Progress on expanded tasks, summary tasks and hammocks

When you mark progress on tasks within a subchart, summary group or hammock, the progress on the subordinate tasks is reflected on the parent task. You cannot mark progress directly on expanded tasks, summary tasks and hammocks. When you drag and drop a progress period onto a parent task, you are marking the subordinate tasks as being progressed up to that report date and the parent task reflects that progress; you are not reporting progress directly on the parent task.

Progress marking on expanded tasks, summary tasks and hammocks indicates the average date up to which the subordinate tasks are progressed. You can use the progress on expanded tasks, summary tasks and hammocks to assess how far ahead of or behind schedule the subordinate tasks are, but you cannot use it to assess the percentage complete of the subordinate tasks. For example, in the illustration below the summary task shows 60% complete (progressed up to the average date) although in total the subordinate tasks are 75% complete:

Task name
Preparation
Research
Analysis
Proposal

If you want to view the progress shading on expanded and summary tasks in percentage terms, display the Distributed Average % Complete field in the spreadsheet.

Progress on parent tasks can be calculated in a number of different ways:

To choose the way in which progress on parent tasks is calculated:

Click the File tab, then click Properties.
Select the method with which you want progress on parent tasks to be calculated in the Progress method field.

Note that this field is also available on the Progress tab of the Options dialog.

If you are working with a very large project, you may find that calculating the progress on parent tasks takes a considerable time. You can reduce the amount of time that it takes by selecting one of the approximate methods (which ignore the effect of calendars, thereby simplifying the calculations). Alternatively, you can disable the calculation of progress on parent tasks, in which case parent tasks do not display progress at all.

You can choose to display progress shading on expanded tasks, summary tasks and hammocks in black, or using the colours assigned to the relevant progress periods. You can also omit progress shading from expanded tasks, summary tasks and hammock tasks. You configure progress shading on expanded tasks, summary tasks and hammocks using the fields in the Shading group on the Progress tab of the Format Bar Chart dialog.

How milestones contribute towards the percentage complete of summary tasks, expanded tasks and hammocks

If a summary group, chart or hammock includes a mixture of tasks and milestones, the milestones do not contribute towards the percentage complete of the parent task. This means that if a summary group, chart or hammock comprises a number of tasks that are all complete and a milestone that is not complete, the parent task will be shown as 100% complete even though the milestone is not complete, as illustrated below:

The parent task is 100% complete even though the milestone is not complete

An actual finish date will not appear against the parent task until the milestone is marked as complete:

An actual finish date appears against the parent task when the milestone is marked as complete

The above applies only to summary groups, charts and hammocks that contain a mixture of tasks and milestones. Summary groups, charts and hammocks that contain only milestones are a special case.