entered field vs. calculated field

I'm confused about the difference between the two. The microsoft help file has the following definition:
- Entered field is a field in which you may type or edit information.
- calculated field is a field in which the value is determined by the Project base don other fields. Project may recalculate the value automaically or when you specify

Are start and end date entered fields or calculated fields? if I have two tasks a and b with FS dependency, does that make the dates for task b calculated fields?

The reason I'm asking is because I'm having problems importing project data from another file format. The help file suggests that only information in "entered field" can be imported. I created a project and specified a project start date. The imported file (in xml format) is identical to this project, with only difference being that all planned dates (starting from the project start date) were shifted by 3 days. All task durations and dependencies were preserved. When importing the file and merging it with the existing project, isntead of getting the updated project plan, I ran into conflicts with sub-tasks and none of dates for the sub-tasks were moved as a result. I don't understand how this would happen, even if project ignored all other date fields in the import file and used only project start date during the import/merge, the calculated task dates should be the same as what I had in my import file?

Task Start and Finish date fields are a mixed type that can be either
calculated or entered directly. Normally they all *should* be calculated
rather than entered but Project does allow you to enter them if you wish.
If you do, it sets a Start No Earlier Than constraint when a start date is
entered and a Finish No Earlier Than constraint when a finish date is
supplied. Try re-importing but remove the Start and Finish date fields from
the import mapping.

--
Steve House [MVP]
MS Project Trainer/Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs



"april" <anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:61E19630-52C8-46FE-9BF5-15AEAAC19A28@microsoft.com...
> I'm confused about the difference between the two. The microsoft help file
has the following definition:
> - Entered field is a field in which you may type or edit information.
> - calculated field is a field in which the value is determined by the
Project base don other fields. Project may recalculate the value
automaically or when you specify
>
> Are start and end date entered fields or calculated fields? if I have two
tasks a and b with FS dependency, does that make the dates for task b
calculated fields?
>
> The reason I'm asking is because I'm having problems importing project
data from another file format. The help file suggests that only information
in "entered field" can be imported. I created a project and specified a
project start date. The imported file (in xml format) is identical to this
project, with only difference being that all planned dates (starting from
the project start date) were shifted by 3 days. All task durations and
dependencies were preserved. When importing the file and merging it with the
existing project, isntead of getting the updated project plan, I ran into
conflicts with sub-tasks and none of dates for the sub-tasks were moved as a
result. I don't understand how this would happen, even if project ignored
all other date fields in the import file and used only project start date
during the import/merge, the calculated task dates should be the same as
what I had in my import file?

Hi Steve,

What if the Planned Start Date is intentional? In some cases, a subsequent task does not need to immediately start even though the dependency requires that it has to at least wait for the previous task to finish before it can start. The "start no earlier than" constraint is not necessarily the only sceneario here but it could be one of the reasons that a planned delay is set in the schedule. Does that mean I cannot properly import and merge with existing project file when dates are entered in schedule on purpose?

On a second note, I did I noticed that the "Start No Earlier Than" constraint can be removed once the late activity has started with actual start date and % of completion.

Thanks,
april

Remember the basic purpose of MS Project is not to accept as its input a
schedule you have come up with elsewhere but rather taking as input what
needs to be accomplished and the assets you have to do it with, it then
calculates and gives you the optimal schedule you can have. You don't tell
it when tasks *will* take place, rather it tells you when tasks *can* take
place and schedules them so as to give you a completed project in the
shortest possible time. IMHO, a "Start No Earlier Than" constraint is
appropriately used when some condition external to the project makes it
impossible for the task to start as early as Project would otherwise
schedule it. The example I use in classes is filming a movie and we need to
shoot at a certain location. We're ready to shoot that scene in mid-June
but the owners of the location have said that under no circumstances can we
come on the property to begin setup until after the July 4th holidays.
Hence we'd use a SNET constaint to move the task out to the first date we
could work on it. If you do need a planned delay - waiting for parts
delivery after an order is placed or waiting for a contract to be approved,
for example - you still don't designate the start date for successor task -
instead you use a lag time inserted in the link to create the necessary
delay between the two tasks. That way if the predecessor is pushed back,
the successor is pushed back a like amount and the required delay between
them is preserved. Or perhaps the resource that will work on the task isn't
available until after a certain date. Even then, you don't directly
designate the date the task will be scheduled on. Instead you input the
information about when the resources are available and Project will schedule
tasks accordingly when you assign the resources to them, only placing them
on dates where the resources required will be there to work on them.


"april" <anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:8B6307E0-31B7-48E5-AE68-4B699BC16475@microsoft.com...
> Hi Steve,
>
> What if the Planned Start Date is intentional? In some cases, a subsequent
task does not need to immediately start even though the dependency requires
that it has to at least wait for the previous task to finish before it can
start. The "start no earlier than" constraint is not necessarily the only
sceneario here but it could be one of the reasons that a planned delay is
set in the schedule. Does that mean I cannot properly import and merge with
existing project file when dates are entered in schedule on purpose?
>
> On a second note, I did I noticed that the "Start No Earlier Than"
constraint can be removed once the late activity has started with actual
start date and % of completion.
>
> Thanks,
> april