Project Template %Complete column not populating

Deb Fuller

Hello,

I have created a project with the Project Template. However, the % Complete column is not populating.

I attempted to Edit Project Settings yet it appears there is a default embedded that I cannot edit.

TIA.

Paul Newcome

The % Complete column is manual entry.

Deb Fuller

So is there a way to insert a calculation to populate the field?

Paul Newcome

Yes, but the exact formula would depend on the logic you would want to use.

Laurie Olson

We need a screenshot of your project settings, as my percent complete works. You must have the other values including start and end date, predecessors, and duration populated in that screen. That means the columns should be created first.

This is what your project settings should look like:

Deb Fuller

Apologies for the delay - Attached is a visual of the sheet I have set up.

Percent Complete.png

Laurie Olson

So, you need to switch from Grid View to Gantt View. Once in Gantt View, click on the gear to the right, as in the below screenshot.

Once in Settings for the project, you will see this screen. Just because you create the columns, doesn't mean they autopopulate in the below screen. You need to ensure all of these are populated in this popup screen. All five columns must exist before you try to select them here. Make sure to check Dependencies enabled.

Laurie Olson

Just a word of note, while you're in there. You can also specify the days of the week to include in calculations. If you specify a duration of 6 days, and your working days are monday through friday, a task that starts on Monday will be completed on Tuesday morning. Whereas, if you specify 7 days per week, the task will be completed on Monday morning. You can also exclude company holidays from the calculations on this screen.

Select Edit for Working Days. This is how mine is populated:

At my company, we work Monday thru Friday, and the comma separated values are the holidays we do not work.

Laurie Olson

Here are some other things to keep in mind when populating a project plan. To ensure all calculations rollup to their parent tasks, there can be no blank lines in the project plan from top to bottom. As soon as a blank line is encountered, nothing below that will roll up to the top line of the project. Also, all % Complete values must be populated with at least 0. If it is not, that line will not be counted in the overall average % complete. Also any dates that are missing will eskew the values rolling up.

Laurie Olson

For any project plan, there should be only one parent task at the top, so if there are multiple phases to your project plan, you would want all phases to roll up to a top line parent. You can then reference any top line values in the summary values to the right. If you don't know how to do that, please let me know. It is very useful for summary reporting, and especially for metrics rollups.

If phase 1 has more work than phase 2, when you finish phase 1, you may notice that the % complete is more than 50% at the top level, line 1.

Example:

Project plan name (level1 - line one of your project plan)

Phase 1 (level2)

Task 1 (level3)

Task 2 (level3)

Task3 (level3)

Phase 2 (level2)

Task 1 (level3)

Task 2 (level3)

Task 3 (level3)