Hi, here is another problem from one of my Blog readers:
“Hi Nenad – allow me to give you an example of my problem. A task with a finish date of May 5/14 has a % complete of 25%. When the finish date is changed to May 30/14 the % complete automatically adjusts to 20%. I would like the finish date modification to be independent of the % complete. So when I change the finish date, the % complete does not change. Is there a way to change the relationship logic between finish date and % complete?”
I will show this relationship in MS PROJECT 2013! First I will Create brand new Project with only one Task:
and I will add % Complete field in the Gantt View:
Now I will mark Task as 25% Completed:
Finally, I will change Finish Date to May 30:
As you can see, Duration is now 23 days, and % Complete is 4%. Why?
Before changing Finish date, 25% of % Complete was actually 1 day because duration was 4 days and 25% is 4 * 25% = 1 day. SO actual duration was 1 day. Now the Finish Date is 30.04.2014, and Duration is 23 days. % Complete is calculated by formula: %Complete = Actual Duration / Duration = 1 day / 23 days = 0.0043478 = (rounded) 4%. You can see this here:
and:
So, to conclude, When you enter %Complete for any Task, and you change Finish date, or Duration, %Complete is recalculated, and will not remain same as you entered. It is always calculated by formula mentioned above. This is the way how MS PROJECT works. If you want to keep %Complete same as before changing End Date, or duration you should simply enter this Value again in %Complete field.
Regards.
Nenad Trajkovski 
Nenad, thank you for replay! Ok, my be I wasn’t clear with my question… Let me explain my self one more time. Perhaps I’m working on some project, it has 28 task with dependences. After planning everything, leveling resources etc. I see my project start 01.01.2015 and will finish 19.07.2016 instead of 30 06.2016 as planed. I’m OK with new finish date. Now I have to check “what if” scenarios. One of them says that I have to check what happen if after 50 work days from the beginning of the project from task 1 till task 12 everything went ok and those task are completed 100% and task 13 which is also should be completed 100% until end of the day 50, but is completed only for 40%. I.e. it will be delayed. Task 13 planned duration is 15 days, so for now it should take a while until it will 100% finish. Task 14 depend on this task (finish to start) so it also will be delayed and so on… Now, the question is: in light of this change whole project end date (19.07.2016) also will be delayed? And how much % of task 13 can be done within his desired time (15 days) so it will not affect original finish date (19.07.2016). My question is: how I can check this scenario in MS Project 2013? Like I said I’ve added “complete” column, inserted % completion according to this scenario, but finish date remain the same (all project task configured auto schedule, so any changes in project should be recalculated immediately). Thank you in advance, Igor.
Is this a solution: https://ntrajkovski.com/2014/10/01/status-date-in-what-if-scenario-or-how-to-make-our-projects-actual-data-up-to-date-in-ms-project-2013/
Hi, Nenad!! I have a little different question. In my project I have about 30 task. Project start date is 01.01.2015 and it should finish 30.06.2016. After planning everything I should to check different scenarios (what if…) So, in one of scenarios, task 13 done only 40% instead 100% in scheduled date. All tasks before it finished on time. I’ve added “complete” column in the project and inserted % of completion till task 13. But finish date remain the same. My question is how to check if task 13 will be done by 40% on scheduled time, how it affect rest tasks or whole project finish date? And what is project efficiency coefficient (efficacy) of whole project in this case
Hi, Nenad!! I have a little different question. In my project I have about 30 task. Project start date is 01.01.2015 and it should finish 30.06.2016. After planning everything I should to check different scenarios (what if…) So, in one of scenarios, task 13 done only 40% instead 100% in scheduled date. All tasks before it finished on time. I’ve added “complete” column in the project and inserted % of completion till task 13. But finish date remain the same. My question is how to check if task 13 will be done by 40% on scheduled time, how it affect rest tasks or whole project finish date? And what is project efficiency coefficient (efficacy) of whole project in this case?
I didn’t understand the problem you have. If Task 1 to Task 12 is finished on time, e.g. 100%, and you put for Task 14 that it is finished only 40%, MS PROJECT will not change the date, because it means that you are still working. Please be more precise of what do you want to achieve!
I have been using ‘%work complete’ to track our projects, since I find that the dates are changing so often that they aren’t really representative of the % complete. I work for a steel construction/ manufacturing company, and our dates vary quite a bit over the course of a project based on a number of different factors, many of which are entirely out of our control.
However, if only your finish date changes, but duration/work remains constant – e.g. worker became sick – than the field/column “resume” might be the solution. It can create a split in your task – keeping the number of days to work and thus your %complete constant.
Exactly! This is a greta workaround if it suits for the user!