can I format A specific date cell to read N/A or can I leave it bl

[Boricua]

I have a project document in which I'm trying to enter the dates given to me
for each task, but there are several task that do not have dates. Can I
leave those particular task without dates and just type in n/a or can I leave
them blank until I get a specific date to start and finish it?

 

[Chris Marriott]

Boricua

I assume you are referring to Start and Finish dates. Project will
automatically populate the date fields.

The start date for each task is based on the Project's start date and and
the duration(s) of any other tasks that the task is dependent on.

The finish date is as above obvisouly taking the duration into account.

You can not apply N/A to start and finish dates in a project, nor will the
date fields stay blank. This is not the case if you are referring to custom
fields.

Note: when you apply a specific start of finish date to a task you are
applying a flexible date constraint which will restrict the scheduling
engine. This is represented in the indicator column with an icon of a
calendar with a blue spot in it.


I hope this helps.


Chris Marriott

 

[Boricua]

Chris,
I knew it was not possible. However, for my bosses peace of mind I wanted
to make sure all the necessary troubleshooting and research was completed
before I convinced him it was impossible.

Thank you so much!
Boricua

 

[Steve House [MVP]]

You need to explain a few things to your boss (perhaps print and show him
this message). Best practices say that you should not EVER be inputting the
start and end dates for the individual tasks in Project except in the very
specific circumstance when you need to establish a constraint. The
exception, the constraint, is used to take into account events that
influence your project but are out of your control such as when a vendor may
not be delivering the parts required for a certain task before 15 January -
in that case you would input 15 Jan as the start date of the task that uses
those parts so a start-no-earlier-than constraint is established, insuring
that it is never scheduled any earlier than the date the parts will be
there. But manually inputting the task dates based on your boss's estimates
puts constraints on *all* the tasks and results in a schedule that is
seriously crippled in terms of being a useful project modeling and
management tool. All manner of problems might develop as work on the
project proceeds and there's an excellent chance you'll never see them until
it's too late because the inappropriate constraints have disabled most of
Project's forecasting abilities.

Project's purpose is NOT to illustrate a schedule that has been derived
elsewhere - in the best use, you input the project's start date only.
Project then takes that, along with the estimated durations and logical
relationships between the tasks, and computes the individual task start and
finish dates for you. It is scheduling software, designed to create
schedules from basic information about the work to be done and the assets
with which you have to do it, not just make pretty pictures of schedules
that already exist. Since your boss already has some dates in mind, it can
serve as a reality check as to whether those dates are do-able and
realistic. And that's why you can't leave a task start and finish date
blank or leave it NA - there will always be something there, the result of
Project's calculations. If the dates Project comes up with when you let it
do its thing unimpeded by dates you have input differ from the dates your
boss thinks tasks should happen, the smart money will bet on Project's
calculated schedule being the one closer to what is really going to happen
in the real world when your resources go out there to do the work.

 

[Majid]

I would say Yes with certain condition: The only way to have N/A is to
create a cutomized field with using Star1 -Finish 1.
Obviousely a project must have a start and finish date. In this case you
may have to set a predieined start for a project with duration 0 until the
project timelines are established.
I hope this help.
Majid-Biovail

 

[Steve House [MVP]]

The thing is, you are putting the project into MS Project in order to
determine the timelines. That's what it does - calculate timelines. As I
often put it, you don't tell Project the timeline you want, it tells YOU the
timeline you can have! You can certainly hide the start and finish fields
and display other fields in their place but that doesn't stop Project from
populating the real start/finish fields for all the tasks or placing the
Gantt bars according to the results of its calculations.
--
Steve House [MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs