Tasks that are dependent not changing start dates

[pegs]

My setup is that I have many fairly small projects. The tasks are of short
duration 1-4 hours normally. If task #1 doesn't get started (For example it
was scheduled to start yesterday, I want the next task to be listed as
starting tommorrow not today as was originally scheduled. I won't necessarily
be opening that project or myslef even know that the task got started late,
but I don't want the next person in line thinking they have a task starting
today when the task above them didn't get done. I don't want it to show up in
their tasks. I have current projects set to 1 day.

I have set my dependencies up FS and added a day lag time. It doesn't seem
to recalculate until I enter something into the task above, but I want it to
keep moving the dates if it doesn't get started.

 

[John]

My setup is that I have many fairly small projects. The tasks are of short
duration 1-4 hours normally. If task #1 doesn't get started (For example it
was scheduled to start yesterday, I want the next task to be listed as
starting tommorrow not today as was originally scheduled. I won't necessarily
be opening that project or myslef even know that the task got started late,
but I don't want the next person in line thinking they have a task starting
today when the task above them didn't get done. I don't want it to show up in
their tasks. I have current projects set to 1 day.

I have set my dependencies up FS and added a day lag time. It doesn't seem
to recalculate until I enter something into the task above, but I want it to
keep moving the dates if it doesn't get started.

Peg,
It could be a number of things.

First, is calculation set for automatic? If not, go to
Tools/Options/Calculation tab and set it for "automatic".

Second, even though tasks are linked in the default finish-to-start, how
were the tasks entered? If the Start dates were manually entered by the
user, every task will have a constraint of start-no-earlier-than. You
can check this by showing the Constraint Type field in your view.
Ideally all tasks should have no constraint (i.e. as-soon-as-possible),
then Project will re-calculate the schedule dates automatically
(assuming calculation is set to automatic per above).

Third, if the successor task has either a date in the Actual Start field
(i.e something other than "NA") or a % complete of greater than zero,
then the Start date of that task will not change regardless of the
linkage to the predecessor.

Hope this helps.
John

 

[pegs]

Thanks, John. Calculation is set to automatic, their are no constraints,
there is nothing actual. Basically the 1st task has not begun the project has
just been inputted and set to start or just the 1st task has been completed.

 

[John]

Thanks, John. Calculation is set to automatic, their are no constraints,
there is nothing actual. Basically the 1st task has not begun the project has
just been inputted and set to start or just the 1st task has been completed.

Peg,
Sorry, I think I read you post to quickly when I responded.

Unless you tell Project the status of the first task (or any task in the
plan), it has no idea what to do with succeeding tasks. For all it
knows, everything is on schedule, the plan just needs to be updated. If
you want Project to keep moving the dates, someone will have to keep the
plan updated either by showing progress or by slipping tasks. In your
case, if the first task didn't start as scheduled, slip it out to when
you think it will start. Then Project will re-calculate the rest of the
schedule.

Remember, Project is only a tool. It can't think for itself (heaven help
us if it tried to).

Just a side question. If your project consists of short duration tasks
(1 to 4 hours), why did you insert a lag of 1 day? There might be a good
reason but on the surface it seems to defeat the purpose of a short
duration plan.

Hope this helps.
John

 

[pegs]

An individual might have 15 projects that they are working on in a week.
Projects often don't start on the day they are assigned to. In order for thes
people not to always have their box cluttered I have set it so that only taks
a day ahead show up. If the other part gets done they are notified and will
look for a task, but it is usually there. I'm just looking for ways to keep
them form looking at too many tasks at one time and not be able to prioritize.

 

[John]

An individual might have 15 projects that they are working on in a week.
Projects often don't start on the day they are assigned to. In order for thes
people not to always have their box cluttered I have set it so that only taks
a day ahead show up. If the other part gets done they are notified and will
look for a task, but it is usually there. I'm just looking for ways to keep
them form looking at too many tasks at one time and not be able to
prioritize.

Peg,
What method are you using to notify people of the next day's tasks? For
example, are you using a filtered view, exporting to Outlook, or some
other means? When you say, "if the other part gets done..." are you
referring to whether a predecessor task is complete? What do you mean
by, "... they are notified and will look for a task, but it is usually
there"? How are they notified? Is the next task sometimes not there?

There are several ways to set up a "to do" list for task performers. It
depends on what is most convenient for you and the other users. I would
probably use some type of filter that was partly based on the completion
status of predecessor tasks. But the bottom line is, someone is going to
have to status the file (or files if a master is used) on a regular
basis (daily at least and perhaps more often if short duration tasks are
the norm), and it appears someone will have to make a priority call
unless the users have that authority themselves.

