Start/finish date adjustment in WBS Gantt Chart

Question

Hi! I'm using the WBS Gantt Chart app to manage my projects and I need some help.

I would like to better understand the difference among the options effort-duration-units adjusts: what do they mean by "effort"? How does it work?

Then I would like to understand if, when I assign a task to a person, this person can update the date on the Gantt by interacting from his personal profile. I try to explain with an exmple: if we have a task with a planned duration of 5 days, but the assigned person closes that task erarlier because he/she takes only 3 days, will the end date be brought forward on the Gantt? How can I do this? (The same thing instead if the person completes the task later).

Thank you

Alessandro Portela Cristiano · Answer

You're welcome @Andrea Fontanini  please do keep the questions coming! We are really glad that our app is useful to you. :)

This is working as designed because of the following reason - if a task is completed later, it will (theoretically) delay all its dependencies, therefore, it shifts the finish date to display the current scenario.

Opposing that, if a task is completed earlier, the app cannot predict what is going to be the next course of action as the team strategy can vary from slot in another task in the spare time, or shift all tasks to complete a sprint earlier, etc. So it does not change the Finish Date.

If I may suggest, in case you would rather have the Finish Dates automatically updated, Scriptrunner automation or Jira workflow to update the field could be some alternatives.

Hope this helps to clarify the behavior you are seeing. Please do let us know if you have any feedback or additional questions!

All the best,
Alessandro C. | Support Engineer
Ricksoft Support Team

Andrea Fontanini · Answer

Thank you @Alessandro Portela Cristiano , but I still have some doubts.

I set the options to show duration-adjusts. Therefore, once the effort and the units for a task have been entered, the duration is automatically calculated and, given the start date, the end date is automatically set.

Now, I upload the time spent with the time tracking tool. If the time loaded exceeds the effort I had previously planned, the task end date is automatically postponed (thus highlighting a delay with respect to the baseline).

Now, if, on the other hand, I register a time lower than the planned one and I declare the task completed, why is the final date not brought forward?

@Alessandro Portela Cristiano I apologize for so many questions, but my company is seriously evaluating this tool.

Alessandro Portela Cristiano · Answer

Hello @Andrea Fontanini ,

Happy to see you around!
Allow me to answer your questions below:

I would like to better understand the difference among the options effort-duration-units adjusts: what do they mean by "effort"? How does it work?

The 'Effort' is a value used in WBS Gantt-Chart to indicate how much work has been done taking into consideration time against the workload of a task. But since this can be different from project to project, the app allows you to configure which kind of result you want to see:

* Effort (hours invested in a task)
* Duration (total time elapsed in a task)
* Units (percentage of the task completed)

You can read more at our wiki to a more in-depth explanation on how the calculation works:
https://docs.ricksoft-inc.com/wbs-gantt-chart-for-jira-cloud/standard-columns#Standardcolumns-Duration-EffortAdjustment

will the end date be brought forward on the Gantt? How can I do this? (The same thing instead if the person completes the task later).

By default, the Gantt-Chart finish date is not updated. This is done to prevent your plan from shifting whenever there is a new update.
However, if you rather have the latest scenario whenever there is a change, you can modify the Gantt-Chart fields to use Jira dates instead:
Click on the Jira Admin Cog, then Apps, then Issue under the WBS Gantt-Chart section. There click the Edit button and use the Drop-downs to select your own Jira fields to the Start and Finish dates.

Once again, you can deep dive into the configuration details by reading more at https://docs.ricksoft-inc.com/wbs-gantt-chart-for-jira-cloud/global-issue-settings#GlobalIssuesettings-Howtochangetheganttdatafield

Hope this solves your questions. But please do let us know if there is anything more you would like to address.

Wish you all the best.

Kind Regards,
Alessandro C. | Support Engineer
Ricksoft Support Team