Duration Percent Complete in Primavera P6 - the Missing Guide Page 1 of 15

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Duration Percent Complete in Primavera P6 the

Missing Guide
On 05.14.12, In Tutorials, by Nader Khorrami Rad

15

Like 14

Tutorial Info

Program: Oracle Primavera P6 Professional

Version: all versions
Difficulty: Intermediate
Time to Complete: 15 minutes

There are many different methods for calculation of actual progress in Primavera P6. These methods involve using
many fields and settings, including:

Duration % Complete
Units % Complete
Physical % Complete
Percent Complete Type
Activity % Complete
Performance % Complete
Earned Value settings of the WBS Elements

I will explain Duration % Complete in this article. Other fields and settings will be explained in future articles and we
will finally have a complete picture of the whole actual progressing system in Primavera P6.

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Duration Percent Complete in Primavera P6 - the Missing Guide Page 2 of 15

Primavera P6s 3 Types of Activity Percent Complete

Each activity has three percent complete fields that are calculated all the time:

1. Duration % Complete
2. Units % Complete
3. Physical % Complete

Only one of these values will be selected by the user as the activitys progress, even though all of them are calculated
all the time. I will explain how to choose the appropriate activity percent complete in future articles.

Duration % Complete Calculations

The most common problem with Duration % Complete is that Primavera P6 uses a counterintuitive formula. You
may expect it to be something like Microsoft Projects formula:

Duration % Complete(MS Project) = [Actual Duration] / ( [Actual Duration] + [Remaining Duration] )

But this is not the P6 formula. Duration % Complete is calculated with this formula:

Duration % Complete(P6) = ( [Original Duration] [Remaining Duration] ) / [Original Duration]

This formula uses Original Duration, which may be different from the current duration. We will check this on the
following sample.

Sample: We have an activity with original duration of 20 days. 15 days have passed and we estimate it to finish in 18
days (yes, its much longer than we expected initially). The Original Duration does not change automatically after
activitys start.

Original Duration: 20d

Actual Duration: 15d
Remaining Duration: 18d

[Duration % Complete] = (20-18)/20 = 10%

Intuitive or MSP-like Duration % Complete = 15/(15+18) = 45.45%

The following figure shows the initial state of this sample activity (named A1):

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Lets say that the activity has started in May 8th. Well check the Started checkbox and enter the actual start date in
its date box.

Learn Primavera P6 Duration Percent Complete

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Suppose that its currently May 27th; we will reschedule the plan for this data date.

The Actual Duration is automatically calculated based on Actual Start Date and the Data Date, as follows:

[Actual Duration] = [Data Date] [Actual Start] (P6 formula for in-progress activities)

Unfortunately, you cannot change the Actual Duration field manually.

Now we can enter the remaining duration. In this example, we estimate that A1 requires 18 more days to be
completed. Well enter 18d in remaining duration field. By entering a remaining duration, Duration % Complete
will be calculated automatically.

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In this case, Duration % Complete is calculated as 10%.

We could have entered the Duration % Complete instead of the Remaining Duration and P6 would have calculated
Remaining Duration automatically .
Now, take a look at the Gantt chart.

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When you look at the Gantt chart, you see that about half of the current duration is actualized and you may expect a
Duration % Complete of around 50%. The exact number of the intuitive formula is 45.45% in this example, which is
not equal to our Duration % Complete.

Changing the Original Duration

Primavera P6 uses the following equation for Original Duration is used when an activity is not yet started:

[Original Duration] = [Early Finish] [Early Start]

However, after the activity has started, Original Duration will not be automatically calculated by Early Start and Early
Finish, and you can change it manually. The At Completion Duration represents our current duration, calculated as:

[At Completion Duration] = [Actual Duration] + [Remaining Duration]

In our example, the At Completion Duration is calculated to be 33d. We will enter the same value for the Original
Duration field and this would be the result:

The activitys schedule is not changed, but Duration % Complete is recalculated based on the new Original Duration;
and yes, its the intuitive value that we calculated before.
When Original Duration is equal to the At Completion Duration, the Duration % Complete will have the intuitive
value. The following equations show how the P6 formula would become the intuitive formula, when the Original
Duration is equal to the At Completion Duration:

[Duration % Complete]* = ( [Original Duration] [Remaining Duration] ) / [Original Duration]

= ( [At Completion Duration] [Remaining Duration] ) / [At Completion Duration]

= [Actual Duration] / ( [Actual Duration] + [Remaining Duration] )

* this equation is based on the assumption that Original Duration is equal to the At Completion Duration.

