29
Project Controls Tutorial – Primavera http://www.projctrl.com/category/primavera/[02/05/2013 23:32:20] Go to... Primavera Home / Baseline Scheduling / Updating The Schedule: Setting Actual And Remaining Cost Values Of Activities In Progress Updating The Schedule: Setting Actual And Remaining Cost Values Of Activities In Progress One of the primary tasks during project control is periodically updating the baseline schedule to reflect the actual progress of the work done and to present a realistic forecast of the remaining work. Measuring the progress of a project can be done in various ways. The two most well-known and widely used techniques are: Earned Value Management (EVM): In this technique, the schedule predictions using the performance metrics available in EVM completely rely on estimates about the percentage completion of the activities and give a helicopter view on the performance of the project at the current status day. This technique is outside the scope of this article. Critical Path Method (CPM): A more time-consuming and detailed alternative is to update the baseline Gantt chart at the activity level, which is often constructed using CPM techniques (or its extensions). In this so-called tracking Gantt chart, the schedule prediction is made by taking the actual and estimated remaining durations of each activity into account and by updating the Gantt chart. In doing so, the tracking Gantt chart gives a prediction o the future schedule based on the inputs of

5 Project Controls Tutorial – Primavera

Embed Size (px)

Citation preview

Page 1: 5 Project Controls Tutorial – Primavera

Project Controls Tutorial – Primavera

http://www.projctrl.com/category/primavera/[02/05/2013 23:32:20]

Go to...

PrimaveraHome / Baseline Scheduling /

Updating The Schedule: Setting Actual And Remaining Cost Values Of Activities InProgress

Updating The Schedule: Setting Actual And Remaining Cost Values Of Activities In Progress

One of the primary tasks during project control is periodically updating the baseline schedule to reflect the actual progress ofthe work done and to present a realistic forecast of the remaining work. Measuring the progress of a project can be done invarious ways. The two most well-known and widely used techniques are:

Earned Value Management (EVM): In this technique, the schedule predictions using the performance metrics available in EVMcompletely rely on estimates about the percentage completion of the activities and give a helicopter view on the performanceof the project at the current status day. This technique is outside the scope of this article.

Critical Path Method (CPM): A more time-consuming and detailed alternative is to update the baseline Gantt chart at theactivity level, which is often constructed using CPM techniques (or its extensions). In this so-called tracking Gantt chart, theschedule prediction is made by taking the actual and estimated remaining durations of each activity into account and byupdating the Gantt chart. In doing so, the tracking Gantt chart gives a prediction o the future schedule based on the inputs of

Page 2: 5 Project Controls Tutorial – Primavera

Project Controls Tutorial – Primavera

http://www.projctrl.com/category/primavera/[02/05/2013 23:32:20]

actual and remaining durations/costs of activities.

In this article, periodic updates of a project in progress using the tracking CPM Gantt chart are discussed. More precisely, thenecessary inputs to periodically update the baseline schedule are described and illustrated by means of a simple two-activityproject. In this article, the following three topics are discussed:

Baseline schedule: Construct the baseline schedule to get the planned duration and budget at completion.

Schedule update: Set the actual start, actual and remaining duration and actual and remaining cost values to update theschedule.

Two remarks: Explain the difference between EVM and CPM schedule control and see whether the inclusion of resource costswill change the general approach discussed in this article.

Baseline schedule

In figure 1, a two activity project baseline schedule is shown with a total duration of 35 days. The precedence relation betweenthe two activities is assumed to be a finish-start relation with a minimal time-lag equal to zero. The earliest start (ES) andearliest finish (EF) times of each activity are indicated. It is assumed that the activity does not need renewable or consumableresources and that the activity durations and costs are set to the following values:

Activity 1:Planned duration = 15 daysFixed cost = € 1,000Variable cost = € 50 per day

Activity 2:Planned duration = 20 daysFixed cost = € 2,000Variable cost = € 50 per day

Figure 1: An exampleearliest start baselineschedule

Given the baselineinformation in figure 1, thetotal cost of the activitiesand the total project costcan be calculated as

follows:

Activity 1: 1,000 + 15 * 50 = € 1,750Activity 2: 2,000 + 20 * 50 = € 3,000

and hence the total budget at completion (BAC) is equal to € 4,750.

