Estimating Work

[Cole]

I don't think Project does this but I'll ask anyway,

If you have a task for 5 days; 40 hours; 1 Resource - at the end of 3
days if the task is 25% Complete (not physical % complete) will project
automatically adjust the duration to accomidate the extra time needed
to complete the task (reaching 100% complete)?

I think you have to do this manually, but a coworker believes the gods
of Microsoft 'had' to enable this as feature. LOL.

Thoughts?

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi,
When in the Update Tasks window (Tools, Tracking, update tasks) you enter 25
fro % complete and 3d as actual duration you do end up with a task of 12
days (3 actual and 9 remaining)
And gods or no gods, that is the mathematical solution of the puzzle you
gave to Project.
But is that what you want?
Others may conclude that the 25% were to be seen as a quarter of the
original duration, so there is 3.75 days of remaining work.

Percentages can harm your mental health; my advice is NEVER to use
percentages because they mostly are ambiguous. When the guy, after 3 days of
work, says 25% what does he mean? Why on earth does he make a percent
calculation, whey doesn't he just say 3.75 or 9 or what have you... days
left?

Hope this helps.

 

[Steve House [Project MVP]]

One conceptual note. If the task is 5 days duration and you have worked 3
days on it, it is cannot be 25% complete. % Complete refers to duration,
not work and there is a separate field that reflects work progress. After
working on that task for 3 days, the task is 60% (3/5) complete, by
definition. For three days to represent 25% complete, the total task
duration must be increased to 12 days. But Project has no way of knowing
what the new duration is likely to be and so it leaves it up to you to make
that estimate by entering the amount left to go in the Remaining Druation
field. % Complete is really just a convenient way to enter progress where
it's going according the whatever the current schedule is calling for.