Parent tasks % complete not updating to specific percentages

[NickVa1]

Hi WF Community,

Does anyone know if there's a project setting that will allow for parent tasks to update to specific percent complete values (e.g. 56%) based on the percent complete values of its sub-tasks?

For example:

• Parent Task A has 2 sub-tasks
• Sub-Task 1 has a % complete of 50%
• Sub-Task 2 has a % complete of 10%
• Result: Parent Task A should have a percent complete value of 30%

Right now, the only time a parent task's percent complete value updates is when it's sub-tasks are fully complete (100%), and thus, the parent tasks updates from 0% to 100% (but nothing in between).

Thanks.

Nick

[TealeMcCleaf]

Hi Nick -

In the Project Settings check if your Summary Completion Mode is set to Manual or Automatic. If it's set to Manual, that may why the parent tasks aren't updating automatically when the children tasks are updated. You might also check that the Update Type is set to Automatic and On Change. Finally, recalculating the timeline should update the % complete on the parent task if the children have some % complete.

Hopefully one of these will help with the issue you're having.

Best -

Teale

[ErikaAn]

Thanks, Teale! This helped get us back on track with a project.

Best,

E

[NickVa1]

Thanks for the suggestions, Teale. I've already tried all of those without any success.

I've put a ticket in with WF Support.

[Doug_Den_Hoed__AtAppStore · Accepted solution]

Hi Nick,

In addition to Teale's ideas, I'd suggest you check (and test) your Setup > Project Preferences > Projects > Project Status > Calculate Percent Complete based on... setting, which can be either "Planned Hours" or "Duration".

If it is the former, but the child Tasks being completed all have zero hours, mathematically, the parent might then add Sub-Task 1 at 50% complete of 0 hours (i.e. zero) + Sub-Task 2 at 10% complete of 0 hours (i.e. zero) and conclude that it (the parent) is still therefor at 0%...until all children 100% complete, and the parent magically recognizes that pleasant surprise and reports 100%.

Adding even a near-zero token amount of hours (e.g. "1 minute to every task") might then fix it...as would (and even better, I suspect) switching the above option to "Duration".

If this is the right rabbit hole, I'm interested to hear how you find your way through.

Regards,

Doug

[NickVa1]

Douglas for the WIN! What a good find. That was the issue - Calculate Percent Completed based on planned hours, when planned hours are zero!

Thanks, Doug.

[TealeMcCleaf]

Great job Doug!

[Doug_Den_Hoed__AtAppStore]

Aw shucks, guys: Zero to Hero. Glad it did the trick.

Regards,

Doug

[JulieHa]

Hi @Doug_Den_Hoed__AtAppStore - hoping you may be able help me out.  I am trying to set up a project plan/schedule, but our WF system is set up to have  Calculate Percent Complete = Planned Hours.  Is there a way to change this for an individual project?  We have a schedule for a client, but don't have Planned Hours - we simply want to use duration to track percentage complete.  Is this possible, or is just applied to all projects in our system, without the ability to 'change it' for an individual project?  I see your solution for adding 0.1 as an entry for Planned Hours, but does that in reality track the 'progress' based on duration?  If I send out 'fake' data, I am sure our client will come back with issues.  Thanks!

Julie

[JulieHa]

Hi @Doug_Den_Hoed__AtAppStore - just following up on this question quickly.  Can the setting be changed for a specific project, or does this apply to all projects in the site (using Calculate Percent Complete = Planned Hours)?

[Dougplganger]

Hi @JulieHa,

As I understand it, this is a global setting, which is where the 0.1 hour (or less, if you care to experiment) workaround comes in. There is a Summary Completion Mode setting at the Project level (manual or automatic), but the latter then uses the global setting (Planned Hours or Duration).

Regards,

Doug

[JulieHa]

Hi Doug - yes, that definitely answers my last question - thank you so much!  Have a great day!

Julie