Project in progress

A project in progress needs a periodic update of the baseline schedule to be able to see the impact of previous changes onthe total expected project duration and cost. Therefore, progress input data must be given at regular times to update theportion of work already done and to predict the future changes and the impact on the total project duration and cost.

Page 3: 5 Project Controls Tutorial – Primavera

Project Controls Tutorial – Primavera

http://www.projctrl.com/category/primavera/[02/05/2013 23:32:20]

Figure 2: Project inprogress at status day = 8(overridden logic)

Figure 2 displays theproject tracking Gantt chartat status day 8. Eventhough activity 1 has notfinished yet, activity 2 hasalready started despite theprecedence relation

between the two activities. This is known as an overridden schedule.

Actual start

Updating the schedule during project progress results in activities that have already started (finished or in progress) andactivities that still have to start. Therefore, a first crucial input metric to update the schedule is the actual start.

Actual Start: Actual starting time of an activity on or before the status date which might differ from the original baseline starttime.

The actual start times are set to 0 (activity 1, i.e. the project start) and day 6 for activity 2 to denote that both activities are inprogress at day 8.

Actual and remaining duration

Activities in progress need an update about their actual and remaining durations which might differ from their baseline durationvalues. Therefore, two crucial input metrics need to be given to update the schedule, as follows:

Actual Duration (AD): The time spent on an activity between its actual start time and the current status date. Hence, the actualduration can be smaller than, equal to or larger than the time span between the actual start and the current status date, and isused to represent the workload already spent on this activity until now (i.e. day 8).

Remaining Duration (RD): A forecast of how many time units (hours, days, weeks, years) an activity will need from the statusdate forward to finish its remaining work.

Activity 1 has been in progress for 8 days (actual duration), and the project manager estimates that it will take another 12days to finish this activity (remaining duration). Likewise, the actual duration for activity 2 is equal to 2 days while theremaining duration is estimated at 18 days.

Actual and remaining cost

Calculating the actual cost of the portion of work that is finished at the current time (day 8) and the remaining cost of the workthat still has to be done is based on the estimates for the actual and remaining durations.

Estimating the actual cost of the portion of work finished for the activity can be done using the following three metrics:

Actual Cost (AC): The actual cost for the work already done. Ideally, this actual cost should have a clear relation with theworkload already done by the various resources assigned to this activity. It can be done based on time sheets for the variousresources or based on knowledge about the actual spending’s already made for the portion of work done for the activity. Since

Page 4: 5 Project Controls Tutorial – Primavera

Project Controls Tutorial – Primavera

http://www.projctrl.com/category/primavera/[02/05/2013 23:32:20]

updating the resource time sheets to get the actual cost of an activity in progress can be a time-consuming task, a simple andeffective alternative way to estimate the actual cost of an activity in progress can be done using the following formula:

Actual Cost

=

Planned Actual Cost + Planned Actual Cost Deviation

Planned Actual Cost (PAC): The planned actual cost is calculated based on the baseline schedule information and is equal tothe total planned activity cost given by the baseline schedule when the activity is in progress for AD time units. Consequently,the actual duration estimate to estimate the total workload spent on an activity in progress determines the planned actual costfor this activity. It is assumed that all costs are as planned and also the resources work as planned.

Planned Actual Cost Deviation (PACDev): Since uncertainty typifies projects or resources shift from time to time and workmore or less efficient than originally planned, the actual cost of an activity in progress can differ from the planned actual cost.Consequently, the planned actual cost deviation is a way to express that difference, and hence, positive or negative valuescan be set to denote that the actual cost of an activity in progress is higher or lower than the planned actual cost. ThisPACDev replaces the various time sheets of resources.

In the example of figure 2, the planned actual cost is equal to € 1,000 + 8 * 50 = € 1,400 for activity 1 and € 2,000 + 2 * 50 =€ 2,100 for activity 2. Consequently, the total actual cost of the portion of work done at day 8 is equal to € 3,500. In case thereal actual cost is lower or higher than this estimated planned cost, the PACDev should be set to negative or positive costvalues to update the actual cost.

