#1
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duration vs actual start and finish dates
hello.
3 questions, on the same thing: 1-i entered actual start and finish dates for an activity, that took place in the past. the duration cell calculated the duration and wrote the number of days between those days there, but with a question mark near it. lets say 40 days. so it displayed "40 days?" why was there a question mark? this did it in 2007 version, but when i tried 2010 version, it didnt display that question mark by the way. 2-and then, after entering those actual start and finish dates, just to see whats going to happen, i entered 41 days to duration manually. the question mark was now gone, but strangely, the actual finish date disappeared and it said NA. why? 3-also, when i entered 39 days, instead of 40 days, this time the actual finish date did not disappear, but it pulled itself backward, to reflect the shorter duration. why? |
#2
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The question mark is an indication of "estimated" duration. If you allow Project to calculate the duration (as in question one) the question mark shows. If you manually enter a duration (question two) the question mark disappears.
You can control the display of the question mark Project 2007 through Tools > Options, scheduling tab and unchecking "Show that tasks have estimated durations" and "New tasks have estimated duration". In Project 2010 it is controlled through File > Options > Schedule and the option "Show that scheduled tasks have estimated durations" and "New Scheduled tasks have estimated durations." So, for the question marks appearing or not, that is an option for each product. To question 2 - you entered a duration, so the "estimated" no longer applies. The Actual finish disappeared because you increased duration. So the task is no longer complete (% complete is less than 100). The change in duration add the increase to "Remaining Duration". Apply the tracking table to see most of the tracking fields. To question 3 - you entered a duration which was shorter than the actual duration. Project assumed the new duration is correct, the adjusted the "Actual Duration" to the new lower value and recalculated the Actual Finish date. I hope this helps. Julie |
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