Calculating Drop Dead Dates in Project

[The Hobbit]

Hi All,

I've had a quick Google but can't find (or possibly can't describe in
search-speak) the answer I'm looking for.

A bit of background... I've got a number of projects which get assigned to
us along with their launch dates, at some stage we will also recieve the
requirements for the project and from these we can estimate home much
development, migration, build and testing time will be required to make the
requirements a reality.
What I'm wanting to to is have 4 field into which I can drop these estimates
and in turn use these values to calculate a "drop-dead" date by which I'll
need all requirements if we're to deliver by the required date.

I've been experimenting with a customised field, based on a formula which
trying to do something along these lines:


DropDeadDate=[RequiredDate]-([DevelopmentDays]+[CodeMigrationDays]+[BuildDay
s]+[TestAndDeployDays])

The code I've got thus far is:
DateValue([Date1])-([Number4]+[Number5]+[Number6]+[Number7])
but of course it's not respecting the weekends so I want to some how
constrain it to only use working days.

I've also dabbled with:
ProjDateSub([Date1],([Number4]+[Number5]+[Number6]+[Number7]))
which I don't really expect to work as it's not subtracting one date from
another... but you can see what I'm trynig to acheive...

Can anyone point me in the direction of a formula/approach which will work
for this?

Thanks in advance...

 

[Rob Schneider]

Hi All,

I've had a quick Google but can't find (or possibly can't describe in
search-speak) the answer I'm looking for.

A bit of background... I've got a number of projects which get assigned to
us along with their launch dates, at some stage we will also recieve the
requirements for the project and from these we can estimate home much
development, migration, build and testing time will be required to make the
requirements a reality.
What I'm wanting to to is have 4 field into which I can drop these estimates
and in turn use these values to calculate a "drop-dead" date by which I'll
need all requirements if we're to deliver by the required date.

I've been experimenting with a customised field, based on a formula which
trying to do something along these lines:


DropDeadDate=[RequiredDate]-([DevelopmentDays]+[CodeMigrationDays]+[BuildDay
s]+[TestAndDeployDays])

The code I've got thus far is:
DateValue([Date1])-([Number4]+[Number5]+[Number6]+[Number7])
but of course it's not respecting the weekends so I want to some how
constrain it to only use working days.

I've also dabbled with:
ProjDateSub([Date1],([Number4]+[Number5]+[Number6]+[Number7]))
which I don't really expect to work as it's not subtracting one date from
another... but you can see what I'm trynig to acheive...

Can anyone point me in the direction of a formula/approach which will work
for this?

Thanks in advance...

I think what you are asking about is date arithmetic (which is different
than arithmetic on normal numbers). Is the dateadd() function what you
are looking for? Also take note od datediff().

 

[Jack D.]

Hi All,

I've had a quick Google but can't find (or possibly can't describe in
search-speak) the answer I'm looking for.

A bit of background... I've got a number of projects which get assigned to
us along with their launch dates, at some stage we will also recieve the
requirements for the project and from these we can estimate home much
development, migration, build and testing time will be required to make
the requirements a reality.
What I'm wanting to to is have 4 field into which I can drop these
estimates and in turn use these values to calculate a "drop-dead" date by
which I'll need all requirements if we're to deliver by the required date.

I've been experimenting with a customised field, based on a formula which
trying to do something along these lines:


DropDeadDate=[RequiredDate]-([DevelopmentDays]+[CodeMigrationDays]+[BuildDay
s]+[TestAndDeployDays])

The code I've got thus far is:
DateValue([Date1])-([Number4]+[Number5]+[Number6]+[Number7])
but of course it's not respecting the weekends so I want to some how
constrain it to only use working days.

I've also dabbled with:
ProjDateSub([Date1],([Number4]+[Number5]+[Number6]+[Number7]))
which I don't really expect to work as it's not subtracting one date from
another... but you can see what I'm trynig to acheive...

Can anyone point me in the direction of a formula/approach which will work
for this?

Thanks in advance...

Simple. Create four tasks named Development, Migration, Build and Testing.
Set the duration of each to the estimated duration. Link them together.
Create a milestone called Launch. Link it to the end of those tasks.
Create a milestone called Requirements Due, Link it at the beginning.
Double click on the Launch milestone (on the table side, not the chart side)
Go to the advanced tab and set a constraint of "Must finish before" and then
set the date that you are given for it.
Now go to insert menu and choose insert column. Insert the Late Finish
column.
The date in the late finish will be the drop-dead date for any activity,
including your requirements due.

This is how Project is supposed to work. Using a formula to replicate the
natural functioning of Project is to overlook the obvious.


--
Please try to keep replies in this group. I do check e-mail, but only
infrequently. For Macros and other things check http://masamiki.com/project

-Jack Dahlgren, Project MVP
email: J -at- eM Vee Pee S dot COM


+++++++++++++++++++

 

[Rob Schneider]

Hi All,

I've had a quick Google but can't find (or possibly can't describe in
search-speak) the answer I'm looking for.

A bit of background... I've got a number of projects which get assigned to
us along with their launch dates, at some stage we will also recieve the
requirements for the project and from these we can estimate home much
development, migration, build and testing time will be required to make
the requirements a reality.
What I'm wanting to to is have 4 field into which I can drop these
estimates and in turn use these values to calculate a "drop-dead" date by
which I'll need all requirements if we're to deliver by the required date.

I've been experimenting with a customised field, based on a formula which
trying to do something along these lines:



DropDeadDate=[RequiredDate]-([DevelopmentDays]+[CodeMigrationDays]+[BuildDay

s]+[TestAndDeployDays])

The code I've got thus far is:
DateValue([Date1])-([Number4]+[Number5]+[Number6]+[Number7])
but of course it's not respecting the weekends so I want to some how
constrain it to only use working days.

I've also dabbled with:
ProjDateSub([Date1],([Number4]+[Number5]+[Number6]+[Number7]))
which I don't really expect to work as it's not subtracting one date from
another... but you can see what I'm trynig to acheive...

Can anyone point me in the direction of a formula/approach which will work
for this?

Thanks in advance...

Simple. Create four tasks named Development, Migration, Build and Testing.
Set the duration of each to the estimated duration. Link them together.
Create a milestone called Launch. Link it to the end of those tasks.
Create a milestone called Requirements Due, Link it at the beginning.
Double click on the Launch milestone (on the table side, not the chart side)
Go to the advanced tab and set a constraint of "Must finish before" and then
set the date that you are given for it.
Now go to insert menu and choose insert column. Insert the Late Finish
column.
The date in the late finish will be the drop-dead date for any activity,
including your requirements due.

This is how Project is supposed to work. Using a formula to replicate the
natural functioning of Project is to overlook the obvious.

very elegant.. hats off to seeing that.