Where are you in your schedule based upon planned performance? The Primavera P6 schedule % complete value specifies planned performance based on the baseline and current data date (DD).
After creation of your schedule, including budget, and assignment of a baseline you will want to track actual performance in relation to planned performance. You want to indicate planned progress and actual progress at a moment in time, the Data Date (DD). This DD is the point in time between the work that has been accomplished and the work still to be done. Planned progress is measured in Primavera P6 using schedule % complete. Actual progress is specified with performance % complete, a more complex term in Primavera P6 Professional.
Many schedulers will want to list both schedule % complete and performance % complete values in the activities table to fully describe their schedule’s progress, planned verses actual. The first part of the puzzle is indicating planned performance through schedule % complete.
This article explains and demonstrates the Primavera P6 schedule % complete value for analyzing and reporting planned progress, as per the DD.
You spent a lot of time and effort creating your project plan, so you will want to keep it in mind as time progresses. The schedule % complete value helps accomplish this noble goal. The schedule % complete value tracks based on the baseline and data date. A source of confusion is the different ways schedule % complete calculates for activities and Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) elements.
Activity Schedule % Complete
Let’s first discuss schedule % complete for activities. The following Figure 1 is the best description of how Primavera P6 computes schedule % complete for activities.
Figure 1
In this simple illustration schedule % complete is zero on the baseline start date, at the data date it is a/b, and 100% at the baseline finish date. If you want a more detailed explanation, consider the following formula:
Schedule % Complete = a/b = (DD-BL_start) / (BL_finish -BL_start)
Or, perhaps,
Schedule % Complete = (DD – BL_start) / (BL_activity_duration)
The schedule % complete value is not the current schedule; it is the current place in the planned schedule timeline. It considers the DD in relation to the activity baseline start and baseline finish dates.
WBS Schedule % Complete
The WBS schedule % complete value requires a baseline budget. Once you have your project cost distributed in time the WBS schedule % complete for WBS elements computes from the following simple formula:
Schedule % Complete = PV / BAC
This is the planned value divided by budget at completion. Again, this is the planned schedule cost in relation to the DD and not the current schedule cost.
Primavera P6 Demonstration
Let’s now demonstrate schedule % complete. Below, in Figure 2, is our demonstration project schedule.
Figure 2
This is a pipe inspection and repair project. Schedule updates were provided every other day. The schedule has progressed through the close of business Thursday, January 9th. It is interesting to note that the schedule % complete of the pipe inspection activity is 100%, although the Gantt chart only displays this activity as 50% complete. Likewise the remove damaged piping activity has a schedule % complete of 50%, and it has not progressed at all according to the Gantt chart.
In both these cases the activity schedule % complete values are generated based on the baseline and DD. The baseline has the pipe inspection completing on Wednesday, so, considering the DD, schedule % complete registers this activity as complete. And the DD falls at the end of the first day work of the remove damaged piping activity, therefore, the schedule % complete says this 2 day activity is 50% done.
The P6 schedule % complete of the WBS elements computes from the planned value cost and budget at completion cost amounts listed in the activities table. The planned value of the installation to date is $720 and the budget at completion is $22,192, so the schedule % complete computes as 3.24%.
Again, the demolition WBS element has a planned value to date of $4,048, a budget at completion of $5,240; the schedule % complete calculates to 77.25%. The schedule % complete of the entire project to date is 19.18%, which comes from a planned value of $7,808 and budget at completion of $40,712.
Summary
So we see that both the activity progress and WBS element progress schedule % complete values are based upon the planned schedule progress. Again, schedule % complete does not consider the current schedule. It measures planned progress.
The activity schedule % complete value comes from the DD and baseline start and baseline finish. The WBS schedule % complete computes from the planned project costs, planned value and budget at completion costs. It is a separate calculation from the activity schedule % complete.
It is good to know where you planned to be to date based on your schedule, and the P6 schedule % complete provides this insight. Inspecting actual progress is the other half of the equation, and the performance % complete provides these details.