start and finish dates

[Lalig]

I am creating a new MSProject plan and when I create summary level tasks,
with subtasks, the summary level Start and Finish dates are supposed to
reflect the dates underneath it from the subtask. But the summary dates are
not getting updated.

Also, when you add dependencies to tasks, the dates are supposed to
automatically change too to reflect the dependencies… this is not happening
either.

I tried creating a brand new plan, but still have the same issue with the
Summary tasks and dependencies. Any idea what is going on ??>

 

[Mike Glen]

If you have entered actual data like %Complete, it will set the Start Date
in concrete. If you want the Finish Date to move, don't use %Complete in
favour of Actual Start, Actual Duration or Hours and Remaining Duration or
hours - let Project calculate the % Complete for you.

Mike Glen
Project MVP
See http://tinyurl.com/2xbhc for my free Project Tutorials

 

[Hilde Corbu]

Hi!

If the task has already a % complete, it means that the Actual Start of that
taks is already set and the further changes in the tasks relationships won't
change the information in the start column of the Gantt Chart.

Project will behave the way you expect it (change the start date in start
column when you put start-to-start relationship) during planning. If you
input % complete, you are in execution/control processes and the behaviour is
different when tasks have actuals.

Hope this clarifies a little bit your issue. Please let me know.

 

[mbrown1]

OK - I understand. My short term fix was to remove the % complete (back to
0%), my dates moved and then I put back in my percent complete. I'd like to
understand how to proceed the best way. I'm working in a project that is
partly still in the planning phase (new tasks and relationships being added)
and part of it is going strong. I've always been accustomed to entering the
% complete based on feedback from project members. The members are not as
confident in their start/finish estimates, but they usually know how far
along they feel they are. Any ideas???

 

[Lalig]

THANK YOU ... problem solved ! Really appreciate the help. Lalig

 

[Hilde Corbu]

For the new tasks you add to your plan, you do the planning as you are used
to.

For tasks already planned and which are now during execution, the actual
start, actual finish and actual duration shoud reflect the reality from task
execution.

Using % complete, you just mentione that the task has some progress but you
also assume the task started as planned.

For a more proper tracking during execution, I would suggest to use "Update
Task" feature. Tools -> Tracking -> Update Task.

In Update task window, you shoud input Actual Start and Actual Duration at
the date you update the progress (usually called status date). As a result,
Project will calculate for you the % complete and. if the task is completed,
will also calculate Actual Finish. More than that, the Gantt chart is updated
with your actuals and the plan is always displaying the current situation.

By using Update Task, you can also make a re-estimation of the remaining
duration which will help you replan the task according to the team members
information during execution.

Update task can offer support to trak tasks in various situation such as:
tasks started later/earlier than planned, has longer/shorter duration than
planned, make a new estimation of the duration left to be performed.

 

[Steve House]

If they are giving you a % Complete, they have to know the start and
projected finish dates to even come up with a valid number. % Complete
deals with the passage of time. If it's anything other than zero, they know
the start date with absolute certainty since that's the date they first did
some work on it. % Complete is defined as ActualDuration/TotalDuration To
say a task is 30% complete after they have worked on it for 3 days, for
example, they must know that the Total Duration will be 10 days. Since the
finish date is the start date plus the duration, if they know the start and
know the % complete, they know their [estimated] finish date. If they can't
give you that, discard their estimate of percent complete as being
unreliable.

There are three completion percentages: % Complete, % Work Complete, and
Physical % Complete. They are measuring completely different things. When
you get progress information from your resources, make sure you on the same
page.

 

[Mike Glen]

You're welcome, Lalig

Mike Glen
MS Project MVP
See http://tinyurl.com/2xbhc for my free Project Tutorials