Days off have no impact on a project schedule

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Copied from the bug tracker on SourceForge:
https://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1575592&group_id=72728
&atid=535427

Having defined the resources for the project I keyed in
"Days Off" and then planned tasks to be done. When it
came to allocating a resources to the tasks the "Days
Off" were ignored. The end date does not take into
account "Days Off".

Original issue reported on code.google.com by dbarashev on 5 Dec 2008 at 11:55

[kiltannen]

Is this something that is being looked at? Any chance it may have a fix soon :) ?

I do like the software - and I love that it's open source & free for all uses.

I am encouraging others to use it - my workaround for this "feature" is to have an annual leave task for each resource that goes on leave and make it a predeccesor of any task that falls in the "wrong" slot.

Manual and a little bit clumsy - but does work...

[RoDoerIng]

I'm just using your software the first time and I'm very happy with it. But this bug/feature makes it a little hard to do detailed planning.
Please solve this issue.

In the meantime I try to get along with the workaround @kiltannen mentioned.

[jesus2099]

my workaround for this "feature" is to have an annual leave task for each resource that goes on leave and make it a predeccesor of any task that falls in the "wrong" slot.

@kiltannen could you explain your work around in step by step or with a screenshot, please?
Let’s say the unique resource of a 10 day task (with automatic start date by a dependency), has 3 days off in the middle, how do you make this task end up 3 days later but still automatically shift with the dependency anterior task, if it slides?

[Docteur-RS]

Is the project dead ? Because we are in 2017 and its still not fixed.

I've got some people working in part-time. How should I represent them when they are only working 3 days a week... Its not convenient at all.
Thats a pitty because its a good peace of software.

[derarnold]

Hi there.

How can we can develop / fund this fix? @ganttproject team: How much money would you need to implement this?

[derarnold]

My problem here is, that I try to use the personal holidays to introduce a schift schedule. I have some companies work 7 days a week and some 5 days. Is there perhaps an other solution for this?

[derarnold]

Perhaps, we can implement the feature easy as follows:
When you assign several resources to a task and one is available to work on that day, the day counts as a working day towards the duration.
When no resource is assigned all days count as working days
If at least one resource is assigned to the task and has holiday that day, the day does not count as a working day towards the progress.

This should make the feature easy to implement. What do you think?

[dbarashev]

@derarnold this is a complex story.
Some people love complete automation of this process and don't mind when resource calendar change introduces side effects by changing the assigned task dates. However, there is other side: people do not like when something changes out of their control, and that's one of the reasons why they like GanttProject comparing to MS Project: we do not try to be excessively smart.

My current view is that we can search for affected tasks after changing resource calendar and leave user a choice how they shall be handled. Such approach requires quite a lot of polished UI work, and is not really cheap. However, we have some funds from the donations and we are ready to pay to someone who loves UI and is willing to take this up. If you can recommend anyone, please let us know.

[callbarberd]

Found GanttProject and I just tried it. Pleased to be able to add in Days Off as well as the main resource only does a 3 day week. However, disappointed when the Days Off didn't work. Did some testing and then started searched and found this stream.
I wasn't going to donate because this is a big hole for this one project and is necessary for my other projects. BUT I realise it's a complicated area and will need good resource. I can just put in a Blanket 4 day weekend for this project and then I'm ok. I like GanttProject - it's pitched at the right level and I'll use other workarounds for other projects.
So I think I will donate and hope that sometime in the years to follow it does get done.

[k3yma]

Just started looking at this tool, however unfortunately this bug makes it completely useless for my requirements as there is no easy way to cater for holidays without re-doing a load of tasks.
Looking at the history though it seems it's probably not going to be fixed unfortunately. :(

[ktor]

hi @dbarashev , how about a separate menu action: "Recalculate end-dates with days-off"? I would have a use for such action. Please let me if you know anybody that have already implemented that or is implementing. I could try and support the effort even though I don't know the project very well :)

[deoscode]

Ok, heres my proposal.as a developer.

How about a 'project setting tick box" for "single resource per task scheduling".
If ticked, then GP will only allow one resource to be assigned per task.

This should keep scheduling calculations easy, as its a simple extension of the global calendar logic. I could show days off as a short orange vertical bar in the task for the single resource (similar to long vertical bar for global calendar days off).

This will meet the majority of my project planning needs. If you have more than 1 resource working on a task, then you can manually split it into multiple tasks (1 per resource)

Dbarashev, you good with this, or should i fork off?

[dbarashev]

I don't see any point in a check box that explicitly restricts the number of assigned resources, sorry.

[deoscode]

It's there to simplify resource "days off" scheduling.

