Disable updates to Start/Finish dates

[ChiefDND]

Hello,

I have a large project that I am working on that has the Projected Start
and Finish columns and an Actual Start and Finish date columns. I would like
to know how to prevent anyone from modifying the Projected dates and when the
Actual dates are edited, prevent them from updating the Projected dates. Is
this possible?

Chiefdnd

 

[John]

Hello,

I have a large project that I am working on that has the Projected Start
and Finish columns and an Actual Start and Finish date columns. I would like
to know how to prevent anyone from modifying the Projected dates and when the
Actual dates are edited, prevent them from updating the Projected dates. Is
this possible?

Chiefdnd

Chiefdnd,
Sure, password protect the file or set the file as Read Only. Beyond
that there really isn't any way to "lock" fields from editing.

I assume you set a baseline so you can track progress.

If you have issues with users making unauthorized changes to the file,
the best thing you can do is train, train and train again. Project files
used in a multi-user environment need to be governed by a set of
groundrules that everybody follows. If your company does not have a set
of groundrules for using Project, then somebody needs to develop them
and make sure all users are trained to use them.

John
Project MVP

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi,

You want to show what is called the baseline rather than the new plan.

 

[dashizzle]

Hello,

I have a piggy back question to this post. The set up I have is this:

I have it on Gantt view with based on Entry. With this view, I have a
"start", "finish" and "actual finish" columns. Whenever I complete a task and
change the "% complete" column to 100%, the date under the "finish" column is
automatically transferred to the "actual finish" column whether it is the
real/today's date or not. Is there anyway to prevent this? I'd like the
"actual finish" column to show today's date rather than the originally set
finish date. If these two columns are the same, it defeats the purpose of
having a finish and actual finish date.

I know people talk about the baseline and how to set it, but whenever I put
it on baseline view in the Gantt chart, the layout changes all my original
column headings. Please help when you have time. Thanks.

 

[John]

Hello,

I have a piggy back question to this post. The set up I have is this:

I have it on Gantt view with based on Entry. With this view, I have a
"start", "finish" and "actual finish" columns. Whenever I complete a task and
change the "% complete" column to 100%, the date under the "finish" column is
automatically transferred to the "actual finish" column whether it is the
real/today's date or not. Is there anyway to prevent this? I'd like the
"actual finish" column to show today's date rather than the originally set
finish date. If these two columns are the same, it defeats the purpose of
having a finish and actual finish date.

I know people talk about the baseline and how to set it, but whenever I put
it on baseline view in the Gantt chart, the layout changes all my original
column headings. Please help when you have time. Thanks.

dashizzle,
There are two ways to set the Actual Start and Finish fields. One is to
simply enter a value into the % Complete field. Project assumes (and
rightly so) that the task actually started on the scheduled start date
or if the task is 100% complete, that the task actually finished on the
scheduled finish date. If that is not the case, then the user should
manually enter the actual start and finish dates. However, be advised
that if you do that, Project will automatically reset the scheduled
dates to the actual dates. Why? Because the actual dates now represent
reality.

There is a reason for baselining a project. Baseline values capture the
schedule plan at a point in time, normally when the plan is developed
but before any work is started. The baseline data then represents a
measurement point for schedule, cost, and other parameters.

With regard to the baseline "messing up" your preferred view, you can
always add the desired baseline fields to your view.

John
Project MVP

 

[dashizzle]

Thanks for your response. However, I would like to know if there is a way to
have the start and finish dates frozen, and then have the actual finish date
be adjustable without changing the finish date. Thanks.

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi,

Simply, NO.
Reality (the actual dates) are more important to the rest of the plan than
an old planned date - that's how life is.
HTH

 

[Steve House]

Save a baseline before starting to enter progress information. The baseline
doesn't change so when you view your project file after upating progress,
the Actual Start and Start will be the same as will Actual Finish and
Finish, all reflecting historical fact while the Baseline Start and Baseline
Finish will show the original planned start and finish dates.