2 hour tasks duration extending to 1+years!!?

[Frank]

Hello,

I am having problems with some of my tasks durations being set to ridiculous
lengths of time. Now I am going to have to explain my wording here, the work
for one task for example is 2hrs, the duration is actually 2hrs aswell,
however, the finish date is set at a year or so after the start date. Even
after one of these tasks reaches 100% it is still not moved to before the
status date.

If i force it behind the status date by putting a must finish on constraint
on it (which i know is bad practice) it will move back but it will still
claim that the start date is a year or so before the status date.

I think it may be a problem with the way I am updating the progress. I
update on a weekly basis where I establish the project status date, then i
only update the %work Complete and then use tracking and update project so
that all uncompleted work is moved to after the status date and re-level.

Has anybody encountered a problem such as this before or can see a problem
with the way I am updating the progress?

Any help would be much appreciated,

Kind Regards,
Frank


I am using microsoft project professional 2007 connected to a server by the
way

 

[Steve House]

Are you saying that your schedule shows a task starting, say, this Monday
with its duration and work both being displayed as 2 hours and yet its
finish date is listed as being a year away? The only way I can think that
that can happen is if schedule calculations are disabled completely by
turning off recalculation altogether. Either that, or the columns labeled
"Start," "Finish," or "Duration" are actually custom fields and are not
showing the real start and finish schedules at all. Even constraints
created by manually entering start and/or finish dates won't have that
particular effect.

The finish date of a task is not its required finish date, it is the
date/time that the activity on the task is predicted to actually stop if it
starts as scheduled. Finish dates are ALWAYS [StartDate] + [Duration], they
simply can't be anything else. If your task is 2 hours of work and requires
the resource's full attention to it while he's working on it, so he is
working on it at a 100% effort level, in other words, its duration is 2
hours as well. If that task starts Monday at 8am, its finish will be Monday
at 10am and it really can't be anything else. There may be a DEADLINE 1
year away but that's not even close to being the same thing as its finish
date.

Your schedule is not a mere document of objectives. Rather, it is a
document that your resources should be able to look at and receive their
marching orders, learning where they need to be when and doing what in order
to fulfill their obligations to the project, it should structure their
working lives what they need to do and when they ought to be doing it.

HTH

 

[Frank]

Hello Steve,

Thank you for your time. Yes I understand that it can't be possible but
somehow that is what is happening.

The only thing that i have found that makes this area different to the
hundreds of other areas in this project was something i saw from archived
versions of it. That is that it could be the project synchronisation system
that we are using that updates the project. So i'm thinking i should maybe
post this problem on the server chat area.

What it could be is that a few weeks ago the sub area was created but left
at 0hrs and at a later date the actual hours were entered. Since then this
problem has arisen. The update system we are using is called JMS and it
basically synchronises with microsoft project server to update basic task
information such as area names, subtasks and hours of work required. So it
does not do any updates of durations, start dates or anything that could be
diectly related to this problem.

Have you ever heard of any similar problems arising from using such a
synchronisation system or do you think that I may have better luck on the
server forum?

Thanks in advance,
Frank

Are you saying that your schedule shows a task starting, say, this Monday
with its duration and work both being displayed as 2 hours and yet its
finish date is listed as being a year away? The only way I can think that
that can happen is if schedule calculations are disabled completely by
turning off recalculation altogether. Either that, or the columns labeled
"Start," "Finish," or "Duration" are actually custom fields and are not
showing the real start and finish schedules at all. Even constraints
created by manually entering start and/or finish dates won't have that
particular effect.

The finish date of a task is not its required finish date, it is the
date/time that the activity on the task is predicted to actually stop if it
starts as scheduled. Finish dates are ALWAYS [StartDate] + [Duration], they
simply can't be anything else. If your task is 2 hours of work and requires
the resource's full attention to it while he's working on it, so he is
working on it at a 100% effort level, in other words, its duration is 2
hours as well. If that task starts Monday at 8am, its finish will be Monday
at 10am and it really can't be anything else. There may be a DEADLINE 1
year away but that's not even close to being the same thing as its finish
date.

Your schedule is not a mere document of objectives. Rather, it is a
document that your resources should be able to look at and receive their
marching orders, learning where they need to be when and doing what in order
to fulfill their obligations to the project, it should structure their
working lives what they need to do and when they ought to be doing it.

