Re: Setting that stops a Date from being fixed

Hi Tom,

Your option to split must be on, and what you see (and do not like) is what
I thought you needed.
And sorry,, the option is in Tools, Options, schedule instead of
Calculation... I always mess up those two.


I'm glad you are finding a process you like, but I'm still at a complete
loss here.
What's the point of registering a % complete if afterwards you move that
anyway? Is is done or not done?
I like a tool that at least tries to simulate reality not just a set of
calculation rules I make up, sorry.
And in my world done is done, shouldn't move any more.
About fixing the start date where it was.
How can project know the start date was any other date if you don't tell it?

Try to think away from %complete (something I never never never enter), it
is the result of a calculation but it should not be the start of one as it
leaves all questions about the work done open: Project fills them with
defaults but those are only defaults. And the default for actual start is
the planned start..; I fail to see what would be a better default.

And for someone who doesn't stop repeating dates are not important, you put
quite a lot of attention to Actual start.

Indeed, I personally attach a lot of attention to dates (as does your boss
if I understand you right) but ONLY dates in the future. That is why I like
the way Project has with those split tasks...

Greetings,

--
Jan De Messemaeker
Microsoft Project MVP
http://users.online.be/prom-ade
"tshad" <t@xxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:%23TNE4gQXHHA.1212@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Jan De Messemaeker" <jandemes at prom hyphen ade dot be> wrote in message
news:OtHclNPXHHA.2052@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hi,

Some comments, if you allow.
First, and this has nothing to do with he Proeject product, I personally
would systematically introduce Actual duration and remaining duration
rather than % finished.

That looks great.

I now have: Task Name, Duration, %Complete, Actual Duration, Remaining
Duration, Start and Finish (which I hide in my printouts as they aren't
important).

OBTW, I do exactly what you do - just duration, no work.

So how do you handle the work completed? Do you do it by % or hours?

Second, Project or not, in my view when a task has started in the past no
tool should change its start date.
That has happened, full stop, I will not start over.
And when I start over I'l put % complete to zero.

That is how I get it to reset. I print out the Gnatt chart so I can see
what the % Completed is. I then go and zero out all the % Completed
fields and the program recalculates everything. I then go down the %
Completed fields and re-add back in the values that were there and the
graph looks as I want it to.

I agree with you on the philosophy of history - when started you can't
start over. But 2 issues with that:
1) In my case, date is not an issue. I am filling in the %Completed on
the day I start the work - just that I started the work. I may do it at
the end of the week or just before a meeting to show the progress. So the
Start Date is not accurate anyway. And my boss is not interested in when
I started the tasks just how much work is done.

2) I just noticed that when I first enter a value into the % Completed
Field, it fixes the date on the date that is in the field not the date I
enter it. For example in my sample project, I have a task that shows the
Start Date as 3/14/07. I just now added 10% into the % Completed field.
If the Start Date, for historical purposes, were important. It should
change that date to 03/02/07. But it doesn't. It still shows as
03/14/07. Even on the Actual Start Date column. I can fix that by
manually changing the date to 03/02/07. But then that is the point at
which I would expect it to fix the date - because I manually entered. It
is fixing it to an estimated incorrect date. So allowing it to
recalculate is shouldn't really be an issue. The graph would also be
confusing as it shows that I started on 03/14/07 (which I didn't). Now if
I add a task before it that has a duration of 20 days, the start date will
still be 03/14/07 but there is now a dotted line to where the end of the
task I just added and then rest of the old task (is this the Split in
process Task you were talking about?). If I add another 40% to the
%Completed it would show the work done in the split section of the task on
the right. If I add another task before this task again, it splits it
again and leaves the piece completed where it was and moves the rest of
the task to the right.

Actually, I kind of like that now that I look at it a bit. But the splits
are not based on the date the work is done but based on where the previous
tasks End Date was.

Just an observation.

But have you applied what I suggested? Tools, Options, Calculation,
"Split In process tasks" onj

Can't find it. I see all kinds of fields but on the Calculation Tab but I
can't find the "Split In Process tasks". What does it do? Does it do
what I saw above with the graph example? Maybe it is the default and is
somewhere else now after SP2.

Because that IS THE SETTING YOU ARE LOOKING FOR
When you insert and link a new task as you describe, the part that is
done on a successor task will not change so the start date will not
change (supposing you are married, you may or may not regret your
marriage date but any new task now will no more change it) BUT THE
REMAINDERWILL BE RESCHEDULED - isn't that what you need?

When you say the Remainder are you talking about the End Date and/or the
Graph with the dots between the splits?

I am definately learning a lot about Project here.

Thanks,

Tom

No tool wilth a minimum of logic in it will react otherwise.

