Timeline Issues?

[JordynFi]

Hi All! Not sure if anyone else is having this problem, but I've been noticing that there are tasks in my project task lists that don't follow the timeline of tasks correctly, for example: I'll have set up the "Design layout" child task to be 1 day, and then the "Internal Review" task to be a half day. However, for some reason - even with a predecessor AND the assignee not having vacation days for this time - there is a weird three-six day gap that appears between tasks, for no discernable reason. It also occurs in our proof approval stage, where I'll set the individual stages to be 2-1 day tasks, but for some reason, the parent task marks them as taking six days. Is anyone else having this problem and know how to fix? I've had to break the cardinal rule of not setting my own dates in order to actually give accurate timelines to our clients. Any advice is greatly appreciated! Jordyn Fischer Project Coordinator Loews Hotels

[SkyeHa]

hi Jordyn, could you expose the Task Constraint information on each task for me to take a peek at? -skye

[JordynFi]

Not to sound like the newbie to Workfront that I am, but can you expand on what you mean by "task constraints"? I found this article here but it doesn't tell me exactly where to find them (linked below). The ones in the image are a bit corrupt, as it was for a rush project that I had to get out by today so I wanted an accurate timeline. https://support.workfront.com/hc/en-us/articles/217297147-Task-Constraint-Overview Jordyn Fischer Project Coordinator Loews Hotels

[SkyeHa]

I would first advise you to change your support bookmark from support.workfront.com to experience.workfront.com -- they don't update their old support site so while this info is probably good, some of the other sections might not be good moving forward. The screenshot that you gave us looks like the task list of one of your projects. There are Filter, View and Grouping dropdowns at the top of the list. You should make a new View by clicking on the dropdown and customizing one of the views you already like. The one that you screenshot looks like the Standard view, and it's perfectly fine to start there. Please customize the view by adding a column. The column I'd like to see is the Task Contraints column. If you have access to the Ascent classes at ascent.workfront.com, it would greatly benefit you to take Report Creation. This will give you a lot more familiarity with filters, views and groupings. -skye

[VincentGo]

If you manipulate the actual dates on your timeline (ex. change Task 2 to Planned Completion Date = 9/1) instead of just changing the Durations, Workfront will ignore the predecessors you put in. [The logic is "I know they said they wanted Task 2 to start after Task 1, but they also said they explicitly want it to start on 9/1" Exposing the column [Task Constraint] will give you a better idea of what's happening. The big signal you'll see is "Must Start On" or "Must Finish On". That means the date is hard-coded and will ignore your predecessors. You'll generally want your constraints to be "As Soon As Possible" or "As Late As Possible", and that'll recognize the predecessors. (As Soon As Possible is your default if your projects [Schedule From] is the "Start Date" / As Late As Possible is your default if your project's [Schedule From] is "Completion Date') In the Customize View screen, you can add the Task Constraint column. Vincent Goodwin The Capital Group Companies

[JordynFi]

The issue is I'm not selecting dates when I open a project, I manipulate the durations to give the needed timelines. For some reason, though, these tasks (when I've just opened a project) are being set to "Must Start On" when I haven't set a date for them nor set the task constraints to start that way. So now my question is why the system is defaulting to "Must Start On" for some tasks, but not all, and when that occurred because these templates I've been using have been set for four months now and never caused these problems. Can I change the default task constraints? (Image attached for reference) Jordyn Fischer Project Coordinator Loews Hotels

[VincentGo]

So when you change the Durations, the constraint is automagically getting changed to Must Start On? I noticed that starting to happen for me this week, but I also thought I was crazy, so I haven't reported a ticket to Workfront yet. If you change a Duration, it shouldn't change the constraints. Vincent Goodwin The Capital Group Companies

[JordynFi]

That's what I thought too!! I submitted a report to Workfront's Customer Support - the contact I have right now is working to see what's causing this. If you've said this is happening to you too, though, it's not just a "my team" thing. Out of curiousity, are you a system admin or a worker? Jordyn Fischer Loews Hotels

[VincentGo]

I'm a system admin for our Workfront instance. That's good to know that it's not just me (well, it's not "good", but it's validating). I'm glad that part of the mystery is solved. Vincent Goodwin The Capital Group Companies

[Phoway]

Vincent, I was looking at your task schedule and really like the Ready to Start column. I have added this to my task schedule, but can't figure out the filters that are need to get the Green and Red dots. Any help on the filters would be greatly appreciated. Patricia Howay

[VincentGo]

Absolutely! I used the [Can Start] field. (There's a similar field called Pending Predecessors but it doesn't perfectly work with Parent & Child tasks) Once you've added the column, go to Advanced Options, and then add Column Rules to convert the field from text to icons. Vincent Goodwin The Capital Group Companies

[Phoway]

Thank you so much~! Patricia Howay

[TinaHu1]

Hi - I put in a ticket for the constraint changing when duration has been changed and it sounds like this is a known issue. Our specific scenario is when the duration of a predecessor task is changed the subsequent task auto changes to Must Start On (the incorrect behavior). I can't speak to other scenarios just this one. Our support person just let me know there is a fix. My case # is 00161375 if anyone would like to reference it in a ticket. Tina Huang Optum

[KatherineHa1]

Yep, we reported this bug to Support as well. We also sent this to our users:

Project Owners - There is a bug we are working with Workfront to fix. When you change the duration of a task, the next task's task constraint changes to Must Start On. This prevents the schedule from recalculating. Here is a video for you to watch with the issue and the workaround: "https://vimeo.com/356188136/464c792f15" https://vimeo.com/356188136/464c792f15 Basically, you need to use the Standard with Task Constraint view and after you make your duration change, you will need to change the Task Constraint of the next task back to As Soon As Possible. We are hoping this will be fixed soon, but please put in a "https://fcb.my.workfront.com/requests?activeTab=tab-new-helpRequest&projectID=51015bd3000471e3f256332a95e9b215" Workfront Help Desk Queue request if you have any questions or additional issues about this problem. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Katherine Haven, PMP VP, Director, Business Technologies - PMO FCB

[Former Community Member]

I just came out to search for any known issues on this because the timelines have been driving me nuts the past couple of weeks. My predecessors don't work if the task they are linked to happen to be a "must start on" constraint. I'm also having to use the recalculate timeline option constantly because the dates won't update themselves. Even then I'm getting the strange gaps and incorrect dates that are being reported here. Has anyone heard anything back on the fix or next steps? Carrie Nunemaker Arkansas Administrative Office of the Courts

[MarisolCa]

Yeah, I find that my tasks wont go and update so I manually have to go into each task and change to "As Soon As Possible" which takes in time from the previous step and automatically adjusts. It's hassling! MarisolCamposCreative