I t am having this problem again, I had faced this issue earleir and managed to getback by aligning the Planned start / Finsh dates to start / Finish dates by using the recommendations in this blog. But recently i had faced this issue again but this time Planned start / Finsh dates and start / Finish dates are matching but the problem is still eixsts now. Could any one can help me in this regard.

Thanks in advance.

Uday

U can solve by searching for actual duration =0 activity
and change the Actual Duration to be At least one day 

then make that global change for 
Activty status is equal to completed 

Original duration =Actual duration 

then 2nd global change 
Activty status is equal to completed 

planned start = Actual start 
planned finish =actual finish

now u will not find the problem 

(i know the question is from 2010 but i answer for people who will face it again ) 

 

if Acutal duration is zero, then this problem will occur, Oracle needs to fix it. Work around is to make Actual duration greater than zero.

make sure that the resource calendar is using the same calendar as the activities

I have ran into a similar problem, but not sure if this can be answered here since most of these posts are quite old.

I have a preliminary schedule for a 4 year multi-phased project that is resource/cost loaded over $138 million. Everything is correct when looking at the schedule with times, starts/finishes, and costs.

However, when I go to Resource Assignments everything goes wacky. The start date and costs are correct, but the durations all all wrong changing from 5 days to 3929 and the finish dates are anywhere from 2020 to 2150.

I have check the Planned Start/Finish dates and they match the schedule Start/Finish dates.

It is only in Resource Assignments that they are different. I added columns for Activity Start & Activity Finish and find my variance in the finish dates.

I can get the dates correct by manually changing the Planning Durations to match the Schedule Durations, but I also lose my set resources and costs that cause more changes when I fix those.

Does anyone else get this problem, and do you know how to fix it quickly?

Hi Jim,

it happens if there is a resource lag set on the assigned resource. for instance:

activity a starts from 1 July and ends on 5 July.  a resource with 5 days original duration and 1 day original lag, then the resource would end up on 6 July.

Regards

Jeff

Jim,
Level of Effort will response same as other task except WBS Summary task.
For example:
If you have a Level of Effort link SS to first Activity and FF to last Activity then the Planned date will be based on those activity start and finish date. When the first and succeeding activity is progressed then Level of Effort actual will end on data date and the remaining will follow new last activity finish date. Now if the last activity is move backward then Level of effort finish date will change to new last Activity finish date but the Level of Effort Planned Start and Finish date will still the same. The problem with level of effort baseline is not visible if not define so planner will not aware that the budget resource spread will still using planned date but if you looked on At completion spread it will follow the new finish date. The fixed is always change the OD to equal At Complete so Planned finished date will follow new finished date. That’s not a proper practice but that will solve the problem.

Jim,
I understand your frustration which came from the lack of knowledge on the tools that you’re using. It’s normal to all planners when the tools are new to them like what I had felt when I started to this new tools. It happens even when I use MS Project which is so basic and simple but because of lack of knowledge on the software I would not be able to drive it correct until I master it. Same as Primavera and other planning tools we used but once you know how to control and operate the software properly then you can drive it with out any problem.

In regards to your problem, it’s all about understanding of proper settings and functions to be used and software response to those settings.
For Example: Calendar usage
Basic activity type response to calendar:
->Task dependent is depending on Activity calendar wether with resource or not. Resource will use activity calendar even resource has calendar assign to it.
->Resource dependent is depending on Resource calendar and activity date is driven by the resource if “Drive activity date by default” is tick
->Summary band will use Global default calendar even project default is assigned. Project default calendar are used only when adding new activities.

Duration type:
Fixed Duration and Unit and Fixed duration and unit/time is used by Task Dependent activity and Fixed Unit and Fixed unit/time is used by Resource Dependent activity.

Percentage % Complete Type:
Physical -> Dependent on Activity Steps if "Activity percent complete is based on activity step" is selected, if not manual on all actual % and for both settings remaining dates, units or cost are all actual.

Duration-> Date is synchronised with actual % complete and response will depends on Duration type settings.

Units-> Units is synchronised with actual % complete and response will depends on Duration type settings.

These three basic settings will affect your update and must need to learned how they response on each combination used.

Another setting that will affect your update is Project Window-> Calculation tab.

Under Activities if Link Budget At Completion for not started activities is tick these will synchronised with your original duration = remaining duration and if not original duration and manual duration will stay as it is. The responses of these settings are depends on the combination below that affect your activity duration when progress is removed as follows:
->Reset Original Duration and Units to remaining – if tick and progress is removed, remaining duration is become original duration.
->Reset Original Duration and Units to Original – if tick and progress is removed, Original duration will reset to Original and same as remaining.

Under Resource Assignment – Assigned Resource behaviour will be driven by recalculate Actual Units and Cost when duration % complete changes. Meaning if you already input actual unit but duration % complete is not updated then all actual will reset to 0 including new assignments and need manually input again.

In your case I assumed that you’re using Task dependent Activity with Fixe Duration and Unit duration type combine with Physical % complete.
The normal response of Primavera when Physical progress is enters, date will not change and units will not change. If you run the schedule date will be pushed out and resources budget spread will be the same which is finishing using the planned date and not early dates.
Using Physical % complete type, planner must be aware that actual date and remaining date must be entered manually compare to duration % complete which automatically reduce remaining date when % progress is entered.

Planner/user must also aware that budget unit or cost are using planned dates so if the remaining duration is exceeding the planned dates then assigned resources budget unit will not move to new date and finished earlier than new finished date. That is what we called forecast. If you are using resource spread planner should always used At completion Units and not budget unit. These are we call budget vs. forecast which is the same as actual units plus remaining unit. Or use remaining unit if only remaining spread is required.

So what you are experiencing is normal behaviour of software responding on the settings you selected.

Best Regards,
Rodel

Hi Anbin

Have you run this problem past the primavera help desk.

There is a P6 guru attached to PP who should be onto things like this.

Life is better with Asta PowerProject.

Best regards

Mike Testro

Try to run schedule (F9) if still the same. Normal process when assigning resources it will not allow later resource planned date than activity planned date.
Also check Time:
Another common mistake of Primavera user is negligence on the default time. Primavera default time is 12:00AM which is midnight. (Edit-> Users Preferences-> Dates tab-> Time – must set to 12 hours and change the correct start date and actual date i.e. 8:00AM) If the time is not check prior to Project Start Date and Actual Start date all activities added will use 12:00AM including resource assignment. Meaning if Finish Date is Friday 5:00PM but because 12:00AM is the default and if not check then Friday 12:00AM is not working hours therefore resource will finished at Thursday 5:00PM and not Friday 5:00PM.

Anbin,
Did you check the Activity Planned Start and Finish date. By default resource use Planned dates and not early dates.

Jim,
Did you assign a resource Curve on your assigned resource? The curve used maybe zero at the end.

Hi Rafael

That was a five rum resonse if ever I read one.

I hope the rest of the weekend turns out as good.

Best regards

Mike Testro

With a six gin response.

Hi Jim

Check your resource calendars and work patterns.

Best regards

Mike Testro.