Recalculate finish date

[Nik003]

Is there a way to make project recalculate estimated finish date at both task
and project level, based on actuals, work calendar, resource availablity and
remaining time in Project 2007? It's all nice when everything is real-time,
but we need to know how the project finish date gets pushed based on the
actuals from resources.

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi,

That's what Project is for.
It's not that "there is a way", Project will do that for you, full stop.
HTH
--
Jan De Messemaeker
Microsoft Project Most Valuable Professional
+32 495 300 620
For availability check:
http://users.online.be/prom-ade/Calendar.pdf

 

[Nik003]

For some reason it does not do it... Must be the plan I'm working with...
the reverse of it is, is there a way to force it not to? Maybe whoever
started this plan didn't wanted that...

 

[ahelp]

Hi Nik,
As Jan pointed out, Project should do that for you. It is possible to turn
off automatic calculation, so go into Options from the Tools menu and go to
the Calculation tab. Ensure that the Calcuation mode is Automatic. If it's
not, you'll want to change it to Automatic and click on the Set as Default
button.

 

[Nik003]

OK,

Here's the situation... you guys tell me if I'm expecting too much:

I've got on a plan, multiple tasks in the past (both start and finish in the
past), tasks which are not complete. Let's assume they are all 30% done.
Let's also assume start date is March 12, 2007 and end date is June 15, 2007.
But at this point in time, since we are in Aug. 30, 2007... I need to know,
based on the resources assigned to this task, their future availablity, and
all other information available in the plan like for example, resource
assigned to other tasks in the plan, when will these tasks be ready. Sort of
like what the estimated completion date is. Not to mention, a possible
what-if scenario calculation, like, what if I add this new resource to help,
how much faster is the task going to be completed...

Makes sense now? Am I asking too much? In an older product there was a
feature called auto-scheduler that was doing this calculation on a click of a
button...

 

[ahelp]

I don't know that this will make any difference, but what version of Project
are you using?
If you click on the Assign Resources button (or select on the Tools menu)
select a resource, and click on Graphs, you can view resource availability.
If you go to the Resource Usage view, you can see what their other assignment
are. As you assign resources, if the task is Fixed Work and Effort driven,
the finish date should slide as you add or subtract resources. Likewise, if
your tasks are linked with dependencies (rather than using contraints like
must start on), your whole schedule should move dynamically as changes are
made to one portion.

 

[Nik003]

Project 2007.
What about the issue where the task end date is in the past, and I want to
recalculate at this time when it will be complete? Without modifying any
resource allocation?

 

[ahelp]

I believe what you're looking for is Tools, Tracking, Update Project. Then
Reschedule uncompleted work to start after.... Then if you have tasks that
should have finished in the past, but have remaining work, that remaining
work will be rescheduled, thus moving the finish date (assuming no
constraints like "must finish on").

 

[Mike Glen]

Hi Nik003,

Welcome to this Microsoft Project newsgroup

Have you tried updating the schedule via Tools/Tracking/Update....? You
might like to have a look at my series on Microsoft Project in the TechTrax
ezine, particularly #26 on 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 article 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

 

[Nik003]

That sounds about right, I'll run it by my PM's to see if it helps them.

Thanks.