Percent Calculation

John Laughery

how is the percent complete calculated if there are multiple tasks with time frames which all roll up into a high level task? For example see attached image. 

JamesR

From my quick analysis, the % Complete works on Duration complete rather than an average of the Percentage column, therefore if you have milestones in the tasks these are not included in the calculation as they are 0 days duration.

 

If anybody else knows different they may be able shed more light on it.

 

James

Atus Bartal

James is right. 

 

John,

Is it a project sheet with durations, start and end dates? 

It would be easier to answer if we saw the other date-related columns as well as their headers.

Thanks

 

Atus

John Laughery

Hi James & Atus, thanks for the quick response! It is a project sheet with durations, start and end dates.

 

James, can you explain the Duration complete rather than average of the percent column concept in a bit more detail? 

 

Atus, here is another attachement. 

 

Thanks! 

JamesR

John,

See image:

James

 

 

Atus Bartal

Thanks John and James!

J. Craig Williams

All,

 

James is correct.

In many cases, however, this gives you bad information, at least in my world view.

 

In Smartsheet:

 

% Complete is based on sum(duration of individual tasks * % complete of indivual tasks) /  sum(duration of individual tasks)

 

This does not change if the tasks are sequential (like in James' example) or all in parallel.

 

It also does not change with Allocation % (effort).

 

In my world view, if I have a task that requires 1 hour a week for 50 weeks (50 hours)

and 2 tasks that are 50 hours each but take 1 week each, then

 

In Smartsheet's view, if I finish the the hourly task, I'm 96% done (the tasks overlap)

But in effort, I've only done 33% of the work (50 hours / 150 hours)

 

When I deal with cost of a task, I add several columns to account for this.

 

Craig

 

 

 

 

 

SamiV

For some reason, when I roll up the % complete, it does not reflect the true % complete. My initiation phase is 80% and Site Visit Preparedness is 13%, the aggregated % complete for Pre-Visit Task completion is only showing Site Visit Preparedness. Thoroughly confused!

Andrée Starå

Hi Sami,

Is the top row, Pre-Visit Task Completion, a parent? It doesn't look like it from your screenshot. It has to be if it should be automatic and you don't want to add the formulas yourself.

What formula are you using in the 13% in the top row?

Hope that helps!

Have a fantastic week!

Best,

Andrée Starå

Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

SamiV

I didn;t use any formula. I thought I saw in one of the videos that you can roll up by dragging the cursor. .. Oops!

I have never used parent/ child function before. I tried it after I saw your message. and I get a message saying I can not update because the row has sub tasks. Do I need to delete the hierarchy to make it work? Is there a video that shows how parent/ child function work? I looked through youtube, but in vain.

Thank you

Andrée Starå

Happy to help!

You don't need to delete anything.

Here's an excellent resource: https://help.smartsheet.com/articles/765737-project-sheet-columns-start-date-end-date-duration-complete-and-predecessors

And another one: https://help.smartsheet.com/learning-track/smartsheet-advanced/gantt-chart-dependencies

Hope that helps!

Let me know if you have any questions!