Progress

Maybe as per MSP calculation % Complete is 2 [actual] of 3 [projected total] = 66.67%

Moutaz,

You have already answered your own question.

1. Before updating, insert a colum for "Actual Duration" and a column for "Remaining Duration"
2. Enter 2 in "Actual Duration"
3. Enter 1 in "Remaining Duration".  ("Duration" field will reset to 3 days).

Things to remember if you have experience in other tools:

• MSP has no real Data Date.  Its "Status Date" does not participate directly in any schedule calculations.
• MSP has no Original Duration.  "Duration" is always the sum of "Actual" and "Remaining" duration.  Changing any one of the three always affects the others.

Good luck. tom

Thanks Tom, what I am looking for is that the remaining duration is to be calculated by the system once the actual dates, status date and % complete are entered.

Regards,

Muataz

Sorry, MSP does not behave that way, for the reasons I already gave.  By the way, using %complete as an input in the update process should be avoided – it usually leads to partial-day remaining durations that in turn lead to a bunch of unintended consequences.  I thought this is the same issue in both MSP and P6.

http://www.ronwinterconsulting.com/MS_Project_for_Construction.pdf

Unfortunately Tom it is not the same in P6. P6 is more logic in this case once you enter the status data (data date), actual dates and % complete, the remaining duration is calculated automatically.

It is not logic to calculate the remaining duration for each ongoing activity and in the same time the completion date will not move which we will have no indication when the project is expected to be finished.

Regards,

Muataz

The link posted by Rafael is an essential resource for anyone moving from OPV to MSP.

The "logic" you expect is based on the existence (and behavior) of the Data Date in OPV, which does not exist in MSP.

As Ron Winter highlights in the document linked by Rafael, the Update Project dialog can be used to impose the consequences of a Data Date on the schedule.  It is, in my view, a necessary (and often tedious) middle step in the update process for an MSP schedule.

As a long-time regular user of both tool sets, I've seen plenty of flaws in both, but I stopped complaining years ago.