Custom Milestone not working

[DBD]

I created a custom Milestone for certain tasks which I am using Flag1 to
trigger its use. It works for every task I assigned yes in flag 1 column
except for one task.

Does anyone know why this task may not be following the use of the custom
milestone? The Flag1 column has yes value in it for the task in question,
and I've even tried resetting the flag1 value in the task from yes to no back
to yes to see if that did the trick, it didn't. I even tried resetting bar
in the fomat task bar window. Help. Thanks.

 

[John]

I created a custom Milestone for certain tasks which I am using Flag1 to
trigger its use. It works for every task I assigned yes in flag 1 column
except for one task.

Does anyone know why this task may not be following the use of the custom
milestone? The Flag1 column has yes value in it for the task in question,
and I've even tried resetting the flag1 value in the task from yes to no back
to yes to see if that did the trick, it didn't. I even tried resetting bar
in the fomat task bar window. Help. Thanks.

DBD,
Your post doesn't explain how the custom flag "triggers" the milestone
so it is hard to tell why it doesn't work for any given task. Just for a
shot in the dark though, is the task that "doesn't work" a Summary Line?
If so, is the trigger formula set to also apply to Summary Lines?

John
Project MVP

 

[DBD]

The flag is triggered manually, I or someone enters YES in the flag1 field to
trigger the milestone to be a "sign-off". There is probably a way to do this
easeir but for nowe this seemed to work everywhere else except that one. An
no the task that does not work is not a summary.

I deleted and recreated the task and set the duration to zero, then inserted
YES in the flag1 field and this did the trick, however it was no different
than the orignal task, so something was going on. (Later I checked the show
as milestone box, and reset the duration to the 1 day as I wanted.) I want
the duration to be 1 day (as it is usually a day long meeting where review
and sign-off occurs) but the task should still appear as a milestone, so I
manually check the milestone box in the task information window to accomplish
this, could this have something to do with it?

Thanks for the reply.

 

[John]

The flag is triggered manually, I or someone enters YES in the flag1 field to
trigger the milestone to be a "sign-off". There is probably a way to do this
easeir but for nowe this seemed to work everywhere else except that one. An
no the task that does not work is not a summary.

I deleted and recreated the task and set the duration to zero, then inserted
YES in the flag1 field and this did the trick, however it was no different
than the orignal task, so something was going on. (Later I checked the show
as milestone box, and reset the duration to the 1 day as I wanted.) I want
the duration to be 1 day (as it is usually a day long meeting where review
and sign-off occurs) but the task should still appear as a milestone, so I
manually check the milestone box in the task information window to accomplish
this, could this have something to do with it?

Thanks for the reply.

DBD,
I'm still not clear on what you mean by "trigger" but I guess it doesn't
matter since the problem is apparently resolved.

Sometimes Project files get corrupted and there are various degrees of
corruption. Some are subtle and may affect only one task. In the worst
case the whole file is rendered useless. If you were able to delete and
re-create the task and everything now works, you're probably ok. But
just for safety you might want to go to the MVP website at:
http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm
and take a look at FAQ 43 - File bloat? - Might be corruption.

Just for reference I have always viewed a milestone as exactly that, a
milestone. It is 0 days duration, never has resources assigned and never
has cost associated with it. It is either 0% complete or 100% complete,
never partially complete. It simply marks the beginning or end of a
series of performance tasks. The only "trigger" required is the
completion of all performance tasks leading up to the milestone (in the
case of a completion milestone) or the initiation of a project (in the
case of a beginning milestone). In my view a 1 day meeting is not a
milestone. People attend a meeting (i.e. resources) and a meeting costs
money (i.e. labor and/or equipment cost). The end of the meeting is a
milestone because then ALL the work on that phase is done. I don't know
if this would make any difference in what you are doing but you might
want to consider this as an alternate approach.

Hope this helps.
John
Project MVP

 

[DBD]

Thanks John, I debated on the milestone and meeting issue, maybe the best
answer is a task bar for meeting as it has a duration of nearly a day, and
milestone for the sign off that occurs at end of meeting. I appreciate your
help, and I'll look into the corrupted file issue on the link you gave me.

 

[John]

Thanks John, I debated on the milestone and meeting issue, maybe the best
answer is a task bar for meeting as it has a duration of nearly a day, and
milestone for the sign off that occurs at end of meeting. I appreciate your
help, and I'll look into the corrupted file issue on the link you gave me.

DBD,
You're welcome. I think the approach of treating the meeting itself as a
separate task and the milestone as the completion of that task will work
much better in the long run.

John
Project MVP