Calculate % complete excluding some tasks

[Rob S.]

My question for you is as follows: How can I calculate the % complete for
specific summary tasks? The following background may be helpful and
(hopefully) should clarify my question.

We are using MS Project 2007 in a very elementary way, basically just as a
project scheduling tool. For example, we are not using any of the advanced
features like baselines and resource leveling. In fact, some of our tasks do
not even have resources assigned to them - they are entered as fixed costs to
approximate the planned activities.

My problem centers on another caveat of this project. A few of the tasks
will be completed by our customer, however, these tasks are integral to the
overall project schedule. Therefore, we need to include them, along with
their full durations, to monitor our schedule. However, by including the full
durations of the customer's tasks, our % complete is skewed. We need the %
complete for our portion of the project, not the entire project.

Currently we must zero out the duration on the customer's tasks temporarily
in order to calculate the % complete for our portion of the project. I'm
hoping that the community can suggest a better solution.

Thank you!
Rob S.

 

[Steve House [MVP]]

Percent complete refers strictly to the passage of time, not the work
performed nor the progress on the deliverable being created. Of the total
(duration) time the project will take, how much has passed by? As such
there really is no such thing as "the percent complete of our portion of the
project." If the project duration is 6 months from start to finish and we
are at the end of 4 months with everything so far being worked according to
plan, the project is 66.66% complete regardless of how much of the required
work has been done or who has been doing it.

What is your reason for the perceived need to track progress on your tasks
separately from that of the customer's? Perhaps there's another way to
accomplish the objective.

 

[Rob S.]

Thank you for considering my problem. The special % complete is necessary
because the two companies have separate budgets. As such, we're tracking our
% spent separately based on our respective budgets. More importantly, the
customer/sponsor is monitoring our budget also. As such, they would like to
compare our % complete to our % spent.

If necessary, we have an alternate means to estimate our % complete. I was
just hoping to do it in Project.

--
Rob S.

Percent complete refers strictly to the passage of time, not the work
performed nor the progress on the deliverable being created. Of the total
(duration) time the project will take, how much has passed by? As such
there really is no such thing as "the percent complete of our portion of the
project." If the project duration is 6 months from start to finish and we
are at the end of 4 months with everything so far being worked according to
plan, the project is 66.66% complete regardless of how much of the required
work has been done or who has been doing it.

What is your reason for the perceived need to track progress on your tasks
separately from that of the customer's? Perhaps there's another way to
accomplish the objective.


--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm for the FAQs

My question for you is as follows: How can I calculate the % complete for
specific summary tasks? The following background may be helpful and
(hopefully) should clarify my question.

We are using MS Project 2007 in a very elementary way, basically just as a
project scheduling tool. For example, we are not using any of the advanced
features like baselines and resource leveling. In fact, some of our tasks
do
not even have resources assigned to them - they are entered as fixed costs
to
approximate the planned activities.

My problem centers on another caveat of this project. A few of the tasks
will be completed by our customer, however, these tasks are integral to
the
overall project schedule. Therefore, we need to include them, along with
their full durations, to monitor our schedule. However, by including the
full
durations of the customer's tasks, our % complete is skewed. We need the %
complete for our portion of the project, not the entire project.

Currently we must zero out the duration on the customer's tasks
temporarily
in order to calculate the % complete for our portion of the project. I'm
hoping that the community can suggest a better solution.

Thank you!
Rob S.

 

[salgud]

My question for you is as follows: How can I calculate the % complete for
specific summary tasks? The following background may be helpful and
(hopefully) should clarify my question.

We are using MS Project 2007 in a very elementary way, basically just as a
project scheduling tool. For example, we are not using any of the advanced
features like baselines and resource leveling. In fact, some of our tasks do
not even have resources assigned to them - they are entered as fixed costs to
approximate the planned activities.

My problem centers on another caveat of this project. A few of the tasks
will be completed by our customer, however, these tasks are integral to the
overall project schedule. Therefore, we need to include them, along with
their full durations, to monitor our schedule. However, by including the full
durations of the customer's tasks, our % complete is skewed. We need the %
complete for our portion of the project, not the entire project.

Currently we must zero out the duration on the customer's tasks temporarily
in order to calculate the % complete for our portion of the project. I'm
hoping that the community can suggest a better solution.

Thank you!
Rob S.

I would create a separate project for their work (doesn't have to be
complete) and cross-link between the projects. That way, you can update
either and see the schedule impact, but not have their tasks in your cost
analysis.

Hope this helps in your world.