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JordynFi
Level 2
August 27, 2019
Question

Timeline Issues?

  • August 27, 2019
  • 15 replies
  • 3035 views
Hi All! Not sure if anyone else is having this problem, but I've been noticing that there are tasks in my project task lists that don't follow the timeline of tasks correctly, for example: I'll have set up the "Design layout" child task to be 1 day, and then the "Internal Review" task to be a half day. However, for some reason - even with a predecessor AND the assignee not having vacation days for this time - there is a weird three-six day gap that appears between tasks, for no discernable reason. It also occurs in our proof approval stage, where I'll set the individual stages to be 2-1 day tasks, but for some reason, the parent task marks them as taking six days. Is anyone else having this problem and know how to fix? I've had to break the cardinal rule of not setting my own dates in order to actually give accurate timelines to our clients. Any advice is greatly appreciated! Jordyn Fischer Project Coordinator Loews Hotels
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JordynFiAuthor
Level 2
August 28, 2019

The issue is I'm not selecting dates when I open a project, I manipulate the durations to give the needed timelines. For some reason, though, these tasks (when I've just opened a project) are being set to "Must Start On" when I haven't set a date for them nor set the task constraints to start that way. So now my question is why the system is defaulting to "Must Start On" for some tasks, but not all, and when that occurred because these templates I've been using have been set for four months now and never caused these problems. Can I change the default task constraints? (Image attached for reference) Jordyn Fischer Project Coordinator Loews Hotels

VincentGo
Level 5
August 28, 2019
If you manipulate the actual dates on your timeline (ex. change Task 2 to Planned Completion Date = 9/1) instead of just changing the Durations, Workfront will ignore the predecessors you put in. [The logic is "I know they said they wanted Task 2 to start after Task 1, but they also said they explicitly want it to start on 9/1" Exposing the column [Task Constraint] will give you a better idea of what's happening. The big signal you'll see is "Must Start On" or "Must Finish On". That means the date is hard-coded and will ignore your predecessors. You'll generally want your constraints to be "As Soon As Possible" or "As Late As Possible", and that'll recognize the predecessors. (As Soon As Possible is your default if your projects [Schedule From] is the "Start Date" / As Late As Possible is your default if your project's [Schedule From] is "Completion Date') In the Customize View screen, you can add the Task Constraint column. Vincent Goodwin The Capital Group Companies
SkyeHa
Level 10
August 27, 2019
I would first advise you to change your support bookmark from support.workfront.com to experience.workfront.com -- they don't update their old support site so while this info is probably good, some of the other sections might not be good moving forward. The screenshot that you gave us looks like the task list of one of your projects. There are Filter, View and Grouping dropdowns at the top of the list. You should make a new View by clicking on the dropdown and customizing one of the views you already like. The one that you screenshot looks like the Standard view, and it's perfectly fine to start there. Please customize the view by adding a column. The column I'd like to see is the Task Contraints column. If you have access to the Ascent classes at ascent.workfront.com, it would greatly benefit you to take Report Creation. This will give you a lot more familiarity with filters, views and groupings. -skye
JordynFiAuthor
Level 2
August 27, 2019
Not to sound like the newbie to Workfront that I am, but can you expand on what you mean by "task constraints"? I found this article here but it doesn't tell me exactly where to find them (linked below). The ones in the image are a bit corrupt, as it was for a rush project that I had to get out by today so I wanted an accurate timeline. https://support.workfront.com/hc/en-us/articles/217297147-Task-Constraint-Overview Jordyn Fischer Project Coordinator Loews Hotels
SkyeHa
Level 10
August 27, 2019
hi Jordyn, could you expose the Task Constraint information on each task for me to take a peek at? -skye
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