The 'Progress Line' option has been added to Primavera P6 Project Management since version 7.0. 

The Progress Line provides a quick visual indication to show if an activity is running ahead or behind schedule. 

You can show the Progress Line by going to View, Progress Line in Primavera P6.

The calculation for the Progress Line can be customized by going to View, Bar Chart Options, Progress Line.  

For 8.3: View, Bar, Bar popup window, click "Options" to  open "Bar Chart Option" window.

If you select 'Based on difference between current and baseline activity's':

The Progress line will be drawn from the data date. The progress line is calculated as:

Activity date - Baseline Date (this is effectively showing the date variance).

For example, if the baseline date is 5 days before the live activity date, then the progress line will be drawn from 5 days before the data date.

If you select 'By connecting Progress points based on Activity's':

The progress line will show the activities progress, compared to the baseline dates. The progress line will be drawn with respect to the baseline bar. Please note: with this option, the Progress line will only display if the appropriate Baseline bars are showing.

If you select the 'Percent Complete' option, the progress will be calculated from the 'Activity % Complete'. For example, if an activity is 25%, then the progress line will be drawn 25% of the way along the baseline bar.

If you select the 'Remaining Duration' option, then the progress point will be calculated as:

Progress Point = Baseline Finish - Remaining Duration.

Please note: the Progress line will be drawn from the Data Date if:

• The activity is a Milestone.
• The activity does not exist in the baseline.
• The activity is completed.
• The activity is not started, and the baseline start is after or on the Data Date

Note that the Progress Line is only drawn for individual tasks in Primavera P6.  So, for example, a group of collapsed summary tasks will show the Progress Line directly down the Data Date.