Knowledge

P6 and Microsoft Project

Data Date vs Status Date — What SAL Must Not Treat as the Same

Data Date ≠ Status Date; SAL must not treat them as the same calculation

P6 Gantt with a vertical Data Date line in Q2 2011. Remaining bars sit to the right of the line.
The red line is the P6 Data Date. Status Date is the Microsoft as-of. They are not the same object.

Same idea: the as-of / time-now of a statused schedule. Not the same object. Do not paint one date into the other product’s field and call the calculations equal.

What each actually is

P6 Data Date (Oracle EPS): “The progress point, or ‘as-of date’, for activities in the project. Project status is up-to-date as of the data date.” Set when you schedule, apply actuals, or manually. Professional Dates tab: “The date used as the starting point to calculate the schedule.” Early dates start from it (Oracle Activity Dates). Actual duration for an in-progress activity is working time from Actual Start to the data date. Remaining work sits after it.

Project Status Date (Microsoft): the day you report progress. “The status date is almost never the current date, so you need to set it.” Project > Status Date. Enter NA (or today) to put it back to the current date. MSPDI Project/StatusDate: “Date used for calculation and reporting.” When you enter % complete or actual work, Project may reschedule remaining work around the status date — only if the Advanced calculation checkboxes are on (move completed parts back / remaining parts forward). Earned value (BCWS) is through the status date. Task Status (Complete / On Schedule / Late / Future) is computed against it.

What they are not

Not thisWhy
Today / wall clockOracle: you set Data Date; it is not “now.” Microsoft: Status Date is almost never the current date. MSPDI CurrentDate is “the system date that Project generated the XML file.”
Planned Start / StartDateP6 plan_start_date is Planned Start. MSPDI StartDate is the project start. Neither is the as-of.
Must Finish By / Deadline / FinishP6 plan_end_date is a project-end constraint (backward pass). See Must Finish by (Project Constraint, Not Data Date). Project Deadline is a different feature.
Schedule Finish / FinishP6 Finish / scd_end_date is the latest early finish from the last run.
Expected FinishActivity-level typed forecast. See Expected Finish (Not Remaining Finish, Not a Constraint).
Last Scheduled Date / Last Apply ActualsDifferent Oracle EPS columns.
Summarized Data Datesum_data_date — summarization, not the live Data Date.

Do not treat as the same

  1. Do not map Data Date → MSPDI StartDate or CurrentDate. The analogue field is StatusDate.
  2. Do not call PROJECT.last_recalc_date “Oracle Data Date.” Oracle labels it Last Recalc Date. MPXJ maps it to Status Date. Viewers may use it as the practical as-of; they must not label that mapping Oracle-official. See P6 Data Date (Time-Now / As-Of).
  3. Do not assume remaining-work placement is identical. P6: remaining work is after the data date (actual duration definition). Project: remaining work moves to the status date only if those Advanced options are on. Same as-of idea, different engine.
  4. Do not use wall-clock today as either date in the Viewer, a PDF header, or a look-ahead filter. Live file 23-10-CE-LIVE is 31-Jul-26 17:00.
  5. Do not treat a converted Status Date as proof the MSP file was scheduled the P6 way. Mapping the date is not mapping retained logic, expected finish, or calendars.

Detail by product: P6 Data Date (Time-Now / As-Of), status-date.md.

Sources

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