To keep task Start Dates from changing to the project Start Date in the MSP New Driver, the solution would be to add one of the following to the task:
1. A task constraint (See steps below)
2. A dependency to other tasks
3. Another other option is changing the % Complete value of the task to be greater than 0% (IE 1%). If the task has a % Complete value of greater than 0, this will add an Actual Start date for the task, so when the task is exported to MSP, the Start Date is pulled from that Actual Start Date
To add a constraint to a task from within PPM:
Note: "Start no Earlier Than" or "Must Start On" constraints work best to resolve this issue as other constraints such as "Start No Later Than" can still change the task Start Date to the project start date. Example: If your project start date is 05/01/2018, and the Task Start date is 05/05/2018, adding a "Start No Earlier Than" constraint of 05/04/2018 will keep the task from exporting to MSP as the project start date of 05/01/2018.
1. In PPM, go to Home->Projects then click on the link for the project.
2. Click on the Tasks tab.
3. Click on the link for the task.
4. Select the 'Properties' tab and then click 'Constraints'.
5. Populate a date in one of the Constraints fields based on how you want the task to behave, then click Save and Return.
Constraints can also be added in MSP:
1. Export the project from PPM to MSP.
2. Double click on the task and click on the 'Advanced' tab.
3. Add a Constraint type (other then As Soon As Possible) and Constraint date and click OK.
Notes:
- To update multiple tasks, you can instead add the Constraint Type and Constraint Date to your Task/Gantt view in MSP and update the fields from the column.
- Other factors can impact dates being exported including
- The Actual Start date of the task, which can override constraints set. Once the % Complete of a task is higher than 0%, this will populate the Actual Start Date which drives the Task Start Date.
- Another factor is non working days or Holidays set on the PPM calendar. This also can cause task Start/Finish dates to be pushed out.