Summary tasks are not showing physical % complete in all cases

[Brian J. Brennan]

In various user forums I see that others have experienced the same problem,
but there is as yet nowhere I've seen a solution:

My summary tasks "physical % complete" values are showing up as 0% in some
cases, and then showing up with actual values on the summary lines in others
(I need the latter to happen in call cases).

Can anyone tell me what I need to do please?

Thanks
Brian

 

[JulieS]

Hi Brian,

As far as I know, the Physical % complete *never* rolls up to summary
tasks -- it is a user entered field. I am a bit puzzled when you say
the summary task physical % complete shows up sometimes but not others.

% complete (duration measurement) and % work complete (work measurement)
are calculated at summary level.

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

 

[John]

In various user forums I see that others have experienced the same problem,
but there is as yet nowhere I've seen a solution:

My summary tasks "physical % complete" values are showing up as 0% in some
cases, and then showing up with actual values on the summary lines in others
(I need the latter to happen in call cases).

Can anyone tell me what I need to do please?

Thanks
Brian

Brian,
Physical % complete is used only for alternate earned value
calculations. In order for a value to appear in the Physical % Complete
field of a summary line, all subtasks under that summary line must have
the option set to use physical % complete as the earned value method.

There are two ways to set up your file for earned value using physical %
complete. One is via Tools/Options/Calculation tab and then select
physical % complete using the Earned Value button. The second method is
to individually set all tasks for earned value using physical % complete
via the Task Information window (Project/Task Information), the Advanced
tab.

Since you are seeing a value for physical % complete on some summary
lines and not others, either a full project baseline is not set or some
subtasks have the default % Complete field set as the earned value
method.

Hope this helps.
John
Project MVP

 

[JulieS]

Thanks for the reminder John - obviously not enough coffee on my part.
Sorry for any confusion, Brian.

Julie
Project MVP

 

[Brian J. Brennan]

Thanks Julie.

This definitely rolls up on one summary task but not others at the same
level. Also it is calculating automatically, and whether it is displaying
accurately or showing 0% it can not be edited by the user.

Another problem that seems to correlate is that the SV is showing a much
greater dollar deficit at the summary level than is actually the case EXCEPT
where the physical % complete is accurate, in that case the SV shows the
correct $ varfiance.

I will keep working at it. Thanks for your feedback.

Brian

 

[JulieS]

Hi Brian,

Please see John's response. I believe he has the correct solution to
your quandry. Sorry for my incorrect response and I apologize for any
confusion I created.

Julie
Project MVP

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

 

[John]

Thanks for the reminder John - obviously not enough coffee on my part.
Sorry for any confusion, Brian.

Julie
Project MVP

Julie,
Whoa, I got ya there But I must confess, initially I wrote the same
reply that you did but then before I posted it I thought, you know, I
don't know much about physical % complete and this might not be right,
so I educated myself. Then I changed my reply and that's what I posted.
But hey, I've been in the "not enough coffee position" myself - more
than once.

John

 

[JulieS]

Julie,
Whoa, I got ya there But I must confess, initially I wrote the same
reply that you did but then before I posted it I thought, you know, I
don't know much about physical % complete and this might not be right,
so I educated myself. Then I changed my reply and that's what I
posted.
But hey, I've been in the "not enough coffee position" myself - more
than once.

John

John ~
Thanks for the "confession"

-- I plead temporary insanity and lack of sleep for not listening to
that little voice telling my that Brian's post was possible and I just
hadn't explored enough of the possibilities as to why.

Sheepishly,
Julie

 

[Rui Avelãs Nunes]

Hi John,

I am having the same problems Brian was having and have check that all the
sub-tasks are set to have Phisical % Complete as the Earned Value Method but
still the value does not rolls up! Any suggestions?

Thanks a million

Rui Avelas nunes

 

[John]

=?Utf-8?B?UnVpIEF2ZWzDo3MgTnVuZXM=?= <Rui Avelãs

Hi John,

I am having the same problems Brian was having and have check that all the
sub-tasks are set to have Phisical % Complete as the Earned Value Method but
still the value does not rolls up! Any suggestions?

Thanks a million

Rui Avelas nunes

Rui,
I played around with the Physical % Complete metric and found that the
option to use Physical % Complete needs to be set up prior to building
the hierarchy structure of the file. In other words, converting to
Physical % Complete after the fact doesn't always work.

Here's what I did on a sample file that displayed the behavior you may
be seeing. I first made sure all subtasks was set for Physical %
Complete. I cleared the baseline for the entire project. If you already
have a baseline set and want to preserve those dates, store the baseline
dates in a couple temporary date fields. Then I outdented the subtasks
under the summary and re-indented them. This seems to "clear" the
hierarchy. Then I re-set the baseline (from the temporary stored values
if necessary). Using this process, the summary line did respond to
Physical % Complete values of the subtasks.

Sometimes Project can be a little stubborn and the user needs to employ
some tricks to get it to move - kind of like a mule.

Hope this helps.
John
Project MVP