This feature is launching November 4.
Milestone tracking lets you follow up to 10 milestones from your schedule at once. For each one, you can see its baseline, current, and ALICE forecast finish, so you can spot which milestones are slipping and develop strategies to de-risk the project. You can also overlay an ALICE solution to see whether a scenario pulls those dates back.
Milestone tracking is a tab in Project Performance. The Overview tab measures progress against a single finish date. Milestone tracking lets you drill down into specific milestones and isolate the task network leading up to each one.
Milestone tracking is available to all ALICE Optimize and ALICE Analyze customers.
Getting to the Milestone Tracking tab
- Go to Project Performance in the left navigation panel.
- Click the Milestone tracking tab, next to Overview.
The milestone tracking tab becomes available once you have added at least one schedule to Project Performance and set it as a baseline.
Choosing milestones
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Click Select milestones in the top right corner of the page.
- Find the milestones you want. The list shows each milestone's ID, name, constraint type, constraint date, and scheduled date. Search by milestone name or activity ID.
- Check up to 10 milestones. A counter shows how many you've selected.
- Click Save.
A few things to know when choosing:
- 10 milestones maximum. Once you've selected 10, the rest of the list is greyed out until you uncheck one.
- The milestone needs work planned before it. If there are no tasks leading up to a milestone, there's no progress to track. ALICE shows a message naming the milestone and disables Save until you uncheck it.
- Your selection is shared with your project team. Everyone on the project sees the same tracked milestones. If someone changes the selection, it changes for everyone.
- The list follows your schedule. If a tracked milestone is removed from the schedule, it's removed from Milestone tracking.
Reading the chart
The chart shows the same progress lines as the Overview tab: baseline, actual, current finish, and ALICE forecast finish, with a line marking the current data date. The header shows the baseline name and update date.
Each milestone on the chart gets a diamond on each line at its finish date. A connector joins the diamonds, and a drop-line labels the date on the axis. A completed milestone shows one diamond on the actuals line, at the date it was achieved, alongside its baseline diamond.
To work with the chart:
- Show or hide a line. Click its entry in the legend.
- Zoom and pan. Use the chart's zoom, pan, and reset controls. The view stays within the project's date range.
- Choose which milestones appear. Check or uncheck Shown on chart for each row in the table below the chart. You can show as many as you like.
- Focus on one milestone. Hover over a checked row, or its diamonds on the chart. Everything else dims, and a tooltip shows % complete, status, and each finish date with its variance against baseline.
Breakdown table
The table below the chart has one row per tracked milestone, sorted by baseline finish date.
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| % complete | Progress toward the milestone as of the data date |
| Status | Completed, On track, Ahead, or Behind, based on the ALICE forecast finish compared with the baseline finish |
| Baseline finish | The milestone's finish date in the baseline schedule |
| Current finish | The finish date in your latest schedule, with variance against baseline in workdays |
| ALICE forecast finish | The finish date ALICE forecasts from your actual production rate, with variance against baseline in workdays |
For completed milestones, the table shows the date achieved and its variance against baseline. Click a milestone's name to jump to its detail card.
[Screenshot: breakdown table with a mix of statuses, including one completed milestone]
Detail cards
Below the table, each tracked milestone has its own detail card, in the same order as the table.
Each card's chart covers only that milestone's timeframe, not the whole project, so you can see its progress more clearly. It has its own legend, zoom, and tooltip. A summary panel shows % complete, status, and the baseline, current, and ALICE forecast finish dates.
[Screenshot: one detail card showing its chart and summary panel]
Comparing an ALICE solution
Overlay a solution from ALICE Optimize to see whether a scenario, such as a recovery plan, brings your milestones back on track.
On the main chart:
- Click Select a solution… above the chart.
- Choose a plan, scenario, and solution.
A Solution line appears on the chart and a Solution column appears in the breakdown table. To remove it, click ×. Removing the overlay here also removes it from the Overview tab.
[Screenshot: main chart and table with a solution overlay applied]
On a detail card:
Each detail card has its own Select a solution… option, separate from the main chart and the other cards. Use it to compare a different solution for each milestone. The overlay adds a Solution line to that card's chart and a Solution row to its summary panel.
[Screenshot: detail card with a solution overlay applied]
Frequently asked questions
How is this different from changing the end date on the Overview tab?
Changing the end date sets the single date the Overview tab measures against, and it's saved for you only. Milestone tracking follows up to 10 milestones at once, and the selection is shared with everyone on the project. Changing one doesn't affect the other.
Why did my tracked milestones change?
The selection is shared per project, so another team member may have updated it. Milestones removed from the schedule are also removed from tracking.
Why can't I save a milestone I selected?
The milestone has no work planned before it, so there's no progress to measure. Uncheck it to save the rest of your selection.
Why don't I see an ALICE forecast finish?
The forecast needs a baseline and at least 3 progress updates, or a project that's at least 20% complete. See Project Performance for details on how it's calculated.