Insert text to date field

[newbee11]

Hello,

I have a msp schedule that has tasks that are not applicable to some people. The only way management wants this handled is to place not applicable in the date field - they do not want anything deleted if it is not applicable. How can I add text to a date field? It seems possible in the actual start and finish date columns but I can't do the same in the estimated start and finish colmumns I am using MSP 2003.

Thanks in advance.

N.

 

[ProjectMonkey]

Add resource names to the resource column and filter on resources so that management can see what they feel is applicable.

There are lots of ways around this and MSP has many reports you can use. Why are they so set on the date field? I am pretty sure you can't add text and I don't know why you would want to.

T Morphy

http://www.stakeholdermap.com/plan-project.html

 

[newbee11]

Thanks for responding.

We have a Visual Basic Job that extracts data from the start and finish date columns and management does not want dates entered for a task that will not be undertaken, nor do they want the task deleted. What other options do we have?

Thanks.

N

 

[PDQBach]

Well, in Prj2010:

a. Set the task mode to "Manually Scheduled" and you don't have to enter a Start or a Finish date; OR

b. Set the task mode to "Automatically Scheduled" and set task Active field to No and then the task won't appear in any reports and won't be rolled up to Summary tasks though it will remain in the schedule until you decide to set it Active again.

As a workaround in earlier versions ... a bit awkward but certainly do-able: Use the Baseline Start and Baseline Finish as proxies for Start and Finish. They will start as "NA" and won't get changed to a date until you baseline the task. If you baseline the task and then change your mind, just clear out the Baseline Start and Baseline Finish.

 

[JulieInMaine]

I would use a simple Flag field set to "Yes" on tasks that you do not intend to use -- modify to VB job to exclude tasks where "yes" is in the flag field.

Julie