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saleemullah054's avatar
saleemullah054
Copper Contributor
Dec 30, 2024

End dates of Subtask are appearing wrong

Hi there,
I'm facing issue with import of xml file. When I import the file, Finish date of task having subtask, gets disturb. I am attaching the screenshot from xml file indicating the dates that I have set in it

Parent Task : TestingSubtask 1: sub1Subtask 2: sub2

Heres the screenshot from Microsoft Project when I import the xml file

After going through multiple solution, I found one of them partially working which suggested that i should turn off project calculation after each edit

After applying this setting and re-loading the xml, Finish date of parent task appear corrected but for its subtasks which has duration greater than one, it still appears wrong

Can someone please suggest me a solution for this ?

  • Hello again Saleem

    If you want the summary task to be independent of the subtasks it groups, you must include the following instructions in the corresponding summary task of the xml schema you want to import:

    <ManualStart>2024-12-26T00:00:00</ManualStart>
    <ManualFinish>2024-12-29T23:59:00</ManualFinish>
    <Manual>1</Manual>

    The order and place in which they are within the task does not matter, even if there are <Start>... and <Finish>... instructions, because when defining the task as Manual, only manual dates will be considered.

    You must write the instructions exactly as shown above, respecting upper and lower case.

    You must also write the end date as: 2024-12-29T23:59:00 and not as: 2024-12-29T23:59:59, in which case it will skip to the next day and count one more day when importing the schema file.

    Going back to your initial request, it would look like this:

    <Name>Testing</Name>
    <Type>0</Type>
    <IsNull>0</IsNull>
    <WBS>3</WBS>
    <OutlineNumber>3</OutlineNumber>
    <OutlineLevel>1</OutlineLevel>
    <Priority>500</Priority>
    <ManualStart>2024-12-26T00:00:00</ManualStart>
    <ManualFinish>2024-12-29T23:59:00</ManualFinish>
    <Manual>1</Manual>

    If you consider that it has been useful and sufficient, you can close the query by clicking Solved.

    Ignacio

  • Hello again Saleem

    If you want the summary task to be independent of the subtasks it groups, you must include the following instructions in the corresponding summary task of the xml schema you want to import:

    <ManualStart>2024-12-26T00:00:00</ManualStart>
    <ManualFinish>2024-12-29T23:59:00</ManualFinish>
    <Manual>1</Manual>

    The order and place in which they are within the task does not matter, even if there are <Start>... and <Finish>... instructions, because when defining the task as Manual, only manual dates will be considered.

    You must write the instructions exactly as shown above, respecting upper and lower case.

    You must also write the end date as: 2024-12-29T23:59:00 and not as: 2024-12-29T23:59:59, in which case it will skip to the next day and count one more day when importing the schema file.

    Going back to your initial request, it would look like this:

    <Name>Testing</Name>
    <Type>0</Type>
    <IsNull>0</IsNull>
    <WBS>3</WBS>
    <OutlineNumber>3</OutlineNumber>
    <OutlineLevel>1</OutlineLevel>
    <Priority>500</Priority>
    <ManualStart>2024-12-26T00:00:00</ManualStart>
    <ManualFinish>2024-12-29T23:59:00</ManualFinish>
    <Manual>1</Manual>

    If you consider that it has been useful and sufficient, you can close the query by clicking Solved.

    Ignacio

  • Hi

    In the Testing summary task, you must insert the line: <Manual>1</Manual>

    ....

    <Task>
    <UID>3</UID>
    <ID>3</ID>
    <Name>Testing</Name>
    <Manual>1</Manual>
    <Type>0</Type>

    ....

    or if you already have it, find it and change <Manual>0</Manual> to <Manual>1</Manual>

    I hope I have helped you.

