I'm dealing with a project that has many tasks whose start dates are not yet
determined. I want them to show up as tasks, but don't yet have a date to
associate with them. Is there some way I can do this?
Actually, entering the tasks without entering their start dates is how you
should ALWAYS be entering them. You shouldn't ever input the task's start
dates ... the reason MS Project exists is to calculate the start dates and
then tell YOU when they ought to be scheduled. So enter your tasks along
with their durations and the links between them and let Project figure out
the dates for you. Start and finish dates are program output, not user
input.
Yep, I am assuming that. And I make that assumption because he seems to be
saying these tasks in question now are unusual, different from other
"normal" tasks he's entered, in that he has not yet determined the exact
date they should start. That implies that he usually enters the start (and
possibly end) dates along with the other task information. The key is his
statement that HE determines the start date. If he has been letting PROJECT
determine the start dates all along, as it should be, then it wouldn't occur
to him that not knowing the start ahead of time would be a problem or even
unusual
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visithttp://project.mvps.org/faqs.htmfor the FAQs
.
I think you may be assuming, Steve, that he's entering a date. Even if
you don't enter any start date in Project, when you enter a task, it
will automatically enter a start and finish date based on your default
settings of when you want new tasks to start (Project Start Date or
Current Date).
davegb said:Yep, I am assuming that. And I make that assumption because he seems to
be
saying these tasks in question now are unusual, different from other
"normal" tasks he's entered, in that he has not yet determined the exact
date they should start. That implies that he usually enters the start
(and
possibly end) dates along with the other task information. The key is
his
statement that HE determines the start date. If he has been letting
PROJECT
determine the start dates all along, as it should be, then it wouldn't
occur
to him that not knowing the start ahead of time would be a problem or
even
unusual
In that case, Steve, I'll leave you to administer the flogging!
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visithttp://project.mvps.org/faqs.htmfor the FAQs
.
On Dec 7, 10:54 am, "Steve House [MVP]" <sjhouse at hotmail dot com>
wrote:
Actually, entering the tasks without entering their start dates is how
you
should ALWAYS be entering them. You shouldn't ever input the task's
start
dates ... the reason MS Project exists is to calculate the start dates
and
then tell YOU when they ought to be scheduled. So enter your tasks
along
with their durations and the links between them and let Project figure
out
the dates for you. Start and finish dates are program output, not
user
input.I think you may be assuming, Steve, that he's entering a date. Even if
you don't enter any start date in Project, when you enter a task, it
will automatically enter a start and finish date based on your default
settings of when you want new tasks to start (Project Start Date or
Current Date).BTW, if you think you've been entering start dates by typing a date
into
the
Start column, you haven't. You've been setting a Start No Ealier Than
constraint, which is a whole different thing entirely. It is, in
fact,
impossible to directly enter task start and end dates as such.Steve House [MVP]I'm dealing with a project that has many tasks whose start dates are
not
yet
determined. I want them to show up as tasks, but don't yet have a
date
to
associate with them. Is there some way I can do this?- Hide quoted
text -- Show quoted text -
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