There is no guess work in determining project completion levels

By MUNGAI KIHANYA

The Sunday Nation

Nairobi,

24 January 2021

A recent news report quoted the project manager of the Nairobi Western Bypass saying that the construction was 43.9 per cent complete. A number of readers asked me to comment on this figure: 43.9. It seemed too accurate.

The question that these readers were asking about is how project completion levels are worked out. Project managers monitor three distinct parameters, namely; the duration expired since starting, the amount of money utilised and the volume of work completed.

The duration expired since starting is compared to the contract period and expressed as a percentage. The unit of time is weeks – unless it is a very short project lasting a few days. Thus, on the 45^th week of a 52-week (one year) project, the manager can say that 86.5 per cent of the time has elapsed. If the project exceeds the agreed period, then this percentage will be above 100.

The money utilised is based on total amounts claimed as the work is going on. Again, this figure is expressed as a percentage of the total project cost. So, if the total cost was Sh678,345,000 and the contractor has so far claimed Sh123,789,000, then the manager can say that 18.2 per cent of the funds have bee utilised.

Finally comes the question of volume of completed works. In this case the project manager looks at the tasks of the project that have been done and compares them to total tasks in the entire project. However, some tasks are bigger than others, so, how is the magnitude of a task assessed?

In the planning stage, each task is identified and allocated a certain duration for completion. So, as the work progresses, the manager records the completed tasks and the budgeted time for each. These are then expressed as a percentage of the total cumulative duration of all tasks.

It is important to note here that the cumulative duration of tasks is not equal to the project period! The reason is that some tasks are carried out simultaneously. If three tasks are to be done together during one week, their cumulative duration is three weeks.

Thus, if a project has a cumulative duration of, say 6,892 weeks and the completed tasks had been assigned 3,026 weeks, the manager can say that it is 43.9 per cent complete.

My only criticism is on quoting the number to three significant figures (43.9) while two would have sufficed (44). But perhaps this project manager wanted the public know that he was not guessing the level of completion.