Project for web: % Complete calculation never accurate, is it based on Start/Finish date not Effort, but then breaks Effort calc when changed?

Hello,

We decided to use P4W and we are having the same issue. This is really unbelievable to see a calculation error like this in a global software product. This is a basic math calculation. Thousands of people use this application to manage both their programs and projects. Now I am regretting my vote for this project management tool. You and your testers easily can see the problems, no need to prepare a comprehensivecomprehensive test scenarios.

I will open a critical level ticket and see what will happen. We are project managers and how do you expect us to do our job with a malfunctioned tool !

Played around with this a bit more to better understand it.

Think I have my head around it now. Still seems illogical and the % Complete field not useful at all as it doesn’t show Work progress, only elapsed time?

One of the other areas I was causing it to break was when setting the Effort fields. Instead of only changing the Total and Completed Effort field I was also adjusting Remaining, but based on the couple of tests I did this field shouldn’t be adjusted as it causes issues.

Takeaway for me is that the % Complete and Effort Remaining fields should never be modified manually.

Screenshots below for reference. 

Hi Mia,

Thanks for the info but this doesn't really help answer my question or solve the problem, which is that the Duration/Start & End Dates/% Complete/Effort fields are interlinked but not calculating correctly when tasks are modified. Questions in red below:

• Factors Influencing % Complete:
  • Duration: The total time allocated for the task.
    • This is determined by start finish date and cannot be changed independently. Based on this it is not total time allocated to a task but total duration of a task
• Effort: While effort is not directly used in the % Complete calculation, it impacts the actual work completed.
  • What is the value of this field if it is not directly attached to the other fields, but arbitrarily changes based on those fields? How should this be used?
• Start/Finish Dates: These dates help determine the task’s duration.
  • These directly impact the duration, they don’t help determine the duration they absolutely do determine the duration. When duration is changed the start/finish dates change
• Manual Adjustments:
  • If you manually set the effort, the % Complete will be calculated based on the duration and actual work completed.
    • Where is “actual work completed” determined.
  • However, modifying the % Complete manually may adjust the actual work completed and remaining work, potentially leading to incorrect values.
    • Why? It makes no sense to have a field that may be incorrect by design.
  • To set up tasks logically, consider:
    • Setting start and finish dates based on expected duration and available resources.
      1. This is how they are set up. Start/Finish dates based on resourcing - Effort based on time required to complete the tasks, Start / Finish dates based on availability of resources.
    • Updating actual work completed as progress is made.
      1. Where do you update “actual work completed” if it is not Effort or % Complete

Dear respected,

Thanks for posting in Microsoft Community. From the tests and search in official articles, The % Complete calculation in Project for web is based on the duration of the task and the actual work completed instead of the effort or start/finish dates.

If manually set the effort, the % Complete will be calculated based on the duration and actual work completed. However, if you modify the % Complete manually, it may adjust the actual work completed and remaining work. This may result in incorrect values if the duration and effort are not adjusted accordingly.

To set up your tasks in a logical manner, I would suggest setting the start and finish dates based on the expected duration of the task and the available resources. Then, enter the effort required for each task. As work is completed, update the actual work completed to reflect the progress made. This should result in a more accurate % Complete calculation.

If you continue to experience issues with the % Complete calculation on multiple projects, you may contact our online support team and investigate in the background to locate the root cause. Get support - Microsoft 365 admin | Microsoft Learn

Appreciate your patience and understanding and thank you for your time and cooperation. 

Sincerely, 

Mia | Microsoft Moderator

Dear respected,

Thanks for posting in our community.

We have received your thread and kindly give us some more time to deploy the test environment and we will reply as soon as possible with the details.

Appreciate your understanding and patience.

Sincerely,

Mia