    Ignacio

     

    • saleemullah054's avatar
      saleemullah054
      Copper Contributor

      Hi there Ignacio,

      Thanks for the help, I had done the same as you have told

      replaced the <Manual>0</Manual> to <Manual>1</Manual>

      but this schedules my summary task "Testing" to 1 day as I have shared in my previous reply.

      thanks again for the help.

      Saleem

  • saleemullah054's avatar
    saleemullah054
    Copper Contributor

    Hi there again !
    This didn't work either, I set the summary task "Testing" property to manual as you guided and now this has scheduled the task to 1 day only

     

    • John-project's avatar
      John-project
      Silver Contributor

      saleemullah054,

      Why would you want a summary line to be manually scheduled when all subtasks are auto-scheduled? That makes no sense. A summary line is NOT a task, it is simply a summary of subtasks under it. The start date of a summary line will be the start date of the earliest subtask and the finish date of a summary line will be the finish date of the latest subtask under it. According to the resulting Project file shown in the screen shot of your original post (see below), that's exactly what you get and should get. What am I missing?

      John

      • saleemullah054's avatar
        saleemullah054
        Copper Contributor

        Hi there !

        Thanks for your input, why would i only want my summary task to be manually scheduled ? Well, I dont. All I really want is my summary task dates to be independent of its child tasks dates. Ignacio suggested me to set my summary task as manual for that, which i simply followed. Please go through the thread to have even more clear idea

    • BrianSmithPhotos's avatar
      BrianSmithPhotos
      Brass Contributor

      Once you set something to Manual saleemullah054 , then it doesn't calculate - so you can specify whichever Finish date and time you want.  You will need to change the other fields in the XML to whatever you want.

      • saleemullah054's avatar
        saleemullah054
        Copper Contributor

        Hi there,

        Can you please go through the previous conversation and have a look at my attached XML file to check what needs to be change

  • Hi, If you want the summary task to be independent of the subtasks it groups together, select Manual Mode for that Summary task (<Manual>1</Manual>).

    Ignacio

     

  • Hi Salee

    Please attach your mpp project file so we can finish the response sooner.

    If you can't attach it, please post the following screenshots (with the date and time format previously selected in options):
    1. Project Information form
    2. Options > Scheduling form
    3. Completed task table, with all columns, including Indicators, Resources, and Predecessors
    4. Change Working Time > For Project Calendar (Work Weeks tab)

    Ignacio

      • Ignacio_Martin's avatar
        Ignacio_Martin
        Iron Contributor

        Hi Saleem

        The project file in XML format that you attached is correct, although it is generated under version 9, as described at the beginning of the XML document (<SaveVersion>9</SaveVersion>), with version 14 being the latest for this type of export, which is the same one I used to perform the checks. (<SaveVersion>14</SaveVersion>).

        From Ms Project, importing the XML file that you attached and with the Calculation option set to ON, the correct result is the following:

        From Ms Project, importing the XML file that you attached and with the Calculation option set to OFF, the erroneous result is the same as the one you show in your query:

        So, you must previously and permanently activate the Project calculation (Mode ON) in the options, to have the correct result.

        If you still can't get it, I recommend that you update the version of Ms Project to be able to have version 14 of XML import.

        I hope I have helped you.

        Ignacio

         

  • Hi Salee
    I think you are applying the 24 Hours calendar to your project: In this case, it is usual to define 24 Hours per day in Options > Schedule, since it is very possible that you now have 8 Hours per day.
    Note.- You must first modify this option and then enter the Duration of the tasks, it is not enough to change only to 24 h/d.
    Note.- A tip if you already have many durations entered in your project, is to first copy the entire Duration column to the clipboard, then change to 24h/d, paste the Duration column, and finally put all the tasks in Auto scheduled Mode.
    Note.- I recommend that the project is always, except for exceptions, in Automatic calculate (On), and all tasks in Auto Scheduled Mode.
    Regarding your xml file, the Duration must be in hours, and since they are 1 and 3 days of 24h/d, they must be as follows:
    Sub1:
    <Duration>PT24H0M0S</Duration>
    Sub1:
    <Duration>PT72H0M0S</Duration>
    I hope I have helped you and Happy New Year!

