Approved start date and Approved end date fields on project status report form and is always empty?

[Chandler2]

I see fields "Approved start date" and "Approved end date" on status report form ( Table: project_status). By config dictionary I see that it is on table project_status.

Questions: 

1. What is the purpose of these two fields and from where these fields get the value?

2. In my instance, I see all of them having no value for these two fields, why?

Please suggest and share any article link if you have.

Thanks!

[Pall Sigurdsson · Accepted solution]

Hello @Chandler2 ,

The approved start and end date on the status report come from the corresponding fields on the form of the project. When a new status report is created, the approved start and end date fields of the status report are filled with the currently set approved start and end dates of the project. These are not mandatory fields on the project form out-of-the-box and if they are empty, the corresponding fields in the status report will also be empty. The field should be described here but they aren't: https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/utah-it-business-management/page/product/project-management/task/...

The approved start and end dates in projects were introduced in the Paris version. They are not calculated from any data in the project. However, when a project is created by converting a demand then the approved start and end dates of the demand get carried over to these fields.
The Paris release notes don't seem to be available anymore but these fields are also described in the ServiceNow project management documentation, see https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/utah-it-business-management/page/product/project-management/task/...
Before the approved start and end dates were introduced, there was no field into which one could put fixed dates which would not change while the project was going on. The planned start and end dates are calculated fields and the actual start and end dates also get populated automatically. Hence, the business purpose of the approved start and end fields is in my understanding to have a place to document what has been agreed, e.g. with the project customer or steering committee, at the outset, in the last review of the project or at whatever turning point you decide in your internal process.