Hi all, i have Project 2003, I'm not an expert and I generally get by (it isn't that important for my job however from time to time it is necessary).
I have a problem that i have one project which has lots of installations, in the beginning requiring more man hours and getting easier toward the end. Currently we are 50% through the project but the % complete column shows much less being based on duration, however the duration really isn't accurate since it might have 10 days for a certain task but that task takes 15 men. Whereas later tasks have 10 days but they are for 1 man. So you see, it doesn't balance out accurately using this method. How the hell can I do it to more accurately reflect the actual completion as opposed to the duration.
As a clear example; if I were to decrease the duration of a task to say 2 days each instead of 16 days the ‘percentage complete’ column of the project would reduce - however completing tasks in a faster time than the duration estimated obviously does not mean that the project is less complete, but rather the opposite. So you see; this column is not a true reflection of the progress so far. Likewise if I were to increase the time it takes to do a task to 20 days each it would increase the ‘% complete’ column.
I'm going nuts here and can't find anything on the web to help. And please keep the jargon for a numpty like me :)
I believe you need to add the column "Work", and the column "% Work Complete", in order to see the information you're looking for. These two aren't present in the default view of MS Project, but they can easily be added to your project with a right-click on the headers, then insert column, and scroll through the list until you find the names I mentioned above.
Hope it helps you out. Saving Changes...
Anonymous
Julian is correct in that you sometimes need to lift the covers and take a look inside by adding columns to see what is really taking place. There are actually two variations of percentage complete. The basic %Complete is duration-based, i.e. Actual Duration divided by Duration. %Work Complete is hours-based, i.e. Actual Work divided by Work. Yes, it is very possible that the two percentages will be different. Saving Changes...
Wai Mun KooPMO Director| Intergraph PP&MSingapore, Singapore
Just to add in. You need to understand the concept on duration, work and unit when you assign resource to task in MS Project. This is very important. Without a good understanding on this will result in frustation when you changes the number of resources or start/end dates of the task. Once you have done this correctly, the rest will be fine and accurate. Saving Changes...
