Start Dates

[Lynette]

I'm trying to figure out how to handle something. Our project has lots of
tasks and subtasks. I know the start/end dates for the task itself, but,
don't know all the start and end dates for the subtasks, just some. When I
don't know the start date, it defaults to the project start date. That's ok
for now. At this time, I don't have a subtask as late as what will be the
project end date. So, how do I get the task to start on the start and end
dates I want without having some tasks with the actual end date? Does that
make sense? I know I have 3 subtasks that end on 3/3/08 for instance, but,
eventually will have some that will end on 6/1/08, but, don't have any yet.
I can't get the task to display the 6/1/08 date though. It says the task
will end on 3/3/08.

If anyone could give me some ideas, I'd greatly appreciate this. This
project is for a large software development project.

 

[Jim Aksel]

Vary the end date of a task by keying a duration.
Use predecessor relationships to establish links between tasks .... you have
to put up the walls of a house before putting on the roof.

There is another type of task that may be helpful called a Hammock Task.
Read about that by selecting the link below, then FAQ and read FAQ#19

Hammock Task "H" would start when Task "A" starts and end when Task "B" ends.
--
If this post was helpful, please consider rating it.

Jim

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for FAQs and more information
about Microsoft Project

 

[Steve House]

You're getting the cart before the horse here. It's Project's job to tell
you the dates tasks will take place, not just to document the dates you are
inputting that you've determined elsewhere are when the tasks should be
taking place. You don't tell it the schedule; it tells you. In the best of
worlds, the only date you input is the kick-off date for the project as a
whole, the Project Start Date. You supply the list of tasks along with
their estimated durations - that is, how long do you expect the resources
will take to complete the various task's deliverables. To this list you
then add the task dependency links that model the way the tasks interact
with each other, and then assign resources. Project takes all the
information about task's estimated durations, the dependency interactions,
and the availability of resources and from that computes the dates when the
tasks can take place, telling you the dates you should be scheduling them
for in order to complete your project in the shortest possible time.

Never try to circumvent Project's scheduling calculations by directly
entering the start and end dates for individual subtasks or summary tasks.
It's actually impossible to do that anyway. Entering a date in the start
column does not set the task start date at all. Rather it sets a "Start No
Earlier Than" constraint. Likewise entering a date in the finish column
doesn't input a finish date, it sets a "Finish No Earlier Than" constraint.
Attempting to enter both ends up with whatever constraint is associated with
the last data you typed. If you look to the indicator to the left of the
task names and see a little calendar with a blue or red dot on it next to
most tasks, you've got a problem with excessive and inappropriate
constraints set by attempting to supply project with the dates you think
tasks ought to be scheduled for instead of letting it calculate them for you
as it should.

What you are calling "tasks" project actually calls "summary tasks" and most
of the values for summaries such as start and end dates, durations, etc, are
read-only, computed values not subject to user input. The start date for a
summary is the date its earliest starting subtask begins and its end date is
the date the latest ending task finishes. You don't specify those dates,
project caclulates them for you. So in your example, how do you _know_ that
your summary task or any of its subtasks will end on 6/1/08? If the
durations and links in your plan so far have the all the subtasks ending by
3/3/08, that's when your summary task will end. Only when you add tasks
whose links drive them out farther into the future will you see the summary
task's end date move accordingly. And until you've completed that detailed
model of the subtasks, you really can't know anything at all about the start
and end dates for the summary task as a whole. Granted there may be a
deadline that you need to hit but a deadline is an objective, not a given,
and one of the reasons for using a tool like MS Project is to help you
figure out just how to meet those deadlines by predicting the end dates you
might achieve if you organize the work into various alternative workflows.

Hope this helps ...