Estimating the remaining cost of the remaining portion of work for the activity follows a similar approach, using the followingthree metrics:

Remaining Cost (RC): A forecast of how many additional monetary resources (euro, dollars, …) an activity requires to finishthe portion of remaining work. Similar to the actual cost estimate, the remaining cost estimate can be determined in thefollowing way:

Remaining Cost

=

Planned Remaining Cost + Planned Remaining Cost Deviation

Planned Remaining Cost (PRC): The planned remaining cost is, similar to the planned actual cost, calculated automaticallybased on the remaining duration (RD) input.

Planned Remaining Cost Deviation (PRCDev): In order to give a realistic estimate of the remaining cost, the plannedremaining cost value can be modified using the optional planned remaining cost deviation field.

In the example of figure 2, the planned remaining cost is equal to 12 * 50 = € 600 for activity 1 and 18 * 50 = € 900 for activity2. Consequently, the total remaining cost of the remaining portion of work to be done from day 8 is equal to € 1,500. In casethe remaining cost is expected to be lower or higher than this estimated planned cost, the PRCDev should be set to negativeor positive cost values to update the remaining cost.

It should be noted that the total expected cost at completion is now equal to € 3,500 + € 1,500 = € 5,000 (when both PACDevand PRCDev are equal to zero), which exceeds the BAC of € 4,750 and therefore a cost overrun is expected.

Page 5: 5 Project Controls Tutorial – Primavera

Project Controls Tutorial – Primavera

http://www.projctrl.com/category/primavera/[02/05/2013 23:32:20]

By projectcontrolstutorial | Baseline Scheduling, Earned Value, Planning, Primavera, Project Controls, Project Controls Tutorial,

Reviewing Schedule, Schedule, Scheduling, Scheduling. Project Controls | Comments Off

Read More

Remarks

It should be noted that the EVM approach also has the objective of efficient project control, similar to the CPM scheduleupdate method discussed in this article, but is however based on a Percentage Completed (PC) estimate. The PC estimatereflects the portion of the total workload that is estimated to be finished. The Earned Value metric EV is based on this estimateas EV = PC * BAC. Note that neither the actual/remaining duration nor the actual/remaining cost need to have a link with thePC estimate and will not be explicitly used for the calculation of the EV metric.

It is also worth noting that in the example of figure 2, no costs for renewable and consumable resources have been taken intoaccount. If resource costs would have been included, the schedule update principles would remain the same. The onlydifference would lie in the calculations of the PAC and PRC values.

SOURCE: PMKNOWLEDGECENTER

Schedule % Complete in Oracle Primavera – The Missing Guide

Page 6: 5 Project Controls Tutorial – Primavera

Project Controls Tutorial – Primavera

http://www.projctrl.com/category/primavera/[02/05/2013 23:32:20]

Schedule % Complete in Oracle Primavera – The Missing Guide

Schedule % Complete is one of the many percent completes you have in Primavera P6 and we’re going to have acomplete look at what it is and how it is calculated. Two important products of maintaining schedules are plannedprogress and actual progress of a given time; you want to know how much you’ve done so far and compare it withhow 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 calculatedbased 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 sourceof 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 alook at the following figure.

When the Data Date isearlier than theBaseline Start date,Schedule % Completeis zero, when it’s afterthe Baseline Finishdata, Schedule %Complete is 100%.Otherwise, Schedule %Complete would showwhat percentage of theBaseline duration ispassed by the DataDate. Here’s a formulato calculate ActivitySchedule % Complete:

Schedule %Complete(Act) = ( [DataDate] – [Baseline Start] ) /( [Baseline Finish] –[Baseline Start] )

The following diagramshows the Schedule % Complete of a single Activity for different Data Dates:

And that’s all for theactivities; it has

Page 7: 5 Project Controls Tutorial – Primavera

Project Controls Tutorial – Primavera

http://www.projctrl.com/category/primavera/[02/05/2013 23:32:20]

nothing to do with thecurrent schedule, theresource curves, thecosts, etc. ForActivities, Schedule %Complete is strictlycalculated based on:

