% complete calculation

How _exactly_ is % complete calculated? We are not weighting tasks, nor are people overriding % complete. I've been through http://usermanual.clarizen.com/#4-1-7-reporting-progress So, assuming all tasks are active in a project % complete should equal: (actual effort) / (actual effort + remaining effort) Correct?

Christopher Knaus February 25, 2014 01:07 Answered

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The question mark means the system is guessing the % completion based on the best available information. A user cannot enter the "?" manually. An example would be if a task is estimated to take 20 hours of work, but the actual effort put in is 21 hours. The task SHOULD be complete, so Clarizen will put 100? in the % completion. The ? indicates that the system does not know for sure, perhaps the task is running behind and will now take 25 hours. The best way to remove the ambiguity is by populating the remaining effort as well. In the same example of 20 hours of estimated work, if you put 21 hours of actual effort and 4 hours of remaining effort, the system will display 92%... which is much more accurate than 100?. If the task should be complete, marking it complete will remove the ?. Also the ? does roll up and adds ambiguity to all of the parents. The sooner you can remove the ?, the more accurate your plan will be.

Josh Santos June 29, 2015 17:48

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Do you have milestones that are empty or items where work is set to 0h? This will throw off the calculation from what you described.

Josh Santos February 25, 2014 01:17 0 votes

Yes, thought for those work, actual effort and remaining effort are all 0. Are those items not just left out of the calculation? How do they throw the % complete off?

Christopher Knaus February 25, 2014 01:19 0 votes

I would open up a case with a specific scenario since the way this gets calculated can be very complex. 0 work items like empty milestones are treated differently when rolling up % completion.

Josh Santos February 25, 2014 02:34 0 votes

I have also noticed the % complete works differently than expected (by me). I would also suggest a calculation like yours, Christopher. We also have duration milestones without work. I believe it helps a bit if you set those tasks' weight to 0.

Peter Fjelsten February 26, 2014 22:23 0 votes

What does the Question mark (?) in the % complete field mean?
When does the system put the '?'
Can a user enter a question mark?
Thanks,
Arnon

Arnon Yaffe June 29, 2015 09:07 0 votes

How Josh,

In my organization we just use Start Date, End Dates, Duration and %Complete.
We don't report on actual work and efforts and we don't use time sheets.
Still, from time to time we get the question mark (?) on sum % complete fields and I do not not to explain why.
What is the logic when you're not reporting on effort.

Thanks,
Arnon

Arnon Yaffe July 01, 2015 12:17 0 votes

You can also trigger the "?" if you mark an item as complete and re-open it. If there is a ? on any sub-item in a project is will roll up to the parents.

Josh Santos July 01, 2015 19:24 0 votes

% complete calculation

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8 comments
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