C
J
John
Cindy,
We need a little more information than just a subject line. Are you
trying to determine where a task should be with respect to a baseline?
Are you trying to determine where a task should be with respect to the
current schedule (i.e. current date compared to the task duration).
What exactly do you want to know? Remember, % Complete is duration based
and may or may not give a true representation of task progress. For
example, are you really more interested in % Work Complete?
John
Project MVP
We need a little more information than just a subject line. Are you
trying to determine where a task should be with respect to a baseline?
Are you trying to determine where a task should be with respect to the
current schedule (i.e. current date compared to the task duration).
What exactly do you want to know? Remember, % Complete is duration based
and may or may not give a true representation of task progress. For
example, are you really more interested in % Work Complete?
John
Project MVP
S
Scudder
John, I think the OP may possibly be asking how to derive the planned percent
complete. For example if my actual % complete for a given task is 75%, what
should it be ?
The only way to achieve this is via automation. I wrote the code to do this
a couple of years ago, the question is simple enough but the answer is less
than simple since you have to take into account:
Multiple project, task and resource calendars.
Multiple baselines, tasks may not all have the same baseline, and of course
they may have less than 100% allocation.
Tasks may not have a baseline at all, in which case you only have the
current planned completion date to rely on.
You also have to make calls based on the above since % alone doesn’t quite
do it for you. You really want – and yes I assigned these as indicators:
Critical – Cannot be achieved in given time scale (including slack).
Tracking late – consuming total slack (float).
Tracking slow – consuming free slack (float).
On track – within 5% of actual, I put that in as an arbitrary figure.
Tracking ahead – would never happen in the right place !
Out of sequence – started before planned.
Pending – Not planned to start & not started.
MS project’s calendar designators also have a few oddities when you get down
to this level. The code is migraine inducing and I spent more time than it
was probably worth disbelieving the results and trying to prove them
incorrect, they were in fact correct. After all it’s only math.
If anyone really wants a copy of this, let me know.
complete. For example if my actual % complete for a given task is 75%, what
should it be ?
The only way to achieve this is via automation. I wrote the code to do this
a couple of years ago, the question is simple enough but the answer is less
than simple since you have to take into account:
Multiple project, task and resource calendars.
Multiple baselines, tasks may not all have the same baseline, and of course
they may have less than 100% allocation.
Tasks may not have a baseline at all, in which case you only have the
current planned completion date to rely on.
You also have to make calls based on the above since % alone doesn’t quite
do it for you. You really want – and yes I assigned these as indicators:
Critical – Cannot be achieved in given time scale (including slack).
Tracking late – consuming total slack (float).
Tracking slow – consuming free slack (float).
On track – within 5% of actual, I put that in as an arbitrary figure.
Tracking ahead – would never happen in the right place !
Out of sequence – started before planned.
Pending – Not planned to start & not started.
MS project’s calendar designators also have a few oddities when you get down
to this level. The code is migraine inducing and I spent more time than it
was probably worth disbelieving the results and trying to prove them
incorrect, they were in fact correct. After all it’s only math.
If anyone really wants a copy of this, let me know.
J
John
Scudder said:
scudder,
Normally when users post a question like this they are looking for a
simplistic answer to what is actually a complex question. You have
mentioned many of the issues that come in to play. I don't necessarily
agree that the code to do this is "migraine inducing" but I guess each
of us has his own way of looking at a challenge
John
Project MVP
S
Scudder
Very good John, perhaps I should replied - can't be done.
I'll leave it to you exercise your coding prowess then if it required,
though I foresee that you will encounter several challenges that you possibly
cannot anticipate until you try.
I'll leave it to you exercise your coding prowess then if it required,
though I foresee that you will encounter several challenges that you possibly
cannot anticipate until you try.