Let Me Try!

Track Progress by Percentage Completed

In this exercise youll update several tasks by marking the percentage completed using the two methods
described above.

1. Open Home Construction Project 5B.

This project plan shows Tasks 1 through 6 as complete.

2. Choose Task 7 Develop construction estimate.

3. Choose Task >Editing >Scroll to Task to display the Gantt bar for Task 7.

Examine the Gantt bar for Task 7. This task already has progress recorded against it. Now you
will mark it as completed.

4. Choose Task >Schedule >100% .

Notice the progress bar has been extended to the end of the Gantt bar, and a checkmark has
been placed in the Indicator column at the far left of the task list. Microsoft Project
automatically updates the actual values for duration, work, and costs.

5. Select Task 8 Verify financing, and Task 9 Sign contract with client.

With both of these tasks now selected, mark them as complete.

6. Choose Task >Schedule >100% .

Microsoft Project displays the completion progress bars for these tasks. Next, mark additional
tasks as 75% complete.

7. Choose Task 10 Select interior furnishings and finishes, and Task 11 Order materials.

8. Choose Task >Editing >Scroll to Task to display the Gantt bar for Tasks 10 and 11.

9. Choose Task >Schedule >75% .

Examine the Gantt bar for Task10. Although the task has been marked as 75% complete, the
progress bar does not cover 75% of the Gantt bar. This is because there is a weekend that falls
between the beginning and end of the Gantt bar for this task.
 Let Me Try!

10. Choose Task 13 Obtain fountain permit, Task 14 Obtain plumbing permit, and Task 15
Obtain HVAC permit. You have been informed by your construction foremen Steven Michael
that the building permit tasks are complete.

11. Choose Task >Editing >Scroll to Task to display the Gantt bars for Tasks 13 to 15.

12. Choose Task >Schedule >100% .

Checkmarks are placed in the Indicator column for Tasks 13 to 15 to indicate completion, and
progress bars are applied to the Gantt bars for these tasks.

Examine the Indicator column on the left side of the Task List. Notice that Tasks 10 and 11 are
not complete, but the tasks before and after Tasks 10 and 11 are complete.

And apparent gap like this is not uncommon. If you examine the Gantt bars on the right side of
the screen, youll see a Finish-to-Start relationship between Tasks 10 to11 and Tasks 13 to15.
This seems to indicate that the permit tasks may not begin until after materials have been
ordered. However, is this truly the case? As a project unfolds, youll often see tasks start and
finish at times other than planned. As project manager, ask yourself whether you correctly
estimated the duration and amount of work needed for these tasks.

13. Choose Task 17 Perform site survey.

14. Choose Task >Editing >Scroll to Task to display the Gantt bars for Task 17.

After consultation with construction foreman Christopher Allen, you learned that this task is
90% complete. Since there is no button for marking a task 90% complete, you will use the
Update Tasks dialog box to make this entry.

15. Choose Task >Schedule >Mark on Track .

16. Click the down arrow next to Mark on Track, and from the menu choose Update Tasks

The update tasks dialog box is displayed.

 Let Me Try!

17. Follow the steps below to assign a 90% Completion to Task 17.

A. In the upper-left Name: box, verify the selected task as Perform site survey.

B. Change the % Complete; value to 90%.

C. Click OK in the box near bottom-right.

Microsoft Project applies a 90% completion value to Task 17. If you examine the progress bar
for this task, it may be hard to see what percentage is complete or what percentage remains.
In the next few steps you will see two methods for viewing this information.

18. With Task 17 selected, hover the mouse pointer over the Gantt bar. Point directly at the
progress bar and Microsoft Project displays a Task Tip.

Several pieces of information related to Task 17 are displayed, including the completion
percentage. Another way to display task completion information for a partially completed task is
to zoom in on the Gantt bar.
 Let Me Try!

19. Verify that the Gantt bar for Task 17 is displayed, then look to the lower right corner of the
screen.

Notice the zoom slider displayed in the lower right corner of the screen. You can use this to
change the size of the Gantt bar. To do this, click the plus sign to increase the size of the Gantt
bar, or click the minus sign to reduce the size of the Gantt bar.

20. Click the plus sign until you see the remaining 10% of the task that has not been completed.

While you may not often need to assign specific completion percentages in this way, at the
zoom level you have very detailed view of Task 17.

Next, set the timescale for the project to Days.

21. Choose View >Zoom >Timescale.

22. Click the down arrow below Timescale and choose Days from the menu.

Review the project plan. At this point, you have recorded progress through Task 17, and show
completion for Tasks 1 to 9 and Tasks 12 to15.

As completion percentages were recorded and tasks completed, Microsoft Project calculated
new actual values for duration, work (or hours), and cost.

To wrap up this exercise, display the project statistics and review changes since the last
exercise.

23. Choose Project >Properties >Project Information-> .

Review the project statistics as shown below, focusing on the lower Actual row. By recording
progress against several tasks, the actual values for duration, work, and cost have all
increased. Actual duration is now 28.75 days, actual work is 296.9 hours, and actual cost is
$25,900.
 Let Me Try!

24. Close the Project Statistics dialog box.

25. Save and close the file.