Why is my project progress still 0% even though work has been completed?

Question

My project is showing 0% complete, even though work has been done. What should I check?

Answer

How project completion is calculated depends on whether the project has a schedule. The first thing to check is which calculation method applies to your project.

When a project has a schedule, completion is calculated from the progress of top-level (parent) tasks in that schedule.

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1. Are the completed tasks children of a parent task?
   Project completion is driven by top-level (parent) tasks. Child tasks only contribute to project progress through their parent.

2. How is the parent task configured?

   • Auto-Calculated parent
     Progress is rolled up from its child tasks. As child tasks are updated, the parent task and overall project completion will update accordingly.

   • Non-auto-calculated parent
     Progress from child tasks does not roll up. Updating child tasks alone will not change the parent task or the project’s completion.

3. Has the parent task’s progress been set appropriately?

   • If the parent task is auto-calculated, no manual update is required.

   • If the parent task is not auto-calculated, its progress must be manually maintained.
     If the parent task remains at 0%, the project will also remain at 0%.

Recommended approach

• Set parent tasks to Auto-Calculated so progress rolls up from child tasks into the parent and then into overall project completion.

Alternative (manual control)

• If you do not want progress to roll up automatically, keep the parent task non-auto-calculated.

• In this case, you must manually maintain the parent task’s progress, as this is what drives project completion.

When a project does not have a schedule, completion is calculated based on the project start and end dates.

If the project is showing 0%, check the following:

• Has the project started yet?
  If the start date is in the future, progress will remain at 0%.

• Does the project have an end date?
  Without an end date, the system cannot calculate progress over time.

In these cases, a 0% completion typically indicates that the project timeline is incomplete or has not yet begun.

If your project is showing 0% complete:

• First, check whether the project has a schedule

• For scheduled projects:

  • Progress is driven by top-level task progress

  • Parent tasks must either be auto-calculated or manually updated

• For non-scheduled projects:

  • Progress is based on start and end dates

  • A future start date or missing end date will result in 0% progress

In most scenarios, using a schedule with auto-calculated parent tasks provides the most accurate and reliable view of project progress.