Re: How do I 'start date' = current date & 'finish date' = fixed d

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From: Steve House [MVP] (sjhouse.remove.this_at_to.send.hotmail.com)
Date: 12/30/04 

Date: Thu, 30 Dec 2004 11:24:12 -0500

Would very very strongly suggest you NOT use the finish date or set the
finish date to the EOL of the network components. A task is a discrete
package of observable work with a clearly defined start and end. The Start
date is when the resource first picks up his tools and begins work on it.
The finish is when he put down his tools, steps back, and says "That's a
good job!" Your EOL date is most likely quite different from the date work
actually will be completed on the tasks you're describing. It may be the
last date work COULD take place but it's most likely that the work on the
task itself will finish far ahead of that deadline date. Your finish date
should reflect the date you think that task will actually be completed, 999
times out of a thousand calculated from the start date and the expected
length of time it will take to do the work. The start is in turn also
calculated, not input, based on when the tasks that must come before will be
done and the resources required to do the work are available. The EOL is
the date by when it MUST be done, quite different from the date it WILL be
done.

If the EOL of the network is 01 July 2006 and all tasks must be completed by
then, that becomes the DEADLINE of those tasks, NOT a Finish No Earlier Than
constraint (which is what you get, not a MFO, when you input a finish date)
nor a Must Finish On constraint. The only case where the constraint would
be a valid model is whenever work begins on the task it continues steadily
with work being performed up until that date. That can occur, of course,
but it would be very very rare IMO.

Remember the fundamental best practice in Project is to never, ever enter
either start or finish dates for tasks except in certain very special
circumstances (and my reading of what you say you're doing does NOT qualify
as one of those circumstances). Project's reason for existance is to
calculate those dates for you based on what you have to do and the assets
you have to do it with. Let it do its job without trying to second guess it
by supplying your own start and finish fields. In the best of possible
worlds you input just one or two dates for the project as a whole - the date
the project will start and MAYBE the deadline by which it or tasks inside it
must be finished. Everything else is calculated unless there is a very good
reason where events outside your project determine it and it *must* be
supplied. 

-- 
Steve House [MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs
"George" <George@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message 
news:7BA36C1B-E71B-4708-B487-6598C6082C82@microsoft.com...
>
> GREAT!  Formula I used: DateDiff("d",Date(),[Finish]).   Note, that to
> eliminate negative # Days Remaining result I added an IIF Function:
> IIf(DateDiff("d",Date(),[Finish])>0,DateDiff("d",Date(),[Finish]),0).
>
> Much appreciated Steve!!! Have a great New Year!!!!
>
> "Steve House [MVP]" wrote:
>
>> I should have asked what version of Project you're using.  Project 
>> 2002/2003
>> ( I don't remember with 2000) have a field named [Current Date] that you 
>> can
>> use in calculations.  You would use the DateDiff() function to calculate 
>> the
>> difference.  Let's say your end-of-life date was stored in the user
>> definable field [Date1].  To get the number of days remaining you could
>> calculate the field [Number1] with the expression DateDiff("d", [Current
>> Date], [Date1]) and that would give you the number of days until the
>> expiration date.  If that EOL date doesn't apply to all tasks, you might
>> need to add some error detection because a blank [Date1] will result in 
>> an
>> error condition in the result field.
>>
>>
>> -- 
>> Steve House [MVP]
>> MS Project Trainer & Consultant
>> Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs
>>
>>
>> "George" <George@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:C44B3860-1FBF-4E95-9811-DF5E1B49ED61@microsoft.com...
>> > Makes sense, thanks. How can I easily create a 'current-date' field to
>> > include in a calculated field?
>> >
>> > "Steve House [MVP]" wrote:
>> >
>> >> Duration and constraints aren't what you should be using to express 
>> >> your
>> >> requirements IMHO.  Remember, duration is the amount of time between 
>> >> when
>> >> work is first done on a task and when it's finished and NOT the the
>> >> "window
>> >> of opportunity" during which you have to work on it.  If I have a task
>> >> that
>> >> requires 8 hours of work, can start as of today and needs to finish
>> >> before 1
>> >> July 2005, its duration is 1 day and it has a deadline of 1 July; it's
>> >> NOT a
>> >> 6 month duration task unless the resource doing the work is going to 
>> >> put
>> >> in
>> >> a few minutes on it each day between now and July.  Using duration and
>> >> constraints as you're attempting is probably going to royally screw up
>> >> everything else in your plan and it'll end up making no sense 
>> >> whatsoever.
>> >> Instead, grab a user defined number field and create a calculated 
>> >> field
>> >> that
>> >> subtracts the current day from the end-of-life dates and add it to 
>> >> your
>> >> Gantt chart table labeled "Time Remaining" or something appropriate. 
>> >> Let
>> >> your start date and finish date be freely calculated by Project as 
>> >> they
>> >> are
>> >> supposed to and remove those constraints.  If a task must be finished
>> >> before
>> >> the end of life date, express that fact in the plan with a deadline 
>> >> set
>> >> on
>> >> that date.
>> >> -- 
>> >> Steve House [MVP]
>> >> MS Project Trainer & Consultant
>> >> Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> "George" <George@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> >> news:4CB672F6-5DB6-4D97-9343-F9F57EF3E7A7@microsoft.com...
>> >> >I have a small section of the project plan that I would like to show
>> >> >days
>> >> > remaining until ATT end-of-life date for a few of their network
>> >> > services.
>> >> > We
>> >> > are migrating people and want this calendar count down section 
>> >> > visible.
>> >> > I
>> >> > have finish-date set with must-finish-on, can't figure out how to 
>> >> > set
>> >> > start-date to current date so the duration column automatically 
>> >> > counts
>> >> > days
>> >> > between start-date and finish-date.
>> >> >
>> >> > "Brian K - Project MVP" wrote:
>> >> >
>> >> >> George wrote:
>> >> >>
>> >> >> > How do I have keep me 'start date' = current date?
>> >> >> >
>> >> >> > How do I set 'finish date' to a fixed date that doesn't change as
>> >> >> > other tasks are updated?
>> >> >>
>> >> >> You could set a MUST FINISH ON constraint on the task. This would
>> >> >> ensure that the finish date did not move.
>> >> >>
>> >> >> As far as the start date I guess you could have a macro so this but
>> >> >> what is the business reason for this? I dont get why you would want
>> >> >> the
>> >> >> start date to always be 'today'.
>> >> >>
>> >> >> -- 
>> >> >> ___
>> >> >> Brian K
>> >> >> Project MVP
>> >> >> http://www.projectified.com
>> >> >>
>> >> >> Project Server Consultant
>> >> >> http://www.quantumpm.com
>> >> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>>
>>

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