1. Data Date2. Activity’s Baseline

Start3. Activity’s Baseline

Finish

Schedule %Complete for WBS

Elements

And now, the story of how Schedule % Complete is calculated for WBS Elements. Let’s start by reviewing 2possible scenarios:

Scenario 1

How are thesecalculations possible?The Sample WBSElement 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, theSample WBS Elementhas three Activitieswith Schedule %Completes less than50%, 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 therollup value of the underlying Activities (a weighted average for example). But, as in scenario 2, the three Activity

Page 8: 5 Project Controls Tutorial – Primavera

Project Controls Tutorial – Primavera

http://www.projctrl.com/category/primavera/[02/05/2013 23:32:20]

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 forWBS Elements is:

1. Depended project costs and…2. Does not factor in any Activities’ Schedule % Complete values

How Schedule % Complete is Calculated for WBS Elements

When you assign resources and expenses to activities, each activity will receive a calculated Total Cost. Resourceassignment hours and costs are, by default, spread uniformly over the duration of the activity (but you may apply aResource Curve to alter this). Oracle Primavera will show you how costs are then planned for each day of theActivity. These costs are aggregated to the WBS level, and the time-phased cost of the WBS Element will becalculated automatically.

The Schedule %Complete of the WBSElement will be theratio of the BaselineCosts before the DataDate to the TotalBaseline Cost.

In the world of EarnedValue, the costs beforethe Data Date arecalled the PlannedValue, or PV for short(Also called BCWS –Budgeted Cost ofWork Scheduled). Thetotal baseline cost iscalled Budget AtCompletion or BAC forshort. We can nowformulate the

calculation of Schedule% Complete for WBSElements as:

Schedule % Completed

(WBS) = PV / BAC

Please have this in mindthat all the mentionedparameters are derivedfrom baseline and not

Page 9: 5 Project Controls Tutorial – Primavera

Project Controls Tutorial – Primavera

http://www.projctrl.com/category/primavera/[02/05/2013 23:32:20]

from current schedule;the WBS bar shown inthese figures is thebaseline schedule of theWBS Element and thecosts are the baselinecosts of the WBSElement.

The following diagramshows Schedule %Complete of a sampleWBS Element fordifferent Data Dates:

The above descriptionsshow that the Schedule% Complete of theWBS Elements dependon the following:

1. Data Date2. Baseline Costs before

the Data Date (PV)3. Total Baseline Costs

(BAC)

To summarize,Schedule % Completefor Activities is basedon time, while its valuefor WBS Elements isbased on costs.

Pulling Schedule %Complete together

Page 10: 5 Project Controls Tutorial – Primavera

Project Controls Tutorial – Primavera

http://www.projctrl.com/category/primavera/[02/05/2013 23:32:20]

for WBS andActivities

The following diagramshows Schedule %Complete of a sampleWBS Element with twoActivities in differentData Dates.

The Proper Setup :Baselined and Cost-loaded

Now let’s see howSchedule % Completeworks in action on asample Primavera P6plan.

Since Schedule %Complete is based onboth Project Baselinefields and Earned ValueCost fields, to calculate

it properly, your schedule should:

be cost-loaded at the Activity-levelhave a project baseline set

Examine the sample plan below. This plan has four WBS Elements in two levels and seven Activities. Activitieshave sample durations and relationships and you can see the current schedule in the Gantt chart. Each Activity has

Page 11: 5 Project Controls Tutorial – Primavera

Project Controls Tutorial – Primavera

http://www.projctrl.com/category/primavera/[02/05/2013 23:32:20]

a resource assignment and that’s why we have costs in the plan. Some Activities have uniform resource curves,while others use At-Start, At-Finish or Bell-Shaped resource curves.

The project baseline ismaintained andassigned. The baselineschedule is shown by theyellow bars in Ganttchart. The currentschedule and thebaseline are the samenow.

Examining Schedule% Complete forActivities

I will reschedule theplan for the second day,moving the Data Dateforward 1 day.

There are no actualsentered, but as we sawin Part 1, Schedule %Complete has nothing todo with the currentschedule or actual data.The Schedule %Complete column showsthe current values; forexample, take a look atA4:

The Data Date haspassed half of thebaseline schedule of A4,which would be theSchedule % Complete of50%.

