It's not that you shouldn't add tasks, it's that you shouldn't expect the
start date of the partially complete task to move in response to the link
from the inserted task. The work that was done will be shown as occurring
on the date that it was done and those dates are properly locked in granite.
If you get part-way into a task and come up against a wall where you can't
go farther because something was needed from a predecessor that had
accidently been omitted, go ahead and add the predecessor and link. Then
use the "reschedule uncompleted work" tool in the Tools, Tracking,
UpdateProject menu to move both the new unworked predecessor and the
remaining part of the partially worked task forward from the date they
currently show to the first date that work can actually be done on them.
Example - Assume default calendars. Task Fidget, the first task in the
Project, will take 10 days and started yesterday, the Project Start Date.
At the end of today we discover that progress stops at 20% done because we
forgot to include 3 day task "GetReady" in the plan and it produces
something that's now needed by Fidget thus Fidget can't proceed further
until we do that task. So we insert "GetReady" before "Fidget" and link it
FS. Now the plan shows GetReady starting yesterday and Fidget also
yesterday. Fine so far? (Remember? You never supply start and finish
dates, so for the moment the added task shows occuring in the past. That's
OK, we'll fix it in a moment.) That sets up the problem you described. OK,
so now we run the "reschedule work" tool I mentioned above. GetReady moves
to show starting tomorrow (we don't have a time machine that lets us go back
and do work that we should have done yesterday but didn't do) since that's
the earliest day we can actually do it, starting tomorrow (Wed) and
finishing Friday. The Fidget task splits, leaving the two days of work that
were done yesterday and today right where they are, and the rest moves out
to start next Monday, the first available workday after the completion of
GetReady.
On your second issue - when you post something is x percent complete Project
assumes the work is taking place exactly as called for in the schedule.
When you post that it is 100% complete you say that the total duration and
the amount of work that was required is exactly what you'd esitmated. If
it's not (as is very often the case), don't use the % Complete entry field
to enter the data. Instead, as the task progesses, update the Actual
Duration field with the amount that has been worked and the Remaining
Duration field to show the estimate to completion, letting Project calculate
what percentages that represents. When the task is done, enter the Actual
Duration that it took you to do the work and zero in the Remaining Duration
field. Project will set the task as 100% complete with an updated total
duration that reflects your true situation. Some people go so far as to
suggest that you just forget that the % Complete field is there except for
the simplest of projects and make it a habit to always post progress by
updating the Actual and Remaining Duration fields along with the Actual
Start and Actual Finish fields.
--
Steve House [MVP]
MS Project Trainer/Consultant
Visit
http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs
Deluth said:
Steve,
I think I'm confused. Does this mean I should not add tasks in front of a
completed task? What happens if in the middle of a current task, we
realized that we are dependent on another task from someone else, couldn't
we add this task and wait for it to complete while we're at 30% complete?
Is it that I recorded the wrong field when I update progress? If so, which
field should I use to update progress in my schedule?
Another related question: When I update % complete and the task did not
complete by the estimated finish date - meaning the task took longer than
expected or it's late - Project doesn't update the corrected finish date
when the task finally becomes 100% complete. How do I set it so that
Project would warn me that the uncompleted task may cause that task to be in
a critical path, causing my project to be delayed? Once again, am I using
the correct field to update progress?
