Having the task finish date update when % complete = 100%

[dtarkington]

We are using the Contraints of Fixed Duration and Finish As Soon As Possible
using % complete yet when the % complete is changed to 100% before the
estimated duration is reached the finish date does not update to the actual
finish date. How can we get this to update?

 

[Steve House [Project MVP]]

Simply entering a percent complete says everything went according to plan.
If the actual task duration is greater or lesser than the planned duration,
or if the actual start or finish datesx differ from the plan, you need to
manually enter the actual values on the tracking table. If you originally
planned on the task taking 10 days but you find you're finished in 8,
instead of just marking it complete enter an actual duration of 8 days and a
remaining duration of zero.

 

[dtarkington]

Is there no way that Project Server can update the % complete based on the
date that the resource reported it at 100%?

 

[Steve House [Project MVP]]

Nope because the updates might or might not be happening in real time. What
would happen if the task was scheduled for Mon, Tue, and Wed of last week,
we found that we were actually done late Tuesday afternoon, but for some
reason we put off updating our timecard information until today?
--
Steve House [MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs

 

[dtarkington]

I understand this now. Is it also possible to simply change the finish date
of the task which will accomplish the same thing?

 

[Steve House [Project MVP]]

If you're carefuil t update the *right* finish date. Remember there's an
Actual Finish and a Scheduled Finish. The plain Finish field you see in the
basic Gantt chart task table is planned or scheduled or expected finish,
however you want to think of it, though my terminology here is not used by
MSP and it's simply called "Finish". When you change the Finish field
you're not posting an actual finish, you're entering a revised planned or
expected finish date (and setting a Finish No Earlier Than constraint in the
process, not generally a good idea.) such an entry does not enter an actual
finish date. But entering something in the Actual Finish field also updates
the Scheduled Finish to the same value. So changing plain Finish only
updates that one field, but entering Actual Finish updates both the actual
and the plan.

 

[dtarkington]

I understand about the timing issue but other than that is there any
technical problem with updating the finish date?

 

[Steve House [Project MVP]]

Updating WHICH "finish date" to accomplish what end? I'm not clear why
you're updating it and what your intended result is.
--
Steve House [MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs

 

[dtarkington]

We have previously set a baseline and wanted to know if there is any
technical reason why we cannot change the finish date to the actual date
finished rather than having to look at a calendar and figure out the actual
duration

 

[Steve House [Project MVP]]

You still haven't told me which finish date you're talking about changing -
the scheduled Finish in the Gantt chart entry table, the baseline finish, or
the actual finish - the specific answer to your question is dependent on
which "finish date" field you're planning on entering the data into. But in
any case you don't need to figure out actual duration by hand. If you're
setting the task complete and the actual duration differs from the scheduled
duration and you want Project to calculate the real duration for you,
display the Tracking Table (View menu, Tables, Tracking) and enter the date
work actually commenced on the task in the Actual Start column and the date
work was completed in the Actual Finish column. Project will take those two
values and calculate the Actual Duration, set the Remaining Duration to
zero, mark the task 100% complete, and transfer your input values back into
the regular Gantt chart entry table's Start, Finish, and Duration columns.
HOWEVER, entering those same values directly into the entry table's Start,
Finish, and Duration columns WILl NOT post that there has been any progress
to the task, it simply means it's still waiting to be done but you have
revised the estimates you'd previously made regarding it.

So there is no technical reason you can't enter the Actual Finish date in
the appropriate field - in fact, I recommend it. OTOH there is a very good
reason to not enter it into the baseline finish - baselines are supposed to
be snapshot records of what you originally planned so you can see if your on
track or not. Likewise, there's an excellent (technical) reason not to
enter the actual finish in the Finish column of the Gantt chart entry
table - doing so does not post in any actual progress but simply indicates
the plan has been revised.

HTH

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

 

[dtarkington]

Steve thanks for this. To clarify we are reporting the % complete on each
task first and when it is 100% wanting to change the actual finish date (not
the baseline finish date) and have the system calculate the actual duration
just as you explained and thereby updating all of the subsequent task start
and finish dates automatically. We just wanted to make sure that there was
no technical problem with doing this. We are using MS Project Server for the
resources to report their % complete and wanting to have the Project Managers
update the Actual Finish Dates to the best of their ability and knowledge.

 

[Steve House [Project MVP]]

I suggest you might be better off asking the resources to report dates and
durations worked than % Complete. First of all, there are 3 types of
percent complete metrics - % Complete (measures duration), % Work Complete
(measures work effort), and % Physical Complete ( measures physical
progress). People untrained in PM methodology, such as most likely most of
your resources will be, tend to mix them up or be inconsistent. Secondly,
people tend to over-estimate their own progress - go casually ask a
subordinate how close they are to finishing some task and they'll typically
respond something like "Going great Boss, 90% done!" because they don't
want to look bad. Yet if you were to put a stopwatch on them you'll find
they might be at almost anything when you actually look at duration worked
versus duration required.

 

[dtarkington]

I understand what you are saying but is it possible within Project Server for
a resource to report as you are suggesting? Within Project Server there are
only options for reporting % work complete, actual work done and remaining or
actual hours of work done per day or week. We have chosen the % complete
option and so far all we have found is that if we have resources report %
complete, there is no field for them to also report when they achieved 100%
complete.

 

[Steve House [Project MVP]]

I'm not a Server/PWA guru so I'll have to defer info on specifc fields on
their reporting templates to those who have more knowledge of the specifics
there. You might ask in the Server newsgroup too.