Percent Plan Complete (PPC) is a Last Planner System measure of weekly planning reliability. It shows the percentage of assignments a construction team promised for a defined period and finished 100% as planned. The calculation is:
PPC = (assignments completed 100% as promised ÷ total assignments planned) × 100
![Construction Project Management & Estimating for Beginners: [2 in 1] From Estimates to Execution - Mastering Project Bids, Estimating Techniques and Management Essentials for New Professionals](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/511FzD120CL._SL160_.jpg)
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
If a team completes 8 of 10 planned assignments as promised, its PPC is 80%. That example illustrates the arithmetic; it is not a reported project result. PPC is about whether commitments were delivered under the agreed plan, not how much of the whole project has been physically built.
What PPC means in construction
Percent Plan Complete belongs to the Last Planner System, a collaborative production-planning approach used by construction teams. The measure is taken from the Weekly Work Plan, where the people responsible for performing work agree on specific completions they will deliver during the coming period.
#1 Best Overall
Those promises are called assignments or commitments. At the next review, the team checks each assignment against the condition that was agreed in advance: was it completed 100% as planned, on the stated day or within the stated period? PPC is the percentage that passes that test.
The Lean Construction Institute’s 2023 Last Planner System Standard Work: 11 Percent Plan Complete (PPC) defines the measure as “the percentage of assignments that are 100% complete as planned.” The wording matters. PPC evaluates the reliability of the plan and the commitments made by the team; it is not a general progress percentage.
Always state the period used for the calculation. LCI material frames PPC around assignments made for the week and describes determining the metric for the period since the last meeting. A weekly PPC figure is meaningful only when readers know which weekly work plan and review interval produced it.
Quick wins for a faster PC:
Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →How to calculate PPC
Use the standard formula
Count the assignments in the defined Weekly Work Plan. Then count how many were completed 100% as promised. Divide the successful assignments by the total planned assignments and multiply by 100.
PPC = (number of assignments completed 100% as promised ÷ number of assignments planned) × 100
Worked arithmetic example
Suppose the weekly plan contains 10 assignments and 8 meet the agreed completion condition. The calculation is:
(8 ÷ 10) × 100 = 80%
The denominator is 10 because that is the complete set of assignments made for the stated period. The numerator is 8 because only those eight satisfied the 100%-complete, as-promised rule.
Windows Errors? Fix Them Before They Spread
Repair common Windows errors and clear accumulated junk for a smoother, more stable PC - no reinstall needed.Free scan · no reinstallOutdated Drivers Are Slowing You Down
One free scan finds every outdated or missing driver and matches the right update for your exact hardware.Free scan · exact hardware matchKeep the period and denominator explicit
Write the reporting period beside every figure, such as “PPC for the weekly work plan reviewed on 14 October.” Do not combine assignments from an active week, a backlog, and a look-ahead plan unless the team has deliberately defined one consistent measurement period. Changing the denominator changes the result and makes trend comparisons misleading.
Rank #2
What counts as a completed assignment?
Whole assignments, not partial progress
PPC uses whole assignments as its unit. An assignment is in the numerator only when it is 100% complete as planned. A task that is half finished, nearly finished, or waiting for a final portion of work does not meet that definition for the period under review.
This binary rule prevents teams from turning PPC into a subjective progress score. A commitment either met the agreed completion condition or it did not. If the team wants to track quantities installed, hours earned, or physical progress, those are separate measures.
On-time completion is part of the promise
The assignment must be completed on the day stated or within the completion window agreed in the Weekly Work Plan. Work finished after the promised date is not counted as completed as planned for that period, even if the work is eventually finished. Record the miss and its reason so the team can improve the next plan.
Free tools Windows power users keep installed
One-click scans. No signup required.
Backlog work is not automatically included
Last Planner System terminology distinguishes a workable backlog from active weekly commitments. Activities sitting in a backlog but not assigned for the active week are not part of that week’s PPC denominator. Including uncommitted backlog items would make the metric describe a different plan from the one the team actually promised to execute.
How PPC fits into Last Planner System planning
1. Develop the look-ahead and remove constraints
Look-ahead planning examines upcoming work and identifies constraints that could prevent it from becoming executable. This stage is broader and further out than the commitment-level Weekly Work Plan. Constraints may involve information, approvals, materials, access, preceding work, labor, equipment, or safety conditions.
2. Make the Weekly Work Plan
Once work is ready to be performed, the people who will do it agree on specific assignments for the coming period. Each assignment should be clear enough that everyone can tell what “complete” means, when it is due, and who owns the commitment. This is the will level of planning: work the performers say they will complete, rather than work someone merely hopes will happen.
3. Review the plan at the next meeting
At the review, the team checks every assignment against its promised completion condition. Mark each one as complete as planned or not complete as planned. Calculate PPC from those results, then document the reason for every miss.
4. Plot and display the result
LCI recommends plotting PPC on a bar chart and displaying it where the team can see it. A visible chart makes reliability trends part of the weekly conversation. A construction planning whiteboard or chart board can be used for this display, but the physical medium is optional; the important practices are consistent definitions, visible results, and a regular review.
