% Completed vs BCWP

[Stefan Robert]

Hi,

is there a way to make MS-Project not change the % completed of a task
when I enter the Actual Work done for that task?

The reason is that when I enter the Actual work done for a task, the
BCWP and ACWP are always identical.

As I beleive, BCWP the (budgeted cost for the task * % completed) and the
ACWP should be the cost of the actual work done, right?

So is there a way to enter the actual work and the % completed as two
different values not related?

Stefan

 

[Steve House [MVP]]

Your belief is not quite accurate <g>. First of all, BCWP refers to the
work performed but % Complete refers to the duration elapsed during which
the work has taken place. % Complete may be, and often is, the same as %
Work Complete but that's by no means always the case. Imagine a situation
where we're painting a room. We're going to apply a couple of coats of
primer followed by a couple of colour coats and then after the colour has
dried we're going to finish all the trim. It takes 1 hour to apply a coat
of paint and we're going to allow 24 hours drying time between coats. We're
scheduled to work 1 hour Mon, 1 hour Tue, 1 hour Wed, 1 hour Thu, and then
do all the finishing in 8 hours on Fri. The duration is 40 hours, the work
is 12 hours, and our Budgeted Cost for the task is 12hours * $XX per hour.
We update progress Thu afternoon at 5pm. At that point 32 hours of the 40
total duration has transpired so we're 80% Complete. BUT, we've only burned
4 hours of the total 12 man-hours of work to be done so we're only 33% Work
Complete. In this case 80% Complete * 12 man-hours Budgeted Work @ $XX/hour
does NOT give you the correct BCWP - it should be 12hours * 33% * $XX per
hour.

The BCWP and the ACWP will be the same if the resource costs and duration
have not changed since the baseline was saved. But if you used more or less
materials than estimated or if you've substituted resources for those
originally scheduled who have different rates than the original ones or if
you've had to call in OT to get the task done on time or if the duration for
the task at completion is more or less the originally expected duration,
then the BCWP and ACWP can be different. For example, let's say your
resources get $10 per hour and you expected the task to take 40 hours to
complete. BAC (Budget At Completion) is $400. When you finish, BCWP and
ACWP are also $400 IF it actually takes 40 hours. But let's say you blew
the estimate and it actually takes 60 hours to finish. At task completion
BCWS is $400, BCWP is $400 and ACWP is $600. Why is BCWP only $400?
Because your *budget* is the original baseline, not the revised, longer,
schedule.

If you want to de-couple the % Complete from the Work so you can enter them
independently you can certainly do so. In the Tools menu, Options settings,
Calculation page uncheck the box for "Updating task status updates resource
status." But if you do, you need to make sure you enter the progress
information correctly for both duration progress and work performed.

HTH

 

[Stefan Robert]

Your belief is not quite accurate <g>. First of all, BCWP refers to
the work performed but % Complete refers to the duration elapsed during
which the work has taken place. % Complete may be, and often is, the
same as % Work Complete but that's by no means always the case.
Imagine a situation where we're painting a room. We're going to apply
a couple of coats of primer followed by a couple of colour coats and
then after the colour has dried we're going to finish all the trim. It
takes 1 hour to apply a coat of paint and we're going to allow 24 hours
drying time between coats. We're scheduled to work 1 hour Mon, 1 hour
Tue, 1 hour Wed, 1 hour Thu, and then do all the finishing in 8 hours
on Fri. The duration is 40 hours, the work is 12 hours, and our
Budgeted Cost for the task is 12hours * $XX per hour. We update
progress Thu afternoon at 5pm. At that point 32 hours of the 40 total
duration has transpired so we're 80% Complete. BUT, we've only burned
4 hours of the total 12 man-hours of work to be done so we're only 33%
Work Complete. In this case 80% Complete * 12 man-hours Budgeted Work
@ $XX/hour does NOT give you the correct BCWP - it should be 12hours *
33% * $XX per hour.

Yes, I understand. This is exacly why MS-Project was giving me a
headache. Based on your example, I was not able to find a way to make
the BCWP correspond to the "33%".

If you want to de-couple the % Complete from the Work so you can enter
them independently you can certainly do so. In the Tools menu, Options
settings, Calculation page uncheck the box for "Updating task status
updates resource status." But if you do, you need to make sure you
enter the progress information correctly for both duration progress and
work performed.

aaaah, this is the mystic setting I was looking for. My % complete is
not based on the number of hours but on the % of physical progress. I
have seen that I can base my BCWP on % of physical progress but I
cannot find where I can modify the % of physical progress. Does the
field "% completed", that I see when I split the window in GANTT view
(or by going into Information about the task), correspond to the % of
physical progress when the task is specified as % of physical progress
in the Information about the task form?

Thanks for your time.

Stefan

 

[Steve House [MVP]]

Nope
....

aaaah, this is the mystic setting I was looking for. My % complete is not
based on the number of hours but on the % of physical progress. I have
seen that I can base my BCWP on % of physical progress but I cannot find
where I can modify the % of physical progress. Does the field "%
completed", that I see when I split the window in GANTT view (or by going
into Information about the task), correspond to the % of physical progress
when the task is specified as % of physical progress in the Information
about the task form?

Nope, there are three independent fields, [% Complete], [% Work Complete],
and [% Physical Complete]. [% Complete] always refers to duration,
regardless of the method selected for earned value computations. Entering
data into the Physical Complete field is always a manual, direct entry
process and it is not computed from data entered in other tracking fields.
The problem with using it is that it is so loosey-goosey in its definition.
If I have to paint 4 walls, I've done 2 and am ready to start the third it's
pretty straight forward, I'm 50% Physical Complete. But what would "50%
Physical Complete" mean if I were designing an engine or writing a program?
Half the drawings done, the front done but not the back, the crankcase but
not the cylinder head, half the lines of code written, the psuedo-code but
not the final code, the code written but still to be debugged? In those
cases it is an extremely subjective concept not really pinnable to
observable measures like time passed or man-hours of work put in.

If you want to use it you can display and edit it in the Gantt chart by
changing the table displayed to the Tracking Table from the menu or you can
add it as a column to other tables as you wish by the old right click in the
column header area, choose "Insert Column" and selecting it from the pull
down menu method.