Expected finish task field

Data Type     Date

Entry Type     Calculated or entered

Description    The Expected Finish field contains the date at which the task is expected to be finished. You can enter this date as part of a PERT analysis calculation, which takes a weighted average of expected, pessimistic, and optimistic dates and durations. This field is available only in the PA_Expected Case table or the PA_Expected Gantt view.

How Calculated     When you first create a task, the Expected Finish date field contains "NA." When you enter an expected duration and an expected start date, and then click Calculate PERT   on the PERT Analysis toolbar, a probable finish date is calculated and placed in the Expected Finish field.

Best Uses    Use the Expected Finish field in the PA_Expected Case table or the PA_Expected Gantt view to estimate the probabilities of task dates. By default, the PERT analysis calculation gives heaviest weight to the expected information.

Example    You have several critical tasks for which you want to see the best-case, worst-case, and expected finish dates. You enter the expected start dates and durations for these tasks, as well as their optimistic and pessimistic start dates and durations, and then run the PERT analysis calculation.

Remarks    By changing the weight that Microsoft Office Project attributes to each of the three estimated durations, you can tailor the probable estimate to be more accurate. To change the weight, click PERT Weights  on the PERT Analysis toolbar, and then alter the default settings.

The Expected Finish field uses the Finish2 custom finish date field.