What causes my dates to change in error?

[EdLivingston]

Project Start and Finish dates are changing when I save the file. If I open
sub-projects within, the dates correct themselves.

 

[JulieS]

Hi EdLivingston,

A couple of assumptions -- you have a master project which contains
multiple inserted projects. When you initially open the master
project, the dates showing in the Start and Finish fields are
incorrect. If you expand the subprojects to show all tasks, the
dates change. Does that about sum it up?

If so, there is nothing incorrect in what you are seeing. When
working with inserted linked projects, it is not until you show the
tasks in the inserted project that Project really calls to the data.
The most common cause of different dates/times is a difference in
the calendar definition between the inserted project and the master
project.

I hope this helps. Let us know how you get along.

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional
information about Microsoft Project

 

[EdLivingston]

JulieS,

Yes, the assumptions are correct. There is great consistency in the dates
which come up when first opening the file, and hey do change to the correct
dates when I cycle through "Show All Subtasks" and "Show Outline Level ..."
All Sub-Projects are using the same calendar, however.

I also see crazy durations, i.e. 34.73 Days, come up. No task within the
file has a duration of xx.x3, so I have no idea where a xx.73 number
originates. I do know that such an occurance only happens in a sub-project
which contains durations with "1Day?" and or no Resource assigned.

Ed

 

[JulieS]

Hi Ed,

Is the master project using the same calendar as the subprojects?
Is the definition of day and week consistent in the master and subs?

Julie

 

[EdLivingston]

JulieS,

Yes to both questions. Mean while I found something interesting... At the
suggestion of one of our code writers I expanded all tasks & sub-tasks,
including sub-projects, and saved the entire project, using the "Save-All'
option. I closed MS Project and, when I opened a new MS Project, and then
opened my Master Project file all of the dates came up correctly! I went
back, a collapsed all and saved, and, when I reopened (new MSP) the dates
were wrong, but identical to those shown prior to saving in expanded format.
Where does MS Project get these seemingly meaningless numbers?

Ed

 

[JulieS]

Hi Ed,

I'm afraid I don't have a 100% answer for you. When the information
in the subproject file and the master project file are different, it
is usually a difference in either calendar definition (for example,
a non-working day in the subproject which is still a working day in
the master calendar) or in the definition of days or weeks. For
example if in the master project a day is defined as 8 hours but in
a subproject the definition of a day is 7.5 hours, the duration in
the subproject will show as .94 days. When the two definitions are
set the same, it shows correctly. Although the numbers may appear
as "meaningless" they are usually related to one (if not both) of
those issues.

Specifically why it is appearing in your project is impossible for
me to guess without actually seeing the project files.

Julie