MS Project Task finish dates

[Jo]

Hello,

I am using ms project 2013 and need help with scheduling. I am trying to capture a tasks scheduled finish date and the actual finish date. In the finish column I have the scheduled finish date, however, when I add the actual finish date to the actual finish date column it changes the date in the finish column! Please help…

Thank you,

Jo

[Ismet Kocaman]

I presume task mode is “auto-scheduled”. If you complete the task, for example, by typing in 100 to the Percent Complete field, then Project copies the date from the Scheduled Finish field (or Finish) to the Actual Finish field. On the other hand, if you enter a date to the Actual Finish field, then Project completes the task and copies the date from the Actual Finish field to the Scheduled Finish field (or Finish). This is how it works. In short;
Enter 100 to % Complete > task completed > SF –> AF (task has been completed now on its scheduled finish date).
Enter date to AF > task completed > % Complete = 100, AF –> SF (task was completed now so I enter its actual finish date).
If you need to capture the scheduled finish dates, you need to save a baseline. Then the Baseline Estimated Finish field shows the planned finish date, that is, the date in the Scheduled Finish field (or Finish) at the time of saving the baseline.
Pls see:
https://support.office.com/en-US/Article/Create-or-update-a-baseline-plan-74b5aac6-d3f2-4346-8632-7a226c6de186
https://www.mpug.com/articles/baselining-best-practices/

[Author]

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