5. Use variance reasons to improve the next plan
PPC tells you that a commitment was missed; it does not, by itself, tell you why. The team should record the variance reason, look for recurring constraints or planning errors, and adjust future commitments. The purpose is learning and improved workflow reliability, not assigning blame to an individual trade or worker.
PPC versus physical percent complete
These measures answer different questions and should not be substituted for one another.
| Measure | Question answered | Unit | How the result is determined |
|---|---|---|---|
| Percent Plan Complete | How reliably did the team deliver the assignments it promised for the defined period? | Whole weekly-plan assignments | An assignment is counted only when it is 100% complete as planned and on the promised day or period. |
| Physical percent complete | How much of the project, area, quantity or scope has been built? | Physical scope, quantities or other progress basis | A progress measurement method appropriate to the project; it is not the binary PPC rule. |
A project could have a high PPC while still being at an early physical stage, because the team reliably completed a small set of weekly commitments. Conversely, a project can show substantial physical progress while a particular week has a low PPC because several promised assignments were not completed on time.
What is a good PPC percentage?
The Lean Construction Institute’s 2023 Standard Work gives 75% to 90% as the expected range for a high-performing team average in that context. Treat this as LCI guidance, not as a universal industry threshold, contractual requirement, or guarantee of project success.
The number must be read together with the quality of the commitments. A team can produce a superficially high PPC by making very small, easy or ambiguously defined assignments. A lower figure may reflect difficult but meaningful commitments, unresolved constraints, or a temporary disruption. The score is useful when assignments are properly scoped and the team examines the reasons behind variance.
No single universal construction-wide PPC average is established by the cited sources. Do not present the 75–90% range as an industry-wide norm or use it to rank unrelated projects without checking how each team defines assignments and reporting periods.
How to interpret a high or low result
When PPC is high
A high result indicates that a large share of the stated commitments met their completion condition. Check whether the assignments were meaningful, properly defined and supported by realistic planning. Also examine whether recurring constraints are being removed or simply avoided by narrowing the commitments.
Recommended Free Tools
When PPC is low
A low result is a prompt for investigation, not a diagnosis. Review each missed assignment and identify the variance reason. The pattern may reveal constraints that were not removed during look-ahead planning, unrealistic durations, missing prerequisites, unavailable information, material or equipment problems, access conflicts, or a commitment that was not defined clearly enough to verify.
Use the findings to improve the next Weekly Work Plan: remove constraints earlier, change the sequence, revise the handoff, clarify the completion condition, or make a more realistic commitment. Avoid treating one week’s percentage as a complete assessment of project performance.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Comparing PPC between teams or periods
Comparisons are useful only when the measurements describe equivalent plans. Before comparing two figures, confirm all of the following:
- The reporting period is the same type and duration, such as one weekly work-plan cycle.
- The assignments are defined using the same completion rule.
- “On time” means the same stated day or agreed completion window.
- The denominator covers the same kind of active weekly commitments rather than mixing backlog, look-ahead activities and assigned work.
- The scope and level of planning are comparable.
The available guidance does not provide a standardized adjustment for differences in task size or complexity. Raw percentages alone therefore do not make unlike projects, phases or trades directly comparable. Keep the assignment definitions and review method stable within a project so that trends over time remain interpretable.
Common PPC mistakes and corrections
Counting partial completion
Mistake: awarding partial credit because most of an assignment is finished.
Correction: apply the 100%-complete rule consistently. Record the assignment as not complete as planned for PPC and capture the reason.
Counting late work as successful
Mistake: marking an assignment complete because it eventually finished, even though it missed the promised day.
Correction: judge it against the original commitment for that period. A late completion is useful operational information but does not satisfy the as-planned result.
Using the wrong denominator
Mistake: dividing by all activities visible on a master schedule or look-ahead board.
Correction: use the assignments actually made for the defined Weekly Work Plan or review period.
Changing definitions from week to week
Mistake: changing what counts as an assignment, complete, or on time between reporting cycles.
Correction: document the rules and keep them stable. If the rules change, explain the break in the trend rather than presenting the figures as directly comparable.
Do these 3 things before closing this tab:
1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsUsing PPC as a blame score
Mistake: treating a low percentage as proof that a person or trade performed poorly.
Correction: examine system constraints and planning conditions, then use variance reasons to improve reliability. PPC is an outcome measure, not a root-cause analysis.
A practical weekly PPC checklist
- Define the review period and write it next to the metric.
- List only assignments made for that active period.
- Agree in advance what 100% completion means for each assignment.
- Confirm the promised day or completion window.
- At review, classify every assignment as complete as planned or not complete as planned.
- Calculate the numerator, denominator and percentage.
- Record the variance reason for every miss.
- Plot the result on a visible bar chart.
- Use recurring variance patterns to remove constraints and improve the next plan.
Key takeaways
PPC is a focused reliability measure: it reports the share of weekly commitments delivered 100% as promised. Calculate it from the active Weekly Work Plan, keep the period and denominator explicit, exclude unassigned backlog work, and do not give partial credit. The 75–90% range is LCI’s 2023 guidance for a high-performing team average in its Standard Work, not a universal target. The most useful PPC conversation comes after the arithmetic, when the team studies why commitments were missed and changes the planning system accordingly.
Quick Recap
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
