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.
Primavera P6’s 3 Types of Activity Percent Complete
Each activity has three percent complete fields that are calculated all the time:
- Duration % Complete
- Units % Complete
- Physical % Complete
Only one of these values will be selected by the user as the activity’s 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 Project’s 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, it’s much longer than we expected initially). The Original Duration does not change automatically after activity’s 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):
Let’s say that the activity has started in May 8th. We’ll check the Started checkbox and enter the actual start date in its date box.
Learn Primavera P6 Duration Percent Complete
Suppose that it’s 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. We’ll enter 18d in remaining duration field. By entering a remaining duration, Duration % Complete will be calculated automatically.
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.
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 activity’s schedule is not changed, but Duration % Complete is recalculated based on the new Original Duration; and yes, it’s 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.
This global change checks each activity’s status; if it’s “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 Element’s 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 Element’s 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 P6’s 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. We’ll cover that in an upcoming tutorial soon.
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
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
I’m happy that you’ve found it useful.
The Physical % Complete will be covered in the next article, which will be published in near future.
I Really thank you. and i am stronglywaiting for Performance % Complete article.
Dear Mr.Nader,
I can’t say what i feel reading your article. It’s 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.
You’re welcome Arun; I’m glad that you’ve found it helpful.
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
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.
Dear Sir,
Great Post !
Can you please enlighten about DURATION % OF ORIGINAL. how is it calculated (Formula) and how is it different from Dur % Complete. and When it should be used?.
Regards
Shuvro.
Dear Shuvro, it’s simply [ (actual duration) / (original duration) ], and it’s not used in other calculations that I’m aware of. And yes, it can go higher than 100%.
Hi
I have some problem with my P6 i was wondering if you could help me with that
In activities detail i want to set details but it is inactive so what can i do? What can cause this Mather?
Bests
Hosna
Hosna, the Activity Details sometimes goes gray if you have multiple activities highlighted or if you are a highlighting a WBS or group bar. If this doesn’t solve it, reply back with more info.
PT
Hi
I find this site recently, I could solve some of my problems by this site,
thanks alot
We have observed the following – For some activities, when the activities are complete, the at completion goes to zero, but for some the at completion shows the real cost. Why?
Nader… we have noticed that there are times when ‘actual duration’ + ‘remaining duration’ do not equal at ‘complete duration’. It appears that this can be caused when a predecessor’s early finish date is overridden with actual start and finish dates. Comments?
Sir, let me know how to calculate the planned % from my schedule. Our physical progress is 86.4%.Target completion date is September data date is 13-6-13
In a cost loaded schedule, go to Columns and Expand the option Percent Completes where you can find “Schedule % Complete”. Add this filed to your Columns. This will give the Planned %.
Why does P6 calculate Duration % Complete with the formula mentioned above? If you change your original duration, to match your at complete duration, how will you ever get P6 to give you an SPI value other than 1.00?
Hi,
In our project progress, my project finish date is passing the required finish date. Is there any way that I can assign a constraint and remaining activity durations get smaller to hit the target finish date? For example, my project finishes on 14-Jan-2014, but I want to finish it on 28-Nov-2014. What should I set my activity type and duration type and percent complete type for Primavera to auto shorten the remaining durations but keeping the same budgeted labor units. I sincerely appreciate any help.
How can I say what you have accomplished in this articles…This is the greast single challenge never seen before in PM/CM area. I am certain that your reputation and contribution will be long remembered and will impact thousands of Primavera admirers, leading you to great sucess in your profession.
Any article of Performance % Complete? I’m waiting for it…
@cris – sorry it’s only available on our premium site.
Dear Sir
i have a problem and i can’t understand this case
in my project Duration % Complete is 71.76 %
& Performance % Complete is 100 %
what’s mean please ??
BR
performance percentage is linked with physical percentage so you have to put it manually. 100 percent means your activity is actually finished but as planned its not finished. Reason is that an activity might have actually started earlier than planned date
Is this helpful? https://www.plannertuts.com/primavera-p6-relationship-lines-baseline-bars/
Dear Nader,
found your article helpful, but wonder why some quest arises in mind that
Scenario
1. OD= 10
2. AD= 10
3. RD= 10
3. % Compl= 0%
but still some quantity of work progressed and duration lapsed and resource did some work. could u please explain.
Mohammed F…,
The scenario you described is perfectly valid, especially if your %complete type is set to Duration.
This kind of scenario will occur when your work is not evenly distributed with time.
I would suggest that you use physical % complete type for tasks like construction activities whose progress is often not distributed evenly over the duration.
However if you feel duration % complete is right for you, you might want to fiddle with your Original duration or your Remaining duration.
This is as far as i understand.
Regards
Your tutorials are really useful , but are you able to answer a problem I have.
I’m using P6 r8.0. My Activities are DURATION PC and FIXED DURATION / UNITS. They are being planned with EXPECTED FINISH and CONSTRAINT dates. Whilst I understand that the schedule will update the REMAINING DURATION (using EXPECTED DATE – DATA DATE) … why would the Schedule process set my PLANNED (Original) DURATION and UNITS to ZERO?
Thank you for helpful article.
Where I can find the next topics about Duration complete?
Good luck.
Could any one PLEASE tell me how
how does the factors below affects an activity’s Performance
in short how do we decide what duration type to select for an activity ?
1.Fix Duration &Units
2.Fix Duration &Units/time
3.Fix units
4.Fix Units/time
Then what percentage type you usually adopt.
1.Duration
2.Physical
3.Unit.
I am very confused with all these- perhaps, a calculator/pen/paper would be the best option
kind regards
Aamer
Aamer,
For Duration Type, stick to Fixed Duration & Units/Time – only change this if you’re trying to have P6 calculate durations or number of resources (in very special circumstances – like a change request or scenario).
Most industries use Physical % Complete. Units is never used, and Duration is the default but not ideal – stick to Physical. I teach both of these subjects in great detail on PlannerTuts Premium – our online training portal.
Michael
I think “Suppose that it’s currently May 29th”; is correct . would you check again?
Please tell me how I can reschedule/update a project with out affecting the end date of the project.
Normally when I update a project, the end date/completion date keeps on moving forward. I want to keep the end date fixed so that I can rearrange my resources accordingly.
when ll you post unit % and physical %
hi
can you explain, how calculate the original duration for activity that planned to starts on 7-may an finished on 1-July….it is equal to 25 not 20.am i right?
Duration % Complete for WBS Elements
how to calc wbs element ?
Duration % complete is a lazy man’s way progressing activities of a programme. NEVER to be used in a complex and multiple trades environments. Monitoring duration is does not help at all. My advice is to use Physical % complete. Project performanace is judged by physical work done NOT duration taken.
Emmy,
Concerning the financial project performance:
In many projects the clocked manhours are in a different software system , and primavera calculates the earned value hours. The calculation of the earned value is done by % complete times 1% of the baseline budget.
This means that it does not matter what kind of % kpl you use.
Physical % complete has also problems of its own ,regarding the end date of a project.
As % complete and the rest duration are not connected , an activity of for instance 10 days can be given 90% complete with a rest duration of 8 days.This implicates that a project with a duration of for instance 12 months can be reported 80% complete with a rest duration of 10 months. Nice when there is a fixed end date of a project and you report to the management that they are 80% complete.
Anyway, working with a PDM network, the time schedule is driving by duration and not by manhours.
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