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How to calculate time lapse between two task - actual completion dates

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I am wanting to calculate the age, one date from another date, between tasks. More specifically, the end date (actual completion date) of the shown task1 to the end date (actual completion date) of the next task. How do I configure this? I want to know how many days passed (time lapse) between the actual completion of the review call and the actual completion of the invitation to the account admin. In my bad example, they are the same date- but in reality of other projects they are not and should not be. So is there a way to "qualify" or "specify" which task actual completion date I want to use in the calculation? is this valid valueexpression=DATEDIFF(implementation review call.actual completion date, invite account admin.actual completion date) I saw this in the help Actual Time Calculation in a Report The Text Mode code in this article can be used in order to get the actual time spent working on an object. The code subtracts Actual Start Date of an object from Actual Completion Date. The syntax is as follows: valueexpression=DATEDIFF({actualCompletionDate},{actualStartDate}) how do I tell it which tasks these map to? And where is the result put - for me to grab / display?
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9 Replies

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I never got a response to this - so I exported the dates and calculated the lapse time using microsoft excell. Benetta Perry APS

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Can anyone help me here? Benetta Perry APS

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I don't know if it's possible. Typically the calculations are done within the SAME Task, not between two different Tasks. Even if you were able to hard code the task GUIDs it wouldn't be sustainable you would have to do that for each task. Perhaps someone else has some input but I've never done anything like this. Our calcs are always within the same object (or resolving objects), as opposed to completely different tasks. Vic Alejandro, PMP, CSM | IT | Sr. IT Project Manager Denver Water | t: (303-628-7262) | c: (303-319-6473) "http://www.denverwater.org/"> http://www.denverwater.org INTEGRITY | VISION | PASSION | EXCELLENCE | RESPECT

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Wow, I'm with Vic. I never do math between dates on different tasks. I don't know how I'd even start without writing a bunch of C code that uses the API. Sorry I'm no help here... Eric

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Hi Benetta, I thought of a non-API solution you could use to calculate the time between two tasks on a project, even if they are not related. It is based on my "http://store.atappstore.com/2010/09/going-the-extra-milestone/">Going The Extra Milestone blog post: 1. Create a Summary Task at the bottom of the project plan. 2. Add two zero duration child Tasks (A and B) under it 3. Create a Finish to Start relationship from the first Task you are interested in (eg implementation review call) and A 4 Create a Finish to Finish relationship from the second Task you are interested in (eg invite account admin) and B The Projected Duration of the Summary Task above A and B will stretch from A to B...which is the duration you seek. Regards, Doug Doug Den Hoed - AtAppStore Got Skills? Lend a hand! https://community.workfront.com/participate/unanswered-threads

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Hi: I'm coming into this thread late, so if this has been covered, please accept my apologies. We have a custom date attribute on the task called "Promise Date". For us, that means the date someone promised the task would be done. When someone does that, I want to know if the planned completion date of the task is going to occur after the promise date. I created a calculated attribute on the task called "Promise Date Variation". This is the calculation: I use CLEARTIME to strip off the time from the date, so I'm only looking at calendar dates. That pesky time component used to give me fits. Anyway, that is how I subtract two dates. I've never tried to do date math in text mode. I'm not that good �� Hope this helps. Eric

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Lucas you are never late. Thank you. Doug - I will implement this and see how it goes. I imagine this will work once i change the template on new projects created. But for existing projects - I imagine not??? Nevertheless, I will be working on this solution. THANK YOU. Benetta Perry APS

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My pleasure Benetta, Since Projected Dates "approach, and become" Actual Dates, I believe this technique will work with your historic projects, too; you'd just nee to flip them to an editable Status (eg Planning) while you add these specil Tasks, then back again. Regards, Doug

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The Cleverness Award goes to Doug. Brilliant. Eric