How to freeze start and finish dates

[actual start/finish date columns]

I have start/finish date columns and actual start/finish date columns on my
project. When I change the dates in the actual start and finish date columns,
the dates in the start/finish date columns change as well. I want to make
these dates different and I cant figure out how. I thought that if I try to
freeze the original start/finish dates then the actual start/finish dates
could be different dates.

 

[John]

actual start/finish date columns <actual start/finish date

I have start/finish date columns and actual start/finish date columns on my
project. When I change the dates in the actual start and finish date columns,
the dates in the start/finish date columns change as well. I want to make
these dates different and I cant figure out how. I thought that if I try to
freeze the original start/finish dates then the actual start/finish dates
could be different dates.

columns,
This question has a similar response to a post I answered yesterday.
That post was directed at the Work field, in your case it is the Start
and Finish fields. I'll repeat it here for convenience.

This is a common "misconception" with how Project works. Project has
three fields that track various types of data (e.g. duration, work,
cost, etc.). The main fields are the current schedule fields. For effort
it is the Work field. Once a plan is developed, a baseline should be set
(Tools/Tracking/Save Baseline). That will capture a snapshot of various
fields for later comparison to the current plan. Once the project is
underway, actuals are entered to show what really is happening. Project
will, (and should), adjust the scheduled fields accordingly.

You might want to go to our MVP website at,
http://project.mvps.org/links.htm, and click on the link for fellow MVP,
Mike Glen's tutorials.

John
Project MVP