Sometimes you havenonworking days in theschedule; in this cases,those days would not be

Page 12: 5 Project Controls Tutorial – Primavera

Project Controls Tutorial – Primavera

http://www.projctrl.com/category/primavera/[02/05/2013 23:32:20]

counted in passed andtotal baseline days (asusual).

Schedule %Complete for WBS

Let’s examine WBS E-2.

WBS E-2 has thefollowing values:

PV (Planned Value Costcolumn) = $240BAC (BL Project TotalCost column) = $400

The WBS Schedule %Complete is calculatedas PV / BAC = $240 /$400, or 60%.

How BAC and PV arecalculated for WBS?

1. BAC – Budget at Completion

BAC for the WBS Element E2 is the sum of the A6 and A7 BACs. Think of this as the sum of the Total Cost foreach Activity (see diagram above) but taken from the project baseline.

2. PV – Planned Value

Planned Value (PV) is bit trickier as it related to how your schedule is cost-loaded in a time-phased manner.

The Activity Usage Spreadsheet, shown in bottom half of the screen below, is handy for analysing planned valuefor Activities.

The bottom layout is set

Page 13: 5 Project Controls Tutorial – Primavera

Project Controls Tutorial – Primavera

http://www.projctrl.com/category/primavera/[02/05/2013 23:32:20]

to show timephasedvalues of the CumulativePlanned Value Costsusing the Activity UsageSpreadsheet. Why usethe Cumulative PlannedValue Cost field?Because it’s essentially arunning total. With thatin mind, in this view wecan quickly see arunning total PV for theWBS at any day in theproject.

PlannedValue….elaborated

Planned Value taked intoaccount Resource

Curves. Let’s explore Activity A6.

A6 has a uniform curve and it has only two working days, $80 planned for each one. $80 for the first day, and thecumulative value remains 80$ for the next two nonworking days, then increases to $160 in the last day.

ActivityA7 has an “AtStart” resource curveassigned. All of A7′splanned cost will beloaded to the first dayand the cumulative valueof the next days wouldbe the same.

No matter how theActivity planned valuesare distributed over time,the WBS’s plannedvalues are the total of theActivities’ plannedvalues.

Page 14: 5 Project Controls Tutorial – Primavera

Project Controls Tutorial – Primavera

http://www.projctrl.com/category/primavera/[02/05/2013 23:32:20]

The Data Date in theprevious sample was thesecond day of theproject and PV of thelast WBS Element is240$ in that day. If wechange the Data Date tothe sixth day, its PVwould be $320. Thefollowing figure showsthe values with the DataDate set to day six of theproject.

When Things Don’tAdd Up – A Scenariousing ResourceCurves

Before wrapping up,let’s look at a trickyscenario; I made somechanges and re-baselinedthe schedule. Check thevalues for WBS E.1.1.

Page 15: 5 Project Controls Tutorial – Primavera

Project Controls Tutorial – Primavera

http://www.projctrl.com/category/primavera/[02/05/2013 23:32:20]

As you see, WBS E.1.1and all of her underlyingActivities have costs.Two Activities haveSchedule % Completevalues that are greaterthan zero and the WBSElement’s value is stillzero. Why?

I believe you can say;when Schedule %Complete of the WBSElement is zero, youshould expect that thePV is also zero. How isit possible for the PV tobe zero when Data Datehas passed half of thebaseline duration? Theanswer is simple: theActivity costs are notuniform…. because ofResource Curves.

All of these threeactivities’ costs have “AtFinish” curve. Thefollowing figure isfocused on the A2:

Many planners useResource Curves in theirschedules to properlydistribute labor hours andcosts across an activity’sduration. But keep inmind that ResourceCurves can causescenarios like this one toconfuse and puzzle you,if you are calculating andfinding strange values for

Page 16: 5 Project Controls Tutorial – Primavera

Project Controls Tutorial – Primavera

http://www.projctrl.com/category/primavera/[02/05/2013 23:32:20]

Schedule % Complete.Here’s another reason toknow your scheduleintimately.

Wrap Up

To conclude, you shouldnever expect WBSElement’s Schedule %Complete to be a rollupof the underlyingActivities’ Schedule %Complete, because theyare calculated in twocompletely differentways.

