Dependencies - is there a best practice when creating the plan?

[Mani]

Hi
is there a suggested best practice to create dependencies when building the
plan. The issue that I am struggling with is if it is correct to create
dependencies between the summary task A and summary task B even though tasks
A.1 and A.2 and A.3 are all linked and separate from B.1 and B.2, etc which
are also linked, within their own subtask.

 

[Mark Durrenberger]

I would discourage links to summary tasks. Try to find the dependencies
between the A tasks and the B tasks or create a milestone that indicates
when all the A items are done and link the B items to the Milestone.

Mark

--
_________________________________________________________
Mark Durrenberger, PMP
Principal, Oak Associates, Inc, www.oakinc.com
"Advancing the Theory and Practice of Project Management"
________________________________________________________

The nicest thing about NOT planning is that failure
comes as a complete surprise and is not preceded by
a period of worry and depression.

- Sir John Harvey-Jones

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Mani --

Though the software certainly will allow you to set dependencies between
summary tasks, this practice is a potential source of problems when creating
cross-project dependencies, as it can lead to troublesome circular reference
errors. Therefore, Mark has given you is solid advice. Hope this helps.

 

[Mani]

thank you

I would discourage links to summary tasks. Try to find the dependencies
between the A tasks and the B tasks or create a milestone that indicates
when all the A items are done and link the B items to the Milestone.

Mark

--
_________________________________________________________
Mark Durrenberger, PMP
Principal, Oak Associates, Inc, www.oakinc.com
"Advancing the Theory and Practice of Project Management"
________________________________________________________

The nicest thing about NOT planning is that failure
comes as a complete surprise and is not preceded by
a period of worry and depression.

- Sir John Harvey-Jones

 

[Kedar]

Dale

I think I just ran in to this situtation...do you have an antidote for this
probelem of ciruclar reference. I am able to open my file with loss of data

Kedar

 

[John]

Dale

I think I just ran in to this situtation...do you have an antidote for this
probelem of ciruclar reference. I am able to open my file with loss of data

Kedar

Kedar,
I'd say that you are lucky the file will even open. As Dale indicated,
the most common cause of circular references is putting links on Summary
Lines.

As far as an "antidote" there are some things you can try but none of
them are guaranteed to resolve the problem. First, you might try turning
off automatic calculation (Tools/Options/Calculation tab) and then open
the file. That MIGHT allow the full file to open without the fatal
circular reference error. Then remove any predecessors on Summary Lines.
If your file does not have predecessors on Summary Lines, you could try
a controlled deletion of selected links using a trial and error method.
Start with the links associated with the most recent changes to the file.

If turning off calculation doesn't help but the file will open (although
some data is lost) you may have to bite the bullet and start with that
configuration and re-enter the data. I would also take steps to
eliminate any corruption that may have been introduced. For that 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.

If nothing else works you may have to dig out the latest backup of the
file and start from there.

Hope this helps.
John
Project MVP