I would go into the Scheduling options, and set "recalculate costs when scehduling" on. That way every time you schedule, the costs are recalculated.

OR

Tools - recalculate activity costs.

P6 DOES NOT recalculate activity costs after changing them automatically

i believe you are right Naveen

David,

would you mind explaining further?

Be careful with Units percent complete - it is the percentage of actual manhours anticipated to be expended NOT earned manhours.

Hi suresh

Example:

Pouring concrete foundations is a good example using the incremental milestone method. Each major task is weighted to give it a percentage when that particular activity has been completed.

Excavation - 20%
Forming - 12%
Rebar - 15%
Pouring - 25%
Stripping - 10%
Backfill - 18%

When excavation is complete, the foundation is 20% complete. When excavation, forming and rebar are complete, the foundation is 47% complete.

The Start / Finish Method.

An arbitrary percentage is assigned to the start of the task and given 100 percent when the task is completed. Millwright alignment work usually falls into this category. Aligning a major fan and motor may take a few hours or a few days, depending on the situation. Workers know when this work starts and when it is finished, but they never know the percentage completion in between. Other examples include planning activities, flushing and cleaning, testing, and major rigging operations.
A starting percentage of 50% is equivalent to a task completed at a constant rate over time, and is reasonable for a short duration lower-value tasks. For tasks with a longer duration of higher value, a lesser percentage (20-30%) would be used. This is because the percentage directly affects progress payments and an owner will hesitate to recognize too much completion in advance.
From a contractors view, using a slightly higher percentage (50%) allows for more payment in the front end.

Example:

Task is to align a motor.
When the task is started you give it a % of 30%. When the task is completed you can upgrade it to 100%. The 30% is fairly arbitrary and should be based on experience.

The Supervisor Opinion Method.

The supervisor simply makes a judgment of percent complete on a specific task. Some supervisors are optimists and some are pessimists; every opinion is different and never consistent.

This is a very subjective approach and is used for tasks where a discrete method is not possible. Dewatering, temporary construction, and landscaping are all candidates for this application.

Example:

Supervisor declares that the landscaping is 85% complete. This can be based on whatever the supervisor believes.

The Cost Ratio Method.

Can be used for tasks that either involve a long period of time or are continuous over the full life of the project. In this method the % completed is calculated by dividing the actual cost or work hours expended to date by those forecast for completion. Project management, quality assurance, and project controls are areas where the cost ratio method may be applied.

% Complete = Actual cost or Work hrs to date / Forecast at completion

It should be noted that this method is not an accurate method to use and can be very misleading when providing progress measurement.

Forecasts, when dealing with progress, should be based on performance measurement Using performance factors is the only way to accurately measure future forecasts, whether discussing schedule or costs. The problem lies in the fact that proper performance measurement is based on an accurate assessment of progress. With this method however, you get the horse before the cart, so to speak.
You are using a forecast, which is not based on performance to get a measurement of progress. This will lead to many problems, especially when determining your pf, which should be based on accurate progress.

Example:

We have spent 4500 hrs so far and are forecasting to spend 7500 in order to complete the project. What is the percent complete?

4500 / 7500 = 60% complete

Note: The forecast of 7500 could be based on anything. It is not based on any pf, therefore providing an inaccurate progress measurement.

The Method of Weighted or Equivalent Units.

Is used for tasks that involve a long period of time and are composed of several subtasks, each with a different unit-of-work measurement. Each subtask is weighted according to the estimated level of effort required. As quantities are completed for each subtask, they are converted into individual units. Structural steel erection provides a good example of where this method may be applied. Structural steel is normally estimated and controlled by using tons as the unit of measure.

The subtasks included in steel erection, like shimming, columns, and cross braces, each have a different unit of measure. To handle this, each subtask is weighted according to the estimated level of effort (usually work hours) that will be dedicated to the subtask. These weights are called “rules of credit.” As quantities of work are completed for each subtask, the quantities are converted into equivalent tons tables or chart that were agreed upon and that were set up prior to the erection.


Percent Complete = 83.5 / 520 tons = 16.1%

Hi suresh!

Boy, you are everywhere. The description you give above seems fine. What’s the problem?

The use of performance % complete to measure progress is something I teach in a 102 course.


Earned value analysis is the whole of the law.


Yes, up here the oil and gas industry we tend to do EVA in units rather than cost too. So using £1.00 per hour for all the resources sorts that. I am persuing a personal campaign to get the industry to change to cost rather than units

I posted something here some time ago about how to get the baseline equivalent of performance percent complete - as I am sure you have found out Schedule percent complete is based on duration not earned value. There is a cute work around

Bet Ian Adan is reading this - Hey, Ian! you checked that work-around yet?


What ON EARTH would we want physical % complete rolled up for? I can’t imagine what that might mean.

Suresh
The %-complete is an item that you agree with the customer or management for internal projects before a project starts.
Typycal examples:
- By deliverables (e.g. 5% of a building after foundation ready)
- By payment milestones

After you have an agreement on progress measurement you can consider, how to model it in Primavera.
Regards
Dieter