Percent Complete

Hi Phil,

It seems P3 has only one way of calculating PC. Other software allows you to choose. As far as I can see there are 3 ways:

1. PC = AD/(AD+RDU)
2. PC = AD/OD
3. PC = (OD-RDU)/OD

1. Doesnt use the original duration although could give you an accurate PC of where you are now from what you know now.
2. Is fine if RDU=OD-AD whoch is very rare.
3. The obvious whole is that you can be 0% even though you have started but this is based on your original duration.

So that leaves really 1 & 3 as the only viable options. I believe 3 is best but its limitation is when the original date is so wrong. In this case just overwrite it!

Mark

why is 3 better than 1? Surely 1 is more likely to be accurate due to the limitation of 3 that you point out!

Murray

i suppose 3 is better, bcoz we make ref to ONE and only one INITIAL Estimate of duration (OD).

i think 1 is more accurate because the RD is our latest Estimate of remaining work. by mathematical deviation the accuracy increases as the RD gets smaller (as activity progress), bcoz margin of error also gets smaller. but this would mean making ref to MANY Estimates bcoz RD would be the new estimates at every progress update.

The % complete in P5 is much more elaborate in fact.

First there is the % complete type per activity (Physical, Duration and Units)

Secondly it keeps 16 % complete fields at the activity level.

Thirdly you can play around with the way % performance complete (one of the 16 fields) is calculated within each specific WBS element. This includes: WBS milestones, resource curves, 0-100, and steps, allowing you to tailor it to any desired situation.

Duration % complete is typically used for Level of Effort activities (like project management) by the way.