Re: Setting fixed task start and end date

Thanks for your kind words! But what a mess - I feel for you!!!!!!!


Mike Glen
Project MVP

Pr4gm4tik wrote:
Thanks, I read the article and its fine work (I rated it highly) :)

And I agree with the general philosophy of one resource per task and
that would probably make life much simpler in this case. However,
unfortunately the tasks coming from the legacy system have groups
assigned to them (groups which only have meaning inside the legacy
system), so I have a custom resource mapping utility that resolves
those group names to the actual AD users (i.e. there are generally
between 1-15 resources assigned to a task), and most tasks fall into
that category.

Our goals would be simplified greatly if the legacy system weren't
involved.


"Mike Glen" wrote:

You're welcome, :-)

I think you may have hit the nail! You need to understand the
effects of multiple resource assignments. You might like to have a
look at my series on Microsoft Project in the TechTrax ezine,
particularly #10, at this site: http://tinyurl.com/2xbhc or this:
http://pubs.logicalexpressions.com/Pub0009/LPMFrame.asp?CMD=ArticleSearch&AUTH=23
(Perhaps you'd care to rate the article before leaving the site, :)
Thanks.)

Mike Glen
MS Project MVP

Pr4gm4tik wrote:
Thanks, and I will try the developer group. I found that by
putting a duration of 90,000 I was able to get most of the tasks to
come close (they come out to 93.75 days) -- some tasks come out to
187.5 days. It seems to have something to do with the number of
resources assigned to the task, in case you have any thoughts there
from an end user perspective (those are helpful as well since
ultimately the project managers will be manipulating the tasks
using Project Pro).

"Mike Glen" wrote:

The setting for 90 days is just that: 90 days. Project will
interrogate your calendar and work out the start date based on your
finished date.

If you want to program these entries, I suggest, once again a
re-direction, that you post to the developer newsgroup where the
experts hang out. I really can't help with code.

Mike Glen
Project MVP


Pr4gm4tik wrote:
If I just enter a task manually, and try to set start and end
dates of 9/15/07 and 12/15/07 respectively, it adjusts them to
the next working day, making it 9/17/07 and 12/15/07 (which would
be fine). However, unless I can accomplish something similar
programmatically, I don't think we will be able to use Project
for this, because it is essential that we pull data from the
legacy system for import (and since the legacy system is still in
use daily, adding tasks manually is not yet feasible).

Regarding the calendar, mine is set to the default settings:
Week starts on Sunday, Fiscal Year Starts in January, Default
Start Time 8am, Default end time 5pm, hours per day = 8, hours
per week =40, days per month=20.

Given those calendar settings, what would be the appropriate
duration setting for 90 days?

Thanks

"Mike Glen" wrote:

Don't forget that Duration is always in working time according to
your calendar settings, ie 90 days Duration = 90/5 = 18 weeks or
about 4 months and a bit. Have you tried keying in the data
rather than using vba to bring it in? What results do you get
then?

Mike Glen
Project MVP

Pr4gm4tik wrote:
Here's an example following using that approach:

//Add the task
tsk.ConstraintType =
MSProject.PjConstraint.pjMFO; tsk.ConstraintDate
= "12/15/2008"; tsk.Duration = 432000;

Here I have basically said finish on 12/15/2008 no matter what,
with a duration of 90 days (from what I've read duration is
mins * 10, with an 8 hour day being 4800 so its 4800*90).

With that code I get tasks that end on 12/15/2008, but start on
3/27/07. Perhaps there is a problem with my duration value? I
tried experimenting with the duration settings under Tools >
Options > Schedule and it only made a difference in the way its
displayed, the dates came out the same.

"Mike Glen" wrote:

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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