HTH
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm for the FAQs

Hello,

I am having problems with some of my tasks durations being set to
ridiculous
lengths of time. Now I am going to have to explain my wording here, the
work
for one task for example is 2hrs, the duration is actually 2hrs aswell,
however, the finish date is set at a year or so after the start date. Even
after one of these tasks reaches 100% it is still not moved to before the
status date.

If i force it behind the status date by putting a must finish on
constraint
on it (which i know is bad practice) it will move back but it will still
claim that the start date is a year or so before the status date.

I think it may be a problem with the way I am updating the progress. I
update on a weekly basis where I establish the project status date, then i
only update the %work Complete and then use tracking and update project so
that all uncompleted work is moved to after the status date and re-level.

Has anybody encountered a problem such as this before or can see a problem
with the way I am updating the progress?

Any help would be much appreciated,

Kind Regards,
Frank


I am using microsoft project professional 2007 connected to a server by
the
way

 

[Steve House]

I can't speak for others but I personally have never used any similar system
so I'm at a loss for an explanation. Since it is occuring in a server-based
environment I'd definitely suggest post int he server group.

--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm for the FAQs

Hello Steve,

Thank you for your time. Yes I understand that it can't be possible but
somehow that is what is happening.

The only thing that i have found that makes this area different to the
hundreds of other areas in this project was something i saw from archived
versions of it. That is that it could be the project synchronisation
system
that we are using that updates the project. So i'm thinking i should maybe
post this problem on the server chat area.

What it could be is that a few weeks ago the sub area was created but left
at 0hrs and at a later date the actual hours were entered. Since then this
problem has arisen. The update system we are using is called JMS and it
basically synchronises with microsoft project server to update basic task
information such as area names, subtasks and hours of work required. So it
does not do any updates of durations, start dates or anything that could
be
diectly related to this problem.

Have you ever heard of any similar problems arising from using such a
synchronisation system or do you think that I may have better luck on the
server forum?

Thanks in advance,
Frank

Are you saying that your schedule shows a task starting, say, this Monday
with its duration and work both being displayed as 2 hours and yet its
finish date is listed as being a year away? The only way I can think
that
that can happen is if schedule calculations are disabled completely by
turning off recalculation altogether. Either that, or the columns
labeled
"Start," "Finish," or "Duration" are actually custom fields and are not
showing the real start and finish schedules at all. Even constraints
created by manually entering start and/or finish dates won't have that
particular effect.

The finish date of a task is not its required finish date, it is the
date/time that the activity on the task is predicted to actually stop if
it
starts as scheduled. Finish dates are ALWAYS [StartDate] + [Duration],
they
simply can't be anything else. If your task is 2 hours of work and
requires
the resource's full attention to it while he's working on it, so he is
working on it at a 100% effort level, in other words, its duration is 2
hours as well. If that task starts Monday at 8am, its finish will be
Monday
at 10am and it really can't be anything else. There may be a DEADLINE 1
year away but that's not even close to being the same thing as its finish
date.

Your schedule is not a mere document of objectives. Rather, it is a
document that your resources should be able to look at and receive their
marching orders, learning where they need to be when and doing what in
order
to fulfill their obligations to the project, it should structure their
working lives what they need to do and when they ought to be doing it.

HTH
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm for the FAQs

Hello,

I am having problems with some of my tasks durations being set to
ridiculous
lengths of time. Now I am going to have to explain my wording here, the
work
for one task for example is 2hrs, the duration is actually 2hrs aswell,
however, the finish date is set at a year or so after the start date.
Even
after one of these tasks reaches 100% it is still not moved to before
the
status date.

If i force it behind the status date by putting a must finish on
constraint
on it (which i know is bad practice) it will move back but it will
still
claim that the start date is a year or so before the status date.

I think it may be a problem with the way I am updating the progress. I
update on a weekly basis where I establish the project status date,
then i
only update the %work Complete and then use tracking and update project
so
that all uncompleted work is moved to after the status date and
re-level.

Has anybody encountered a problem such as this before or can see a
problem
with the way I am updating the progress?

Any help would be much appreciated,

Kind Regards,
Frank


I am using microsoft project professional 2007 connected to a server by
the
way