“Keep task on nearest working day when changing to automatically scheduled mode” option in MS PROJECT 2016

Hi,

a lot of my Blog readers asked me about “keep task on nearest working day when changing to automatically scheduled mode” option in MS PROJECT! I will show you what is it, and how does it work in MS PROJECT 2016!

First I am going to crate simple Project with two Tasks, one Automatically Scheduled, and other Manually Scheduled:

As you can see, I manually put Start Date for Manually Task to Saturday, 21.11.2015.

Now, where can I change “keep task on nearest working day when changing to automatically scheduled mode” option?

then:

and then:

Now, I will change Manually Task (second Task), to Auto Mode, with this option unchecked, and I will get:

You can see that Start Date for this Task is changed to Wednesday, 18.11.2015, immediately after Finish date of first Task. But, what if I check “Keep task on nearest working day when changing to automatically scheduled mode” option?

and then I change Manually Task (second Task), to Auto Mode? I will get:

As you can see, Start Date for Second Task is now Monday, 23.11.2015 (the nearest working day to previous date, which was 21.11.2015), and this Task has Start No Earlier Than constraint.

So, if you want that your Task remain with same (or nearest) Start Date when you change it from Manually to Automatically scheduled mode, this option should be checked. On the other hand, if you want that MS PROJECT recalculate Start Date according to its predecessors when you change it from Manually to Automatically scheduled mode, leave this option unchecked. It’s up to you. As simple as that.

Regards!

About Nenad Trajkovski

Location: Zagreb, Croatia Occupation: Project Manager Interests: Project Management and MS PROJECT He was born in Zagreb, Croatia at 1963. After completing his college he started working on projects in different business areas (banking, manufacturing, automotive industry, distribution, oil companies, etc.) developing and implementing ERP systems into different companies. He has got a lot of experience working with people in different business processes and also possesses great knowledge in information technologies and financial services. Today he works as a business consultant, adn Project Manager in PERPETUUM MOBILE d.o.o. Zagreb. He is a regular lecturer for Project Management in MS Innovation Center in Varaždin, Logosoft Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina and SEAVUS GROUP in Skopje Macedonia. He was named the best lecturer of WINDAYS 2008 while his lecture was also voted as the best. In addition, he was in TOP 10 lecturers at the MS SINERGY 2009 and MS VISIA 2009, 2010. Shares first place as the best lecturer of KulenDays 2009 and 2010 and PMI Conference 2009 in Zagreb. He is also a regular lecturer in the MS Community. He is a Certified Accountant and a PMP (Project Manager Professional) and a PMI-RMP (Risk Manager Professional), MCP, MCT, and Microsoft Certified Technical Specialist - Microsoft Project 2010. From 01.01.2012 awarded with MVP (Microsoft Most Valuable Proffesional - Microsoft Project)!

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