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Old 12-16-2015, 04:28 AM
BarryB BarryB is offline MS Project - Overview Report % Complete Windows 7 64bit MS Project - Overview Report % Complete Office 2013
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Default MS Project - Overview Report % Complete

Hi all,

I'm having problems with understanding MS Project reports and I'm hoping someone from the forum can help dig me out of a hole!?

I have a project schedule which I use to track progress of a project and would like to use the reports (specifically the Project Overview Report) to update management on progress. Nothing out of the ordinary there!



I have set a baseline on my project plan and have carried out a 'trial run' of the schedule and reporting where I set an artificial project start date then update the project plan with some artificial data and then view the Project Overview report. However, when I simulate this a couple of weird things happen.

Firstly, if tasks are finishing later than Baseline Finish (by completing the Actual Finish column in the schedule) the Finish Variance doesn't seem accurate (see attachment). The Finish Variance table in the report (showing 6hrs) doesn't replicate the data in the Finish Variance column of the schedule.

How is this calculate and how can I correctly show Finish Variance in the report?

Secondly, the % Complete is way off (please see attachments). Despite having only completed approximately 25% of the overall project, the report indicates the project is 50% complete.

Again, how is this calculated? Have I done something wrong?

I would like to show two key pieces of information.

1. The overall % complete for the project
2. The number of hours behind/ahead of the baseline schedule by using Finish Variance.

How can I represent this more accurately?

Hope someone can help.

Thanks

Kind regards
Barry
Attached Files
File Type: pdf Kraken DC3 Schedule example.pdf (227.1 KB, 18 views)
File Type: pdf Kraken DC3 Report Example.pdf (37.8 KB, 15 views)
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Old 12-17-2015, 03:23 PM
JulieS JulieS is offline MS Project - Overview Report % Complete Windows 7 64bit MS Project - Overview Report % Complete Office 2013
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Hi Barry,
% complete is a duration measure - not a work measure. Have you consumed 50% of the overall project duration? Try adding the Project Summary task (Gantt chart tools format ribbon).

If you look at the project summary task - does the finish variance show 6 hours? Do you have tasks that are incomplete in the past? It appears so - you should not have task with zero % complete in the past that will certainly throw off the finish variance.
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Old 12-21-2015, 04:42 AM
BarryB BarryB is offline MS Project - Overview Report % Complete Windows 7 64bit MS Project - Overview Report % Complete Office 2013
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Hi Julie,

Thanks for the reply, your response was very helpful.

I've now added that Project Summary Task to my schedule which has corrected/made clearer the issue I had with Finish Variance not matching.

Regarding the other issue I have with % complete. If I understand you correctly, this is measuring the number of hours which have been consumed against the total for the project regardless of how many tasks have been completed and if any of these tasks have over-run i.e. if I have a 100hr over 100 tasks for project and 50hrs duration has been utilised/completed but only 30 tasks, the % complete is still 50% and not 30%.

I don't have resource attached to these tasks so I don't think I could use a work measure.

Is there another method for illustrating progress against target?

Thanks

Barry
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Old 12-23-2015, 03:21 PM
Guloluseus Guloluseus is offline MS Project - Overview Report % Complete Windows 7 64bit MS Project - Overview Report % Complete Office 2010 32bit
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It sounds as if you are less worried about the mechanics of project, and more concerned with showing whether progress is on course- a god thing, in many ways.

As far as showing progress goes, you need to define the parameters of what you want to compare- you mentioned overall % complete and task variance. My company has been going through a period of reviewing progress mapping, and it has thrown up a few things.
As far as overall progress goes, this often does not show a true picture, especially if you are using TRAs (which to my mind, a good programme should do). Reducing the TRA proportionately to risks allocated to the TRA helps, but can lead to false reporting during the first half, with additional delays in the second half causing big increases in completion.

Tasks started on time is another indicator, but again if one task starts late, all following tasks (if the programme works) will also be late, so this tends to be misleading. Task finish dates can be a bit more useful, but again it doesnt take much to throw things out and cause misleading results.
This is reflected in your task duration variance- early delays can throw the programme out, but if succeeding tasks take the allotted time, then reporting will be good even though the project is on a late finish. If you want to see what areas are performing, then this can have value, but apart from that it needs to be taken for what it is.

As an overall indicator, Planned Project Completion is probably the best indicator. This is a one item, easy to understand indicator that allows you to see immediately if you are on or off track.
There is a system I have used for a client where the project % complete of critical path items, as an overall number (your summary bar) is compared to the %age of TRA used, where TRA is indicated as a single activity at the end of the programme. This allows for a direct comparison of overall progress, but also allows for allowed slippage. As an example, if you have a project of 100 days and a TRA of 10 days, then if the project is 50% complete and you have used 5 days of the TRA (50%) it would be deemed acceptable. this allows for overall delays as opposed to individual items, and can give a more complete picture.

I may have gone completely away from the subject, but as far as reporting goes, the main thing is to decide upon the importance of each possible indicator, and whether it is relevant to what you need to show, If you can get that, the actual reporting tends to be both straightforward and useful.
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Old 12-31-2015, 02:50 PM
JulieS JulieS is offline MS Project - Overview Report % Complete Windows 7 64bit MS Project - Overview Report % Complete Office 2013
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If you don't have resources assigned, then % Work complete as well as the traditional Earned Value methods will not be available to you.

Even without resources, you should be able to tell whether you are "on track" or not. Save a baseline (which I believe you have) and make sure you are accurately updating progress. If the resource says they are 50% complete on a 10 day duration task - ask them to confirm they will have it complete by DateX. If no - adjust the remaining duration.

You should not have incomplete work in the past. If a task was scheduled to be completed by Tuesday and it is now Friday and the task is not done - you need to extend the duration by increasing the remaining duration or splitting the task at Tuesday and rescheduling the remaining work to start Monday.
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