Resetting dates in Project 2003

[Tom]

I've reset the dates via Project>Project Information on a Project that was
sent to me. Now, I need to change the Start and End dates for the tasks.
The date entered into Project Information "4/1/2005" isn't getting propagated
to the tasks. Each task is based off of "01/04/2005" start date. I've
looked several places, including Adjust Dates. Even Help seemed a little
'vague' here after some chasing. I'm sure this is a very very basic
question, so, does any have some direction on updating Start dates for
Projects IF the start of the project change date was changed but the Tasks
don't change?
TIA,
Tom

 

[John]

I've reset the dates via Project>Project Information on a Project that was
sent to me. Now, I need to change the Start and End dates for the tasks.
The date entered into Project Information "4/1/2005" isn't getting propagated
to the tasks. Each task is based off of "01/04/2005" start date. I've
looked several places, including Adjust Dates. Even Help seemed a little
'vague' here after some chasing. I'm sure this is a very very basic
question, so, does any have some direction on updating Start dates for
Projects IF the start of the project change date was changed but the Tasks
don't change?
TIA,
Tom

Tom,
Curiously you mention at Start Date of 4/1/2005 and later a date of
01/4/2005. Is that just a European versus American setting (i.e. is one
date April 1, 2005 and the other Jan 4, 2005 or are they both April 1,
2005)?

If the dates are different, there are several reasons the dates on the
tasks are not shifting with the Project Start date. First, is
calculation set to "automatic"? Second, do the tasks you expect to move
have a constraint (e.g. Start No Earlier Than)? Third, is there progress
on the tasks (i.e. is the Actual Start something other than "NA"). Any
one one of those things could cause dates not to move.

Hope this helps.
John
Project MVP

 

[Tom]

Thanks, John, for the assistance. You're very perceptive on the 4/1/2005 and
1/4/2005. The actual dates aren't US vs European. In rechecking the
template the Start date for Task #1 is "Thu 1/1/04" (originally) and my Start
date for the project is "4/4/2005.

I have changed the dates via Adjust Dates. This DOES change each of the
Task dates but to some relationship I'm not too sure of. Here's what's
happening:
1) When I put a date in via Adjust Dates of 1/4/2005, the first task start
date resets to "Thu 1/1/04". [I'm using US date format of mm/dd/yy.]
2) When I put a date in (via Adjust Dates) of "03/19/2005" (today) I get a
Start date for the first task of "Wed 3/17/04". It appears to be adjusting
for weekends and holidays (not sure, though) but why a YEAR and THREE months
earlier?

These two examples are without any other changes, to my knowledge, to the
Project settings or changing the Start date for the project from "4/1/2005"
as I indicated in the initial post. [Obviously, changing the Adjust Dates
date does change the Project Start date when I'm on Task #1].

Relative to your comments...
A) When you commented about the calculation being automatic I'm not
following you. I checked help but Help didn't give me the insight I needed
to check this. Where and how can I check this out?
B) All the Tasks that I checked (about 5+) has "NA" for the Constraint.
Hence, I'm concluding that this isn't the issue unless you believe otherwise.
C) All Tasks have a variety of Start dates (Thu 1/1/04 is for the 1st 4
Tasks and then Task #5 is Fri 1/2/04, Task #6 is 1/9/04). I realize that the
specific dates may not be meaningful but the fact that the dates DO change is.

Obviously, I'm still lost in space but thanks for your help!
TIA,
Tom

 

[Steve House [MVP]]

Do the tasks from the project you're trying to update have any actual
progress posted against them? Once a task shows work was done on 1/1/2004,
that's where it stays. The sort of thing you're encountering can easily
occur if you have the project file for 2004's Big Project, now completed and
done, and you've opened the file with the idea of using it as a template for
the new project you're doing this year. You need to remember to reset all
the progress and other actuals back to zero and then use the Adjust Dates
tools to reset the project start date to that of the new project.
--
Steve House [MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs

Thanks, John, for the assistance. You're very perceptive on the 4/1/2005
and
1/4/2005. The actual dates aren't US vs European. In rechecking the
template the Start date for Task #1 is "Thu 1/1/04" (originally) and my
Start
date for the project is "4/4/2005.

I have changed the dates via Adjust Dates. This DOES change each of the
Task dates but to some relationship I'm not too sure of. Here's what's
happening:
1) When I put a date in via Adjust Dates of 1/4/2005, the first task start
date resets to "Thu 1/1/04". [I'm using US date format of mm/dd/yy.]
2) When I put a date in (via Adjust Dates) of "03/19/2005" (today) I get a
Start date for the first task of "Wed 3/17/04". It appears to be
adjusting
for weekends and holidays (not sure, though) but why a YEAR and THREE
months
earlier?