    • saleemullah054's avatar
      saleemullah054
      Copper Contributor

      Well that did help a lot !

      I was making mistake with calendar, set the values and now subtask dates are appearing as they should but this did not sort the end date of Parent task. 
      There's still an issue, Parent task "Testing" is supposed to be end on "12/29/24 11:59 PM" just like the rest of tasks in project but it is ignoring this set configurations

      <Name>Testing</Name>

      <Type>0</Type>

      <IsNull>0</IsNull>

      <WBS>2</WBS>

      <OutlineNumber>2</OutlineNumber>

      <OutlineLevel>1</OutlineLevel>

      <Priority>500</Priority>

      <Start>2024-12-26T00:00:00</Start>

      <Finish>2024-12-29T23:59:59</Finish>

      <Duration>PT71H59M0S</Duration>

       

      heres how I days of week in calendar are configured


      <Calendar>
      <UID>1</UID>
      <Name>Custom</Name>
      <IsBaseCalendar>1</IsBaseCalendar>
      <BaseCalendarUID>-1</BaseCalendarUID>
      <WeekDays>
      <WeekDay>
      <DayType>1</DayType>
      <DayWorking>1</DayWorking>
      <WorkingTimes>
      <WorkingTime>
      <FromTime>00:00:00</FromTime>
      <ToTime>23:59:00</ToTime>
      </WorkingTime>
      </WorkingTimes>
      </WeekDay>

      and this is my project level calendar configuration
      <DefaultStartTime>00:00:00</DefaultStartTime>
      <MinutesPerDay>1439</MinutesPerDay>
      <MinutesPerWeek>10079</MinutesPerWeek>

      Is there something I am missing here ? Thanks in advance for help

      • Ignacio_Martin's avatar
        Ignacio_Martin
        Iron Contributor

        Hi Salee

        A 24 hour day is 1440 minutes (not 1439)
        The calendar configuration in the xml file should show 1 more minute:
        <FromTime>00:00:00</FromTime>
        <ToTime>00:00:00</ToTime>
        <MinutesPerDay>1440</MinutesPerDay>
        And a 24 hour per day task if it starts at 0:00 should end at 0:00
        So in the xml file it should also show 1 more minute:
        <Start>2024-12-26T00:00:00</Start>
        <Finish>2024-12-29T00:00:00</Finish>

        If this does not fix the problem, please show an image with the Indicators column below the Id column.

        I hope you find it useful.

        Ignacio

  • As others have alluded, you haven't given enough information to know exactly what is happening, but it feels like a calendar issue.  I can do 24h work without it being 3 days, if it has a 24h calendar to work with.  Showing the time as well as the date or using a task usage view and change the timescale will show exactly where the work has landed in the new project.  Calculation will only affect the summary task, and make it match the start and end of the sub tasks.

  • John-project's avatar
    John-project
    Silver Contributor

    saleemullah054,

    Can we suggest a solution? Yes, but we need more information. Your XML data indicates you are using a 24 hour calendar but we need to know how you set up your Project file for input.

    1. What is the Project Calendar?
    2. What is the Project Start Date and time, etc.?
    3. What is the task start time and finish time (you only show the date)?
    4. Are there more than the two subtasks?
    5. Do the subtasks have a task calendar different from the Project calendar?

    The Project depiction of your XML file is not wrong. Project is simply translating your XML data into the form set up by Project's options. For starters I suggest you provide us with a screen shot of, Project > Properties group > Project Information. You should also set your Project options to show a time along with your dates (File > Options > General group > Date format).

    And here's something you could try. Take the Project file as shown in your last screen shot and save it as XML. Then compare that XML file to your original XML file. The differences will offer a direct clue as to what is going on.

    John

     

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