Separate task duration and estimated time whilst maintaining auto-scheduling on Structures.Gantt

[Joe Milner-Smith]

Hello, 

I am looking to be able to have a fixed duration for a task (10 days) and an estimated time of 10hrs (1hr per day) but I would like to be able to keep the auto-scheduling by dependencies active. 

Currently the only way to do this are to manually add a fixed duration to each task which adds extra admin when we have a start and finish date already there. 

If I have set the start and finish date but have auto enabled then the task is scheduled based on the estimate and not the start and finish date. If the task is then manually dragged in the Gantt to extend it to 10 days it automatically increased the estimated time. 

Is there a way to have the duration fixed by start and finish date whilst maintaining the auto schedule feature and also be able to manually drag the task to a different fixed duration?

Thanks,

Joe

[Stepan Kholodov _Tempo_]

Hello @Joe Milner-Smith 

You can define Fixed Duration without setting Start & Finish dates in a task: the value can either be taken directly from a dedicated Jira field that you define in the chart's configuration or you can set the Fix.duration value in a task individually when clicking on its bar on the chart. The task can still be scheduled automatically, have a defined work estimate(10h) and end after 10d.

As for being able to move a task on a chart - the acton itself contradicts the logic of the automatic scheduling when dates are flexible and they are calculated using other base parameters. Moving a task to a certain date is scheduling it manually i.e. specifically defining where the work on that task should happen. So moving a task on a chart is only possible when manual scheduling is enabled.

With automatic scheduling, it is still possible to affect where the task is positioned on the timeline, you just can't do it directly. A task can be rescheduled as a result of some other change, for example - if a Finish-to-start dependency is created from a different task, which will reschedule the dependent task to start right after the originator task finishes. Changing an estimate/fix.duration parameter can also have a similar effect if two tasks have a relevant dependency.

I hope this helps. If you have more questions, please reach out to us directly through our support portal.

Best regards,
Stepan Kholodov
Tempo

[Joe Milner-Smith]

Thanks for the reply. Perhaps if I give an example it will help explain my aim better. 

I have a task that is scheduled to start on the 1st August and a due date of the 10th August, the estimated hours are 10hrs, so 1hr per day. Unfortunately the technician assigned to this task has had to have 3 days off so they have missed 3hrs of the task progress. In this instance I would need to drag the due day along by 3 days whilst maintaining the 10hr allotted time.

If I set up automatic scheduling for this task it will begin at the project start date and not the task start date, it will then end after 10hrs unless I have specified a fixed duration of 10 days (would also have to work out how many hours this is and then set it?). 

If I have this set up for manual scheduling, then if it had dependencies that are scheduled to start after this task then when I drag it out for an extra 3 days, all the subsequent dependent tasks will be flagged red and I will have to manually move them all along by 3 days. 

Is it possible to automate this?

Thank you,

Joe

[Stepan Kholodov _Tempo_]

If you want to avoid using manual scheduling for tasks altogether and keep their dates flexible, you can do something like this: 

1. Create a milestone out of any existing issue in a structure.
2. In the chart's configuration, define a Jira field for Milestone date.
3. Create a Finish-to-start dependency between the milestone and the task.

The milestone's position on the chart will be manually scheduled so you'll be able to move it where needed. The dependency will in turn move the task along on the chart while the task will be scheduled fully automatically. All tasks that have dependencies from that task will also be automatically rescheduled to reflect the change.

The tricky part here is the 3 days off that the assignee took. Time off should be defined in the resource's Availability settings and you would need to extend the Fix.duration parameter to 13d. Then you will get the result you need - the finish date of the task will automatically add 3 days, the resource allocation will reflect the capacity - 1h per day with 3 days of having 0 work done, and all dependent tasks will be rescheduled to a later time automatically as well.

Best regards,
Stepan Kholodov
Tempo

[Joe Milner-Smith]

Thanks Stepan, 

I can't seem to create a milestone and then create a dependency between that and the task. It doesn't allow it. 

Am I missing something?

The Milestone replaces the tasks bar and the milestone doesn't have a start and finish date, just a date.

[Stepan Kholodov _Tempo_]

A milestone is based on an issue in Jira, so if you want to have a task with a dependency to a milestone, you need to have two issues in your structure - one will be the task, and the other will be turned into a milestone.

If you have more questions, please submit a support request at our portal since we'll need to take a closer look at your setup.

Best regards,
Stepan Kholodov
Tempo

[Joe Milner-Smith]

Thank you, 

The only issue I am facing now is that the start date of individual tasks is not part of the automatic scheduling, all tasks start at the project start date. I have tried the milestone technique you suggested but this adds a huge amount of admin, manually creating a new task, converting to a milestone, setting the date and linking it to the main task. All for the sake of just wanting to set a start date individually for each task.

Thanks for the help so far. I will create a support ticket on Monday

Joe