Ignore scheduling conflicts

[wireplay]

Is there an option I can turn off to keep MS Project from handling scheduling
conflicts when importing XML data? it is blanking out valid dates due to
conflicts and I need the planner to address those, not MS Project.

I am not a MS Project user, just a developer.

 

[JulieS]

Hi wireplay,

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by "handling scheduling
conflicts". Project will kick an error message when a scheduling
conflict is created and I believe you can disable that by unchecking
the "Planning Wizard" options on the General tab of the Tools >
Options dialog box.

As far as "blanking out" valid dates -- I've never seen project do
that either. Is it possible you are trying to import data that
conflicts -- for example Task A is the predecessor to Task B in a
finish to start relationship but then you try to set the start of
Task B before the start of Task A?

Give us a bit more information about what specific pieces of data
you are attempting to import and perhaps we can be of more
assistance.

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

 

[wireplay]

Thanks Julie. I think I need to gather more information. i am trying to
isolate why i can create well-formed XML with the correct project data in it,
then, when I convert it from XMl to MPP, no matter what i do, project wants
to make changes to the data. I have tried turning calculation mode to manual,
ignoring messages, etc. but project still does odd things.

As just one example, if I set a task to fixed duration in XML, specify the
number of days to use, when it imports it, it converts all of the fixed
durations to either a 0 or 1 and makes the parent task duration 0.

What I am going to do is to create a project, programmatically, then slowly
start modifying the options until I can see why it is doing this conversion,
despite being told not to.

wireplay

 

[wireplay]

Julie,

I am working with one of the largest project user firms in the world. They
have a very complex system integration requirement so we are shuttling data
to and from databases and trying to stuff the data into MS Project and have
it 'comply' with this legacy data until a planner can go clean it up.

Here is a sample of what I am being asked to do and the results with mocked
up data:

http://pfdn1a.bay.livefilestore.com...uWKCjuvG1Bg/Sample Project Issue.pdf?download

I am sure that this is a violation of project rules but there is a lot of
legacy data outside of project and I am grossly simplifying the data here. I
have also asked my wife, who trains project management, but I would like to
get insight from as many PMs as possible.

The basic question is: can I tell MS project to turn off all validation so I
can bring the data in and then allow a PM to see all of the 'bad' data and
clean it up?

Thanks again for the help,

wireplay

 

[JulieS]

Hi wireplay,

I've taken a quick look at the pdf file and there are several
issues. You are attempting to add information to Project that does
not compute. You cannot have a task which has a start and finish
which are different from the Actual Start and Actual finish. If you
want to show planned start and planned finish you need to be writing
data to Baseline Start and Baseline Finish (your start and finish)
and then have the Actual Start and Start and Actual Finish and
Finish match. The same issue applies with the Duration data.

You can't turn off the math which goes on behind the scenes in
Project -- it's like asking Excel to write a formula and calculate
1+1 = 8.52. It just can't happen.

I think there is also some misunderstanding about what "Fixed
Duration" does and means. Fixed duration simply means that if you
change either work or assignments units, the duration of the task
will not be modified. It doesn't mean that you can set a duration
which is different than the start and finish dates.

I don't really have many suggestions for you -- you won't get the
same results in Project as Excel -- very different products with
very different calculation structures. I do suggest however,
exploring Baseline information (Start, Finish, Duration, Cost) and
Actual data. That's what I think you're trying to reflect, you just
can't do it with the fields you are attempting to write to.

Julie

 

[wireplay]

Thanks Julie.

That kind of confirms what I suspected. Time to punt to the project sponsors
and ask them what they want to do.

wireplay

 

[wireplay]

BTW, I am just trying to meet aggressive deadlines set by the PMs ;-]

Doing the impossible....

wireplay

 

[JulieS]

I understand completely. Remember, the impossible is possible -- it
just takes longer and requires more money

Good luck and do let us know if we can assist in any way.

Julie

BTW, I am just trying to meet aggressive deadlines set by the PMs
;-]

Doing the impossible....

wireplay

Hi wireplay,

I've taken a quick look at the pdf file and there are several
issues. You are attempting to add information to Project that
does
not compute. You cannot have a task which has a start and finish
which are different from the Actual Start and Actual finish. If
you
want to show planned start and planned finish you need to be
writing
data to Baseline Start and Baseline Finish (your start and
finish)
and then have the Actual Start and Start and Actual Finish and
Finish match. The same issue applies with the Duration data.

You can't turn off the math which goes on behind the scenes in
Project -- it's like asking Excel to write a formula and
calculate
1+1 = 8.52. It just can't happen.

I think there is also some misunderstanding about what "Fixed
Duration" does and means. Fixed duration simply means that if
you
change either work or assignments units, the duration of the task
will not be modified. It doesn't mean that you can set a
duration
which is different than the start and finish dates.

I don't really have many suggestions for you -- you won't get the
same results in Project as Excel -- very different products with
very different calculation structures. I do suggest however,
exploring Baseline information (Start, Finish, Duration, Cost)
and
Actual data. That's what I think you're trying to reflect, you
just
can't do it with the fields you are attempting to write to.

Julie

 

[Márlon]

Julie, that information about Actual Start needing to be the same as Start
seems to be usefull to me. I'm generating a XML file to be imported into MS
project, and i'm getting problems like wireplay describes. I don't want to
bypass validation, but I'd like to understand it so I can explain the user
why the modifications are beeing made, and even validate the data myself
before generating the XML

Is there a documentation about project XML format? Not one that tells me
that Tag "ActualDate" is used to store the actual date , but one that
really explains how the fields works, just like you did.

Thanks in advance.

 

[JulieS]

Hello Márlon,

I'm not aware of any single document for the detail you describe. I
suggest taking a look at the field definitions in Project through
the Project interface. You could create some custom tables in
Project containing the fields you are going to be importing data
into. You can then hover your mouse over the field (column)
headings and get quick links to specific help topics on each field.

I am not at all well versed in XML, but you cannot import any sort
of data into Project fields that are in conflict with the
calculations or relationships that Project uses.

You are also more than welcome to post any specific questions here
and we'll pitch in to help.

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