How can I show that a task was finished ahead of time?

[Al]

I have an independent task that was scheduled to finish on 8/25/09,
constraint Type is "As soon as possible". The task was finished ahead to
time, today. However, MS Project is showing that the task is finished on
8/25/09 even though today is 8/5/09; we are not at this date yet. Is there a
way to make Project reflect the original deadline and that the project was
finished ahead of time?

 

[Rob Schneider]

I'll ask a few questions which hopefully will point you in the right
direction for some discovery.

Which specific field (column) is Project using to show you that the task
is finished on 8/25?

What happens when you input into the field "Actual Finish"?

How are you tracking progress/completion of tasks?

--rms

 

[Jack Dahlgren]

If you want to show which date it finished, you need to enter the "Actual
Finish" date. There are a number of ways to do this, including entering it
directly in the "Actual Finish" column (this is visible in the "Tracking
Gantt" view). If you simply mark the task as 100% complete, project will set
the actual finish to be the same as the planned finish.

-Jack Dahlgren

 

[Al]

Rob, this is good question. I should have addressed it. The finished date did
not change, It is the indicator column (first column with the blue "i"). It
is showing a check mark and a calendar icon. When you hover over the icon it
says "this task completed on 8/25/09", Based on the finish date that was
assigned originally. I wanted or was hoping that when you hover over that
icon it would say finished on 8/5/09 even though the finish data shows
8/25/09. Because this would reflect a great accomplishment that we have
finished this task ahead of schedule. I hope this is clear.
thanks

 

[Al]

Forgot to reply to your other questions. When I change the actual finish
date, it changes the finish date as well. As far as tracking
Progress/Completion, I am just updating the tasks complete percent when they
are done. So far everything is done ahead of time.

 

[Al]

But the actual finish should show earlier date than the planned finish and I
guess that this is what I am trying to do to show that we are ahead of
schedule on some tasks

 

[Rob Schneider]

So what happens when you input the actual finish date into the "actual
finish" date field?

--rms

 

[Jack Dahlgren]

You need to ENTER the actual finish date. Project does not know what it
should be until you TELL it what it was.

-Jack Dahlgren

 

[Al]

When I enter the actual finish date, it changes the planned finish date as well

 

[JulieS]

Al,

Pardon me for bumping in. Your "planned finish date" is in the
**baseline finish field** assuming you've saved a baseline *before*
you started supplying actual data. The baseline finish will not
change. The finish date showing in the schedule will equal the
Actual Finish date and Project will calculate the difference between
the baseline finish date and the actual finish date.

I hope this helps. Let us know how you get along.

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional
information about Microsoft Project

 

[Al]

Julie,
Thank you so much, you actually answered my question. I did not create a
baseline yet. this helped me. thanks
Al

 

[JulieS]

You're welcome Al. Glad to have helped and thanks for the feedback.
Julie

 

[Mike Glen]

Hi Al,

Welcome to this Microsoft Project newsgroup

You might like to have a look at my free series for beginners on Microsoft
Project in the TechTrax ezine, particularly #25 et sec on tracking and
progressing, at this site: http://tinyurl.com/2xbhc or this:
http://pubs.logicalexpressions.com/Pub0009/LPMFrame.asp?CMD=ArticleSearch&AUTH=23
(Perhaps you'd care to rate the articles before leaving the site,
Thanks.)

FAQs, companion products and other useful Project information can be seen at
this web address: <http://www.mvps.org/project/>

Hope this helps - please let us know how you get on

Mike Glen
MS Project MVP

 

[Al]

Thank you so much Mike, I am looking at it right now
Al

 

[Mike Glen]

You're welcome, Al, I hope you find it of use

Mike Glen
MS Project MVP

 

[Al]

Very helpful thanks

You're welcome, Al, I hope you find it of use

Mike Glen
MS Project MVP