After work begins on a task, you can quickly record its progress as a percentage. When you enter a completion percentage greater than 0, Project sets the task’s actual start date to match its scheduled start date. Project then calculates the actual duration, the remaining duration, actual costs, and other values based on the percentage you enter. For example, if you specify that a four-day task is 25 percent complete, Project calculates that it has had one day of actual duration and three days of remaining duration.
Here are some ways of entering completion percentages:
Use the 0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% Complete buttons in the Schedule group of the Task tab.
Add the percent complete column (labeled % Complete in the interface) to a table in a task view, and enter the value you want.
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Enter any percentage value you want in the Update Tasks dialog box. (To access this dialog box, on the Task tab, in the Schedule group, click the down arrow to the right of Mark On Track, and then click Update Tasks.)
Use the mouse to set progress on Gantt bars.
The scenario: At Lucerne Publishing, work continues on the new book launch. You have additional progress to record in the plan as percent complete values.
In this exercise, you record completion percentages of some tasks.
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In the column, select the name of task 5, .This task has some progress reported against it from the previous exercise, but it has not yet been set as complete.
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On the tab, in the group, click .Project records the actual work for the task as scheduled and extends a progress bar through the length of the Gantt bar.
task of the Internal Launch Phase are complete.
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In the column, select the name of task 6, , and whileholding down the Ctrl key, select the name of task 8, .
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On the tab, in the group, click .159
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Because task 6 is a milestone task with no duration, there is no change in appearance of its symbol in the chart portion of the Gantt Chart view as there is for task 8. You do, however, see the completion check marks for both tasks in the Indicators column.
Next, you’ll get a better look at how progress is displayed in a task’s Gantt bar. You will enter a completion percentage value for a different task.
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Click the name of task 9, Prepare book P&L statement.6
On the tab, in the group, click .Project records the actual work for the task as scheduled and then draws a progress bar through part of the Gantt bar.
Note that although 50% of the work on task 9 is completed, the progress bar does not span 50% of the width of the Gantt bar. This is because Project measures dura-tion in working time but draws the Gantt bars to extend over nonworking time, which in this case includes Thursday, January 22, the nonworking day.
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In the chart portion (on the right) in the Gantt Chart view, hold the mouse pointer over the progress bar in task 9’s Gantt bar. When the mouse pointer changes to a percent symbol and right arrow, a Progress ScreenTip appears.Depending on the type of bar or symbol you point to—in this case, the progress bar—a ScreenTip pops up, providing information about that item.
The mouse pointer changes to a percent symbol and arrow when pointing to a progress bar.
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The Progress ScreenTip informs you of the task’s completion percentage and other tracking values.
staying on schedule might prove true for some tasks, you often need to record actu-als for tasks that lasted longer or shorter than planned, or occurred sooner or later than scheduled. This is the subject of the next topic.
Here are some additional tips and suggestions for entering task completion percentages:
You can also set the percent complete by pointing to a Gantt bar (or progress bar within a Gantt bar). When the mouse pointer changes to a percent symbol and right arrow, drag the mouse pointer from left to right within the Gantt bar. As you do so, note the “complete through” date value that appears in a ScreenTip.
If you can collect the actual start date of a task, it is a good practice to record the actual start date (described in the next section) and then record a completion percentage.
By default, Project shows Gantt bars in front of nonworking time (such as weekends), as you see in this section. However, Project can show nonworking time in front of task bars, visually indicating that no work on the task will occur during the nonworking time. If you prefer this type of presentation, right-click any shaded nonworking time (such as a weekend) in the chart portion of the Gantt Chart view and click Nonwork-ing Time in the shortcut menu. In the Timescale dialog box, click the Non-WorkNonwork-ing Time tab. Next to Draw, click In Front Of Task Bars.
Here’s a simple tracking technique for projects with a large number of short-duration
“to-do list” style tasks that don’t require detailed tracking. Use just the 0%, 50%, and 100% complete values. 0% means work on the task has not yet started, 50% means work has started, and 100% means the task is complete. If you just need to know what’s in progress and what’s done, this is the simplest form of tracking you can apply.