Re: Setting fixed task start and end date

Project will only allow you to put a constraint on one end of a task, not
both. Try making one of them a Must... constraint and see the other being
driven by the Duration you enter.

Mike Glen
Project MVP

Pr4gm4tik wrote:
I'm unsure what made you feel the need to be combative. You
suggested I post to the server group, and I followed your suggestion
and that's the only reason I posted there. You now seem to be
contradicting your own advice at this point and chastizing me for
posting in both places.

I had no intention of wasting anyone's time who was not inclined or
able to help, I'm simply trying to use the groups for what they are
hear for, and I posted an MS Project Professional question in the
general group and was then asked to move it to the Server newsgroup.
I was simply pointing out that it was not a Project Server question;
I mentioned Project Server to provide insight into the higher level
task I need to solve.

Regarding letting Project do it's job, I understand what you're
saying and it's my personal opinion that Project is not the best tool
for the task my boss wants to accomplish. I suggested that I can
develop a custom app in C# in a relatively short that behaves
*exactly* as desired, but there is a basic philosophy of integrate
versus build here. If we cannot get Project Pro / Project Server to
behave as desired it makes an excellent case for developing a custom
solution.

To answer your question, the tasks do not have constraints currently.
I have experimented with constraints to see if they solve the
problem, but they don't. The constraint of As Soon As Possible is
the default. I have experimented with all of the different
constraint types and still have not found a way to absolutely set the
dates to, for example 1/1/2008 - 7/1/2008. Why on earth would I want
every task to have a six month duration? That leads me back to where
Project Server comes in... it will only autopopulate timesheets with
tasks if the task falls within that time period. These tasks are
being imported into Project from another system, without scheduling
information, so we need them to appear in the user's time***
without regard to scheduling. The six months timeframe is arbitrary,
we need to be able to set it to 60 days, or 2 years, or whatever is
needed to ensure it always shows up in the user's time***.

If you or anyone can help, that's great. I'm uninterested in
engaging in unconstructive arguments.


"Mike Glen" wrote:

So you want someone here to give you an answer and waste someone
else's time in the server group?

The only way to fix a date is to use the Must Start On constraint or
the Must Finish On constraint. Any others won't do. Are they the
constraints you're using? In any event, you would do best to make
them all As Soon As Possible and put deadline dates to alert you of
problems. Project's job is to tell you want is possible with the
data you've entered - let it do it's job.

Mike Glen
Project MVP



Pr4gm4tik wrote:
Hi Mike,

I have posted this in the server group as well, although I do want
to point out I am trying to accomplish this in Project Pro 2007,
not in Project Server. Server plays into it in a sense, but it is
the thick client app that is adjusting the dates.

"Mike Glen" wrote:

Hi Pr4gm4tik ,

Try posting on the server newsgroup. Please see FAQ Item: 24.
Project Newsgroups. FAQs, companion products and other useful
Project information can be seen at this web address:
http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm

Mike Glen
Project MVP


Pr4gm4tik wrote:
I am inserting tasks into the project from another system using a
.net utility running against the Project Pro 2007 object model.

I need to set absolute start and end dates for tasks -- I do not
want Project Pro to change these dates for any reason. I have
turned off automatic calculation for the project, but it still
seems to adjust the dates as it seems fit.

The reason this is important is the project is being published to
Proj Server 2007, and tasks can only be auto-populated in the
user's time*** if the task is scheduled within the time***
period, so I need to make the date range wide enough to cover all
possible time*** periods.


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