FAQs Scheduling

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How to add a Max Cost field in my project?
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To add the Max Cost field in your project, go to menu File – Options – Schedule tab and from the Task Status Method field select “Deadline and MaxCost”. When selecting this method, a new Max Cost field will appear. From this field, select the desired “Cost” custom column that will show the MaxCost for tasks, then click OK. Go to Gantt Chart View or any other View with grids, select a column and go to menu Format – Insert Column. Select the “Cost” custom column that has “MaxCost” in the name and click OK.
How can I update the Task Status Method?
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To Update the Task Status Method of your project you can either go to menu File – Options – Schedule Tab and change the methos from the Task Status Method field. Or, if you have the default Tasks Status Method set for your project and you edit the Deadline or Max Cost field in the menu Project - Project Information, a dialog will be displayed proposing to update the Task Status method from the default “% Complete and Status Date” to “Deadline and Max Cost” method and set Max Cost custom field.
What is the difference between the “%Complete and Status Date” and “Deadline and Max Cost” Task Status Methods?
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The difference between the “%Complete and Status Date” and “Deadline and Max Cost” Task Status Methods is that the returned status of your project will depend on the entered %Complete and set Status Date for the first method and will depend on the set deadlines and entered maximum cost in for the second method.
When should I use the Deadline and Max Cost method?
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Use the “Deadline and MaxCost” task status method when your project is mainly dependent on the added deadlines and the maximum cost entered for the project and you want to know the status of your project based on this criteria.
When should I use the %Complete and Status Date method?
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Use the “%Complete and Status Date” task status method when your project is mainly dependent on the progress entered by resources and the set Status Date and you want to know the status of your project based on this criteria.
What is the “Deadline and Max Cost” method?
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The “Deadline and MaxCost” method is a new, unique way of knowing the status of a task or project which allows you to return the status of a task or entire project depending on the added deadlines and the maximum cost entered new Max Cost field.
What is the “%Complete and Status Date” method?
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The “%Complete and Status Date” method allows you to return the status of a task or entire project depending on the entered progress (%Complete) and the Status Date set for the project. This method is set by default and is the same method used in MS Project.
Can I set the Maximum Cost for each task?
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To set the Maximum Cost for each task, first make sure you have the “Deadline and MaxCost” method set in the menu File – Options – Schedule Tab and from the Max Cost field select the desired “Cost” Custom Field. Go to Gantt Chart View or any other Views with grids, select a column and go to menu Format – Insert Column. Select the “Cost” custom column that has “MaxCost” in the name and click OK. In the new column, type in the desired Max Cost for each task.
Can I set the Maximum Cost for the entire project?
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To set the Maximum Cost for the entire project, first make sure you have the “Deadline and MaxCost” method set in the menu File – Options – Schedule Tab. Then go to menu Project – Project Information and in the Maximum Cost field type in the desired maximum cost for the entire project. Click OK to save the changes.
How do I set the Task Status Method for my project?
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To set the Task Status Method for a project, go to menu File – Options – Schedule Tab. From the Task Status Method field select one of the methods. If you select the “Deadline and MaxCost” method a new Max Cost field will be displayed where you have to select the “Cost” Custom Field that will show the Maximum Cost of a task. Click OK to save the changes.
What does the Project Task Status Method functionality do?
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The Project Task Status Method functionality allows you to choose whether to return the status of a task or the entire project depending on '% Complete and Status Date' or 'Deadline and Max Cost'.
When should I use the "Split Task" functionality?
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Use the “Split Task” functionality in the situation where the work for a task in your project needs to start, then stop somewhere in the middle of the task, and then resume at a later date.In this way, Project Plan 365 gives you the possibility to account for interrupted work, when an issue arises that causes a non-work period delay in the schedule. This allows for the individual task duration to remain the same, while potentially extending the duration of the project.
How a Finish date for a task is calculated?
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A Finish date can be calculated or entered. If you do not type a finish date, application calculates it based on such things as relationships, calendars, and the scheduling method.

If resources are assigned, Project Plan 365 also considers the resource calendar and assignment units. If you type a finish date, will be set automatically a Finish No Earlier Than constraint and uses the date you type as the constraint date.

Example: You need to filter for all finish dates scheduled after March. You filter on the Finish field to see only those tasks scheduled with a finish date beyond March 31.

How are the Actual Duration and Remaining Duration calculated?
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If you type a value in the Percent Complete field, Project Plan 365 automatically calculates actual duration and remaining duration. In this case,

  • Actual Duration = Duration * Percent Complete
  • Remaining Duration = Duration – Actual Duration.

If you type a value in the Percent Complete field in a summary task, Project Plan 365 automatically distributes the Percent Complete for subtasks. The distribution tries to add Actual Duration equally for each subtask which is scheduled as working starting from the Project Start Date.

For more information, please check our Percent Complete online help article.

How does the Project Plan 365 Scheduling Engine work?
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The Project Plan 365 Scheduling engine works as described below:

  1. First Step: Create a graph where nodes are tasks and edges are precedence relations between tasks and do a topological sort to get the order in which we should process the tasks so we calculate early start and early finish dates.
  2. Second Step: Create another graph for successors of tasks and calculate the late start and the late finish dates so we can calculate the real start and finish date of tasks and slack and we can obtain the project duration, finish date and critical path with better accuracy.
  3. Third Step: Compute other task fields like cost, work and make sure that resource assignments are calculated correctly.
How can I know the "Planned Percentage Complete" of my project?
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Unfortunately, we don’t have a way to do this in Project Plan 365 because we don’t support formulas.
How can I change % complete to multiple tasks?
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We are sorry, but at this point our application you can't change the % complete for multiple tasks at the same time.
How to add new tasks and add them to the baseline without updating baseline information for the previous tasks which are already tracked?
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To set a Baseline for selected tasks, first select the tasks (using the Shift or Ctrl keys) then go to Project – Set Baseline. In the Set Baseline dialog select “Selected tasks” and click the “OK” button. This way the Baseline for the selected tasks will be set. The Baseline will be set when you Save your project.

How do I set a Baseline for selected tasks?
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To set a Baseline for selected tasks, first select the tasks (using the Shift or Ctrl keys) then go to Project – Set Baseline. In the Set Baseline dialog select “Selected tasks” and click the “OK” button. This way the Baseline for the selected tasks will be set. The Baseline will be set when you Save your project.
Is there an option to set work contour for my project?

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We are sorry but, at this point, the "Work Contour" field is not editable in our application.
How to remove slack?
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To remove the Slack Time for a task, select the task, go to Task menu - Task Information - Predecessors tab and in the Lag time grid type 0 days.
What does the yellow diamond icon mean?
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The yellow diamond icon from the Indicators field shows the tasks that are overallocated.
Is it possible to store our subprojects in SharePoint?
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Is it possible to store our subprojects in SharePoint?
What subscription do I need to have to use the Resource Leveling feature?
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You must have a Business Subscription to use the "Resource Leveling" feature.
Does Project Plan 365 resolve the overallocation for resources assigned to summary tasks?
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Project Plan 365 cannot resolve the overallocation for resources assigned to summary tasks.
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