Slipping project to see estimated completion date

[Dev Lunsford]

Hi, I've been looking at this for a long time trying to get my head around
what seems to me to be a pretty basic problem. It's my first time using
Project and my project is not time-constrained - it's basically a
development alongside my normal tasks and I want to be able to have an
estimated completion date based on the work I think I'm going to be able to
do, and then adjust that estimate as the real hours I've spent on it are
entered, so it will re-plot all the jobs I have left across the calendar
starting from today.

Currently I have a half-completed project that says I should be finishing in
July this year, which is nice except it says that I should be doing about 40
hours of work in April and May this year to make that date. Ideally I'd
like to be able to say 'here's what work is actually complete, now from
right now what do i have to work on when and what's my completion date?'.
Am I trying to use Project for something it's not designed for or am I
missing something really obvious? It's a relatively simple project with
about 25 linked tasks and just one resource (me).

Thanks, I wouldn't ask unless I'd exhausted all the info I could find (not
knowing some of the terms for things makes it a lot harder to search!).

Dev Lunsford

 

[Dev Lunsford]

Sorry, typically I found what I want to do just after posting. In case
anyone else was looking for the same thing, it's just Tools/Tracking/Update
Project and then 'Schedule uncompleted work to start after... (today)'. It
then adjusted everything as I wanted. Sorry if I wasted anyone's time
reading that, it was obvious after all!

Dev

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi,

First a little quote from your text:
"half-completed project that says I should be finishing in July this year"

I suspect you mean "COULD" be finishing, or have you put dealines or
compelling constraints?

Now for the question.
When a task is (even partially) done you have to tell Project.

I'll give you the long and complete way, there are shortcuts, but to
understand you try this first:
select a task on which there has been any actual work

Tools, Tracking, update tasks
In the upcoming form fill out actual start, if 100% done actual finish date.
If partially done actual start, actual duration, and if changed, remaining
duration.

When that is done for all tasks, Tools, Tracking, update project, reschedule
uncompleted work to start after... (today? Yesyerday? your choice)

There you are, a fully updated plan.

HTH