PPC: measuring plan reliability

PPC measures whether the team completed what it said it would complete.

Percent Plan Complete — PPC — is a simple measure of plan reliability. It compares the number of planned commitments completed as promised with the total number of commitments made for the period.

If 18 activities were promised for the week and 15 were completed as promised, PPC is 83%.

Why the percentage is not enough

A PPC trend can show whether planning is becoming more reliable, but the real learning comes from the work that did not complete. Every missed commitment should have a clear reason.

Typical causes might include predecessor work, access, design information, material, labour, equipment, approvals or an unrealistic duration.

Measure commitments, not vague intentions

PPC only becomes useful when commitments are specific enough to be judged. “Continue cable installation” is difficult to close objectively. “Complete cable installation in Rooms 201–204” is much clearer.

Good commitments have a defined scope, location, responsible team and expected completion point.

Look for patterns

One missed commitment is an event. Ten missed commitments for the same reason are a management signal. If access repeatedly causes plan failure, the project has an access-planning problem. If predecessor work is the recurring cause, the handover process may need attention.

Try it on your project

For one week, record every daily or weekly commitment and mark it complete only when the promised scope is genuinely finished. Calculate PPC at the end of the period. Then group missed commitments by reason. The reason chart will often be more useful than the PPC number itself.