general schedule tracking question

[chris]

I have set a baseline for my project and have been tracking progress. I have had tasks that have slipped so there ar
new start and finish dates which have been adjusted by project. Project automatically makes the "actual start" and
"actual finish" equal to the start and finish dates. This is really confusing because it looks like tasks may be completing.
Is there a way to control this so the actual start and finish are empty or "NA" until I actually go in and update them.
I know project will assume the task has started if the start date has passed is there a way to control this or at least control the finish date to not be set until I enter the date
Thanks

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Chris --

If you are entering a % Complete value to show progress on each task, then
Microsoft Project assumes that the task started on its original Start date
and finished on its original Finish date. A method you could use in your
situation would be to the following:

1. Apply the task Tracking Table (View - Table - Tracking)
2. Enter an Actual Start date for the task on the day the work began and an
estimated % Complete for the first week
3. Enter an estimated % Complete on the task each week (do not enter 100%
when the task is finished, however)
4. Enter an Actual Finish date for the task on the day the work was
finished

Just an idea. Hope this helps.

I have set a baseline for my project and have been tracking progress. I

have had tasks that have slipped so there are

new start and finish dates which have been adjusted by project. Project

automatically makes the "actual start" and

"actual finish" equal to the start and finish dates. This is really

confusing because it looks like tasks may be completing.

Is there a way to control this so the actual start and finish are empty or

"NA" until I actually go in and update them.

I know project will assume the task has started if the start date has

passed is there a way to control this or at least control the finish date to
not be set until I enter the date ?