If you would like to have the intuitive Duration % Complete (for any reason), you can create a global change to set
the Original Durations of in-progress activities. The following figure shows the appropriate global change setup.

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This global change checks each activitys status; if its In Progress, then the At Completion Duration would be
copied to the Original Duration. We will then have the intuitive Duration % Completes for all activities.

Duration % 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.

You should always think of Duration % Complete as an intermediate field and use Performance % Complete to
track activities and WBS Elements actual progresses.

I will explain the calculation and usage of Performance % Complete in a future tutorial.

Summary
This tutorial has demonstrated the internal calculations of Primavera P6s Duration Percent Complete field.

The most common problem in this area is that Primavera P6 does not use the intuitive formula for Duration %
Complete which confuses some planners and project managers. We explained the Primavera P6 calculations and the
intuitive formula side by side, to show the differences and create a better understanding of the P6 method. Finally, if
you absolutely need to use the intuitive formula, try the Global Change described above.

Remember, Duration % Complete does not provide a final result; it is used in a system which provides the actual
progress. You should use Performance % Complete to read the actual progresses. Well cover that in an upcoming
tutorial soon.

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Nader Khorrami Rad

Nader Khorrami Rad is a project planning and control expert with 12 years of experience in different industries and
certified as PMP (Project Management Professional), CSM (Certified ScrumMaster) and PSM I (Professional
ScrumMaster). He is the author of 38 books in Persian and 2 ebooks in English. Connect with him by visiting his
website or on Twitter @KhorramiRad.

Visit Authors Website | Read more posts by Nader Khorrami Rad

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11 Responses
Duration Percent Complete in Primavera P6 the Missing Guide | On Project Management
5.15.2012

[...] latest article titled Duration Percent Complete in Primavera P6 the Missing Guide is published in plannertuts.
window.___gcfg = {lang: "en"}; (function() { var po = [...]

Units Percent Complete in Primavera P6 the Missing Guide

6.5.2012

[...] already covered Duration % Complete and Schedule % Complete. This post will explore Units % Complete and
future posts will continue [...]

ramkumar
6.12.2012

i am very much great ful to you , i have a great experience with your subject,please guide the planners in the same
manner so that the planning world shuold be the ruler in the universe.

Please let us teach about resources also

Duration Percent Complete in Primavera P6 | PMarchy

6.19.2012

[...] latest article titled Duration Percent Complete in Primavera P6 the Missing Guide is published in [...]

http://www.plannertuts.com/tutorials/primavera-p6-duration-percent-complete-guide-... 06/11/2012
Duration Percent Complete in Primavera P6 - the Missing Guide Page 11 of 15

s.a. mallick
7.4.2012

Your Comments
The above mention information is really very useful . Is it possible to give information for physical percnt complete
method also and also about cost loading in detail considering i am very new in planning job
Thanks and Regards
s.a.mallick

Nader Khorrami Rad

7.5.2012

Im happy that youve found it useful.

The Physical % Complete will be covered in the next article, which will be published in near future.

Behzad
7.22.2012

I Really thank you. and i am stronglywaiting for Performance % Complete article.

Arun R
8.20.2012

Dear Mr.Nader,
I cant say what i feel reading your article. Its very helpful & is mentioned so simply. I like that. I am waiting for
Performance % Complete article. Plannertuts is one of the best websites I seen which publishes great helpful article. I
waiting for more article that help me to grow.

Nader Khorrami Rad

8.20.2012

Youre welcome Arun; Im glad that youve found it helpful.

Mohamed Khafagi
9.13.2012

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Duration Percent Complete in Primavera P6 - the Missing Guide Page 12 of 15

I have problem in P6 that the performance % is equal zero , even the activity percentage changed with values , what
could be the cause , even I reviewed the admin prefrences & check activity % with the performance %
technique.mments

Nader Khorrami Rad

9.22.2012

Dear Mohammad,
The most likely problem is that you did not define any costs for activities. The calculation of Performance %
Complete is depended on them.

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