Problems w/ Changing Actual Start and Finish Dates reducing % Comp

[Em]

Hello and Help!
I created 114 subtasks whose start and completion dates vary. When I change
the percent complete using the Entry form (Gantt Chart view) , the
calculations are correct. Currently, we have completed 19% or 22 out of 114.
However, if I change the Actual Start and Finish dates in the Tracking sheet
or on Tools--Project--Tracking menu, the percent complete begins to decrease
with each new date change. (I'm changing the values to 100%).

Some info about the plan:
(1) The project plan has a baseline
(2) I copied the tasks into Excel and then pasted them back into a new
project plan for a clean set of data and can reproduce the problem.
(3) There are no constraints or predecessors assigned to the tasks.

Any assistance anyone can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Ema

 

[Jim Aksel]

%Complete is a linear indication of the duration of the task. A 5 day task
is 60% complete on day 3. If you change the duration, project will give a
%Complete=3days/(new duration).

%Complete weights each task by its duration and that weighted sumation of
(%Complete x Duration) is what rolls up to your summary task %Complete. If
all the subtasks have the same duration it beomes a counting calculation (22
of 114 complete = 19%).

Here are some options-
Use %Work Complete instead. This works best with a resource loaded schedule
and weights the Work instead of duration.

Use Physical%Complete instead. Works best with resource loaded schedule and
costed baseline. This weights the Value in $$ of each task instead of
duration.

Manually rekey the correct %Complete when the duration changes. This is what
most people do.

In closing, make sure all your tasks use the same method to avoid problems.
--
If this post was helpful, please consider rating it.

Jim
It''s software; it''s not allowed to win.

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for FAQs and more information
about Microsoft Project

 

[Em]

Jim,
Thank you for your well-thought out answer. I like the idea of using %work
because the dates get collapsed a great deal of the time. How do I change
the way project is currently calculating the completion?

Em

 

[Jim Aksel]

Fortunately, with %Work Complete only one additional change is required.
As a start, you can insert the %Complete and %Work Complete columns. Then
just copy and paste %Complete into %WorkComplete.

Use the %Work Complete from now on.
Make all your tasks "Fixed Work." Highlight all the tasks, select the Task
Information Icon from the toolbar. Pull the Advanced Tab and change to Fixed
Work.
Otherwise, if the tasks are fixed units (the default), your work will
accordian in the same manner as the duration. Then you'd be right back where
you started.

You can change the default task type for newly added tasks...
Tools/Options/Schedule (tab). Change the default task type in the drop down.
Make it Fixed Work. This is not required, but recommended in this case.
--
If this post was helpful, please consider rating it.

Jim
It''s software; it''s not allowed to win.

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for FAQs and more information
about Microsoft Project