Overriding Scheduled and Actual Values

Work items (both tasks and requests) have fields for the Scheduled and Actual values for:

  • Start Date

  • Finish Date

  • Duration

  • Effort

Note: Requests use the System Default Regional Calendar's setting for the number of working hours in a day.

Tasks use the setting defined in the project's selected region, defined in the Project Settings window.

Requests with resources assigned use the number of working hours in a day set by the resource's regional calendar.

Scheduled Value Field Relationships

The Scheduled Duration and Scheduled Effort for a request work item are automatically calculated in the following manner:

  • Scheduled Duration = Scheduled Finish Date – Scheduled Start Date –Regional calendar non-working days)
  • Scheduled Effort = Scheduled Duration * (Working hours in a day defined from regional calendar)

Each of these fields automatically updates the other:

  • If the Scheduled Start Date is changed by the user, then the Scheduled Finish Date is automatically updated to reflect the Scheduled Duration.

  • If the Scheduled Finish Date is changed by the user, then the Scheduled Duration is automatically updated and Scheduled Effort is recalculated.

  • If the Scheduled Duration is changed by the user, then the Scheduled Finish Date is automatically updated to reflect the Scheduled Duration, and Scheduled Effort is recalculated.

  • For a work item with multiple resources, the total Scheduled Effort is simply the sum of all resources' Scheduled Effort. If the total Scheduled Effort is changed by the user, each assigned user's Scheduled Effort is changed proportionately. (If the total is doubled, for example, each resource's Scheduled Effort will also double.) Concordantly, if an assigned user's Scheduled Effort is updated, total Scheduled Effort is recalculated automatically.

Note: Scheduled Effort is evenly distributed across working days from the Scheduled Start to the Scheduled Finish. Hours per week may differ based on regional and personal calendars (for example, holidays and personal vacations).

Changes to Scheduled Effort values do not have a "backstream" effect. Updating only the Scheduled Effort field will not change the Scheduled Duration, which is always derived from the Scheduled Start and Finish values. This allows a task to be assigned at less than full time.

Actual Value Field Relationships

Actual field values for work item requests are captured in the following ways:

  • Start Date. When the work item is started (task is set to In Progress or request is submitted)

  • Finish Date. When the work item is completed (task is set to Completed or request is closed)

  • Duration. Calculated as Actual Finish Date – Actual Start Date – (Regional calendar non-working days)

  • Effort. Calculated as Total Scheduled Effort * (Actual Duration / Scheduled Duration)

If the Actual Duration is changed by the user, then the Actual Effort is automatically updated.

Note: Though the Actual Effort field can be updated independently, changes to Actual Effort do not have a "backstream" effect. Updating only the Actual Effort field will not change the Actual Duration.

To prevent the system from overriding a manually updated Actual Effort value, make sure that you have updated the Actual Duration or ActualStart/Finish Dates before specifying the new Actual Effort value.