No worries, I' ll fork off and try it out.

Good product but not usable without a resource based days off feature.

[philipmcgaw-cpi]

I came here looking for an answer as to why, when I added my Christmas holiday into myself as a resource it didn't move out my deadline, etc…

I use GanttProject to track my end dates for reasonably complex project work.

I would have expected this to be a solved problem after about seven (7) years as an open ticket.

[jesus2099]

Because of this, I cannot take my new year holidays… ;)

[antoine-pous]

Any news about this awesome feature ?

[deoscode]

Yes, making good progress.I basically modified. TaskImpl.shiftDateto call a new function called MergeCalendar().This merges the resources private holidays to a temp copy of the public calendar for each task. Then uses this temp merged to shift the dates. Its the least impact route. Appears to work dynamically from task tab. Need to debug the open document code which creates the task. As assignments get created after tasks have been imported and shifted. Getting familiar with GP code structure.Havent used java in anger for 20 years! Need more time :-)In too deep to give up now. Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android On Wed, 11 Jan 2023 at 2:58 pm, Antoine ***@***.***> wrote: Any news about this awesome feature ? — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or unsubscribe. You are receiving this because you commented.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[deoscode]

I have "Good News" & "Bad News".

The "Good News" is that my proposed fix for scheduled dates to use both public and resource (DaysOff) calendars when scheduling for a task with a SINGLE resource, now works.

In the example below, I have setup public hols: Mon 26/12/22, Tue 27/12/22, Mon 2/1/23
For resource "ravi", I have assigned "Days Offf": Wed 28/12/22 - Fri 30/12/22
For resource "john", I have assigned "Days Offf": Wed 28/12/22 - Thu 29/12/22
task_0 is assigned a single resource "ravi" from 20 Jan for 5 days
task_1 is assigned a single resource "john" from 21 Jan for 6 days

Screenshots are attached of the results:

The "Bad News" is that my proposed fix to make this a configurable option (limiting it to 1 task per resource) was rejected by Dmitri. I can understand his reasoning, after browsing through the vast code, and the desire to retain backward compatability.

So, I have "forked off" my own github repository with this fix. I have a few other "itches" with GanttProject which I also intend to fix, and don’t really want to jump through hoops seeking approval. That’s the beauty of opensource, as you can always "roll your own" the way you want it.

Dmitri, you are welcome to integrate this code fix (along with the additional work required to make it work for "multiple resources assigned to a single task"). However, it’s a rabbit hole I'd rather not enter. For me, limiting 1 task to 1 resource works fine, as you can always run parallel tasks for additional resources.

I have some more testing to do but will make my "GanttOne" repository public as soon as its ready. More info on "GanttOne" will be made available on my github repo.

[UKfilmNetadmin]

I have ALWAYS been a HUGE fan of Gantt Project - and I came here just to make sure this terrible bug had been fixed after 7 years. It hasn't. It is now March 2023 - and if the ability to add holidays doesnt work - then I'm genuinely sorry - but its time to say good bye and leave this software for all but the most basic free demo for students learning how Gantt projects SHOULD work

This is a truly sad day. Now I have to use MS Project

[arrenwu]

I have "Good News" & "Bad News".
The "Bad News" is that my proposed fix to make this a configurable option (limiting it to 1 task per resource) was rejected by Dmitri. I can understand his reasoning, after browsing through the vast code, and the desire to retain backward compatability.

So, I have "forked off" my own github repository with this fix. I have a few other "itches" with GanttProject which I also intend to fix, and don’t really want to jump through hoops seeking approval. That’s the beauty of opensource, as you can always "roll your own" the way you want it.

Dmitri, you are welcome to integrate this code fix (along with the additional work required to make it work for "multiple resources assigned to a single task"). However, it’s a rabbit hole I'd rather not enter. For me, limiting 1 task to 1 resource works fine, as you can always run parallel tasks for additional resources.

I have some more testing to do but will make my "GanttOne" repository public as soon as its ready. More info on "GanttOne" will be made available on my github repo.

Do you still intend to release the repo in the near future?
I will be excited to see your solution with single-resource-per-task restriction.

[AlexandreBonneau]

In about 2 months, this issue will have been open for 10 years.

Being able to add day off for some resources, have have their tasks take that info into account is an essential feature of a Gantt chart. Without it, you might as well just create an excel file to create basic charts.

So what could be the next step ?

• Either wait another month/year/decade to come up with the perfect solution, or
• Solve the most common problem first, which is 1 resource / 1 task, then worry about the more complex case later.

Is there a workaround so the days off feature is not useless?