Difference between Retained Logic and Progress override

Retained Logic and Progress Override are both features in Primavera P6, but they serve different purposes in project scheduling and management. Here’s a detailed comparison of the two:

Retained Logic

Definition: Retained Logic is a setting that maintains the logical relationships and dependencies between activities in the project schedule when changes are made. It ensures that when activities are updated or rescheduled, the relationships between them are preserved and adjusted automatically.

Characteristics:

Dependency Preservation: Ensures that the logical connections between tasks (e.g., start-to-start, finish-to-finish) are maintained even when activities are rescheduled.
Automatic Adjustments: Automatically adjusts related activities based on changes to one activity, preserving the sequence and dependencies.
Schedule Integrity: Helps in maintaining the integrity and consistency of the project schedule by keeping the original logical flow intact.

Usage:

When to Use: When updating the schedule to reflect changes or delays, Retained Logic helps ensure that the dependencies and sequence of tasks are preserved.
Impact: Affects how changes to one activity influence the scheduling of related activities, helping to keep the overall project schedule aligned with logical relationships.

Progress Override

Definition: Progress Override allows users to manually adjust the progress percentage of an activity in the project schedule. This feature is used to override the automatic progress calculations to reflect the actual status of the activity.

Characteristics:

Manual Adjustment: Provides the ability to manually enter or adjust the progress percentage for an activity, overriding the automatic updates.
Custom Reporting: Useful for situations where the actual progress deviates from the automatically calculated progress, allowing for more accurate reporting.
Impact on Metrics: Affects progress metrics and reporting by manually setting the progress, which can influence earned value analysis and other performance measures.

Usage:

When to Use: When automatic progress calculations do not accurately represent the actual work completed or to meet specific reporting needs.
Impact: Directly affects the reported progress of individual activities, which can influence overall project performance metrics and reporting.

Key Differences

Purpose:
Retained Logic: Focuses on maintaining the logical relationships and dependencies between activities when changes are made to the schedule.
Progress Override: Focuses on adjusting the reported progress of an activity to accurately reflect the actual work completed.
Functionality:
Retained Logic: Automatically adjusts related activities based on changes, preserving the logical sequence and dependencies.
Progress Override: Manually sets or adjusts the progress percentage of an activity, overriding automatic calculations.
Impact:
Retained Logic: Ensures the schedule’s logical flow remains intact, affecting how changes to one activity influence the scheduling of related tasks.
Progress Override: Directly impacts progress reporting and performance metrics by adjusting the progress percentage of activities.

Example

Retained Logic: If a task “A” is dependent on task “B” and task “B” is delayed, Retained Logic ensures that task “A” is rescheduled accordingly while maintaining its dependency on task “B”.

Progress Override: If the task “A” is automatically calculated to be 50% complete but the actual progress is 30%, Progress Override allows you to manually adjust the completion percentage to 30% to reflect the true status.

Conclusion

Retained Logic and Progress Override are distinct features in Primavera P6 that address different aspects of project scheduling. Retained Logic ensures that the logical relationships and dependencies between activities are preserved during schedule updates, while Progress Override allows for manual adjustments to progress percentages to accurately reflect the actual work completed. Understanding these differences helps in effectively managing and reporting project progress and maintaining schedule integrity.