Resolving task conflicts

What is a conflict?

A conflict is an unexpected difference between task duration and task work. To understand the nature of a conflict, it is important to understand the difference between task work and task duration Duration versus work

Consider the following task:
Start date: 01-Apr-2023
End date: 05-Apr-2023
Work: 2d

Task duration is 5 days, according to the difference between start/end dates. But task work is just 2 days.
In such case, Gantt Suite needs more information from you on how to proceed with such a task.

Resolving conflicts

Did you know, in case a conflict between the task duration and task work occurs, you can resolve it either manually or automatically?

By default, the conflict auto-resolution is disabled, in chart configuration. Meaning, should there be a conflict between the duration and work for a given task, you will be prompted to resolve it manually by using one of the options below.

  • use work value to define the task duration
    the default choice
    task end date will be recalculated as task start date + duration calculated from work

  • use duration value to define the task work
    task start / end dates remain unchanged
    task work becomes equal to task duration

  • set fixed duration (task duration that is independent from task work)
    select this option if task start and task end dates must not be changed to resolve conflict;
    instead, a fixed duration flag will be set on task, and this will allow to have different values for work and duration for the task
    Note: when resizing a task with a fixed duration only the task duration is changed, the task work remains intact

 

Conflict resolution example

Consider following task:
Start date: 01-Apr-2023
End date: 05-Apr-2023
Work: 2d

Task duration is 5 days according to difference between start/end dates. But task work is just 2 days. Gantt Suite doesn’t know how to proceed, so it shows such a task in the conflicts dialog. Task will be fixed depending on your selection:

  • use work value to define the task duration
    Start date: 01-Apr-2023 (remains as is)
    End date: 02-Apr-2023 (re-calculated as start date + work)
    Work: 2d (remains as is)

  • use duration value to define the task work
    Start date: 01-Apr-2023 (remains as is)
    End date: 05-Apr-2023 (remains as is)
    Work: 5d (recalculated from dates)

  • set fixed duration (task duration that is independent from task work)
    Start date: 01-Apr-2023 (remains as is)
    End date: 05-Apr-2023 (remains as is)
    Work: 2d (remains as is)
    “fix duration“ flag gets set for the task to indicate that it is OK that work and duration differ; When the flag is set, you’ll see separate input field for Duration in task edit dialog; When the flag is not set there will only be Work input field in task edit dialog

Please note that all conflicts will be resolved in Gantt chart but only the changes you have selected (ticked blue checkbox) will be saved in Jira. If you resolve conflicts while being in a scenario, the changes will be saved into the current scenario instead. You can then save them into Jira through the scenario’s Review changes dialog.

 

Check the checkbox Auto resolve in the future to resolve the task conflicts automatically, in the future. As a result, the task work value will be used to define the task duration. You can always switch back to manual conflict resolution by disabling ‘Auto resolution of conflicts’ on ‘Extended settings' tab, in chart configuration.