--
Jan De Messemaeker
Microsoft Project MVP
http://users.online.be/prom-ade
"tshad" <t@xxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:eB5$wEPXHHA.4668@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
What I am trying to do is set up a simple plan simply.

I am not concerned with when a project starts or ends other then how it
relates to calculating duration of the project. I am the only person
working on these projects so I am not concerned with resources and Scope
is not important. And I am not concerned with cost so earned values are
not important. The reason that dates are not important is that I am
setting up multiple Software projects at work that have no end date per
se. For example: I have about 4 projects I am working at the moment.
All have about 15-50 tasks when they start up.

What I am concerned with is the approximate time it would take to finish
the project just to get an idea of what to expect. I jump from project
to project as priorities change - so trying to use start dates or end
dates for anything other than to calculate duration is really pointless.

There is no timecard. I just want to use a % done type of calculations
(was using either % Work Complete or % Complete). Something like task 5
is 50% complete or 75% or 100%. Not actual hours - just an indication
on the progress of the task based on whether it is done or not - not
based on the duration that was specified. I can look at the graph on
the Gnatt chart and tell how much is done and not done. I can also look
at the %Complete in each Summary Task including the Project Summary.

As we go in the project, I want to be able to add a task and have it
push the task after it further right (there are no overlapping tasks).
What I found was that the Dates were becoming fixed an then prevented
the task from moving which messed up the % Completed Calculations and
graph display.

The only thing I really display for my boss is the Gnatt chart that
shows only Task Name, Duration, % Completed and Timeline (which shows
how much has been done at this point). He can look at the Graph to see
how the tasks are progressing as well as the % Completed in the
respective tasks and/or Summaries.

This actually does show reality. It shows approximately how long a
project will take (not when it will finish). As we do our projects, we
find that we need to add a new feature (would normally be Scope creep
but in our case we are not concerned with this) because a client asks
for it or we decide it doesn't flow the way we thought it would or we
just feel that things have changed.

Maybe Project can't do this, I don't know.

As I said, it did it fine until we add the requirement of added a new
task after the project has started (or change a duration).

Thanks,

Tom

"Jan De Messemaeker" <jandemes at prom hyphen ade dot be> wrote in
message news:OG$fpXJXHHA.1120@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hi,

First, End dates will recalculate as long as %complete is less than
100, at least when the task can split.
But ming you, Project is made to recalculate a plan, not to rewrite
recorded history.
And when you enter % complete without changing the start date that one
becomes recorded history.
By the way, do you want Project to show reality? If yes it behaves
normally
If you want it to show any date you think fit, don't enter Actual data
such as %complete...
This being said, when you have the option "Split in Progress Tasks" on,
the unfinished part of the task WILL move - Project is ready to plan
everything which is not recorded history.

HTH

--
Jan De Messemaeker
Microsoft Project MVP
http://users.online.be/prom-ade
"tshad" <t@xxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:OY$9HBJXHHA.2052@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I found that if I put any amount in the %Complete field the Start and
End
dates lock. Such that if I change the duration of task before the
task with
the locked date, it won't recalculate the date. The same behavior if
I add
a task before it - it won't recalculate. I need it to recalculate.

Is there a way to get it to recalculate the start and end dates even
if
there is anything in the %Complete field?

Thanks,

Tom













.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Setting that stops a Date from being fixed
    ... changed a duration before a task that was started - all the start dates ... It is done - just that I wanted the graph to show it inline with the other ... calculation rules I make up, ... End dates will recalculate as long as %complete is less than ...
    (microsoft.public.project)
  • Re: Setting that stops a Date from being fixed
    ... would systematically introduce Actual duration and remaining duration ... The graph would also be confusing as it shows that I started on ... I see all kinds of fields but on the Calculation Tab but I ... First, End dates will recalculate as long as %complete is less than 100, ...
    (microsoft.public.project)
  • Re: Work vs Actual Work
    ... But - setting Remaing work to zero recalculate Duration (and Actual ... Regarding support from Microsoft - I asked local Microsoft support - ...
    (microsoft.public.project)
  • Re: Setting that stops a Date from being fixed
    ... What I am trying to do is set up a simple plan simply. ... anything other than to calculate duration is really pointless. ... First, End dates will recalculate as long as %complete is less than 100, ... becomes recorded history. ...
    (microsoft.public.project)
  • Re: Need a simple formula to calculate EV and PV seperately
    ... calculation for purposes of basic Earned Value Management. ... Cost of Work Scheduled and associated derived metrics, ... Regardless of whether the user enters the % Complete or Actual Duration ... Complete for summary tasks, we can follow a similar method to establish ...
    (microsoft.public.project)
Loading