Tracking projects-at-a-glance: Applying the SAS/GRAPH® as product a project management tool

The project management-at-a-glance concept was developed to provide a communication graphic which could visibly provide the managers of several departments with an overview of all active projects. All the major milestones are predefined for simplicity. The detail between the milestones was also eliminated for clarity. The chart was designed to show multiple projects in a compressed format. Eight projects and 12 milestones can be shown on each page of the chart.

The Base SAS® package was utilized as the programming tool. The SAS/FSEDIT® product was used for data entry. The data for the report was stored in an IBM TSO sequential flat file. SAS/GRAPH's® annotate tools are used to create the layered project management chart. The SAS system was chosen because of its strong ability to handle dates and custom generated graphics.