Smartsheet's Error in % Complete Rollup

Mahmood.Milani

Hi, 

I recently realized that Smartsheet has a major flaw in rolling up % Completion.

In Smartsheet %complete for a Parent is calculated as a weighted average of %completion of the immediate children times the duration of the Parent. For example in the following Project, the overall % complete shows 50% where the correct % complete is 10%: Completed work (1 day) divided by total work (10 days) equals 10%. 

In other words, task1 is overweighed and all subtasks under task 2 are underweighted. 

 

I have escalated this to smartsheets and would like to share with the community as this could have serious impact if you are managing a complex project. 

Cheers, 

Mahmood 

Dietrich Koch

Hello Mahmood,

your project has two tasks. Each of the task lasts for 1 day, so if one task is done you have 50% of your work done.

If the subtasks would not all take place on the same day but one after another - shown in "Project 2" - task 2 runs for the sum of the tasks and then the calculation shows a reduced value, as you expected.

Best

Dietrich

Mahmood.Milani

In that case samrtsheet calculates  "%duration completed" instead of "%work completed". In my example I wouldn't consider the project 50% done in the beginning of second day.

Dietrich Koch

Thats how Smartsheet works. Here's what the Smartsheet Help says to %Complete:

"... In parent (summary) rows, the % Complete is calculated automatically by Smartsheet based on both the Duration and % Complete values you've manually entered into the child rows."

https://help.smartsheet.com/articles/765737-project-sheet-columns-start-date-end-date-duration-complete-and-predecessors?_ga=2.73079763.1979659188.1531083249-1995265628.1531083249#Complete

Best

Dietrich