Dependencies on GANTT view

David Muskett

Hi,

I am struggling to get sub tasks report as I think they should. 

Example in screenshot.

Basically, if I have sub tasks, then I want to have the heading task report the last date when ALL the tasks are complete. At the moment, by default, the main task shows when ANY date is entered in "Finish" which if sub tasks are collapsed, it gives the impression all sub tasks are complete which clearly they are not.

Is there a way to achieve what I want?

Thanks

David 

Paul Newcome

That is because the Parent rows are used as a summary of the child rows.

 

One suggestion would be to use a set of Projected Dates and a set of Actual Dates. The Projected dates I use on my GANTT chart as my dependencies to show my projections for the project. The Actual Dates columns I use for my manual entry. In the parent rows I will use a basic

=MIN(CHILDREN()) 

in the Actual Start column to show when the overall task was started by pulling the earliest date populated in the Children rows.

For the Actual Finish Date column, I use the following in the Parent rows:

=IF(COUNTIFS(CHILDREN(), ISDATE(@cell)) = COUNT(CHILDREN([Task Column]@row)), MAX(CHILDREN()))

 

This will basically count how many dates have been entered in the child rows of the Actual Finish column. If that count equals the same as the count of children in the Task column, then that means all children rows now have a date in them.

Once that happens it pulls the latest date from the child rows. In the example below, you will see what it looks like. The Actual Start for the main task is the earliest start date of the sub-tasks while the Actual Finish of the main task is the last finish date of the sub-tasks. Using the above formula, the Actual Finish for the main task would stay blank until all sub-tasks have an Actual Finish.

 

Task          Actual Start             Actual Finish

   -1             1/1/19                       6/6/19

       1.a       1/1/19                       1/2/19

       1.b        2/2/19                      6/6/19

.

I know this isn't exactly what you are looking for, but it is the solution I have found that works best for everyone in my department.

David Muskett

Hi Paul,

 

very efficient way of solving the problem. Your solution led me to re-evaluate what I am seeking to achieve. I had to change my mindset to think along the lines of MS Project and that led me to conclude that Smartsheet actually handles the start/finish correctly, what was wrong was my perception of how to show the results I wanted.

Very happy with your solution and I will implement it. Need some other enhancements to take the results of from your formula, but that is another story!

Thanks again for your superb help and clear explanations.

 

David 

Paul Newcome

David,

 

Happy to help. 

Don't hesitate to ask away if you can't find a solution. The community in general is a pretty friendly and helpful place.