Critical path wont display at all

[JG]

After I saved a baseline and ran the Gantt chart wizzard, the crtical
path does NOT display at all. I'm not sure if it's relevant or makes
any difference but for this project I chose the default task type
option to be 'fixed work'.

The only way I can 'force' a critical path to display is to the select
the 'calculate multiple critical paths' option checkbox.

Why do I have to make this selection to enable the cp to display? Is
there somthing I could check to see why I'm getting this unusual
behaviour?

Thanks!
Jonathan Glaser
(e-mail address removed)

 

[JulieS]

Hello Jonathan,

If you run the Gantt chart wizard and show baselines, the default baseline
format doesn't show critical path in the bar format. Try selecting another
format (I personally like the "Baseline Style 3 format) when running the
Gantt chart wizard.

If the Gantt chart doesn't show critical path, it could be that you have
applied constraints that are creating slack in your project. Check for a
Must Finish On or Must Start On constraint. You may also try adding the
Total Slack field to the table. If total slack >0, the task is not critical.

I hope this helps.

Julie

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi,

You most probably have a milestone or other task at a later date than the
end of your "critical" path.
Shoiw the column "total slack" it will noyt show zeroes for tasks you expect
to be critical.
HTH

--
Jan De Messemaeker
Microsoft Project Most Valuable Professional
+32 495 300 620
For availability check:
http://users.online.be/prom-ade/Calendar.pdf

 

[JG]

Hello Jan

Is there a simple method to show which task(s)/milestone(s) occur at a
date later than the cp? Inserting a column, perhaps? And if so, which
would you recommend?

Thanks for the feedback!
Regards
Jonathan

 

[JG]

Hello Julie (not sure why my reply didn't display - so re-posting.
Apologirs if you get this twice!)


'Baseline Syle 3' still didn't show the cp and none of the tasks are
'Must start/finish on' (all are 'as soon as possible' or others). All
of the tasks with constraints are SF except 2 which are FF and SS.
Other than completed tasks (total slack = 0), all of the other tasks
have total slack > 0 and are therefore not cp tasks. How is that
possible? Am I going nuts?

Thanks again!
Regards
Jonathan

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi,

Total Slack is the one.
Then use Auto Filter to look for 0.
If there is such a late milestone it will show.
HTH

--
Jan De Messemaeker
Microsoft Project Most Valuable Professional
+32 495 300 620
For availability check:
http://users.online.be/prom-ade/Calendar.pdf
Hello Jan

Is there a simple method to show which task(s)/milestone(s) occur at a
date later than the cp? Inserting a column, perhaps? And if so, which
would you recommend?

Thanks for the feedback!
Regards
Jonathan

 

[JulieS]

Hello Jonathan,

It looks like Jan and I were posting at the same time and he's added
some great ideas.

I did notice that you are using S to F links? Those are fairly
unusual in my experience. They may be causing the problems. Critical
path works best with F to S links.

I hope this helps.

Julie
in message
Hello Julie (not sure why my reply didn't display - so re-posting.
Apologirs if you get this twice!)


'Baseline Syle 3' still didn't show the cp and none of the tasks are
'Must start/finish on' (all are 'as soon as possible' or others). All
of the tasks with constraints are SF except 2 which are FF and SS.
Other than completed tasks (total slack = 0), all of the other tasks
have total slack > 0 and are therefore not cp tasks. How is that
possible? Am I going nuts?

Thanks again!
Regards
Jonathan

 

[JG]

Hi Julie

oooop, my mistake: I meant Finish to Start and in fact they are all
FS, not SF.

I added the 'Total Slack' and 'Critical' columns as suggested. To
recap:

1. ONLY Completed tasks show as expected 0 days total slack. All
other tasks (except 1 milestone) have a total slack > 0
2. No tasks (except the same 1 milestone) show 'no' for critical.
3. The 1 milestone has a 'must finish on' constraint (it's the
deadline target completion date of this small project)

I'm still going nuts....! I would so much love to flip a copy of this
project schedule for you to review (it's 64 lines). lmk if that would
work for you.

Thanks again
Regards
Jonathan

 

[JulieS]

Hi Jonathan,

Sure, send it along. My email is prjng [at] maine [dot] rr [dot] com.
Replace the [values] with the obvious and remove spaces.

