How to update targeted completion dates with actual completion dates?

Bri Acosta

Hi there,

I have tasks with targeted start and targeted finish dates, all with appropriate predecessors with or without lag, as well as durations.

Is there a way for the targeted completion date to remain as a target until the actual completion date is entered?

For example, someone signs a letter of intent 100 days after our typical timeframe for signing an LOI. I adjusted the lag, but curious if there was an easier, less manual way of updating the targeted date so all tasks following this one will update appropriately.

Also, how does everyone handle milestone tasks that have zero duration so it is called out as a milestone? Do you have the same task listed twice, one with 0 duration and one with the actual duration? Or do you use lag on tasks that are dependent on it?

Any insight is much appreciated.

Bri

Genevieve P.

Hi @Bri Acosta

Currently, the way you've identified (adjusting the lag time) is the way that I would suggest achieving your goal; there isn't a less manual way of making these changes. That being said, I know our Product Team is working on releasing a Baseline function in 2021 which may help with your Project Management needs!

I'm interested to hear if other Community members have ways to track their milestones as well, since I would think this may be dependent on the specific project and your priorities. I would personally duplicate the row (one as a 0 duration milestone and one as an actual task) as you noted.

Cheers!

Genevieve

Urban Greg -Skyline-

To combine the two previous posts, I track milestones as a 0 duration line item as mention by Genevieve. Then, I use the "Finish" field to record that actual milestone date. For project scheduling the "end date" is used, but for post project reporting of milestones I use the "finish" date. It is not particularly elegant but it gets the job done. I also label all milestones as in the Primary column as "Milestone - Description of Milestone" so that they stand out when looking in the Grid view, as well as in Gantt view.

On a related note, I'd love to see milestones automatically marked as completed when their predecessors complete. Since they are a 0 duration task, they start and finish at the same time. So it would make sense that when the predecessor(s) complete, the milestone completes automatically.