That’s the whole story ofthe Schedule %Complete. In everycontrol period, you willenter actual data (actualstart, actual finish, and atleast one element relatedto the progress of the in-progress activities) andreceive planned andactual progress. Plannedprogress is to be readfrom Schedule %Complete as percentagevalues or Planned ValueCost as monetary values(based on yourpreference). Plannedprogress of the wholeproject is read fromSchedule % Complete ofthe project row (lowest

level of EPS or highest level of WBS). It’s sometimes necessary to also report on planned progress of the first twoor three levels of WBS, which can be done by reading the Schedule % Complete of the appropriate WBSElements. You might not find it suitable to read the planned progress of the activities from Schedule % Complete,because it’s not based on their assignment curves, unless your method of calculating the actual progress is notusing the assignment curves too.

SOURCE: PLANNER TUTS

Page 17: 5 Project Controls Tutorial – Primavera

Project Controls Tutorial – Primavera

http://www.projctrl.com/category/primavera/[02/05/2013 23:32:20]

By projectcontrolstutorial | Baseline Scheduling, Planning, Primavera, Project Controls, Project Controls Tutorial, Reviewing Schedule,

Scheduling, Scheduling. Project Controls | Comments Off

Read More

Physical Percent Complete in Primavera P6 – The Missing Guide

Physical Percent Complete in Primavera P6 – the Missing Guide

There are three different methods of calculating the actual progress of activities: Duration Percent Complete, UnitsPercent Complete, and Physical Percent Complete. The first two are explained in the previous articles and thisarticle will cover the last one, Physical % Complete.

Page 18: 5 Project Controls Tutorial – Primavera

Project Controls Tutorial – Primavera

http://www.projctrl.com/category/primavera/[02/05/2013 23:32:20]

We will also discuss the ways of choosing the appropriate percent complete field in later articles, and will nowfocus on the nature and calculations only.

The Concept of Physical Progress

The progress of some activities is not measured appropriately by the means of duration or units. In such cases, weuse the concept of physical progress.

The physical progress of an activity is a manually-entered value determined by the user. The value can be basedon either of these two:

On physical parameters that are not applicable inside the plan – the amount of concrete poured, the length ofthe pipes laid down, and the number of light bulbs installed, are examples of this kind. You can always useresources to implement these parameters, but they are not usually the only assignment (you also have humanresource assignments, equipment assignments, etc.) and in such cases, the Units % Complete will becalculated based on a combination of the main parameter and all other assignments of the activity, which isnot your desired result. So, you can measure this kind of progress by resource units and Units % Complete,only when that resource is the only one assigned to the activity. Otherwise, implementing these parameterswill not be easy in an automated system and entering them manually is usually preferred.On expert judgement based on the physical progress of the final product or result – sometimes the physicalparameters (as described before) are not suitable basis for progress measurement and expert judgement ispreferred.

Either way, physical progress is determined outside the schedule.

Two Types of Physical Progress in Primavera P6

There are two methods of dealing with physical values in Primavera P6:

Entering them manually; this is the default method and is done by entering whatever you wish in thePhysical % Complete field of the activity.Using Activity Steps; this is done by selecting predefined manual values.

These two types are explained below.

Using Activity Steps

One of the measurement methods, also described in the Earned Value Management for determining the earnedvalue, is using activity steps. Imagine an activity: designing the foundation of the equipment xyz.

It’s common for the progress of activities related to “design” to follow steps instead of incremental values; forexample:

0% for not-started activities and those that are not completed and issued yet80% for the completion and the first issue of the design100% for the approved design

So we will have the following progress curve for the sample activity:

The first issue and the

Page 19: 5 Project Controls Tutorial – Primavera

Project Controls Tutorial – Primavera

http://www.projctrl.com/category/primavera/[02/05/2013 23:32:20]

approval in this sampleare usually calledActivity Steps, orProgress Steps. Oneway of implementingthis method is to limitourselves to onlyentering these values;e.g. do not enter anyphysical progressbefore the design isissued. By the time weissue the design, wecan enter 80% as thephysical progress andagain, we won’tincrease it until it isapproved, which makes

our physical progress 100%.

