Troubleshooting Tasks in the Gantt Chart

This topic is designed to help you troubleshoot problems encountered when working with tasks in the Gantt Chart. Note: For troubleshooting tips when working with tasks in the project-level Task List, see Troubleshooting Tasks in the Task List.

Click a link below for help with a specific problem:

• Tasks are not displayed in the Gantt chart
• I cannot edit tasks in the Gantt chart
• I cannot indent or outdent tasks
• I cannot delete or insert tasks in the Gantt chart
• I cannot change task dates or move tasks
• Tasks have moved in the task schedule
• Task duration does not match the task bars in the Gantt chart
• Task duration changes when I add or remove task resources
• Task properties (duration, planned work, or resource allocation) are changing automatically
• Team members are over-allocated
• I cannot add a task to my timesheet
  
• I cannot see Critical Path
   

Tasks are not displayed in the Gantt Chart

• The view may have a filter applied to it.
  
  The Gantt Chart view can be filtered to limit the displayed tasks. Filters include All Tasks, Summary tasks, Milestones, Milestones & Summary tasks, Critical Tasks, Overdue tasks, and Unassigned tasks.
  
  To show all tasks, select All Task from the Show list on the Gantt chart toolbar.
  
  

I cannot add or edit tasks

• You may not have the schedule checked out.
  To edit or add tasks in the Gantt chart, you must check out the task schedule. For details on checking a task schedule out, see Checking Out the Task Schedule for Editing.
• The schedule may be checked out by another team member.
  You cannot edit tasks in the Gantt chart when the schedule is checked out by someone other than you. When the task schedule is checked out a message displays at the bottom of the Gantt chart. 
• You may not have permission to edit the task schedule.
  To edit tasks in the Gantt chart, you need appropriate permissions. Contact your PPM administrator to verify that you have adequate permissions.
• The task schedule may be locked by ProjectTransit.
  When a schedule is synchronized with Microsoft Project it is locked. Tasks cannot be added, edited, or deleted in PPM until synchronization is turned off. For more information, see Overriding ProjectTransit Schedule Synchronization.
  
  Important: Turning off ProjectTransit synchronization is an irreversible step and should only be done if the schedule will not be used with ProjectTransit in the future.

I cannot indent or outdent tasks

• The task has actual work logged against it.
  Tasks with work logged cannot become summary tasks.
  Note: This will not prevent you from indenting a task.
• You may be trying to work with tasks that cannot be indented or outdented. The following restrictions apply when working with summary tasks and sub-tasks:

• Top level tasks cannot be outdented.
• The first task in the task list cannot be indented.

I cannot delete or insert tasks

1. The task may not be properly selected.
   
   The task row must be highlighted when selecting a task to delete or when selecting a task above which to insert a new task.
1. To the left of the Gantt chart, in the # column, click the required task number. The task row is highlighted in the list:
   
   
   

2. Click Delete () or Insert () on the Gantt chart toolbar.
   

• The selected task may have actual work logged against it.
  Tasks with work logged against them cannot be deleted.
  Note: This will not prevent you from inserting tasks.

I cannot change task dates or move tasks

• There may be constraints on the task.
  
  A constraint is a restriction on the task start or finish date. If a task has a constraint, you may not be able to change its start or finish date.
  
  To remove a constraint, double-click the task in the Gantt chart, click the Advanced tab, and then select None from the Constraint Type list. For more information, see Task Constraints.
   
• There may be restrictions on the task start/finish dates. Tasks that are linked to other tasks with a dependency may have restrictions on their start and finish dates.
  
  For example, if a finish to start dependency links two tasks, the start date of the successor task must be after the finish date of the predecessor task. Linked tasks are joined with an arrow in the Gantt chart. Double-click the arrow to view details of the link between the tasks. For more information, see Task Dependencies.

Tasks have moved in the task schedule

• The task may be linked to other tasks.
  Tasks that are linked by dependencies to other tasks may move when linked tasks are moved.
  
