Ticket task start date not moved earlier based on predecessor end date

I have a ticket task template that contains a succession of ticket tasks where each rely on a predecessor to be completed before becoming active. When a task completes, the succeeding task's start date usually is moved earlier to line up with the task's end date. I'm wondering why it doesn't sometimes.

I'm attaching a screen shot of three tasks with my attempts at arrows and circles. Why isn't the "prep equipment" start date/time Fri 2/25/22 8:25 AM?

All the fields in the template are filled out similarly. We are not running up against business hours.

Thanks!

Tags ticket-tasks task-template start-date
Asked by Greg Van De Mark on Fri 2/25/22 11:22 AM Last edited Fri 2/25/22 11:22 AM
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Answers (2)

This answer has been marked as the accepted answer
Mark Sayers Fri 2/25/22 12:15 PM

Hello Greg,

Did you change the predecessor value for that Prep Equipment task after applying the template to the ticket?

Because in TDAdmin that task template still shows that the "Image and Install Requested Software" task is the configured predecessor of the Prep Equipment task.

If you change that configuration on the task template itself in TDAdmin, do you see the expected behavior?

No feedback
Are you looking at the "Device Purchase (Accessories)" template?
We have a very similar template called "Device Purchase (Computers)" which you may be looking at. - Greg Van De Mark Fri 2/25/22 12:48 PM
Ah yes I was looking at Device Purchase (Computers). - Mark Sayers Fri 2/25/22 12:51 PM
So when you apply or reapply the template to the ticket manually, and then proceed to mark the tasks complete, as you do this does the next task that becomes active acquire the expected Start Date/time? - Mark Sayers Fri 2/25/22 2:19 PM
It does almost all the time so I expect that to be standard behavior. Every once in a while, it does not - as in this case. I'm not sure why that is the case. - Greg Van De Mark Fri 2/25/22 2:35 PM
Any further ideas on this? This was a weird ticket in that ticket task templates were applied and reapplied - not very clean / straight ahead. We can forget about this until I can provide something cleaner (unless you have ideas). - Greg Van De Mark Tue 3/8/22 5:39 PM
I think if we can get a clean example of this happening the *first* time a template has been applied to a ticket, and where the ticket and template are not then modified, that will be the best point to troubleshoot further. Send us a support ticket if that does happen with the details of the app ID and ticket ID it is happening to, with screen shots and a thorough description of what is going on, and we'll be able to dig into it deeper.

It would be great if we could get a reliable reproduction of the issue on a consistent basis so we can then determine if the behavior is expected. - Mark Sayers Wed 3/9/22 9:39 AM
Diane Kubarek Wed 11/30/22 1:17 PM Last edited Wed 11/30/22 1:48 PM

As a follow-up to this thread, I am trying to figure out whether the same behavior  (succeeding task's start date automatically moves earlier based on early completion of a predecessor task) is supported for *project waterfall plan* tasks as well. Can Mark or someone else guide me?

No feedback
No it does not do that automatically, however there *is* an icon for tasks that could have their start dates shifted earlier based on predecessor relationships which could help you best advance the start date of tasks that could start earlier than they are configured to currently. - Mark Sayers Wed 11/30/22 1:29 PM
Thank you for such a quick response, Mark. I tried this with a quick sample project plan (see attached image added above). I marked the first task complete as of today, 2 days early. Task One's end date was not automatically updated, so the successor Task Two start date was not recognized as being able to start earlier, so no icon appeared. Is that expected behavior, or should the "start earlier" icon have appeared in this situation? - Diane Kubarek Wed 11/30/22 1:49 PM
The dates you've selected span a weekend and the system is not going to allow you to move up the start date of the dependent task such that it would start on a date that is within the weekend. If you had chosen a Monday for the first task to end on, then started the dependent task on a Wed or Thurs/Fri, you'd see that option to move it up. - Mark Sayers Wed 11/30/22 3:35 PM