How to automatically slide dates for unstarted tasks in Project 2007?

Thanks for the detailed response.  I've attached a scrubbed project plan for reference.

I think the key is to remember that I am looking at this from a forecasting perspective, not historical per se.  Even though I mentioned using the actuals to derive comparisons to the baseline, I am more concerned with seeing the impact of changes on the future.  In other words, if the original timeline was based on Task 2 being completed today but it wasn't actually completed until tomorrow, what does that do to the rest of my dates?  Or, more accurately, Task 2 hasn't been completed yet, meaning all of the remaining tasks have yet to be started, how does that impact my plan?

Referring to the attached file, Task 18 highlights the need for sliding start dates.  As you can see, it was originally estimated to start on Oct. 2nd.  There is no Actual Start date which indicates that the task hasn't started yet.  As a result, I need the Start date to "slide" to the current date (or the earliest possible based on its predecessors) because this is the earliest it can start based on the current state of the project.  I don't want to have to manually do this each and every day.

The same logic follows for the Finish date of tasks that are in-progress.  If I have started the task (i.e. Actual Start is not NA) but not yet finished it (i.e. Actual Finish is NA), then the Finish date should "slide" to the current date because this is the latest it could be finished.  This would then affect any successors down the line.

Obviously, this would be possible because all of the dates are derived.  I can reset the values by manually setting a date if it actually did occur in the past.  But, in the absence of an explicit value, I need the dates to "slide" forward so that I can have an accurate depiction of the state of my project and be able to view how that state affects the future of my project (i.e. am I going to miss my target milestone dates, etc.).  This will allow me to determine if I need to apply more resources or notify management that the date has changed or make some other change in response.

The other problem, which still exists in the sample, are the successors that pre-date their predecessors despite a Finsh-to-Start relationship.  Task 31, for instance, has Task 21 and Task 55 as predecessors.  These have Finish dates of 10/13/08 and 12/01/08, respectively.  Task 31 has a Start date of 11/05/08 - prior to the end of Task 55?!?!  I don't understand how this is possible.

I hope  all of this makes sense.  Thanks for the help.

Bob,

Thanks for your help.  I guess I wasn't aware that changes were made to the built-in views.  The file was based on a template created to support TFS integration and I typically only work with the TFS views.  I'll look into this further.

It sounds like you may have given me the direction I need, especially if you believe the functionality I desire is there already provided the plan is setup properly.  My guess is that our integration with TFS is the cause of the problem as you indicated.  If you found the Start and Finish dates were explicitly set, then this is the only way it could have happened because I purposely did not set those values so the plan would remain dynamic.  I will have to investigate how we are updating the file with data from TFS and see if that is, in fact, the case.

From your description, the only things we should be pulling from TFS will be the Actual Work, Actual Start and Actual Finish values.  If we pull the Start, Finish or Work values, then we lose the dynamic capbilities of the project.  Is that correct?

Also, you mention clicking "the reschedule button" to reschedule a task into the future.  It makes perfect sense to me that this would be a manual operation since it's not something everyone would want to occur automatically.  Can you explain this, though?  I am unfamiliar with this button.

Thanks for the education!

Hello SonOfPirate,

There were several odd things (things I haven't seen before) in your project sample.  I wasn't aware that it might be possible to set a start date without Project creating a constraint.  The only way I could contemplate this would be through direct manipulation of the project data set and this my speculation concerning TFS.

When I suspect a date has been manually entered and can't easily see it, I tend to select the start/finish fields and push the delete key.  When I tried this with your sample project very strange things happened.  You will notice that nothing happens when you do this to the sample-2 project that I posted.

The Reschedule Work button can be found on the Tracking toolbar.  To make it visible, simply click the View | Toolbars | Tracking option.

Don't forget to set the project status date on the Project | Project Information dialog window.  Project uses this date when determining where to reschedule a task.

The two critical questions that a project manager has to ask when updating a task are "What has been done?" and "How much is left to do?".  In Project these queries translate into Actual Work and Remaining Work.  If you fail to ask the second question you leave yourself wide open for slips and surprises.  Even if the planning was perfect, the world moves on and assuming that the amount of Work we estimated at some point in the past is always going to be correct today, is a bad bet.  Getting people to estimate remaining work isn't easy, but the results can be very rewarding if you can pull it off.

I strongly recommend the book "Dynamic Scheduling with Microsoft Office Project 2007".  It presents Project as a tool for managing the whole project life cycle and is a relatively easy read.  It can be found on Amazon at"

http://www.amazon.com/Dynamic-Scheduling-Microsoft-Office-Project/dp/1932159878/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1225985999&sr=8-1

Bob Segrest, PMP
MCITP, Microsoft Project Blackbelt

One more quick follow-up:  Is there an easy way to know that a date has an explicit value as opposed to an implicit one?  I've tried deleting the dates for any task with no explicit "Actual Start" and "Actual Finish" but am not seeing the changes I would expect.

Plus, moving forward, I would like to be able to quickly recognize this problem so it can be corrected before it snowballs throughout the entire project plan, as is my current situation.

Thanks!

Hello SonOfPirate,

Normally when the Task Start or Task Finish dates are explicitly entered (IE you entered the date in the field by hand), Microsoft Project interprets this as the implicit creation of a constraint and the constraint is indicated with a constraint (calendar) icon in the indicators column.

However, as your sample project demonstrates, this is not always the case.  The only sure test that I have found to confirm that someone (or something) has set a Start or Finish date is to select these fields and push the delete key on my keyboard.

Just to avoid any confusion...  Please note that I am speaking specifically about the task start and finish dates; Not the Actual Start and Actual Finish dates.

Does this help?

Bob Segrest, PMP
MCITP, Microsoft Project Blackbelt

Yea, that's what I thought.  But, as you pointed out, I don't have the icons in my project plan so I was hoping there was another way.

Thanks for all the help!