% Complete, actual finish dates, and predecessors

[Dena]

I'm having trouble getting Project to properly update my start and finish
dates when I set a task to 100% complete. I've set up my gantt chart view to
show columns for percent complete and actual finish dates. In my Project
training course, I was told that if I set a task to 100% complete, Project
would automatically assume today's date as the actual finish date, but this
is not happening. Instead the actual finish date is being recorded as the
regular finish date that was first estimated. I want it to automatically
record the current calendar date as the actual finish date when I set a task
to 100% complete.

I also want the start date of the task that is being set to 100% complete to
remain fixed, and the duration to adjust accordingly. THEN I want the start
dates of all subsequent linked tasks to update based on the actual finish
date of the predecessor.

Can someone help me with this? If this is not possible with Project as it
comes, perhaps there is a script that can do this?

 

[Rod Gill]

When you set 100% complete, Project copies the Start and Finish dates and
puts them to Actual Start and Actual Finish. The better way to update with %
complete is to apply the Tracking Table (View, Table) then:
1) Enter the Actual Start Date
2) Enter Actual Duration so far
3) Enter new remaining duration (0=complete)

Experiment with these. If you have saved a baseline first then the Tracking
Gantt chart will show progress.

 

[Joe]

You said

"In my Project training course, I was told that if I set a task to 100%
complete, Project would automatically assume today's date as the actual
finish date..."

This is no true. You should ask for a full refund on the class. The
instructor must not know Project very well.

 

[Dena]

For my purposes, I'm not tracking the percentage complete as a progressive
number. Instead I'm treating it as a boolean - either the task is finished
or it isn't. It's more important to me that the future start dates that are
linked to the finished task update accordingly.

I think the easist way for me to do this is to not touch the percentage
complete at all, but to first save a baseline and then adjust the actual
finish dates on each task as it is complete. That way if I'm entering
today's date, the percentage complete records as 100% and the following start
dates change properly (so I won't have to also adjust the actual start date,
it will do it automatically).

Thanks for your response!!