Autolink Problems

[Chris]

I have two projects each with a development and a operations timeframe with a
milestone in the middle.
The development is set start as late as possible
The milestone is set to must start on
The operations is set to start as soon as possible
The goal is to be able to adjust (using the mouse in the gantt chart view)
the milestone forward and backwards in time. This set up works perfectly
when dealing with a single instance of this set of 3 elements.
However, when I have more than one instance of this set and I wish to adjust
both elements. I find that if I adjust one milestone (using the mouse) it
automatically sets the other milestone to the constraint start no earlier
than. This destroys the independance of the two sets. I have turned off the
autolink default. Am I missing something to keep these two sets independent
while having them within the same project?

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi,

AFAIK it will be the milestone you move that is set to Start No Earlier
than, not the other one

 

[Chris]

Sorry Correct it does creat that limitation this prevents moving the same
item backwards in time or the other element forward without it snaping to the
future date. Is there anyway to change only the date instead of the
constraint type?

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi Chris,
Not by moving the milestone graphically - but after moving you can go to
task information, advanced and restore the constraint to MSO.
Another quick way is to insert the column "Contraint type" then after moving
you can rest the constraint type automatically.
Or you do nort move graphically; you insert the column "Constraint date" and
change that one.
Hope this helps

 

[Steve House]

Milestones are events and as such occur whenever they occur, whenever all
the things leading up to them have been done. You may have a strong
deadline by which you absolutely must achieve the milestone or there'll be
hell to pay but that's NOT the same thing as a Must Start On constraint.
MSO says it is engraved in granite that it WILL occur on that date
regardless of anything else that happens in the project but that's virtually
never really true - we're all familiar with missed deadlines. I suggest
you consider applying a Deadline entry to those milestones while leaving
their constraint as ASAP so your plan will show you two valuable pieces of
information about them ... the cutoff date by which they must take place and
the date where they are predicted to take place IF you proceed with the work
organized the way you presently have it. That way if your present
organization is going to make it late youve got some advance notice in time
to rearrange the plan so it actually will make the requirement. Otherwise
you're likely to come up on that date and find the milestone running late
with nothing left in your arsenal to fix it except go to the boss with your
tail tucked between your legs and hope that she's in a merciful mood. (And
you're going to be upset with MS Project because it didn't warn you when in
fact it was your MSO constraint that instructed the software specifically
NOT to warn you of the missed deadline!)