Actual Start and Finish dates

Hello,
You MUST enter the actual start end finish dates in the ACTUAL START / FINISH fields, not the (current) START / FINISH fields.
Before you entetr the 1st actual data, go to Tools, OPtions, Tracking and Save the baseline of your project.
ACTUAL dates will not modify / update the part of the planning already completed; if the actual does not comply with the planned, the still to be done part of the project will be updated.
Alexandre Faulx-Briole
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/afaulxbriole

Save as baseline is an option. But If you want to keep your current start & current finish unchanged after updating then copy all start & finish date in the field start1 & finish1. Then you can update the actual start & finish date.

Gentlemen,

Searching for exactly the solution to this problem,
I came upon this thread.
It shows the search engine is accurate but,
when I tried to implement Raj’s solution,
I found that updating actual start still
moves the "current" start.
Of course I could modify the bars to show
Start1 and End1 instead of Start and End
but this would be a pain

Any suggestions

Thanks in advance.

Nicolas,
You are doing a big mistake: in MSP vocabulary, "Duration", "Start" and "Finish" are equivalent to "Original Duration", "Early Start" and "Early Finish" in P3; you should add "Scheduled" to the noun, to make the difference from Baseline and Actual.
Furthermore, when you enter actuals in MSP, the software supersedes the scheduled values with the actuals.
Therefore, a)when a task has started, "Start" is equal to "Actual start", b)when a task has finished, "Duration" is equal to "Actual Duration" and "Finish" to "Actual Finish"; no need to use Start1 and Finish1, use Baseline instead

there is a simple answer to this simple question
go to insert/column/select the ID "actual start" and "actual finsih". two new columns will be inserted u can now feed in yor actual start and actual finish dates in these columns feeding these will also give you the days variance by again going the insert / column and selecting the ID Duration variance. this is how it is

Hi!
I dont think what Faisal suggested exactly solve the issue.
The questioner want to prominently show the planned start and finish dates.
In your method, when ever we enter a date in the ’Actual start’ ,for all associated activities, ’Start’ And ’Finish’ date changes !
That means one wont be able to see the originally planned start and finished dates in the programme anymore! Duration variance will display some value only after we enter Actual start & actual finish (Both)
The best solution MSP can offer for this is:
Step-01: As soon as the project plan (Baseline) is approved , save it as baseline : Tools > Tracking > Save baseline > Entire project

Step-02: Right click on the ’Gantt chart’ area , select "Gantt Chart Wizard". In the wizard step02 , select ’Baseline’ view and proceed for formatting.

Step-03: Add two more columns :Insert > Columns
"Baseline Start" & "Baseline Finish"

Step-04 : Periodically update "Start" & "Finish| columns.
Change activity links as ’Performed’

Now what ever you do with start & finish dates / links , your original plan lays undisturbed in the backdrop as ’Baseline’ So anytime you can have a visual comparison of what was planned and what happened in real.

You may change the colour of baseline plan to some thing contrasting from the "actual" bar colour (In bar styles)

Hope this helps ..

Cheers

Sreejith Nair

I didnt meant that adding two new columns of actual start and actual finish will not change the original duration try doing it it wont change it