Task become milestone automatically when calendar is changed

[Vivek Gupta]

Hi,

In MS Project 2003 project, there is a task,say task1 that has been marked
done i.e % complete and % work complete is 100 and is assigned a resource say
r1.In this project if I goto Tools >> Change working time and change timing
of a resource calendar other than r1,then the duration of task1 becomes 0 and
task becomes a milestone.Why is this happening?How are they related?

Other thing is that it happens only on MS Project that has no service
pack.On machines with SP2 or SP3 for MS Project this issue does not occur.So
cannot understand if something is wrong with my project or is it a Project
bug..

Vivek Gupta,
MCTS,MS Project 2007

 

[Rob Schneider]

Vivek

Maybe I'm missing something. You say this "only happens on MS Project
that has no service pack". So ...

: I can't try to replicate as I have no versions of Project without
service packs.
: Is this not a clue that perhaps the un-patched version of Project you
are working with is *flawed* and that the fix is to patch it with a
service pack?. I recall that the release notes for Project 2003 SP1 and
SP2 were extensive with many flaws fixed. Perhaps you can find those
release notes and see if this is one of the bugs that was fixed?

--rms

 

[Vivek Gupta]

Hi Rob,

Thanks for your reply.Yes.it is right that issue occurs on MS Project with
no service pack.I went through the release notes also,but could not find
anything related to my issue.

Regards,
Vivek Gupta

 

[Rob Schneider]

Does the problem go away when you apply the latest SP?


(Note: if you are using un-patched Project 2003 it is likely giving you
wrong answers. Plus all the other problems noted in the release notes.
There is really no point to running, commenting, or de-bugging
un-patched Project 2003).

--rms

 

[Vivek Gupta]

Hi Rob,

The problem does go away when a patch is applied(SP2 or SP3).
But the issue is that I have not been able to able to convince certain
stakeholders out here as they are not convinced that the issue is with MS
Project and that patch will resolve the issue permanently.

Regards,
Vivek Gupta

 

[Rob Schneider]

Well, you have a problem.

Actually, though, the problem *is* with Microsoft Project Version 2003.
Your stakeholder is right! They win! Based on your own observations,
the problem was fixed in a subsequent service pack.

However, there is no guarantee that the patch will "resolve the issue
permanently". It's a computer program. Just a computer program.
Written by people. There No guarantee that people won't make a mistake
in the future. That's the way life is. Full of risks and opportunities
that have only a probability of happening. Hopefully your Stakeholder
can be convinced of this.

--rms