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Finish date of a partially finished task is incorrect

Answered Finish date of a partially finished task is incorrect

  • Wednesday, 23 May 2012 4:23 PM
     
     
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    See the excerpt from my project below.  I don't understand why the Finish date for task 331 stretches out to 7/16: its predecessor (330) finishes on 6/20, and there is only 4 days of remaining duration left for 331.  The only thing I can see that might be impacting this is that 331 is 20% done and started earlier than the predecessor.  What can I do to make Project reflect reality more accurately?

    

    Dan

     

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  • Wednesday, 23 May 2012 5:49 PM
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    Before we look into the issue further just wanted to check on the followings:

    1) This Work field in your snapshot is Custom Field? Is it a calculated field?

    2) Check if 331 have any Constrain linked to it, that could be a reason for Finish Date.

    3) Tasks are Manually or Auto Scheduled? Or planned in manual mode and later changed to Auto mode? In that case is the check box in Options ->Schedule -> Keep task on nearest working day checked?

    4) Are you adding Start Date directly in Start Column or in Actual Start Date?

    5) Have you applied leveling which has pushed this task's finish date to accommodate resource conflict?

    Sapna S

     
  • Wednesday, 23 May 2012 5:58 PM
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    Look at the Gantt chart view.  Do you see a split in task 331?  My guess is the 4 days of remaining duration are scheduled after the completion of task 330.  I would also look at the Task Usage view  Is there non working time for Tim in between 6/20 and 7/16?
     
  • Wednesday, 23 May 2012 7:14 PM
     
     
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    Thanks Julie.  When I look at the Gantt view, I see that it shows the task as "complete through" July 2 (see below).  Thus the remaining work doesn't start until then (rather than directly after task 330).  I don't see any "actual work" filled in during that period.  What would cause Project to think that the task is complete through that date?

    Dan

     
  • Wednesday, 23 May 2012 9:53 PM
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    Hi Dan,

    It's possible the "Reschedule uncompleted tasks to start after" command was used to reschedule the work past July 2.  Double click on the task and click the Advanced tab -- is there a Start No Earlier Than constraint on the task?

     
  • Thursday, 24 May 2012 2:16 AM
     
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    Hi Julie.  I suppose that's a possibility--Tim made a mistake a while back on updating the project.  I did look at the constraint on the task, and it was "as soon as possible".  But, on the other hand, the task had already started, so maybe the remaining work got rescheduled, but the constraint remained the same.  At any rate, I used the brute force method: I went into task usage, cleared the actual work done on the task, recalculated the project, re-entered the original actual work, and recalculated again.  That seemed to fix the problem.  Thanks for your help.

    Dan

     
  • Thursday, 24 May 2012 1:10 PM
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    Hi Dan,

    The reschedule command is the most common culprit for that kind of task splitting, and you are correct it would not put a constraint due to the actual start date being entered.

    Another method of the split is having had zero actual work entered for days or weeks -- but usually that shows in the Task Usage or Resource Usage view.

    I'm glad you were able to fix it and you're most welcome for the assistance.

    Julie