"Unlink" separate date columns in Project 2000

[Todd F.]

I'm a relatively new user of MS Project, and I haven't been able to figure this one out. I've created a project timeline with a number of different columns, including (Projected) Start Date and Actual Start Date. Although these dates for a particular task could be identical, oftentimes they're not. Yet, whenever I choose the appropriate date under "Actual," the same date appears in "Projected" for the same task. It's almost as if these two columns are linked, but they are defined as different date columns. Is there any way to break this link?

 

[John]

Todd,
No, and you don't want to "break the link". Think of it this way. Let's
say you have a task with a scheduled Start date of 7/1/04 but the task
didn't actually start until 7/5/04. Once the task starts on 7/5/04 there
is no value to keeping the scheduled Start date at 7/1/04 because it
never happened. What you probably want to do is track progress against
the original schedule. That's what the baseline is for. When a project
plan is initially developed, a baseline should be set (I don't have my
PC on at the moment but as I recall it is under Tools/Tracking/Save
Baseline). Once the baseline is set, progress is measured by several of
Project's fields (e.g. schedule variance, earned value, etc.).

Hope this helps.
John

 

[John]

John,
Yes, did you read my whole response? Read the part about setting a
baseline again. That is exactly what a baseline is for. Take a look at
the Project help file and read all about baselines. If you then have
additional questions, please post again.

John