Percent complete in Oracle Primavera p6 is used for the calculation of actual progress what are the differences between them? We will take into this topic each type of percent complete in Primavera P6.

1- Duration % complete

Duration % of the original (or planned) threshold value is expressed as a percentage.

An issue is generated if the ratio of the activity’s actual duration to its original or planned duration (actual duration / original or planned duration * 100) falls beyond the threshold values.

How it is calculated in primavera p6?

Duration Percent Complete(P6) = ( [Original Duration] – [Remaining Duration] ) / [Original Duration].

Example of calculating Duration % Complete:

• Original Duration: 20d
• Actual Duration: 15d
• Remaining Duration: 18d

[Duration % Complete] = (20-18)/20 = 10%

To use the Duration % complete for an activity you should select the Duration % complete type from the activity details general tap as shown in the photo below:

Duration Percent Complete for WBS Elements

The previous explanation was focused on the Duration % Complete for activities.

Duration % Complete is also calculated for WBS elements, but I strongly recommend you not to use Duration % Complete to track a WBS element’s progress.  Thus I have not included an explanation of the calculations here.

2- Units % complete

Each assigned resource and assigned expense creates units in Primavera P6.

The number of units depends on the duration of the activity and your current settings the Unit % is calculated from the actual and remaining units.

Units % Complete = [Actual Units / At Completion Units] x 100.

See the figure below for more understanding.

Update the actual regular units and the remaining units for each resource.

1. When you update units in the Resources tab, the started checkbox in the status tab is automatically marked.
2. The Unit % Complete is calculated from the actual and at Completion amounts.
3. The Labor Units amounts in the “Status” tab present the total amounts for all resources assigned in the Resources Tab.

Units % Complete for WBS Elements

The previous explanations were for activities’ Units % Complete.

This field is calculated in the same way for WBS Elements. However, I recommend you use Earned Value and Performance % Complete for the WBS Elements instead of Units % Complete and Duration % Complete.

Different between Duration % complete and Units % Complete:

• When units are not distributed uniformly, the Units % Complete will not be uniform relative to the time and will not equal to duration percentage complete.
• Even if the units are distributed uniformly and the original duration is not equal to at completion duration the unit percentage complete will not equal to duration percentage complete.
• Only when units are distributed uniformly and the original duration is equal to at completion duration, the unit % complete will equal the duration percentage complete.

3- Physical % complete

Physical % Complete is a calculated field, which displays the percent complete based on the relative weights of the completed steps versus the incomplete steps.

The physical progress of an activity is a manually entered value determined by the user. The Physical % Complete is not rolled up to the WBS level, because it’s based on external parameters, unknown to the software.

To use the Physical % Complete for an activity you should select the Physical % Complete Type from the activity details general tab as shown in the photo below.

4- Schedule % complete

Schedule % complete for an activity based on a straightforward calculation in Primavera P6, schedule % complete  = ( [Data Date] – [Baseline Start] ) / ( [Baseline Finish] – [Baseline Start] ).

When the data date is earlier than the baseline start date, the Schedule % Complete is zero.

When it’s after the baseline finish date, Schedule % Complete is 100%. Otherwise, Schedule % Complete shows what percentage of the baseline duration has passed by the data date.

See the figure below for a better understanding.

Schedule % Complete for WBS Elements

The Schedule % Complete of the WBS Element will be the ratio of the baseline costs before the data date to the total baseline cost.

The costs before the data date are called the “Planned Value”, or PV for short (also called BCWS – Budgeted Cost of Work Scheduled).

The total baseline cost is called “Budget At Completion” or BAC for short. We can now formulate the calculation of Schedule % Complete for WBS elements as Schedule % Completed (WBS) = PV / BAC.

5- Performance % Complete

The percentage presentation of EV is usually called Performance % Complete.

Performance % Complete of the activities under the same WBS element is calculated by one of these six options:
1. By Activity % Complete and without resource curves.
2. By Activity % Complete and with resource curves.
3. By WBS Milestones.
4. By 0/100 method.
5. By 50/50 method.
6. By x/(100-x) custom method.
(1) and (2) are continuous and the rest of them are milestone progresses.

(1) and (2) are dependent on the Activity progress.

(3) is completely independent of the Activity progress, and the rest of them are only influenced by the Actual Start and Actual Finish of the Activities.

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