I'm willing to bet however, it's the Must Finish On constraint that is
causing all of your other tasks to have slack. If the task could
finish *before* the MFO date, it is building slack into all other
tasks. If you remove the MFO constraint from the final milestone --
does critical path appear?

Again, send it along and I'll take a look when I can -- I'm traveling
but should be back by the end of the week.

Julie
"JG" wrote in message
Hi Julie

oooop, my mistake: I meant Finish to Start and in fact they are all
FS, not SF.

I added the 'Total Slack' and 'Critical' columns as suggested. To
recap:

1. ONLY Completed tasks show as expected 0 days total slack. All
other tasks (except 1 milestone) have a total slack > 0
2. No tasks (except the same 1 milestone) show 'no' for critical.
3. The 1 milestone has a 'must finish on' constraint (it's the
deadline target completion date of this small project)

I'm still going nuts....! I would so much love to flip a copy of this
project schedule for you to review (it's 64 lines). lmk if that would
work for you.

Thanks again
Regards
Jonathan

 

[JG]

Hi Jonathan,

Sure, send it along.  My email is prjng [at] maine [dot] rr [dot] com.
Replace the [values] with the obvious and remove spaces.

I'm willing to bet however, it's the Must Finish On constraint that is
causing all of your other tasks to have slack.  If the task could
finish *before* the MFO date, it is building slack into all other
tasks.  If you remove the MFO constraint from the final milestone --  
doescriticalpathappear?

Again, send it along and I'll take a look when I can -- I'm traveling
but should be back by the end of the week.

Julie"JG"  wrote in message

Hi Julie

oooop, my mistake:  I meant Finish to Start and in fact they are all
FS, not SF.

I added the 'Total Slack' and 'Critical' columns as suggested.  To
recap:

1.  ONLY Completed tasks show as expected 0 days total slack.  All
other tasks (except 1 milestone) have a total slack > 0
2.  No tasks (except the same 1 milestone) show 'no' forcritical.
3.  The 1 milestone has a 'must finish on' constraint (it's the
deadline target completion date of this small project)

I'm still going nuts....!  I would so much love to flip a copy of this
project schedule for you to review (it's 64 lines). lmk if that would
work for you.

Thanks again
Regards
Jonathan

Hello Jonathan,

It looks like Jan and I were posting at the same time and he's added
some great ideas.

I did notice that you are using S to F links? Those are fairly
unusual in my experience. They may be causing the problems.Critical
pathworks best with F to S links.

I hope this helps.

Julie"JG" wrote in message

Hello Julie (not sure why my reply didn't display - so re-posting.
Apologirs if you get this twice!)

'Baseline Syle 3' still didn't show the cp and none of the tasks are
'Must start/finish on' (all are 'as soon as possible' or others).
All
of the tasks with constraints are SF except 2 which are FF and SS.
Other than completed tasks (total slack = 0), all of the other tasks
have total slack > 0 and are therefore not cp tasks. How is that
possible? Am I going nuts?

Thanks again!
Regards
Jonathan

On Aug 19, 12:40 pm, JulieS <[email protected]>
wrote:

- Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Hi Julie and Jan

PROBLEM SOLVED!

I re-did the whole project schedule using Default Task Type as 'Fixed
Units' instead of 'Fixed Work' and voila, the critical path became
visible!

It defies my logic to understand WHY this change should have had an
effect on the appearance (or rather the disappearance) of the cp...
but that's now an academic question. Maybe either of you have an
explanation for this (?anomalous) behaviour).

Thanks again for all your support!
Kind Regards
Jonathan

 

[JulieS]

in message
<snip>
Hi Julie and Jan

PROBLEM SOLVED!

I re-did the whole project schedule using Default Task Type as 'Fixed
Units' instead of 'Fixed Work' and voila, the critical path became
visible!

It defies my logic to understand WHY this change should have had an
effect on the appearance (or rather the disappearance) of the cp...
but that's now an academic question. Maybe either of you have an
explanation for this (?anomalous) behaviour).

Thanks again for all your support!
Kind Regards
Jonathan

[Julie]Thanks Jonathan for the update I'm glad all is working as
planned.

Best,
Julie