Hope this helps.
John

 

[Steve House [Project MVP]]

While I appreciate that things don't always go according to plan, I have to
wonder at the implications of your statement "projects *often* don't start
on the date they are assigned." You have a schedule that was created using
MS Project. You are the manager responsible for the project who has
developed that schedule in order to insure that the project is completed on
time and within budget. In order for that to happen, the schedule needs to
be followed as closely as possible within reason. That schedule coordinates
the efforts of a number of resources. If Joe Resource doesn't begin his
task as your schedule, thus you the manager, has directed, you need to find
out why and try to insure it doesn't happen again. The Project Plan doesn't
merely document when people think they're going to do something. It doesn't
just suggest what people should be doing. It establishs policy *directing*
the resources to do specifc actions at specifc times and while it certainly
should have some flexibilty and be administered with respect for the
resources, there should always be a damned good resason for signifigantly
deviating from it.

 

[pegs]

We are a rapid development business. We have approximately 100 active
projects at a time with 30 in the queue. One of the problems we have are
unplanned customer delays for unforseen amounts of time. The reason we have
Project and PWA is to allow us to manage our resouces. We are also trying to
use Project to help us plan some of those unplanned delays. We have about
half of our projects that go from task to task. The rest of the projects have
different tasks and our customized. They may not only have customer delays,
but may include additional steps.
Peg Smith

While I appreciate that things don't always go according to plan, I have to
wonder at the implications of your statement "projects *often* don't start
on the date they are assigned." You have a schedule that was created using
MS Project. You are the manager responsible for the project who has
developed that schedule in order to insure that the project is completed on
time and within budget. In order for that to happen, the schedule needs to
be followed as closely as possible within reason. That schedule coordinates
the efforts of a number of resources. If Joe Resource doesn't begin his
task as your schedule, thus you the manager, has directed, you need to find
out why and try to insure it doesn't happen again. The Project Plan doesn't
merely document when people think they're going to do something. It doesn't
just suggest what people should be doing. It establishs policy *directing*
the resources to do specifc actions at specifc times and while it certainly
should have some flexibilty and be administered with respect for the
resources, there should always be a damned good resason for signifigantly
deviating from it.
--
Steve House [MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs

 

[Steve House [Project MVP]]

In order to use Project most effectively to manage your scenario I'd suggest
you think of it as primarily being a TASK management tool in contrast to
being a RESOURCE management tool. As I think of the difference between the
two approaches, a resource management tool is focussed on insuring that we
manage Joe Resource's usage, optimizing his work so we are using him most
effectively, while a task management tool is focussed on optimizing the work
required to produce John Customer's widgets so they get delivered by the
required date and at optimimum cost. Project does a terrific job of the
latter but is only so-so at the former and in defense it's not designed as a
HRM system.

At any rate, without my input Project has no knowledge of the current date
and what should has been happening with the tasks in the schedule. I have a
3-day task A that was supposed to start Monday that produces a module that
we have to have on-hand before task B can start. Since A should finish late
Wed afternoon, B was scheduled to start Thursday. It's now Wednesday
morning and I learn the A still hasn't started, won't start until this
afternoon (doesn't matter why). That means B must be rescheduled. But
Project won't know about this on its own and it won't know it needs to to
reschedule task B until I do something explicit to inform it that A is
running late. The fact that it is Wednesday and A was supposed to have
started by now but is showing no progress as yet is beyond its ken. That I
haven't posted a start for A on Monday doesn't mean anything - Project can't
tell the difference between the fact it didn't start and the fact it started
on time but I haven't yet gotten around to updating the files. As a result
I have to do something proactively to reschedule A - use the "Schedule
Uncompleted Work..." tool in the Tracking menu for example - to force a new
start date for A - either entering the actual start and remaining duration
if it started but is running late or indicating what its new projected start
will be if it still hasn't started - in order to trigger Project's
recalculation of the new start date for B.

HTH
--
Steve House [MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs

 

[pegs]

Thank you for the help. I guess there is no getting around the manual
reschedule.

 

[Steve House [Project MVP]]

Well, it's not quite manual rescheduling but you're right, there is no way
to avoid having to manually trigger the rescheduling update calculations.
If there are 100 tasks in sequence and the first one doesn't start as
scheduled, once you manually update either its actual start date or enter a
revised expected start date, the starts of all the tasks dependent on it
will automatically get recalculated. But it's still up to you to manually
initiate the process.
--
Steve House [MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs