Structure Gantt auto scheduling schedules tasks in the past - can it schedule them from now on?

[Tim Wright]

I am using Structure Gantt to schedule my tasks based on the time tracking information, with start and end date fields in the issue for manual adjustment.

I am finding that the auto scheduling feature positions tasks in the past. Two examples:

• if I add a new task to the project it is scheduled as far to the left as the project start date and dependencies allow;
• I have a 1 week task which was started 2 weeks ago but has been delayed, 3 days work has been logged to the task, so it is correctly showing 60% complete, but the remaining 2 days are still scheduled for when they were originally planned, supposedly complete a week ago.

In both cases it does not makes sense for the task to be scheduled in the past. For the first example I expect the new task to be positioned no earlier than today's date. For the second example I expect the start date to match that defined in the task's start date field, and the end date to be 2 days after today's date.

I have tried various options in the Gantt configuration but I'm not getting anywhere.

Am I expecting too much?

[Yulia Barbash _ALM Works_ · Accepted solution]

Hello @Tim Wright !

Yulia from ALM Works here!

What you are seeing is expected behavior The Project Start Day is the default starting point for all issues using automatic scheduling. You can find additional information about how scheduling is handled in Gantt chart settings documentation.

Because your project start date is in the past, any new issues added to the project will use the date in the past until another day is defined either by dependency, resource allocation, or manual scheduling. 

To have your automatically scheduled tasks advance in time, you will want to:

1. Move the project start date

Tasks that are relying on the default start date will be automatically scheduled for today. Additionally, any tasks that are scheduled in the future based on dependencies will be moved to the appropriate number of days out.
(You can drag it on the Gantt chart before adding new items).

2. Make considerations for completed tasks

You will want to enable Manual Scheduling and set the End Date to "Resolved". Anything automatically scheduled will move forward when dragging the project start date to the right, but by using the "resolved" date for manual scheduling, the completed items will always remain in place when doing so.

We have been discussing "Project Start Date = Today", but are still collecting interest and do not have any timeline to share. I will be happy to follow up with you here once an update is available!

Best regards
Yulia Barbash

[Tim Wright]

Hi Yulia,

Thanks for the information. I had assumed the project start date meant the day the project had started and therefore would not move. I will try out your suggestions.

I would certainly be interested in the "Project Start Date = Today" option.

Thanks,

Tim.