Calculating % complete of scattered tasks

[Anna]

Hi.

Our project schedule was developed some time before the earned value
milestone reporting requirements were agreed. The issue then is that the
schedule doesn’t directly collapse to each of the earned value milestones. I
need to calculate the % complete of each milestone. Since the tasks relating
to each milestone are scattered throughout the schedule, % complete for each
milestone needs to be calculated from a collection of individual activities
at different levels in the schedule.

I have located a formula from http://support.microsoft.com/kb/101495/en-us.
Does this apply to MS Project 2003? When I attempt to validate this formula
using my own schedule it works for higher level subtasks (level 3/4/5) but
when it comes to level 1 and 2 it does not seem to hold. How does MS Project
2003 calculate % complete? and is the method consistent through the levels?

Any information about % complete will be appreciated.

 

[Jim Aksel]

Generally a milestone is more of a 0-100% type of thing, not a %Complete.
However, I seem to understand your question and project does not use 0-100
since it is just a special case of %Complete. So, it works.

%Complete in project is calculated as a weighted average against duration
(at the summary task level) That is, if two tasks are of equal duration (not
work), when one task is 100% complete and the other is 0% complete, then the
summary task is 50% complete. If one task is 3 days duration, the other is
4 days and the 3 day task is 100% complete ..... the summary task is
(100*3+0*4)/(3+4)=3/7=43%

Notice it only cares about duration, not work. You get a different answer
in %Work complete, especially if the work required is not equal. Say the 3
day task has 2 heads assigned and the 4 day task has 1 head assigned. The
total work to complete these two tasks is 3x2x8+4x1x8= 80. Then %WorkComplete
is 60% because it weights on work not duration: (100%*48+0%*32)/80=48/80=60%
This is the much better way to take EV unless every task involves the
identical amount of resources and all resources have identical costs. It
also allows distribution of the work according to work contours which further
helps you control your baseline and EV.

The formula and method is consistent at all levels. Remember summary tasks
will calculate differently than individual tasks.... sure.... you manually
enter the %Complete only at the indvidual task levels. There is another one
called Physical % Complete but let;s let that alone for now.

Now to get you grouped together properly, a Custom Grouping will help you.
In effect what you are saying is that you have a Program Event (PE) which is
a Milestone. In order for the PE to be 100% you have to have several
Significant Accomplishments (SAs) complete. The SAs are not all rolled up to
the PE becuase of WBS structure, other scheduling considerations, etc. The
next peel of this onion is the Accomplishment Criteria (AC) which would roll
up to the SAs.... This actually has a name: Integrated Management
Plan/Integrated Master Schedule (IMP/IMS) to throw the lingo around. All
you reall need is the PE discussion below, but I am including all of it for
completeness.

Insert columns into your file. Example: Text1, 2, 3. These are then
labled PE, SA, AC. Now, just start numbering. Milestone 1 becomes PE #1.
Any task that supports PE#1 gets a 01 in the PE column. Repeat for PEs 2, 3,
and on.

Go back to each PE labeled 01. Now start filling in the SAs as 1, 2, 3 etc,
then the ACs. So, if you look over a row, PE #1 milestone would be 01 00 00
(since the last part is all 0 then it is a PE. Something like this: 02 03
01 would be PE#2, Significant Accomlishment #3 and Accomplishment Criteria #1.

OK, now lets sort. On the menu bar, Click on Project/Group By..../Customize
Group By. What opens is a custom sort dialog very similar to Excel. So,
your criteria become Sort by Text1 (PE), then by Text2 (SA), then by Text3
(AC). Click OK.

You now see grouping by PE milestones (OK, they are numbers but it works).
Now you can use the %Complete column and look at that PE #1 as a summary task
to get your %Complete.

I have some offline documentation available that may help, feel free to get
me off line at jeaksel at yahoo dot com.

Did that help?

 

[Anna]

Thanks Jim.

That information is great. I will put it into practice and if I have any
more questions I will let you know.

 

[Anna]

Hi Jim,

Just a couple more questions...

The milestones on our schedule are not the same as our earned value
milestones. For your method does the PE have to be a milestone defined in
project?

We have 9 EV milestones and have added another column to the schedule
Tracking view which refers each activity to the relevant EV milestone.

Also, I am not clear on the hierarchy you have defined. Does the PE refer to
Level 2 of the schedule and SA to Level 3 and AC to Level 4? If they dont,
could I simply allocate numbers 1-9 to the appropriate tasks in the PE column
and filter with just one level?

 

[Steve House]

I get a feeling that you might be using the term "milestone" to mean
something other than the normal definition Project adheres to. In the
conventional definition, a milestone is neither a date nor a task that
extends over time. Rather it is an event, an instantaneous transition
between two states. For example, a wall is either not painted or it is
painted. If it was important to track the completion of the painting, let's
say that's when you have to pay a contractor, you might mark the end of
painting with a "Painting Complete" milestone that monitors the transition
from "Not Painted" to "Painting Done." It is a unity point in the project,
very similar to a mile-marker that might flash by your car window as you
drive down the freeway on a trip. Since it's instantaneous it has no
duration and therefore the term "percent complete" has no meaning when
applied to it. It's a boolean value, either true or false, you've either
passed it or you haven't, and so its 'percent complete' can only have 1 of
two possible values - 0% or 100%. The most common reason a milestone is
introduced into a project plan is when it's necessary to monitor the
completion of key deliverables and modules. The milestone is passed in the
instant when the deliverable is complete and all work on it ceases because
there's no more needed. As such, they may come at the end of a summary task
that is the parent of all the subtasks that must be done to create that
deliverable however they are NOT the summary task itself. It is posible
then to track percent completion and hence earned value of the summary task
the leads to the milestone but neither metric is meaningful if you attempt
to apply them directly to the milestone per se.

Just a few thoughts that hopefully will help your analysis