Start Date, Predecessors, Workdays, Time - Why are some AM, and some PM

GarryD2

I have a simple project which has predecessors of all types, SS, FS etc. Mostly FS. In some cases I enter a start date of (Radom for purpose of this question) Start 4/2/2023, End 4/4/2023 on the next line I put in Predecessor of the previous line. Generates a Start of 4/5/2023. When I use the RIGHT(Start Date, 7) I get the time and the time is 8 AM.

I do the same thing further down the sheet and I get 4/2/2023 End 4/4/2023. Next row put this row in as predecessor and I get a Start Date of 4/4/2023. I get a start time of 4:59 PM. WHY?

This is especially true of ones using SS but also on FS. Why does SS sometimes start it automatically on the next day at 8 AM and other times not?

My work week is 8 hour days, MTWThF (for the first half of the project), Second half it is MTWThFS. To deal with this I have the whole project MTWThFS and have S as non-working/holiday day for the first half. This too does not seem to work right. In some cases where a task ends on a Friday, if that line is now predecessor on the next line, it doesn't start on Monday, I have to add FS+1 to get it to move to the next workday.

This is a simple schedule that has no issues in MSProject, but can't produce the same dates in Smartsheet. One issue we all have said is that lack of True Constraints and basic basic feature of Project Management Gantt Charts - missing in SS. Even with compensating and making it have a predecessor and knowing I have to watch that date and make sure it doesn't move because it can't although it has many predecessors, I can't get the same Start and End dates in SS that I'm getting just fine in MSProject.

Submitted to SS support and all they sent back was it's because I'm using a formula to populate the Start Date (is that even possible to have a formula in the Start Date column on a Gantt Chart?).... I'm not using a formula at all only predecessors and then RIGHT formula in another column simply to extract the time as a measure of trying to figure out why this is happening. Start and End are either input or generated based on Predecessor entries again using all of them SS, FS, SF, FF and some with a + or - lag. and as always any entered with just a predecessor number are default FS without showing the FS.

Why does it seem to arbitrarily pick AM vs PM which then gives a different start date for the that task than desired.

Genevieve P.

Hi @GarryD2

I believe this has to do with Milestones mixed in with Dependencies.

Milestones have 0 duration, however as there has to be a time associated with it somehow in order to return a date in the Start/End date columns, this is generally the last minute of the working day or the minute before the working day:

However if you have a task then dependent on that Milestone with an elapsed note in front (like my row 14), it bases this off of the milestone timings, returning a slightly odd hour.

I will note that currently Smartsheet project settings are not built to display or work with time in the way you're currently wanting. Using a RIGHT formula is very clever! But, other than using h to note hours in the duration column, Time in Smartsheet is not supported. I would recommend adding your vote and voice to this Idea post to let the Product team know about your current scenario: Please let Smartsheet work with time

Cheers,

Genevieve