Compare projects side by side

Compare puts two to five projects next to each other in one table: one column per project, one row per figure, and the cells where they differ highlighted. Use it to see which project in a set is slipping, which carries the open risks, or how two similar projects stand before a steering meeting.

It is on every plan. You compare only projects you can open; a Member sees the projects they own or belong to.

Start a comparison

1. Open Projects and stay on the My projects tab. The All projects directory has no selection.

2. Tick the projects you want. In Grid view each card has a checkbox that shows when you point at the card (it is always there on a touch screen); in Health view it is the last column of each row. While anything is selected, clicking a card adds it to the selection or takes it out instead of opening it.

3. In the bar that appears (“2 selected”), choose Compare.

Compare shows once two projects are selected. With more than five selected it is greyed out and says “Compare takes up to 5 projects”: take some out of the selection first. Clear in the bar, or the Escape key, ends the selection. The same bar also offers Report on selected, Add to portfolio…, Set status…, Export Excel and Copy links; see Organize the Projects page.

What the table shows

The header row names each project and links to it. The rows, in order:

Row	What each cell shows
Status	The project’s status. An archived project counts as different.
Health	On Track, At Risk, Off Track or Closed.
Progress	A bar with the percent complete.
Owner	The owner, linked to their page.
Team size	How many members the project has.
Start, End	The project’s dates.
Finish against baseline	From the newest baseline: On time, so many days late or so many days early, or No baseline.
Open tasks, Overdue tasks	Counts. Overdue reads “200+” past 200.
Open issues, Open risks	Counts. A dismissed or resolved risk is not counted.
Portfolios	The portfolios the project belongs to, or None. Business plan and above.
Last activity	The date of the newest entry on its Activity tab, or None yet.
Budget, Actual cost	Shown when you may see cost for at least one of the projects. A project whose cost you may not see reads Not available.

A row whose cells disagree gets an amber dot beside its name, and the cells that differ are shaded amber. The line above the table counts them (“3 rows differ.”). A cell still loading, or one that could not load (it shows “-”; point at it for the reason), is left out of the comparison.

For the baseline row, see Capture and compare baselines; for budget and actual cost, Read the EVM dashboard.

Share a comparison

The address of the page holds the projects you picked, in order (/projects/compare?ids=...), so you can bookmark it. The copy button beside the title copies the link. The link needs a sign-in and is not public: each person who opens it sees what their own access allows. A project they cannot open, or one that has been deleted, shows as Unavailable in its column and is left out of the highlighting.

A link with more than five projects opens the first five and says so. A link with fewer than two opens a page that sends you back to Projects to pick them.

FAQs

Can I add or remove a project from the table? Not on the compare page. Go back to Projects, change the selection and choose Compare again.

Can I export the comparison? No. To take the figures elsewhere, select the same projects and use Export Excel in the selection bar.

Why is a column empty? It reads Unavailable when you cannot open that project, or when it no longer exists. Ask its owner for access, or see Let members find projects.

Related

• Organize the Projects page
• Manage project status and progress
• Keep a risk register