Free tool
RAG status criteria generator
Turn “it feels Amber” into rules everyone applies the same way. Set your thresholds, copy the Green / Amber / Red definitions, and test them on a task before you adopt them.
1. Set your thresholds
2. Your criteria
Green (all of these)
- Forecast finish is no more than 2 working days after the baseline finish.
- The owner has confirmed the task is on track.
Amber (any of these)
- Forecast finish is 3 to 10 working days after the baseline finish.
- The owner can't say yet whether it's on track (no date confirmed).
Red (any of these)
- Forecast finish is more than 10 working days after the baseline finish.
- A committed milestone, customer or regulatory date will be missed, however many days.
- It has been Amber for 2 reviews in a row without a recovery date.
- Measure slip against the saved baseline, not last week's date, so a slow drift still shows.
- The worst dimension sets the color: one Red condition makes the task Red.
- Every Red task needs an owner-proposed recovery date and plan by the next review.
- Status reflects the forecast, not effort or intent. A task can be Red with everyone working hard.
3. Test a task
Amber. Slip of 4 working days is more than 2.
Everything runs in your browser. Nothing is sent or saved.
Why write the criteria down
A RAG color is only useful if it means the same thing every week and to every reader. Written criteria stop two common failures: the “watermelon” status that is green on the outside and red inside, and the late surprise where a task jumps from Green straight to Red the week it's due. Agreeing the thresholds up front also takes the politics out of turning something Red.
Making the rules hold up
- Measure against the baseline. Keep the original finish date and compare the current forecast to it. The schedule slip calculator does this for a whole list of tasks.
- Ask the owner for the forecast. Criteria are only as good as the dates behind them. A short, specific question works best; the status request email generator writes one.
- Let “hard to say” be Amber. Uncertainty is a risk worth showing, and people answer more honestly when it's an allowed answer.
- Re-baseline deliberately. When scope changes, re-baseline with sign-off rather than quietly moving the goalposts. See when to re-baseline a project schedule.
Questions
What are RAG status criteria?
Written rules that decide whether a task or project is reported Red, Amber or Green. Without them, color is a mood: one person's Amber is another's Green. With them, anyone looking at the same dates reaches the same color.
What thresholds should I use?
Base them on how much float your schedule has and how much a late date costs. A common starting point is Green up to a couple of working days late, Amber up to about two weeks, and Red beyond that or whenever a committed milestone is at risk. Agree them with the team and sponsor before the first report, not after a task turns Red.
Should slip be measured against the baseline or last week's date?
The baseline. Measured against last week, a task that slips two days every week stays Green forever. Against the baseline, the drift adds up and shows.
Is anything I enter saved?
No. The rules are built in your browser and nothing is sent to PingCadence or anyone else.
Get the forecast dates without chasing
PingCadence asks every task owner on your plan whether they're on track, collects a new date when they aren't, and keeps your baseline, so your report shows slip in days for every task. See how it works.