Remaining Duration Discrepancies

Remaining Duration Discrepancies occur when an activity's remaining duration doesn't align with its reported percent complete.

Ex: An activity has a 20-day original duration and is statused at 50% complete. The schedule still shows 20 days remaining, when the 50% complete would indicate that there are 10 days remaining.

How remaining duration discrepancies can affect the schedule:

• Remaining duration drives the forward pass, determining when successor activities can start and where the forecasted end date lands.
• Stale or inconsistent remaining durations make the critical path and forecasted completion date unreliable.
• A high volume of discrepancies signals sloppy statusing practices (e.g., bulk-updating percent complete without adjusting durations), which undermines trust in downstream metrics like float, forecasted delay, and SPI.

Best Practices:

• Update remaining duration and percent complete together during every status cycle. Never one without the other.
• Spot-check that remaining duration reconciles with reported progress (e.g., an activity at 50% complete on a 20-day duration should show roughly 10 days remaining).
• Avoid bulk-statusing percent complete across activities without verifying each one's remaining duration individually.