  For example, if a finish to start dependency links two tasks, changing the finish date of the predecessor task automatically changes the start date of the successor task.
  
  Linked tasks are connected with an arrow in the Gantt chart. Double-click the arrow to view details of the link between the tasks. For more information, see Task Dependencies.

Task durations do not match the task bars in the Gantt chart

• The task may span non-working days.
  Some days are marked as non-working days in the workweek calendar. Typical examples of non-working days are weekends and public holidays. If a task includes non-working days, the length of the task bar in the Gantt chart will appear longer than the actual task duration.
  
  For example, a task with a duration of 4 days that begins on Friday will finish on the following Wednesday, as no work can be completed over the weekend.
   
• The task duration may not be in complete days.
  A task can have a duration that includes part of a day, but task bars in the Gantt chart are only displayed as full days.
  
  For example, a task with 20 hours of planned work and one assignee has a duration of 2 1/2 days, based on a 40 hour workweek calendar, but the task would appear to have a duration of 3 days in the Gantt chart.

Task duration changes when I add or remove task resources

• Tasks are effort-driven tasks.
  
  Tasks that are marked as effort-driven have their duration automatically updated when team members are assigned or removed from the task. To remove effort-driven scheduling for a task, double-click the task in the Gantt Chart, click the Advanced tab, and then clear the Effort Driven check box. For more information, see Effort-driven Tasks.

Task properties (duration, planned work, or resource allocation) are changing automatically

• When task properties are changed, other properties change to reflect the impact on the schedule. The changes made depend on the task type. For more information, see the Task Types Overview.

Team members are over-utilized

In the Gantt Chart, to view team member utilization, open the Gantt Sidebar and click the Resource Utilization toggle in the toolbar.

An icon next to each resource name in the Sidebar indicates how much of the resource's time is allocated to tasks.

Note: If the icons do not appear, select a task. The utilization display requires that a task be selected. Utilization is based on the time period of a particular task.

Team members that are over-utilized for the duration of the selected task are marked with a warning icon . Team members can become over-utilized when they are assigned to more than one task at the same time.

For more information, see Viewing Resource Utilization.

To reduce the amount of work allocated to a team member, you can remove the team member from some project tasks.

I cannot add a task to my timesheet

If you are trying to add a task to your timesheet and are a member of the workspace but cannot see the workspace to select a task, the workspace may not have a state that allows you to add one of its tasks.

• You can only add tasks to your timesheet if they belong to a workspace with a state of In Progress or Not Started. Tasks from workspaces with a state of Completed, Cancelled or On Holdcannot be added. For more information, see the About Tasks and Timesheets.
  

I cannot display critical path for my schedule

If you are trying to display critical path for a schedule and the Display Critical Path button is disabled, PPM is unable to calculate the critical path for the schedule. There are several reasons why this might be the case:

• The schedule includes a circular reference. Where this is the case, you can correct the dependency and PPM will be able to calculate the critical path.
  
  For example, a task might have a Must Finish Before dependency on a task that has a Must Finish After dependency on the first task. The most common reason these types of problems exist is when a schedule has been imported from Microsoft Project or is synchronized with a Microsoft Project schedule using ProjectTransit.
• The schedule may be complicated, with numerous levels of indentation and dependencies. In this case, you may not be able to use PPM to calculate critical path.
  
  Note: This should be a rare occurrence.

Related Topics:

• Gantt Chart Overview—About the Gantt Chart view.
• Importing Tasks from Microsoft Project—How to import tasks from Project.
• ProjectTransit Overview—Using ProjectTransit to synchronize a Microsoft Project schedule with a PPM project schedule.
• Task Constraints—About task constraints.
• Task Dependencies—About task dependencies.
• Tasks Overview—About tasks.
• Troubleshooting the Executive Tab—Troubleshooting help for the Executive Tab, including the Timeline Gantt view.

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