Is there a way to create a Task Report that can pull two tasks that have the same Task Name, but one of the tasks just has "AUTOCALC:" at the front of it?

[OliviaMi]

Bear with me here... We have tasks in our projects that have "negative" predecessors (example in photo attachment - Task 75 should always happen 5 days BEFORE task 37). This creates an issue for the task owners, in that Task 75 will always show as "not ready" because WF sees there is a predecessor there, and that predecessor is not completed. But Task 37 will never be completed before task 75! So our current workaround is to have this task 75 show the true relationship between tasks and have it assigned to the project owner. Underneath it, we have created task 76 - which is the action of Task 75, assigned to the right task owner and with no predecessor. That way this task will show for the task owner as "Ready to Start" - BUT this requires a manual update to be done by the PM to ensure that the start date of Task 76 matches what Task 75 is calculating out to be the right start date. Is there a report I can do text mode on to pull all "AUTOCALC:" tasks PLUS the task directly underneath it for all projects? (This as a way for the PM to know they have updated all those manual dates or to identify where there are discrepancies.)

Thank you for getting to the end of that one, whew!

[Doug_Den_Hoed__AtAppStore]

Toughie Olivia,

Normally a predecessor could relate such tasks, but since the presence of a predecessor "taints" the data, it's a Catch-22.

Instead, one approach would be to add a custom data parameter (e.g. a checkbox called "Sync Task") to each Task in all such pairs on a Project (and if you like the approach well enough, even on your Templates), and optionally, a second calculated text parameter (e.g. called "Sync Task Name") with a formula of REPLACE(Name,"AUTOCALC:",""), then filter for Sync Task true, order by Sync Task Name, and view the Planned Start Date of each for easy grid-editing to ensure they match.

Regards,

Doug