%Complete is a duration based measure of complete. A 10 day task is 60%
complete on day 6.
%Work Complete claims against the amount of work loaded into a task. If the
work is level loaded (same number of hours/day) then %Complete and %Work
Complete essentially accomplish the same thing.
Here is a more complex example. Two workers are assigned to a 10 day task.
The work is loaded as 8 hours/day for the first week and 1 hour/day for the
second week. Total work is 45 hours. for convenience Worker1 works the first
week, Worker2 works the second week. On day 6 the task is 60% Complete for
duration, but is 41/45 (91%) Work Complete, assuming only one worker per day
on the task.
Try this, do some research on Physical%Complete as well. It relates a
little more to the value produced. For our example above, suppose we assign
two workers to the task. The first week Worker1 works at $30/hour for 40
hours. The following week Worker2 is a consultant at $125/hr and he works
the second week (alone). The total value of the task is 10 days, 45 hours,
$1825 (40*30+5*125). On day 6, assuming everyone accomplished what they are
supposed to: Physical%Complete goes to ($1200+$125)/$1825 = 73% . To use
this technique you need costed resources and a baseline. I know this was
beyond your question, so post back if you need additional guidance.
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Jim Aksel, MVP
Check out my blog for more information:
http://www.msprojectblog.com