Calendar rules

In MindManager, each map has a calendar. A user can discover some inconsistencies when collecting dated tasks from several maps. Some collected tasks may have end dates different from what the user had assigned to the task in the original map.

In MindManager, there are three parameters involved in the date: the start date, duration, and the due date. MindManager defines Start Date and Duration as fixed entries, but it defines Due date as an automatic adjusting entry to account for the weekend and the number of work hours per day (set on the calendar).

For example, if your task duration is three days, from August 18 to 20 (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday), you set the Start Date to 18/08 and the due date to 20/08. If you move the start date to August 22, the due date cannot be August 24 as it is a Sunday. MindManager will not accept the date on the task with a map calendar set for non-working weekends (90% of all project maps). It will move the end date to August 26, meaning that you will complete the task over three working days, Friday 22, Monday 25, and Tuesday 26.

Consider a situation where you are copying a task that is to be completed over seven workdays from a map set to a seven-day working week calendar to a map with a standard five-day working week calendar. You set the original task with 18/06 as the start date and 24/08 as the due date (Monday to Sunday). The task’s Duration is seven working days.

When you have copied the task to the map with a five-day working week calendar, you will find that MindManager changed the due date to 26/08, with the duration remaining set to seven working days. MindManager excluded Saturday and Sunday from the task’s working time and moved the due date forward two days to account for the weekend.

Consider that a user has defined some project maps with seven-hour or nine-hour working days, while setting the original planning map to an eight-hour day. The disparity will have even more impact when the user collects tasks from these map affecting tasks’ due date and causing MindManager to adjust the due date to account for the number of working hours per day set for the calendar.

Calendars in all predefined templates have standard settings, a five-day working week, and an eight-hours per day. If all your project maps have the same calendar settings, MINDMANAGER will not make any changes. The due dates on the collected tasks will be the same as those set in the original task.

However, if you gather tasks with a different calendar setting, MindManager may change the due dates. There is nothing you can do about it. It is not a bug within MultiMaps, nor is it a bug within MindManager. It is the expected functioning built into MindManager. It is essential to understand and accept this situation.

Furthermore, if you change a task in a collection map without affecting its dates, then sending the changes to the original map does not change the original task’s due date, and everything will be as expected. However, if you change the dates on a task in the collection map, the task due date may not remain the same when you send changes to the original map. Please remember this!

Also, keep in mind that you can set your general calendar to create all your new maps with that calendar. You could, for example, set up a six-day working week. In this case, you should set this calendar for all the data collection templates to have a consistent calendar across maps and templates.

To do this, go to the Manage Template window (click the Collection Templates button >> Manage Collection Templates. Select a template in the top field of the window. Click the Edit button (button with pencil). The template opens in MindManager. You can change the calendar settings and save the template. Repeat this for all the templates.

Remember to make this change when you create your templates.