Duration calculation

[shining]

If possible the basic duration can auto calculation when input the basic
start date & basic finish date in Microsoft Project 2003, same as if input
the actual start and finish date, then we can get the actual spend duration
immediately.

Thanks much in advance

 

[Mike Glen]

Hi Shining ,

Welcome to this Microsoft Project newsgroup

Well.... you should not be entering dates. Project is designed for you to
enter Task, Duration and the Precedence (logic) links betwen them. Project
will then do what is it is designed for, ie to calculate the schedule for
you. Entering dates is bad practice as, if you do, Project will assume you
mean what you say and constrain the tasks in some way, thus degrading the
flexibility of your plan.

FAQs, companion products and other useful Project information can be seen at
this web address: <http://www.mvps.org/project/>

Hope this helps - please let us know how you get on )

Mike Glen
MS Project MVP

 

[Steve House [MVP]]

Manually entering start and finish dates will calculate the duration but it
is a very bad idea to do that. You should never be directly inputting the
Start and Finish dates of tasks at all, with the exception of very specific
circumstances. One of Project's basic functions is to calculate the start
and finish dates of the various tasks for you, based on the duration you
input, the links from tasks that come before, and the project start date.
If you type a start date instead of letting project calculate it as it's
supposed to, you are setting a Start No Earlier Than constraint. If you
type a finish date, you're setting a Finish No Earlier Than constraint. If
you edit the start or the finish date, the constraint applied depends on the
last field you edited.