Trouble with dependencies in Project 2003

[Laura]

I must be doing something wrong. I have linked three subtasks (lines
2,3,4)together under one task (line 1). Subtask 3 is dependent on the
completion of subtask 2, subtask 4 is dependent on the completion of subtask
3, etc. I checked and the dependencies are set finish to start, with no lag
time. The problem is the dependency is based on the original time estimate
(# of days), rather than the actual finish date (one column "finish" is
driven by duration, while the other column "actual finish" is manually
inserted when a project is actually completed). I want the next phase of the
task to be dependent on the "actual finish" of the project before it. Can
someone help?

 

[JackD]

If there is an actual finish then project will make finish = actual finish.
In other words, you shouldn't have to worry about this.

 

[JulieS]

Hi Laura,

The "Actual Finish column you inserted, is that a date column you are
entering the date in?

There is an Actual Finish field in project where you should be recording the
Actual date the task is finished. That will push out the successor tasks as
you need. Choose Insert>Column and in the field list, select Actual Finish.
(You may want to check out the Tracking Table as well. It contains Actual
Start, Actual Finish and a number of other tracking fields.)

Hope this helps. Let us know how you get along.