Gantt Chart smarts

Jacinta

Hello Brains trust,

I have added a checkbox column "Not Applicable to this Plan" to a template project plan.

I want the task to stay in the list so that there is a clear indication that this task was considered and then a decision made that it was not relevant. But I want the task ignored in terms of % progress etc.

When I go to write an automation to I can choose "Change Cell Value" but the options for the columns I can change the value of is limited. e.g. I cannot change the duration to 0, nor the start or finish date.

I can also "Clear Cell Value" but it does not work in all cells. i.e. it wont clear predecessors, it wont clear duration unless duration is zero, and then it resets it to one.

About the only thing I can make it do is change % Complete to 100%.

This then makes my progress bar look deceptive (i.e. some of these tasks would, if undertaken take weeks, whereas many other tasks are only 1 day or less.

Thanks

Genevieve P.

Hi @Jacinta

Formulas a Workflows will be unable to populate columns/cells used in Project Settings (such as the Start Date, End Date, Duration, and Predecessor columns) when dependencies are enabled, as you've found.

See: Areas where formula use is restricted

What I would suggest doing is set up a filter on your sheet to quickly surface all of the rows with the checked box at once. Then you can drag-fill the 0 duration down all of the rows that meet your criteria:

You'll also want to set the Cell Change workflow to update the % Complete to 100%, as you noted. With a duration of 0 this should very minimally affect your Parent Rollup rows (1% difference or less, depending on how many child rows you have).

I hope this helps!

Cheers,

Genevieve

Jacinta

Thanks Genevieve,

After lots of playing around that is what I had figured, but I hadnt managed to find the article that confirmed my issue.

a manual process it is then.

Genevieve P.

Hi @Jacinta

Formulas a Workflows will be unable to populate columns/cells used in Project Settings (such as the Start Date, End Date, Duration, and Predecessor columns) when dependencies are enabled, as you've found.

See: Areas where formula use is restricted

What I would suggest doing is set up a filter on your sheet to quickly surface all of the rows with the checked box at once. Then you can drag-fill the 0 duration down all of the rows that meet your criteria:

You'll also want to set the Cell Change workflow to update the % Complete to 100%, as you noted. With a duration of 0 this should very minimally affect your Parent Rollup rows (1% difference or less, depending on how many child rows you have).

I hope this helps!

Cheers,

Genevieve

Jacinta

Thanks Genevieve,

After lots of playing around that is what I had figured, but I hadnt managed to find the article that confirmed my issue.

a manual process it is then.