Snapshot

Location on ribbon: Tab DVD Cons → Group Schedule → Menu Reports & Snapshot

Command ID: btnSnapshotCapture

PRO feature

This command is part of the PRO plan. STANDARD accounts activated before 01/07/2026 keep access until their licence expires; other Standard accounts get an upgrade prompt when they click it.

What it does

Captures the project's state at the moment you click and stores it in a hidden sheet named _Snap_YYYYMMDD. The capture holds a metadata block (total tasks, activities behind, critical-path slip days, SPI, CPI, BAC/EV/AC) plus a full copy of the data rows — no formulas, no links, so nothing can overwrite it later. Run it on a weekly rhythm and you build the history that Snapshot Trend turns into trend charts.

How to use

1. Bring the schedule up to the week's cut-off: percent complete, actual costs, then run Auto Calc.
2. Go to Tab DVD Cons → group Schedule → menu Reports & Snapshot → click Snapshot.
3. The command runs immediately — no dialog, no selection required.
4. The _Snap_YYYYMMDD sheet is created as very-hidden so your tab bar stays clean; nothing visibly changes apart from the confirmation message.
5. Repeat the same click next week — each run adds one data point.
6. Once you have two or more captures, run Snapshot Trend to read them all and plot the trend.

Example

A housing project's site team sets a rule: every Friday afternoon the planner updates completed quantities and clicks Snapshot. Three months later the workbook holds 13 _Snap_* sheets, from _Snap_20260605 to _Snap_20260828. When the owner asks whether the project is still deteriorating or has stabilised, the planner runs Snapshot Trend: SPI falls for five straight weeks then flattens from week 10 — evidence that the overtime measure worked.

Notes

• Snapshots only pay off when taken on a consistent day of the week; irregular captures make the trend chart hard to read.
• The sheets are very-hidden and do not appear in Excel's normal Unhide dialog — you need VBA or the Snapshot Trend command to work with them.
• A snapshot is immutable: captured data does not follow later schedule edits, which is precisely the point.
• Each capture copies the data rows, so many weeks of snapshots on a large schedule will steadily grow the file.
• The cost metrics (BAC/EV/AC, CPI) are only meaningful if the sheet already carries BAC and actual cost data.

Related

• Snapshot Trend — reads the stored captures and plots the trend charts.
• Baseline — a fixed plan-of-record to compare against, as opposed to a periodic capture series.
• Variance Dashboard — this week's full picture, the source of the KPIs being captured.
• EVM Report — the SPI/CPI detail that the snapshot only stores as headline numbers.