Entering Task Information

[Glenn]

I have a task which has no link to any other task.

If I enter a constraint of Finish No Later Than 12/10/04 and list a duration
of 10d under the Advanced tab and then in the General tab I enter a Start
Date of 06/15/04 and a Finish Date of 12/01/04 then obviously the task will
be starting and then stopping but what happens is that Project complains my
task is linked to another task (WHICH IT IS NOT) and it then sets my Finish
Date to 09/11/05 which is beyond my Project End Date of 09/05/05.

Do I have gremlins in my machine or am I missing something?

Thanks for any assistance.
glenn

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi,

Yes, you are really missing an important thing.
You do not set dates in Project, that is a tool that is meant to calculate
dates for you.
For instance, setting a finish dat removes any previous constraint, etc.
HTH

 

[Steve House [MVP]]

As Jan said do NOT enter task start and end dates. You are indeed missing a
whole lot.

Amplifying a bit. Duration is the time interval between when work begins
and when it ends. You are trying to say it begins 15 June, fine, maybe it
does. But then you are also trying to say it ends 01 Dec. That's almost a
6 MONTH time period. You are ALSO trying to get the system to accept that
time interval as being equal to 10 days. 6 months does NOT equal 10 days,
it equals (in duration terms at 5 work days a week) closer to 120 days.
It's one of severeal possible things - a 10 day task starting 15 June and
finishing about 01 July but with a completion deadline of 10 December, a n
ice comfy grace period, or it's a 120 day task starting 15 June finishing 01
December, or it's a 10 day task starting 15 November and ending 01 December.