Why is the Start Date inconsistent?

Matt Haas

The START date on Row 813 is different in these two examples. Why?

The image labeled "Correct" has Row 813's predecessor pointing to a row that has no predecessor. As such, Row 813's START date is one day later than the FINISH date of its predecessor. The date on Row 813 shows (3/12/24 shown in yellow). This seems correct.

The image labeled "Wrong" shows its START date as 3/11/24, which seems wrong.

Why does this happen? Both examples point to a row that FINISHES on 3/11/24 (shown in yellow). Why does one situation have the START date as 3/12 and the other 3/11? Why?

Zachary Hall

It is impossible to say why that is showing incorrectly without seeing how the date is being generated. Since it is working in one of the sheets I would recommend comparing the formula on the sheet where it is functioning correctly and fixing the formula that is not working to match. If you can't find it you can reply here with the formula and we can potentially help guide you in the right direction.

Matt Haas

https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/comment/414056#Comment_414056

Thanks for the comments, Zachary. There are no formulas in this sheet. It's simply Start/Finish dates, Predecessors, and Durations... and, the dates are being controlled by the sheet's Dependency Settings. This is all pretty standard stuff.

Also, the odd behavior will occur in the same sheet if you alter the predecessors as shown in the screen-grabs.

It's as if this issue is part of the Smartsheet platform itself. It's repeatable. It's not a result of any other factor, including the formulas because, again, formulas are not being used.

Thanks again for your comment. If you think of something else, please pass it along.

Genevieve P.

Hi @Matt Haas

When Dependencies are enabled, there is a hidden time associated with dates to identify if the date is the start of the day or the end of the day - this enables the FF, FS, SS, and SF Predecessor links to be created.

Without seeing how all of your tasks are connected, my guess here is that row 811 has a time value that starts the day instead of ends the day (this may be due to its predecessor links).

To test this, add a Text/Number column to your sheet and use the simple formula:

=Finish@row + ""

This will show you the hidden time value and explain why some tasks start on the same day and some start on the next day.

Cheers,

Genevieve