Gantt Chart status bar doesn't appear to reflect progress

Richard Heath

Our PM's are experiencing a few issues with the Gantt Chart, and I hoping someone can help.

In some instances, per the attached, the overall status suggests that the program is ahead of schedule. This is despite Sub-child 2a being on target. Any thoughts why this would occur?

We also utilise a formula that suggests how may days we are in-front or behind schedule.

=IF(AND([Start Date]@row <= TODAY(), [% Complete]@row < 1), ((Duration@row * [% Complete]@row) - (NETWORKDAYS([Start Date]@row, TODAY()))), "")

Generally, this formula works well if the program isn't complex, but as soon as we add multiple Parent/Child/Child tasks it doesn't seem to work. I've added an additional program which suggests we are 14 days behind program (progress bar and above formula) but from my take the project is on time.

Any experts have any ideas?

Alejandra

Hi Richard,

It's possible this is related to the way that the % Complete is calculated in Parent Rows. 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.

If needed, more information on this can be found in our help article: https://help.smartsheet.com/articles/765737-project-sheet-columns-start-date-end-date-duration-complete-and-predecessors#Complete

Nick Casiday

Richard,

Have you gotten any additional guidance on this? My organization is moving from MS Project to Smartsheet, but this problem is holding us up.

From what I've been able to determine, MS Project's % Complete Indicator on the Gantt Chart shows Actual % Complete as compared to Planned % Complete. Smartsheet seems to be wholly duration based, so the number of days that you claim value for in % Complete is divided by the added durations of all child tasks. That is the % Complete value in the parent row. The % Complete Indicator multiplies the % Complete in the parent row by the netdays of the project (including holidays and weekends regardless of the settings you use) and then shows that number of days as complete on the Gantt. This is unhelpful in showing if a project or program is on schedule.