Why You Should Understand the Difference Between Percent Complete and Percent Work Complete
Project managers use percent complete and percent work complete measurements to track project progress. These two terms might sound similar, but they mean very different things, so it’s important to understand the difference between them and use the right one in your projects. Here are some guidelines to help you choose the right measurement type at each step of your project management process. […}
What is Work Complete?
Work complete is a measure of how much work has been completed on a project. This includes all tasks that have been assigned to team members, as well as any deliverables that have been completed. To calculate work complete, simply add up the number of hours worked on each task and divide by the total number of hours in the project. If you are using Agile methodology, this will be done at the end of each sprint. For example, if you estimate that your project will take 100 hours to complete and so far 40 hours have been spent on it (that’s 40% work complete), then 60 more hours need to be spent before it is finished (100% work complete).
What is Percent Complete?
The percent complete of a project is a measure of the amount of work that has been completed relative to the total amount of work that is required. This metric is often used to track the progress of a project and to determine whether it is on schedule. At any given time, it will always be less than 100%. The difference between the two metrics lies in what each one is measuring. For example, if you spend 50% of your time building something, then your percent complete will be 50%. However, if you spend 100% of your time working but only have 25% left to do, then your percent work complete would be 75%.
When to Use Each
If you’re working on a project, it’s important to understand the difference between percent complete and percent work complete. Here’s when to use each Percent complete is useful for estimating how much of the project has been completed so far.
Percent work complete is useful for measuring how much of the project has been done and should be completed at any given time.
If you want to know if your team is ahead or behind schedule, this is an important measure.
The relationship between these two numbers tells us what kind of progress we’re making: are we doing more than we’ve estimated? Or less? For example, if your team has spent 80% of their time on a project but only 50% of it is done (i.e., 40% work complete), then you’ll need more people or shorter timelines in order to finish by deadline.
How to Calculate These Values in Microsoft Project
To calculate percent complete, you’ll need to first establish what tasks need to be completed for the project to be considered done. Once you have that list, add up the total number of hours required to complete those tasks. Finally, divide the number of hours completed by the total number of hours required. This will give you your percent complete.
How Can I Use This Information?
As a project manager, it’s important to understand the difference between percent complete and percent work complete so that you can accurately communicate the status of your project to stakeholders. Here’s how you can use this information • When presenting the total scope of a project to an executive team, it is appropriate to describe your estimate as 70% complete
- However, when reporting on progress made by individual tasks or milestones within a project (for example: we have completed 10 out of 20 milestones), it is appropriate to describe that progress as 70% work complete
