schedule % complete concept

8/13/2019 Schedule % Complete Concept

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Schedule % Complete

Schedule % Complete is one of the many percent completes you have in Primavera P6 and we’re going

to have a complete look at what it is and how it is calculated. Two important products of maintaining

schedules are planned progress and actual progress of a given time; you want to know how much you’vedone so far and compare it with how much you were supposed to do so far, in order to reach project

targets.

The first thing to mention is that Schedule % Complete deals with planned progress. As a result, it is

calculated based on the Project Baseline and the Data Date; it has nothing to do with the current

schedule.

The second thing is that this field is calculated differently for Activities than for WBS Elements. This is the

source of the most common problems people have with this field.

Schedule % Complete for Activities

And now, let’s start the story with how Schedule % Complete is calculated for Activities. It’s simple; just

take a look at the following figure.


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When the

the Basel

what perc

Activity S

Schedul e

[ Basel i n

The follo

And that’

costs, etc

1. D

2. A

3. A

Data Date i

ine Finish da

entage of th

hedule % C

% Compl et

e Start] )

ing diagram

all for the a

. For Activitie

ata Date

ctivity’s Bas

ctivity’s Bas

earlier than

a, Schedule

Baseline du

mplete:

( Act ) = (

shows the S

tivities; it ha

s, Schedule

line Start

line Finish

he Baseline

% Complete

ration is pas

[ Dat a Dat e]

hedule % C

nothing to d

Complete i

Start date, S

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ingle Activit

rrent schedul

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dule % Com

’s a formula

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to calculate

i ne Fi ni sh

Data Dates:

e curves, th

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] –


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Schedule % Complete for WBS Elements

And now, the story of how Schedule % Complete is calculated for WBS Elements. Let’s start by reviewing

2 possible scenarios:

Scenario 1

How are these calculations possible? The Sample WBS Element has three Activities, they all have

Schedule % Completes greater than zero, but the value for Sample WBS Element is 0! Before I reveal the

answer, here’s a contrasting scenario.

Scenario 2

In this scenario, the Sample WBS Element has three Activities with Schedule % Completes less than

50%, but the Schedule % Complete of the WBS Element is 75%.

What is going on here? How is Schedule % Complete calculated in each scenario?

A WBS Element’s Schedule % Complete is calculated in a completely different way. You might expect it

to be the rollup value of the underlying Activities (a weighted average for example). But, as in scenario 2,

the three Activity values which are all less than 50% could never have a weighted average more than

50%.

As you saw before, the Schedule % Complete of the Activities is time-based. However Schedule %

Complete for WBS Elements is:

1. Depended project costs and…

2. Does not factor in any Activities’ Schedule % Complete values


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How Sch

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cost of th

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dule % Co

assign reso

assignment

ay apply a

r each day

WBS Elem

dule % Com

e Total Base

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f the Activity.

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penses to ac

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culated auto

BS Element

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ivities, each

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activity will r

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lated Total C

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a


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In the world of Earned Value, the costs before the Data Date are called the Planned Value, or PV for

short (Also called BCWS – Budgeted Cost of Work Scheduled). The total baseline cost is called Budget

At Completion or BAC for short. We can now formulate the calculation of Schedule % Complete for WBS

Elements as:

Schedul e % Compl et ed (WBS) = PV / BAC

Please have this in mind that all the mentioned parameters are derived from baseline and not from

current schedule; the WBS bar shown in these figures is the baseline schedule of the WBS Element and

the costs are the baseline costs of the WBS Element.

The following diagram shows Schedule % Complete of a sample WBS Element for different Data Dates:


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The abov

following:

1. D

2. B

3. T

To summ

based on

e description

ata Date

aseline Cost

otal Baseline

arize, Sched

costs.

s show that t

before the

Costs (BAC)

le % Compl

e Schedule

ata Date (P

te for Activiti

Complete

)

es is based

of the WBS

n time, whil

lements dep

its value for

end on the

WBS Eleme ts is


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Pulling S

The follo

different

hedule % C

ing diagram

ata Dates.

mplete toge

shows Sche

ther for WB

ule % Comp

and Activiti

lete of a sam

s

ple WBS Element with tw Activities in

schedule % complete concept

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