Sally said:
I already have a defined project schedule with timelines adjusted relative to
each other (via the Gantt view)
Is there a way (or a third party application) that will allow me to link the
tasks without disturbing their relative relationships? (i.e the lag, + or
-, is automatically calculated)?
Sally
If I understand your post, you've already set the dates on which you
want the tasks to occur by constraining them. Now you want software to
create links to mirror the dates you've set. I know of no such
software. It would be defeating the whole purpose of linking. I'm
afraid you have the cart before the horse.
If you just want to set the dates and try and manually work the
schedule, then that's what you should do. It's faster and easier to set
up that way, but much more difficult, and not nearly as realistic, to
track. But it gives a very comforting illusion of control.
If you want to do CPM scheduling, and link the tasks, you need to let
go of your illusions of control (sounding very Bach-ish here) and link
the tasks and let the software tell you when things need to be done.
It's more work to set it up this way, especially until you get the hang
of it, but it gives a far more realistic schedule, and makes tracking a
fairly simple exercise.
My experience is that Project becomes a nightmare when you try to merge
the 2 methods. I'd stick with setting dates and not linking, or linking
and not setting most dates. But never both.
Hope this helps in your world.
