How the Project Data Quality Index scores your projects in Project Workspace

MahatmaK0342012 · 7 hours ago

The Project Data Quality Index checks each project against 20 rules and gives it a rating. This article lists every rule, what it checks and the condition behind it, so you can see why a project scored the way it did and what to fix.

How scoring works

Each rule is a pass or a fail, with no partial credit.
Rules sit in six dimensions. A dimension's pass rate is the share of its rules that pass.
Pass rates become a rating for each dimension and for the project overall.
The rules are checked the same way every time. AI then explains the results and suggests what to improve.

Pass rate	Rating
85% to 100%	Excellent
70% to 84%	Good
55% to 69%	Fair
35% to 54%	Poor
0% to 34%	Critical

These are the defaults. Your admin can change them.

The ID is a rule's internal number, not a count. There are 20 rules, and some numbers are unused.

Example: a project scored

Here is a fictional project, "Customer Portal Upgrade", with its data partly filled in. Rule IDs are in brackets.

Dimension	Rules passed	Failed rules	Pass rate	Rating
Project Charter	4 of 5	Business case is only 12 characters [3]	80%	Good
Schedule & Milestones	3 of 4	No milestone notes in 30 days [7]	75%	Good
Resources & Team	2 of 3	One unapproved assignment is past its start date [14]	67%	Fair
Scope & Financials	2 of 4	No expense lines [18], no monetary benefit plan [20]	50%	Poor
Reporting & Activity	3 of 3	None	100%	Excellent
RIDAC Coverage	1 of 1	None	100%	Excellent

Overall: 15 of 20 rules pass (75%). With the default dimension weights, the overall rating would most likely be Good. AI makes the final call, so a project near a boundary could land on either side.

The AI also explains each rating and suggests where to start. For example (wording is illustrative):

Scope & Financials: Poor. The project has a budget but no recorded spending, and no monetary benefit plan, so cost control and the expected return can't be tracked. Suggested first step: add expense lines to start tracking actuals, then create a monetary benefit plan.

Fixing rules 18 and 20 would move Scope & Financials from 50% to 100% and lift the overall rating.

Project Charter

ID	Rule	Passes when	Technical condition
1	Name is descriptive	The name is at least 10 characters and isn't a placeholder.	`short_description` length ≥ 10 and not Project 1, New Project, Test, Untitled, TBD or New.
2	Description populated	The description is at least 20 characters.	`description` length ≥ 20.
3	Business case filled	The business case has at least 30 characters.	`business_case` length ≥ 30, HTML removed.
4	Investment type and class set	Both are filled in.	`investment_type` and `investment_class` not empty.
5	Scope description filled	The in-scope description has at least 10 words.	`in_scope` word count ≥ 10, HTML removed.

Schedule & Milestones

ID	Rule	Passes when	Technical condition
7	Milestone notes updated within 30 days	A milestone has a note from the last 30 days.	A `sys_journal_field` entry in the last 30 days on a milestone (`pm_project_task`, `milestone` = true). Fails if there are no milestones.
8	Project baseline exists	The project has a baseline.	A `planned_task_baseline_item` exists for the project.
9	Active milestones have owner	Every unfinished milestone has an owner.	Each milestone with `work_end` empty has `assigned_to` or `assignment_group`. Fails if there are none.
10	Project manager assigned	A project manager is set.	`project_manager` not empty.

Resources & Team

ID	Rule	Passes when	Technical condition
11	Active named resource assignment with future end date	A named person is assigned and the assignment hasn't ended.	A resource assignment with `assignment_type` = user and `end_date` today or later.
14	Unapproved stale resource assignments	No assignment is both unapproved and past its dates.	No assignment with `resource_status` ≠ approved and `start_date` or `end_date` before today.
15	Contractors have employment end date	Every contractor has an end date on their profile.	Each external assignment's profile has `employment_end_date`. Passes if there are none.

Scope & Financials

ID	Rule	Passes when	Technical condition
16	Approved budget set	The budget is greater than zero.	`budget_cost` > 0.
18	Actuals tracking started	There is a budget and an expense line.	`budget_cost` > 0 and an `fm_expense_line` exists for the project.
19	Labor cost plan exists	The project has a labor cost plan.	A `cost_plan` exists with `resource_type.name` containing "Labor".
20	Monetary benefit plan exists	The project has a monetary benefit plan.	A `benefit_plan` exists with `benefit_type` = monetary.

Reporting & Activity

ID	Rule	Passes when	Technical condition
22	Status report created within 30 days	A status report was created in the last 30 days.	A `project_status` record for the project with `sys_created_on` in the last 30 days.
24	Record actively maintained	The project was updated in the last 30 days.	`sys_updated_on` within the last 30 days.
25	Notes or comments added recently	A note was added in the last 30 days on the project or related items.	A `sys_journal_field` entry in the last 30 days on the project, its tasks, risks, issues, decisions, actions or change requests.

RIDAC Coverage

RIDAC stands for risks, issues, decisions, actions and change requests.

ID	Rule	Passes when	Technical condition
26	At least one RIDAC item exists	The project has any one of those items.	A `risk`, `issue`, `dmn_decision`, `project_action` or `project_change_request` record exists for the project.

Point to Note

After the rules run, AI explains each dimension’s rating in plain language, so you can see why a project scored the way it did. It also recommends what to fix first, starting with the failed rules that matter most.
Small dimensions swing more. RIDAC has one rule, so it scores 0% or 100%. Each Charter rule is worth 20%.
Nothing there often means a fail. Milestone, baseline and plan rules fail until a record exists. The contractor rule passes if the project has no contractors.
Defaults can be changed. Your organization can add, change or turn off rules, so your scores may differ from the defaults described here. See the customization article for how. Tailor the Project Data Quality Index to your process: add, change and turn off rules