1- Duration % complete:

Duration % of Original (or Planned) threshold value is expressed as a percentage. An issue is generated if the ratio of the activitys actual duration to its original or planned duration (actual duration / original or planned duration * 100) falls beyond the threshold values. How it is calculated in primavera p6 : Duration percent Complete(P6) = ( [Original Duration] [Remaining Duration] ) / [Original Duration] Example of calculating Duration % Complete : Original Duration: 20d , Actual Duration: 15d and Remaining Duration: 18d [Duration % Complete] = (20-18)/20 = 10% to use the Duration % complete for an activity you should select the Duration % complete type from the activity details general tap as shown in the photo below

Duration percent complete primavera p6

Duration percent Complete for WBS Elements

The previous explanation was focused on Duration % Complete for Activities. Duration % Complete is also calculated for WBS Elements, but I strongly recommend you not to use Duration % Complete to track a WBS Elements progress. Thus I have not included an explanation of the calculations here.

2- Units % complete:
Each assigned resource and assigned expense creates units in Primavera P6. The number of units depend on duration of the activity and your current settings the Units % is calculated from the actual and remaining units, Units % Complete = [Actual Units / At Completion Units] x 100. see the figure below for more understanding

units percent complete primavera p6

Units % Complete for WBS Elements

The previous explanations were for activities Units % Complete. This field is calculated in the same way for WBS Elements. However, I recommend you to use Earned Value and Performance % Complete for the WBS Elements instead of Units % Complete and Duration % Complete.

Different between Duration % complete and Units % Complete:

- When units are not distributed uniformly, the Units % Complete will not be uniform relative to the time and will not equal to duration percentage complete. - Even if the units are distributed uniformly and the original duration not equal to at completion duration the units percentage complete will not equal to duration percentage complete. - Only when units are distributed uniformly and the original duration equal to at completion duration the units percentage complete will equal to duration percentage complete.

3- Physical % complete:
Physical percentage complete is a calculated field, which displays the percent complete based on the relative weights of the completed steps versus the incomplete steps. The physical progress of an activity is a manually-entered value determined by the user. The Physical % Complete is not rolled-up to WBS level, because its based on an external parameters, unknown to the software. to use the Physical % complete for an activity you should select the Physical % complete type from the activity details general tap as shown in the photo below

Physical percent complete primavera p6

4- Schedule % complete:
schedule percent complete for an activity based on a straight forward calculation in primavera p6, schedule percent complete = ( [Data Date] [Baseline Start] ) / ( [Baseline Finish] [Baseline Start] ) When the Data Date is earlier than the Baseline Start date, Schedule % Complete is zero, when its after the Baseline Finish data, Schedule % Complete is 100%. Otherwise, Schedule % Complete show what percentage of the Baseline duration is passed by the Data Date. see the figure below for better understanding.

Schedule percent complete primavera p6

Schedule % Complete for WBS Elements: The Schedule % Complete of the WBS Element will be the ratio of the Baseline Costs before the Data Date to the Total Baseline Cost. 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: Schedule % Completed (WBS) = PV / BAC

5-Performance % Complete:
The percentage presentation of EV is usually called Performance % Complete. Performance % Complete of the Activities under the same WBS Element is calculated by one of these six options: 1. By Activity % Complete and without resource curves 2. By Activity % Complete and with resource curves 3. By WBS Milestones 4. By 0/100 method 5. By 50/50 method 6. By x/(100-x) custom method (1) and (2) are continuous and the rest of them are milestone progresses. (1) and (2) are dependent on the Activity progress, (3) is completely independent from the Activity progress, and the rest of them are only influenced by Actual Start and Actual Finish of the Activities.

Duration calculation problem Dears... I am working on Primavera P6 v6.2. For one of my projects, the difference between the start date and end date is more than what it should be... For eg: start date: 19-Dec-12, Finish: 6-Jan-13.. the original duration should be : 19 days. But it is coming 20 days in primavera original duration column. What is the reason for this? Need help!!

Ashiq 8 days ago Like CommentFollow Flag More Ehab El-Baramony, PMP, Aliu Olabisi, M.Sc, PMP like this 16 comments

Follow Jos

Jos Frade Hello Ashiq 1. Check calendar (working periods) to ensure you have the correct working periods 3. Select in Edit\user preferences\Dates to display also the time. This will allow you to check if some (or one) of the activities is taking longer then you wanted.

Regards JMFrade 8 days ago Like Reply privately Flag as inappropriate 3

Follow Hossein Radmehr Hossein Radmehr PMP,RMP,SP,PRINCE2 In addition to Mr. Frade , please check "At completion Duration " column , in P6 the different between start and finish is based on At completion duration . if these columns are not equal please set them equal.