Merlin – default activity scheduling

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I want to start new tasks in an ongoing project on the current date, though cannot find a simple way to do this.

A new activity has per default no start date in Merlin.
Its planing depends on where you insert it within the Merlin project.

  • If you insert it as a sub activity into an activities group, it will be pushed to start at the start of the activities group, due to the group’s scheduling.
  • If you insert it in on top level of your project, your new activity will start either on the project’s start date,

OR in case you have enabled dynamic shifting in the Project settings, it will be pushed to the status date (status date is today, in case you hadn’t set it)

  • If you insert an activity and link it by finish to start to a predecessor, the newly inserted activity will be pushed accordingly.

NOTE: In none of those cases the given planned start date will be explicitly entered, the activity will only be pushed to an expected date because it cannot start earlier due to the parent activity, predecessor, or dynamic shifting of the project.

To access the project settings:
File > Project Settings…

2 thoughts on “Merlin – default activity scheduling”

  1. I’m not sure if this is the right place to be asking this question, but…

    I’m OK with the dynamic shifting of start dates, but I would also like activity end dates to dynamically shift.

    For example, I started an activity 2 weeks ago, with an expected duration of 2 days. Now, two weeks later, the activity is only 50% complete but its completion date is being displayed as 2 weeks ago (plus 2 days). How do I get the project to autmoatically update and indicate that the expected completion date is now tomorrow (or one day from the present date, given that the expected duration is 2 days and tha ctivity is 50% complete)?

    (I am using Merlin Project 3.1.9 on OSX 10.11.4)

  2. Hi Peter,

    dynamic shifting affects not yet started activities.

    For already started activities…

    in Merlin Project,
    you enter first the 50% completion in the ‘Actual Values’ inspector,
    enter the start date correctly (the date for 2 weeks ago)
    and then enter today’s date in the ‘reported on’ field. This allows Merlin Project to schedule the task’s end to tomorrow.

    For Merlin2, one needs to switch first in the ‘absolute’ mode, to get to edit the value of the ‘reported on’ field.

    Best regards, Vicky

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