Primavera P6 has a feature which makes this kind of progressing easier. We can define the activity steps and usethem for entering progress and thus to update Physical % Complete on the activitiy. This will prevent us frommaking mistakes by automatically limiting us to the predefined values.

The first thing to do is to get the settings right or specifically the setting which enables progress via activity steps.

1) Click on the Projects item of the Enterprise menu to open the Projects window.

2) After selecting theproject in the upperpart of the window, the“Activity percentcomplete based onactivity steps” optionshould be activated toenable the activitysteps. From now on,you cannot entermanual physical %complete values for theactivities which havedefined steps.However, it’s stillpossible to entermanual values foractivities which do not

Page 20: 5 Project Controls Tutorial – Primavera

Project Controls Tutorial – Primavera

http://www.projctrl.com/category/primavera/[02/05/2013 23:32:20]

have steps. So, don’tworry too much aboutthis setting; you canalways keep it active.

The next thing to do isto define steps for theactivities. The

following screen shows a plan with two activities.

The activity A1 isselected. The settingswe will deal with arein the Steps Tab ofthe Details pane. Ifyou don’t have thepane, select View|Show on Bottom|Details. If you don’thave the Steps tab,right click on a taband select CustomizeActivity Details thenactivate the Stepsitem.

Now, it is time to

Page 21: 5 Project Controls Tutorial – Primavera

Project Controls Tutorial – Primavera

http://www.projctrl.com/category/primavera/[02/05/2013 23:32:20]

define steps. Oursample steps are 80%progress for the firstissue and theremaining 20% for the

approval.

3) To add a new step, click on the Add button (bottom-left corner of the screen).

4) Enter the name ofthe step and repeatclicking on the Addbutton and entering thenames for the rest ofthe steps.

Now the two samplesteps have beenentered. These stepshave the same weightnow; each will increasePhysical % Completeby 50%.

5) In order to defineother weights, rightclick on the Step Nameheading (or any otherheadings) and selectCustomize Step

Page 22: 5 Project Controls Tutorial – Primavera

Project Controls Tutorial – Primavera

http://www.projctrl.com/category/primavera/[02/05/2013 23:32:20]

Columns. By this, adialog box opens andthe Step Weightcolumn can be addedto the layout.

6) Now predefinedprogress of each stepcan be entered in theStep Weight columnas shown.

Now we are finisheddefining the steps foractivity A1.

You might have manyactivities with the samesteps. In this case,select all steps ofactivity A1 (click on astep, then press Ctrl+Akeys to select all), thenright click on a blankspace of the steps paneand select Create

Page 23: 5 Project Controls Tutorial – Primavera

Project Controls Tutorial – Primavera

http://www.projctrl.com/category/primavera/[02/05/2013 23:32:20]

Template. By this, thefollowing dialog boxappears:

Enter a desired name(“General DesignSteps” in this sample)and click on the OKbutton. Now a savedtemplate for these stepsis created and availablefor further use.

Now let’s selectactivity A2.

7) This activity issupposed to have thesame steps as activityA1. We can use thepreviously madetemplate to createthem. Click on the AddFrom Template buttonand the followingdialog box will appear.

8) Double click on theGeneral Design Stepsitem to continue.

The same steps areadded to the activity.

Entering Physical% Complete

1) The first thing is toselect the activity, goto the Status tab of theDetails pane, check theStarted checkbox, andmark the activity as

Page 24: 5 Project Controls Tutorial – Primavera

Project Controls Tutorial – Primavera

http://www.projctrl.com/category/primavera/[02/05/2013 23:32:20]

started. This meansthat the activity isstarted and ready toreceive its physicalprogress.

2) In this example, theactivity A3 is markedas started. This activitydoes not have steps, sothe Physical %Complete can beentered manually.Simply click on the celland enter the value.

For those activitieswhich have steps (A1and A2 in this sample),you cannot entermanual values andshould use the stepsinstead (only if youhave activated the stepsas described in thebeginning of this veryarticle). In order to doso, go to the Steps tabof the Details paneafter marking theactivity as started. Justcheck the Completedcheckboxes of thecompleted steps.

