covering aspects like schedule, budget, and scope. A project status is the overall phase (e.g. new, in process, on-hold, etc.) while health is the assessment of its well-being often used to flag potential risks and issues. Within the UA Enterprise Service Management (ESM) system project module, this article details the various health, and statuses available, and provides examples as to when to use them.

In this article:

Project Health

The Health of a Project indicates whether the project is moving along according to schedule or whether there are issues encountered along the way causing delays in the scheduled implementation. The following Health (colors) are used by ESM Project.

Green

Indicates that the project is moving along according to schedule with no known issues involving the Schedule, Scope, or Cost/Resources. The ESM system displays this health as a green square icon.

For example:

  • Schedule deadlines are mostly being met. If something unexpected comes up delaying production of a deliverable / task, as long as the end date to the overall project isn't extended, the project is progressing as planned.

Yellow

Indicates that the project is experiencing issues involving one of the following: Project Schedule, Scope, or Cost/Resources. The ESM system displays this health as a yellow triangle icon.

For example:

  • Schedule deadlines are not being met causing the end date of the project to be extended, but still able to be calculated. As long as the Project Sponsor/Steering Committee is alright with the extended end date, the project isn't at risk of failing, Primary Stakeholders are informed and the project is progressing. Minimal budget overruns are occurring.

Red

Indicates that the project is experiencing issues involving two or more of the following: Project Schedule, Scope, or Cost/Resources. The ESM system displays this health as a red circle icon.

For example:

  • Minimal progress has occurred in one month or more, either by the Project Team, or other dependent resources, causing significant budget overruns. This means the project is at risk of failing and has the potential of negatively impacting sponsoring department's reputation.

None

This may only be used when the project is not yet in process. The ESM system displays this health as a blue line icon.

On Hold

When a project's status is changed to on hold, the project's health will be changed to on hold. The ESM system displays this health as a pause icon.

Project Status

New (Not Started)

The default status assigned to newly created/activated projects. This status indicates that the project is staffed (a manager has been assigned), but work on the project has not yet started.

In Process

The status assigned to projects where work on the project has started.

On Hold

This status is reserved for projects that are no longer moving due to external resource constraints. The project is expected, however, to resume within the next 3 months. The On-Hold status is not meant to be used for a project that is not moving due to Project Team's resource constraints, in this situation the project health would be set to red, and the project status would remain as In Process.

Examples include Project Team waiting on a customer, another UA department, vendor or consultant to provide funding, staff time, or make a decision about when to start the project.

Completed or Cancelled

When a project is completed, or cancelled, it is closed within the ESM system. During the closure process, the project's status is set to one of the following values as appropriate:

  • Cancelled
  • Completed - Did Not Meet Expectations
  • Completed - Met Expectations
  • Completed - Exceeded Expectations
Important
A project must first be closed in order to set the status to cancelled, or completed.

Need additional help or have issues

For support, requests may be submitted anytime using the appropriate Enterprise Service Management form. Requests generate a Ticket which will be worked in order received and urgency by IT Employees with the knowledge and permissions to assist with the request.

For immediate assistance please review the Contact Us page for the appropriate support group.

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