Tasks Calculated on Other Tasks

[Ldyflyr]

Hi:

Is it possible in MS Project to have a task calculate it's percent complete
based on a series of other tasks being completed? The "hitch" is that it is
not a summary task.

For example, I have 3 gropus of tasks, A, B an C. They are different parts
of the project plan. I want a section at the end of the plan to show the %
Complete for each of the groups of task and then use a summary task to tell
me how combined total % complete.

So I want my new Task X to be the summary task A, Task Y to be the summary
task B, and Task Z to be the summary task C.

I hope that makes sense.

Thanks

 

[John]

Hi:

Is it possible in MS Project to have a task calculate it's percent complete
based on a series of other tasks being completed? The "hitch" is that it is
not a summary task.

For example, I have 3 gropus of tasks, A, B an C. They are different parts
of the project plan. I want a section at the end of the plan to show the %
Complete for each of the groups of task and then use a summary task to tell
me how combined total % complete.

So I want my new Task X to be the summary task A, Task Y to be the summary
task B, and Task Z to be the summary task C.

I hope that makes sense.

Thanks

Ldyflyr,
A rather weird request and I'm not real clear on what you mean by
"groups of tasks" (i.e. the structure you describe needs more detail for
a full understanding).

A task row in Project is one of three things, a summary line, a
performance task, or a milestone. What you seem to be describing only
fits into the summary line category but you say that it is not, so
something doesn't compute.

Nonetheless, with regard to emulating a summary line % complete, that
can be done with a formula in a custom field, where the formula would be:
Total % Complete = (sum of subtask actual durations)/(sum of subtask
durations)*100%

Hope this helps.
John
Project MVP

 

[Jim Aksel]

You may also want to do some custom grouping. For example, insert a Text1
column. In the Text1 field, enter the sorting condition X, Y, Z. In your
case, you would put an X in the rows for all tasks related to A, B, and C
where they appear in the schedule.

Using the Group By, you'd group on Text1. Then, you will see a summary task
X having subordinates of A, B, and C. The ABCs will roll up to X.

 

[AndyB]

There is a somewhat convoluted way that I use.

copy the summary line of your 1st group of tasks.
Paste Special/Paste Links to where ever you want in you plan.
This should give you 1 line of pasted links.
Repeat for you other groups of tasks.
Finally indent them all under an additional 'written' line to give a summary
of those pasted link summaries below.
et voila, the summary will show the % consolidation of those below.

Not perfect I admit but it works.

AndyB.

 

[John]

There is a somewhat convoluted way that I use.

copy the summary line of your 1st group of tasks.
Paste Special/Paste Links to where ever you want in you plan.
This should give you 1 line of pasted links.
Repeat for you other groups of tasks.
Finally indent them all under an additional 'written' line to give a summary
of those pasted link summaries below.
et voila, the summary will show the % consolidation of those below.

Not perfect I admit but it works.

AndyB.

AndyB,
You may be lucky and get away with this procedure but it is asking for
trouble. By themselves paste links are rather fragile and prone to
corruption. If you multiply that by paste linking a whole line, a
summary line no less, I'm a little surprised it is still working.

Years ago I had a similar setup with paste links. I was seeing some
strange behavior with the file during calculation. Normally during
calculation, Windows replaces the standard cursor with an hourglass
indicating it is "thinking". When the hourglass goes away, supposedly
calculation is complete. With the paste links as we had them this was
not the case. It turned out that Project was still calculating even
though it had "released" control back to the user.

Just a caution - user beware.

John
Project MVP