Task Start and Finish dates not in synch with Assignments view

[PaulaH95]

When I allocate hours per task and resource in the Assignments view, the Start and Finish date of the task are set according to hour allocation - but only in the Assignments view!

When I go back to the Grid view and look at the start and finish dates for the tasks, they do not correspond to the start and finish dates which I see in the Assignments view.

Is there a way to fix this? I think the Assignments view is a great feature and I would love to use it for my project planning, but if the start and finish dates are not synchronized to the actual work allocation, this is a major drawback.

[#2]

Hi ,

which version of MS project are you using ? are you using manual scheduling for the tasks, what is the task type also can you confirm the view you are using, i tried to perform the same actions using the resource usage view and the dates did move to cover the dates of the work

[#3]

@malshayeb

Hi Malek,

thanks for your reply. I am using MS project for the web (via project.microsoft.com as well as via the new Planner app in MS Teams, both look the same for premium plans).

I'll describe the steps to reproduce the issue (see also attached screenshots):

1. Create new task in Grid view. Set start date to 09/16. Finish date will be automatically set to 09/16 and effort to 8h.

(I have to enter some start date or an effort, otherwise the task will not show up in the Assignments view.)

2. Go to Assignments view, set view to Weekly. Assign

- 0 hours in week starting Sun 9/15,

- 4 hours in week starting Sun 9/22

- 4 hours in week starting Sun 9/29

(I have not figured out why the week starts on Sunday in this view even though I have configured a Mon-Fri calendar)

In Assignments view, start and finish date now display Mon 9/23 and Fri 10/4 which is correct.

3. Go back to Grid view. Start and finish date now display Mon 9/16 (false, old start date) and Fri 10/16 (correct, new finish date). Same dates are set in the task details.

I have been playing around with this and trying different combinations of modifying the dates, but always something is off, the dates in the task don't reflect the dates in the Assignments view (which they should).

Best regards,

Paula

[#4 · Accepted solution]

@PaulaH95 --

I duplicated the steps you exactly as you described them, and following is what I see.  The Start date of the task as 09/16/24 is correct, since that is the date on which you entered 0h of work. If you Zoom the Assignments view to the Daily level, you will note that there are blank entries for each of the work days during the week of September 15; however, those dates actually contain 0h for each day, even though the zeroes are not displayed.  This means that the Start date of the task is 09/16/24.

Also, during the following two weeks, Project for the Web timephased the work hours as .8h per day for each work day.  This means that the Finish date of 10/04/24 is also correct. So, what I see in Project for the Web is CORRECT in both the Grid view and the Assignments view.

My question for you is why you followed this totally convoluted process of timephasing the work on the task.  If the work does not start until 09/23/24, why didn't you enter that date in the Start field for the task?  So, based on what I see in your project and my experimental project, the Start dates and Finish dates ARE correct.  Hope this helps.

[#5]

Thank you Dale,
@PaulaH95 i reached the same conclusion, as Dale hope his answer will help you

[#6]

@Dale_HowardMVP 

Hi Dale,

thank you so much for your detailed analysis and explanation, this is very helpful! I now understand the logic behind it.

The reason I followed this process is this: Since I have a table with weekly availabilities of my resources I would like to plan my tasks in the Assignments view while consulting my availabilities table. So I might assign Jane to work for 16 hours on task A in week x, and since she then still has 4 hours left in that week, I decide to get her started on task B. That means the Start and Finish dates for tasks may evolve from my planning activities in the Assignments view.

My problem is that I have to assign some dummy start date to every task, otherwise the task will not show up in the Assignments view. But it is in the Assignment view that I look at my resource availabilities and decide when the work gets actually done. Even if I know my planned Start and Finish date in advance and set them initially when creating the task, I might need to make changes to the assignments later on. So for my way of working it would make sense for MS Project to interpret zero hours as "no work" and set the Start and Finish dates accordingly.

[#7]

PaulH95 --

Thanks for the thoughtful reply. Given your unique scheduling needs, I think you will need to live with the limitations of how Project for the Web works. Hope this helps.

[#8]

did you try to give the task effort first and then go and adjust the assignment contour ?