Recurring Task Set Up

[BethBa4]

Is there a way to prevent the duration of a recurring task from auto adjusting? 

We struggle with our resources not changing task status in a timely manner.  If a resource has a weekly recurring task, they work great if on Monday it is moved from New to In Progress and then on Friday from In Progress to Complete.  If a resource moves it from New to Complete on Friday, the duration starts to recalculate and adjust the rest of the recurring tasks.

We use the recurring tasks to block off time on things NOT able to be done in Workfront, not meeting or admin times, but work NOT done in Workfront (yes, I know, multiple project management systems....not ideal, but it's real).
Example:  Resource has 0 .8 FTE hours of capacity (32 hours, set in the resources WF User profile to account for meetings and unplanned discussion, get water, standing meeting, etc).
Resource is assigned to work on 2 projects being managed by a vendor outside of Workfront.  Project ABC will run for the 6 weeks, allocated 4 hours per week and on Project XYZ for the next 6 months, allocated  6 hrs/wk. 

Constantly adjusting the user profile capacity is one option, not ideal.  It has to be done by an Admin and our managers forget to tell us when capacity adjusts until it's too late and showing incorrect capacity in Workload Balancer/Resource Manager.

Recurring tasks are set up for the proper time and planned hours using:

Task Constraint:  Must Start On

• Frequency: 1/Week,
• Repeats on Mondays
• Duration Type:  Simple

Will changing the Tracking Mode from User Must Update to Auto Complete fix the problem with the duration auto adjusting?  Has anyone tried this?

[skyehansen]

you mentioned "moving" a task... are your folks using the agile boards/cards view? I've never heard of a duration autocalculating just based on a status change, so would like to look a little more deeply into it (you could also submit a case to Workfront Support)

[BethBa4]

Moving a task = changing the status (moving/changing the status of the task from new to In Progress)

This is not an Agile Board.  

I have a video that shows it happening (attached).This is an extreme case as no one touched the project from June - September.  This has happened when tasks are updated for the week on Friday (changing status from new to Complete all within seconds instead of in real time which would be to change task status from New to In Progress and then on Friday change to Complete. 

We set up a project to placehold time and It showed properly in Workfront.  We realized none of the tasks were being updated, went to do it and about 4-5 tasks in, the duration auto adjusted the rest of the tasks from 1 Week Duration to 0.1 Week duration.

I'm trying to figure out which settings could prevent this.

I had a daily task set up with the Tracking Mode set to Auto Complete (screenshot attached of where to find it) and nothing happened.  I think it's because I had the task status still New.  Trying again today to see if it Auto Completes if my task is In Progress.  I will know tomorrow.