Chris,
From your post it sounds like you are actually referring to the Start
and Finish fields instead of Actual Start and Actual Finish. These are
four different fields. Yes, the Duration field does reflect the
difference between Start and Finish in working days (default). However
if the task is started (i.e. a value entered into Actual Start or a
value entered into % Complete) and the Actual Start date is different
than the date in the Start field, Project will change the Start date to
equal the Actual Start date. The same is true of a date entered into the
Actual Finish field. Baseline dates on the other hand only change when
the baseline is set or re-set or a manual entry is made in the Baseline
Start and/or Baseline Finish fields. All baseline values are a static
snapshot and are not affected by dynamic changes in the project plan.
The view being used is irrelevant - it simply shows whatever data is in
the Project database.
Hope this helps.
John
