Setting an End Date for an Activity Plan

[Shawn Everingham]

Is it possible to set the end date for an activity plan?

the field is there, but greyed out...

I want to set up my activity plan for a specific date range.

Any help out there? thanks in advance!

Shawn

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Shawn --

To get a Finish date for an Activity plan, you have to add tasks to the plan
and set a Duration value for each task. Hope this helps.

 

[Shawn Everingham]

very much so...thanks! I'll let you know if it doesn't work for some reason!
Thanks Dale!

Your friend, Shawn

 

[Shawn Everingham]

ahhh....the finish date isn't working when setting up the tasks either...the
way it works is, you put a duration and Project Server calculates the finish
date...you cannot edit the finish date...this is not good.

Is this expected behavior? or some security feature that needs to be enabled?

I want to set the start date, and the end date for the task/activity plan. I
want to control the allocation via a resource plan. Any help?

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Shawn --

This is expected behavior, as it works exactly the way that Microsoft
Project works. Set the Duration of the tasks in your Activity plan so that
the system calculates the desired Finish date. Even in Microsoft Project,
you cannot set both a Start date AND a Finish date.

Beyond this, I am trying to figure out your goal in using an Activity plan
with a Resource Plan. Resource Plans work well with both Proposals and
enterprise projects to "reserve" the time for each resource, but I don't
recommend using a Resource Plan on an Activity plan. What is your goal in
doing so? Let us know.

 

[Shawn Everingham]

first, I thought I could set an end date in Project Pro...just do a split
window and set the window to be resource work. I set the start date and the
finish date and it calculates the duration based on resource allocation.

The problem I have with not being able to set the finish date, is that I
don't want to have to count up calendar days, and assuming I know what the
enterprise calendar holds for days off and holidays and such, I am playing a
guessing game in setting up an activity plan that I want to say, end at the
end of the year.

So, for a task, I set the start date to today...I know this activity plan is
going to expire on Jan 1, 2009...so I want my tasks to complete at that date.
I have to then pull out a calendar, start counting days, and then toying with
the value until the end date is what I want. Sounds bassackwards to me.

Why am I using a resource plan? because an Activity plan allocates you to
the task at 100% 8hrs a day. We use the activity plan as a vehicle to get the
tasks displayed on the resources My Task list. We then use the resource plan
to control the allocation...so they can be assigned to other, non
operational, projects.

Hope that helps...sure wish there was a way for me to tell project what my
finish date is.

Thanks Dale for your quick response.
Shawn

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Shawn --

There's no way of setting a Finish date in an Activity plan, as I have
stated previously, short of entering tasks with Durations. So, I suspect
you will just have to work around that limitation.

Regarding your use of the Resource Plan, I'm still puzzled as to what you
are trying to accomplish. Are you saying that you do both of the following:

1. Assign each resource to tasks in the Activity plan.
2. Assign each resource to a Resource Plan attached to the Activity plan.

Given the fact that #1 above assigns each resource automatically at 100%
Units, then doing #2 as well will show the resource as overbooked in every
time period. Anyway, just trying to figure out what you are doing with
that, but I know this was not your original question. See the two sentences
again for the answer to your original question. Hope this helps.