1. A computer-implemented method for creating a top down project plan, the method comprising: receiving information entered by a user associated with a summary task and subtasks comprising the summary task; determining whether a summary task's start date, finish date, and/or duration fields contain user-entered information; if at least one, but no more than two of a summary task's start date, finish date, or duration fields contain user-entered information, determining a schedule for the summary task utilizing summary task information entered by the user (planned dates) in addition to a calculated roll-up of the summary task's subtask information (roll-up) dates; determining if a summary task's calculated roll-up dates contradict planned dates; if a task's calculated roll-up dates contradict planned dates, preserving the user-entered planned dates; and displaying the determined summary task schedule in the corresponding fields of the project plan.