Mark a task 100% complete

[crook]

Hi!

I fielded the following question from a PM today:

"Is there a setting to drive down "Work" rather than driving up "Actual
Work" when marking a task 100% complete?"

This PM would rather have Project keep the actual work entered and
drive remaining work to zero when he uses the Tracking toolbar, rather
than open each task and set remaining work to zero manually. I suppose
I don't blame him. However I found the following from the help files
which suggests that driving remaining work to zero is not possible:

From the help topic: Update the percentage of work complete

"When you specify the percentage of work complete for a task, Microsoft
Office Project 2003 calculates the actual work (actual work: The amount
of work that has been performed on a task or assignment. When you enter
actual work on a task, the remaining work is calculated using this
formula: Remaining Work = Work - Actual Work. Actual work is often
referred to as "actuals.") and remaining work (remaining work: The
amount of work, in terms of a time unit such as hours or days, that is
left to be completed on a task. This is calculated as follows:
Remaining Work = Work - Actual Work.) according to the formulas Actual
Work = Work * Percent Work Complete and Remaining Work = Work - Actual
Work."

Is it possible to reverse Project Pro's algorithm to drive remaining
work to zero rather than calculating actual work based on planned work?
Is there such a setting?

Thank you for your time and attention!
Crook

 

[JulieS]

Hi Crook,

I don't know if this will help or not, but usually when tracking tasks I
apply the tracking table and then add the Remaining Work field to the
table as well.

If a resource has completed the work in less than was planned, record
the Actual Work, zero out remaining work. % Complete and % Work
complete are then set to 100%.

I hope this helps. Let us know how you get along.

Julie
Project MVP

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

 

[crook]

Hi JulieS,

Thank you for the note. I take this to mean that there is no setting
to change the default behavior of project to drive remaining work to
zero vs. driving actual work up to full planned work. I expected that
answer.

I like the tracking table idea. That does make things easier! Thanks
for the suggestion!

Thank you for your time!
Crook

 

[JulieS]

Hi Crook,

You're most welcome and thanks for the feedback. You are correct, there
is no way in Project to have a task with remaining work changed to zero
and keep only the actual work recorded. As you and your team have
discovered, when marking a task 100% complete, Project assumes the
amount of work performed is equal to the amount of work planned.

I'm glad you found the tracking table useful.I think it makes the
updating of tasks quicker and easier and I think we are all for "quick
and easy".

Julie
Project MVP

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

 

[Saratoga]

Have you tried entering the actual finish date on the tracking Gantt? This
will automatically adjust the remaining work to zero and update the %
complete to 100%. Actual's always override the plan including constraints.
The tool bar is handy when entering on time actuals but real life as always
more complicated.