Overview
Should you specify no start date, end date, completion rate (progress), or estimated hours for a project, Birdview will do it all for you. Below is a description of the way the program will do the calculation and how this will affect associated items, such as activities that belong to the project in question.
If a project has one or more activities, calculating its start and end dates, progress and estimated hours is governed by the following rules:
| Parameter | Calculation rule | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Start date |
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| End date |
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Only top level activities, that is, ones that are not sub- to any activity, are taken into account in the calculations. |
| Progress | The project’s progress is calculated as a weighted mean of its activities’ completion rates, or |
Only top level activities are taken into account in the calculations. |
| Estimated hours | These are calculated as a total of estimated hours of all top level activities the project has plus its own estimated hours. | Only top level activities are taken into account in the calculations. |
| Actual completion date | The date on which the project was completed. May be equal or not to the planned end date. | Replaces End date when the project is completed. |
| Planned end date | The same as End date (see above). The parameter is used to serve as reference when the project is completed. | Automatically created at the time of project completion. |
Changing project start date
- In Activity center, locate the project you want to edit.
- Click the project start/end date button.
- In the start/end date selector, select proper start date.
- Click Save to save the changes.
Warning
If a project’s start date is changed, the start dates of all its activities are recalculated automatically, too, with their durations remaining unchanged. The logic that a project can be no shorter or earlier than the earliest and latest task is standard amongst project management tools.
Warning
Project dates cannot be changed manually if it has one or more closed activities whose start or end date determines that of the project. In such a case if you want to change project dates manually you will have to change the earliest start and/or latest end dates of the closed activities first so that project start and end dates are changed accordingly.