Task Status of Completed changes incorrectly back to Not Started

Products

• Clarity PPM SaaS
• Clarity PPM On Premise

Issue/Introduction

Task Status of Completed changes incorrectly back to Not Started  in Clarity PPM. The % Complete for the tasks also changes from 100 to another amount (not necessarily 0, which would be expected with task status of Not Started)

Cause

This can happen if the % Complete Calculation Method on the project is changed to Effort.  This happens if there are no actuals on the tasks as effort is calculated based on actuals, so if there are no actuals on the task, the task status changes to "Not Started".

For Effort % Complete Calculation, the percent complete is calculated based on the following formula: 
% Complete = Labor Actuals/( Labor Estimates + Labor Actuals)

Environment

Release:
Component: PPRPRM

Resolution

To warn users of the impact of changing this field, a tool tip and/or hint can be added to the field to warn the users. To do this:

1. Go to Studio->Objects->Project
2. Click on the Views tab
3. Click on Fields next to 'Project Properties' 
4. Click on the Properties icon next to % Complete Calculation
5. Add a warning message in the Hint field (Example: "Warning, changing the % Complete Calculation to Effort can cause task status to change to Not Started if there are no actuals on the task")
6. You can also add a warning in the Tool Tip field as well so that when users hover over the value in the % Complete Calculation field, it warns the user as well.
7. Click 'Save and Return'

Note: Users won't see this warning if they change the % Complete calculation in a list view, the one option would be to uncheck "Allow Editing" for this field in Studio->Objects->Project->View for the Project List view. This would only allow users to edit this field if they recheck that option from their personal Project List setup. 

To check to see if the % Complete Calculation Method on the project is set to Effort:

1. Go to Home->Projects
2. Click the Options icon on the right hand side then Configure
3. Move '% Complete Calculation Method' from 'Available Columns' to 'Selected Columns' and click 'Save and Return'
4. On the project list, filter for the project that has the issue and observe the % Complete Calculation Method value

To prevent this issue from happening, the % Complete Calculation Method on the project should be changed to Manual.

Note:

• It is not recommended to change the % Complete Calculation Method of a project once it's been set as this can impact the project data, so prior to changing the % Complete Calculation Method, it's recommended to test out this change in non production first to verify the impact. 

Additional Information

Reference % Complete Calculation Method section of the Create Projects, Teams, and Tasks documentation for details on the differences in the three types of % Complete Calculation Methods.