Physical %Complete for WBSElements

WBS elements usually

Page 25: 5 Project Controls Tutorial – Primavera

Project Controls Tutorial – Primavera

http://www.projctrl.com/category/primavera/[02/05/2013 23:32:20]

roll-up the informationof their underlyingactivities; e.g. the costof a WBS element isthe sum of the costs ofits children and itsStart is equal to theminimum of the startsof its children. Theway each value isrolled-up depends onthe type and nature ofthe value and evensome of them do notaccept roll-ups by theirnature. The Physical %Complete is one ofthose fields that are notrolled-up, because it’sbased on externalparameters, unknownto the software, andthere is no way ofequalizing them andproviding asummarization.

The thing you shouldhave in mind is thatyou are not supposed touse activity percentcompletes for the WBSelements, even if they

Page 26: 5 Project Controls Tutorial – Primavera

Project Controls Tutorial – Primavera

http://www.projctrl.com/category/primavera/[02/05/2013 23:32:20]

have rolled-up values(like Duration %Complete and Units %Complete). Thesuitable field for thispurpose isPerformance %Complete which willbe discussed in laterarticles.

Summary

The concept of thePhysical % Completeis straightforward. It’sa way of enteringmanual progressesbased on expertjudgment or otherexternal factors. Thesevalues can bedynamicallydetermined in eachcontrol period orfollow a predefined set

of values (activitysteps).

Page 27: 5 Project Controls Tutorial – Primavera

Project Controls Tutorial – Primavera

http://www.projctrl.com/category/primavera/[02/05/2013 23:32:20]

One last thing youshould have in mind isthat the plannedprogress, which isprovided by theSchedule % Completeand planned valuefields, does notincorporate steps and isbased on dates andunits. This can causesome amounts of falsevariation between youractual progress andplanned progress.These variations areusually too little to betaken intoconsideration. But ifyou believe they arelarge for your projector you want to be asprecise as possible,you should avoidactivity steps anddecompose the activityinto more simpleactivities which arepossible to be trackedbased on duration orunits.

Final Note

An interesting use ofPhysical % Completeis that you can haveappropriate GlobalChanges in place,which calculateprogresses and putthem in the field.Suppose you have

more than one resource assigned to each activity and are supposed to use one of them for the progress. Anappropriate Global Change can calculate the value automatically and enter it in the field. Another example is when

Page 28: 5 Project Controls Tutorial – Primavera

Project Controls Tutorial – Primavera

http://www.projctrl.com/category/primavera/[02/05/2013 23:32:20]

1 2 Next

By projectcontrolstutorial | Baseline Scheduling, Planning, Primavera, Project Controls, Project Controls Tutorial, Scheduling,

Scheduling. Project Controls | Comments Off

Read More

you need a Duration Percent Complete similar to that of Microsoft Project, which is based on the At CompletionDuration instead of Original Duration. You can have another Global Change to calculate this value and present itas Physical % Complete.

SOURCE: PLANNER TUTS

LINKS TO PROJECT CONTROLS

XER Tool Kit

Planner Tuts

PM Knowledge Center

Planning Planet

NPTEL – IIT

Virtual University – OCW

RECENT POSTS

Updating The Schedule: Setting Actual And Remaining Cost Values Of Activities In Progress

Schedule Prediction: From A Retained To An Overridden Logic

Why Project Control Works So Well For Some Projects and Fails So Miserably For Others

Top-Down Project Control: Setting Action Thresholds Using Earned Value Management

Page 29: 5 Project Controls Tutorial – Primavera

Project Controls Tutorial – Primavera

http://www.projctrl.com/category/primavera/[02/05/2013 23:32:20]

Copyright 2012 Project Controls Tutorial | All Rights Reserved

LATEST TWEETS

XER TOOLKIT: lnkd.in/447rSb 1 month ago

My Part in LinkedIn's 200 Million Member Milestone lnkd.in/gJm7mv 2 months ago

Updating The Schedule: Setting Actual And Remaining Cost Values Of Activities In Progress j.mp/SekQIP 7 months ago

Schedule Prediction: From A Retained To An Overridden Logic j.mp/UoYFQm 7 months ago