The purpose of updating a schedule is to find out if the project is still on track.  Updating tasks by “%-complete” doesn’t move the task’s Finish date, leaving successor tasks unaffected.  Better: update by “Remaining Duration”. Updating with %-complete is inconsistent with its definition, shown at the right.  Definitions appear when you hover over a…

Nancy asks, “I have been a project controller for about seven years. I have a problem that I cant figure out. My % Complete column has stopped calculating. Also, the Actual Duration and Remaining Duration are not being updated either. Actual Duration is always zero even though its well into the task. So Remaining Duration…

In a recent training with executives of a Fortune 500 company, I noticed — to my astonishment — that several executives couldn’t interpret Tracking Gantt charts correctly. They had just invested $400,000 in purchasing and installing Microsoft Project Server. Now was the time that a select group of time-pressured, well-educated, and highly-paid people would try…