These two examples are without any other changes, to my knowledge, to the
Project settings or changing the Start date for the project from
"4/1/2005"
as I indicated in the initial post. [Obviously, changing the Adjust Dates
date does change the Project Start date when I'm on Task #1].

Relative to your comments...
A) When you commented about the calculation being automatic I'm not
following you. I checked help but Help didn't give me the insight I
needed
to check this. Where and how can I check this out?
B) All the Tasks that I checked (about 5+) has "NA" for the Constraint.
Hence, I'm concluding that this isn't the issue unless you believe
otherwise.
C) All Tasks have a variety of Start dates (Thu 1/1/04 is for the 1st 4
Tasks and then Task #5 is Fri 1/2/04, Task #6 is 1/9/04). I realize that
the
specific dates may not be meaningful but the fact that the dates DO change
is.

Obviously, I'm still lost in space but thanks for your help!
TIA,
Tom

Tom,
Curiously you mention at Start Date of 4/1/2005 and later a date of
01/4/2005. Is that just a European versus American setting (i.e. is one
date April 1, 2005 and the other Jan 4, 2005 or are they both April 1,
2005)?

If the dates are different, there are several reasons the dates on the
tasks are not shifting with the Project Start date. First, is
calculation set to "automatic"? Second, do the tasks you expect to move
have a constraint (e.g. Start No Earlier Than)? Third, is there progress
on the tasks (i.e. is the Actual Start something other than "NA"). Any
one one of those things could cause dates not to move.

Hope this helps.
John
Project MVP

 

[John]

Thanks, John, for the assistance. You're very perceptive on the 4/1/2005 and
1/4/2005. The actual dates aren't US vs European. In rechecking the
template the Start date for Task #1 is "Thu 1/1/04" (originally) and my Start
date for the project is "4/4/2005.

I have changed the dates via Adjust Dates. This DOES change each of the
Task dates but to some relationship I'm not too sure of. Here's what's
happening:
1) When I put a date in via Adjust Dates of 1/4/2005, the first task start
date resets to "Thu 1/1/04". [I'm using US date format of mm/dd/yy.]
2) When I put a date in (via Adjust Dates) of "03/19/2005" (today) I get a
Start date for the first task of "Wed 3/17/04". It appears to be adjusting
for weekends and holidays (not sure, though) but why a YEAR and THREE months
earlier?

These two examples are without any other changes, to my knowledge, to the
Project settings or changing the Start date for the project from "4/1/2005"
as I indicated in the initial post. [Obviously, changing the Adjust Dates
date does change the Project Start date when I'm on Task #1].

Relative to your comments...
A) When you commented about the calculation being automatic I'm not
following you. I checked help but Help didn't give me the insight I needed
to check this. Where and how can I check this out?
B) All the Tasks that I checked (about 5+) has "NA" for the Constraint.
Hence, I'm concluding that this isn't the issue unless you believe otherwise.
C) All Tasks have a variety of Start dates (Thu 1/1/04 is for the 1st 4
Tasks and then Task #5 is Fri 1/2/04, Task #6 is 1/9/04). I realize that the
specific dates may not be meaningful but the fact that the dates DO change
is.

Obviously, I'm still lost in space but thanks for your help!
TIA,
Tom

Tom,
I checked Steve's response to see if he addressed your remaining
questions but he only re-iterated and expanded upon my third comment on
tasks with progress.

Here is more information about my original comments.
A) To set (or check) the calculation setting go to,
Tools/Options/Calculation tab. The default is "automatic", however if it
was changed to "manual" at some point, it would keep dates from moving
when the file was changed. Note that this setting is a Global setting.
That is, it is applied to all projects opened rather than just to the
active project.
B) There are two Constraint fields - Date and Type. When talking about
constraints, I normally refer to the Constraint Type field. The default
entry is "As-soon-as-possible". However some users (usually new users)
have a tendency to want to enter Start and/or Finish dates for tasks
directly. Doing so, automatically sets a constraint depending on which
was entered last. For example, if a Start date is manually entered, a
constraint of "Start-no-earlier-than" is set. If the Finish date is then
also manually entered, a constraint of "Finish-no-earlier-than" will be
set. There is no outward indication that a constraint is being set
unless the Constraint Type field or the Constraint Date field is shown
in the view. However if the user makes a change and doesn't see task
dates move, the reason might be due to a constraint. The fact that you
checked and found "NA" in the Constraint Date field also indicates no
constraint is set on those tasks.
C) I think Steve's response expanded on the issue of tasks with
progress. Tasks with progress will not move because they basically
switch from being "the plan schedule" to the "actual schedule". Reality
gets applied and "locks" the tasks in place.

Hopefully this more detailed explanation helps. If not post back.

John
Project MVP