The Actual Work fields show the amount of work that has already been done by resources assigned to tasks. The timephased versions of these fields show values distributed over time.
There are several categories of Actual Work fields.
Data Type Duration
Actual Work (task field)
Entry Type Calculated or entered
How Calculated When you first create a task, the Actual Work field contains "0 hrs" until you begin tracking the project by entering percent complete or actual work. As you enter percent complete, percent work complete, or actual work information, Microsoft Project updates actual work for the task.
If you enter a value in the Actual Work field for the task, Project divides the actual work you enter among the assigned resources.
Best Uses Add the Actual Work field to any task view to review, filter, or edit actual work information for tasks. Use this field with the Baseline Work field during the course of a project to compare work values against your original plan.
Example Jamie, Sean, and Chris are assigned to 30 hours of work for the "Write proposal" task. By reviewing the Actual Work field, you can see that the assigned resources have reported a total of 15 hours of actual work so far.
Remarks By default, Project calculates actual work for assignments based on percent complete values that you enter for tasks. You can turn this setting off in the Project Options dialog box.
If actual work is zero when the task is 100 percent complete, Project copies the value from the Work field into the Actual Work field for the assigned resources.
When you enter actual work or percent complete, Project adjusts actual and remaining work around the status date by default. If you prefer, you can leave these tracking fields in the project as originally scheduled, even if completed work is shown in the future or remaining work is shown in the past. You also do this in the Project Options dialog box.
Actual Work (resource field)
Entry Type Calculated
How Calculated The Actual Work field contains "0 hrs" until you begin tracking the progress of tasks. Project calculates actual work for each resource as the sum of all actual work reported for all assigned tasks.
Best Uses Add the Actual Work field to a resource view to review or filter for actual work information for resources. You can use this field after the task is completed, to help you plan costs and staffing for future projects.
Example You're tracking actual work for Jamie. By reviewing the Actual Work field, you can see that so far, Jamie has reported a total of 150 hours of work for all assigned tasks.
Actual Work (assignment field)
Entry Type Calculated or entered
How Calculated The Actual Work field contains "0 hrs" if you have not yet begun tracking the project. As you enter actual work information for tasks, or percent of work complete, Project updates the assignment's actual work values.
Best Uses Add the Actual Work field to the sheet portion of the Task Usage view to review, filter, or edit actual work information for assignments on specific tasks. Add this field to the sheet portion of the Resource Usage view to review, filter, or edit actual work information for assignments to specific resources. You can compare actual work with baseline work values to see whether your project is progressing according to your original plan.
Example Jamie is assigned to 20 hours for the "Write proposal" task. By reviewing the Actual Work field, you can see that Jamie has reported 9 hours of work so far.
Remarks By default, Project calculates actual work on an assignment based on percent complete values that you enter for a task. You can turn this calculation off in the Project Options dialog box.
When you enter actual work or percent complete, Project adjusts actual and remaining work around the status date by default. If you prefer, you can leave these tracking fields in the project as originally scheduled, even if completed work is shown in the future or remaining work is shown in the past. You can adjust these settings in the Project Options dialog box.
To set the status date to a date other than today's date, in the Project Information dialog box.
Actual Work (task-timephased field)
Entry Type Calculated or entered
How Calculated When you first create a task, the Actual Work field contains "0 hrs" until you begin tracking the project by entering percent complete or actual work. As you enter percent complete, percent work complete, or actual work information, Project calculates the timephased actual work values.
If you enter a value in the Actual Work field for the task, Project divides this value among the assigned resources.
Best Uses Add the Actual Work field to the timephased portion of the Task Usage view to review or edit actual work information for tasks. You can use this information after the task is completed to help you plan costs and staffing for future projects.
Example Jamie, Sean, and Chris are assigned to 60 hours of work for the "Write proposal" task. By reviewing the Actual Work field in the Task Usage view, you can see that collectively they have reported a total of 27 hours of actual work so far, with 3 hours credited to each of the three resources on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.
Remarks If you enter timephased actual work for the task, the values are distributed to the assignments in the same proportion of work scheduled for each assigned resource at that point in time.
Actual Work (resource-timephased field)
Entry Type Calculated
How Calculated The Actual Work field contains "0 hrs" until you begin tracking the progress of tasks. Project calculates actual work for each resource as the sum of all actual work reported for all assigned tasks, as distributed over a period of time.
Best Uses Add the Actual Work field to the timephased portion of the Resource Usage view to review or filter for actual work information for assignments to the resources. You can use this field after the task is completed to help you plan costs and staffing for future projects.
Example You need to see how much actual work Jamie has reported over the past week. By reviewing the Actual Work timephased field, you can see that Jamie has reported 6 hours a day over the past 3 weeks for all assigned tasks.
Actual Work (assignment-timephased field)
Entry Type Calculated or entered
How Calculated The Actual Work field contains "0 hrs" if you have not yet begun tracking the project. As you enter actual work or percent complete information for tasks or assignments, Project calculates the timephased actual work values.
Best Uses Add the Actual Work field to the timephased portion of the Task Usage view to review or edit information on actual work for assignments on specific tasks over a period of time. Add this field to the timephased portion of the Resource Usage view to review or edit information on actual work over a period of time for assignments to specific resources.
Example Jamie is assigned to 20 hours for the "Write proposal" task. By reviewing the Actual Work timephased field, you can see that Jamie has reported 9 hours of work so far, with 3 hours each distributed over Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.
