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Progress Checks

Category weight: 10% of overall score
Checks in this category: 2

Progress checks verify that progress data is consistent and follows the schedule logic. Invalid progress data corrupts earned value calculations, and out-of-sequence progress indicates that work is happening in a different order than planned.

Invalid Progress

FieldValue
Check IDinvalid-progress
DCMA ReferencePoint 12
Default ThresholdNo invalid percent complete values
SeverityMajor

Detects activities with logically impossible percent complete values.

What triggers a finding:

  • Physical percent complete is less than 0%
  • Physical percent complete is greater than 100%
  • Physical percent complete is 100% but the activity has no actual finish date
  • Physical percent complete is < 100% but the activity has an actual finish date

Why it matters: Invalid progress data makes earned value metrics unreliable. A 100%-complete activity without an actual finish date will be counted as complete in EV metrics but will still consume float in the CPM calculation.


Out-of-Sequence Progress

FieldValue
Check IDout-of-sequence-progress
DCMA ReferencePoint 12
Default ThresholdNo out-of-sequence violations
SeverityMajor

Detects activities that have started or progressed before their predecessors allow. This means work is happening in a different order than the schedule logic dictates.

What triggers a finding: An activity has actual progress, but one or more of its predecessor relationships have not been satisfied:

RelationshipViolation Condition
FS (Finish-to-Start)Successor started before predecessor finished (accounting for lag)
SS (Start-to-Start)Successor started before predecessor started (accounting for lag)
FF (Finish-to-Finish)Successor finished before predecessor finished (accounting for lag)
SF (Start-to-Finish)Successor finished before predecessor started (accounting for lag)

Why it matters: Out-of-sequence progress indicates one of two things:

  1. The relationships are wrong — the logic should be updated to reflect the actual execution sequence.
  2. Work started prematurely — the team is not following the planned sequence, which can create schedule risk.

Either way, the schedule planner should investigate and correct the issue.


Next Steps