drive by tasks

[tz9113]

I am trying to integrate recurring tasks, regular fixed duration tasks, and
the spur of the moment "drive by" tasks. I am unable to get the "drive by"
tasks to move the dates of the fixed duration tasks. The whole point is to
show that "drive by" tasks delay the completion of the fixed duration tasks.
Any ideas?

 

[Jim Aksel]

Recurring tasks that are inserted using the "recurring task" feature is MS
Project automatically contain a date constraint type of "Start No Earlier
Than". So these tasks will not move earlier than that date until you enter a
"drive by" task that pushes it to later.

However, if you have a series of recurring tasks (say 20 of them), and your
"drive by task" pushes number 11 to the right a couple of days, this will not
change any of the other tasks (12-20) because they are not actually linked
together. Instead they are just a series of tasks with a SNET date
constraint.

If you want the subsequent "recurring" tasks to move, you will have to
manually create the links yourself. For example Task1 is set for 5/20/2008,
you would then make Task2 with a predecessor: 1FS+5days which forces it to
be 1 week after task1. Then, if Task1 gets pushed to the right, everyone
else joins the party. Obviously you need to link all the tasks in a similar
manner: 2=1FS+5d, 3=2FS+5d, etc.

Let us know if this corrects the situation.
--
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Jim

Check out my new blog for more information:
http://www.msprojectblog.com

 

[tz9113]

Thanks,

That will help with the recurring tasks. My big problem is with the
non-recurring tasks. For example, I have a five day task, and on day three, a
new 8 hour "drive by" happens. I want the five day tasks to be interrupted
showing it now becomes a six day task. It seems as though the fixed day tasks
must be contiguous or at least I have it set that way.

Tom

 

[Steve House]

Think about why the driveby causes the other task to split. I wouldn't
expect it to be due to a dependency ralationship - those are driven by the
process itself, something you would have known about ahead of time and built
into the schedule from the start (at least you *should* have known about
them). Most, if not all, of the time reason the the driveby would cause
the other task to split would be because it pulls resources off of the
scheduled task. This is a resource leveling issue and the split can be
handled by the leveling process. Give your driveby a higher priority than
the regular task and a SNET constraint so it starts on the day it needs to.
Do NOT link it to the scheduled task. Assign the required resource to it.
The resource will be overallocated due to the conflicting assignment during
the duration of the driveby. Run Leveling with the "Priority, Standard" and
"Leveling can split tasks" options enabled. You'll find the first part of
the scheduled task stays where it was, then there's a split introduced for
the duration of the driveby, then the original task resumes with its finish
pushed out accordingly.

 

[tz9113]

Thanks, I'll try this over the next few days. What you mention makes sense,
it just wasn't obvious how to do it.

Tom

Think about why the driveby causes the other task to split. I wouldn't
expect it to be due to a dependency ralationship - those are driven by the
process itself, something you would have known about ahead of time and built
into the schedule from the start (at least you *should* have known about
them). Most, if not all, of the time reason the the driveby would cause
the other task to split would be because it pulls resources off of the
scheduled task. This is a resource leveling issue and the split can be
handled by the leveling process. Give your driveby a higher priority than
the regular task and a SNET constraint so it starts on the day it needs to.
Do NOT link it to the scheduled task. Assign the required resource to it.
The resource will be overallocated due to the conflicting assignment during
the duration of the driveby. Run Leveling with the "Priority, Standard" and
"Leveling can split tasks" options enabled. You'll find the first part of
the scheduled task stays where it was, then there's a split introduced for
the duration of the driveby, then the original task resumes with its finish
pushed out accordingly.


--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm for the FAQs

Thanks,

That will help with the recurring tasks. My big problem is with the
non-recurring tasks. For example, I have a five day task, and on day
three, a
new 8 hour "drive by" happens. I want the five day tasks to be interrupted
showing it now becomes a six day task. It seems as though the fixed day
tasks
must be contiguous or at least I have it set that way.

Tom