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Start Date and Completion Date in Project Templates

You can set up a default start and completion date for your project templates to reflect the typical duration of different kinds of projects and tasks. Use Quick Entry to enter the actual start date and completion date of the project. Oracle Projects uses the start and completion dates you enter, and the start and completion dates for the tasks in the template to determine the new task dates. In other words, Oracle Projects uses Quick Entry start and completion dates you enter and adjusts the task dates accordingly.

For example, if you enter a project start date which is ninety days later than the template start date, Oracle Projects adjusts the new project's task start and completion dates forward ninety days as well. If the resulting start or completion dates are later than the project completion date, Oracle Projects sets the start and/or completion date of those tasks to the project completion date. Thus, Oracle Projects ensures that the task dates remain within the new project's effective date range.

Suggestion: If you use templates with durations, do not allow entry of the project completion date in Quick Entry without entry of start date.

Oracle Projects shifts the effective dates of the project level options by the number of days between the start date in the project template and the start date that you enter. It shifts the effective dates of the task level options by the number of days between the new task start date and the start date of the task in the project template.

If you do not enter start and completion dates in Quick Entry fields, Oracle Projects creates the new project and its tasks with the same dates as the project template.

Quick Entry Date Shift Examples

Example 1: Same project and task duration

In Example 1, Oracle Projects maintains the duration of the project and tasks in the template.


Example 2: Shorter project duration

In Example 2, the new project duration is shorter (30 days) than the template duration (31 days). The task duration is shortened to 29 days to fall within the project dates.


Example 3: Shorter project and task duration

In Example 3, the new project duration (15 days) is shorter than the template duration (31 days), and the task duration (30 days) is cut short (to 14 days) to fall within the project dates.


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