Predecessors ?

[Tim_Ver]

I have a project I am doing now with dates that will change alot. I want to
use predecessors, but never have before so not sure how to set them up. I
have one main task and under it are about 100 subtask and each of those
subtask have three subtasks of their own. The reason I want to use
predecessors is this depends on when hardware comes in so as it does I need
to change dates which will then change the overall dates for the main task.
If anyone has a project plan where they have done this or an example they can
email me please feel free at (e-mail address removed) also explain here how to do
this. I have tried and get the explanation in MS project 2003 that I can not
link a sumary task to on of it's subtasks.

Thanks Much.

 

[davegb]

I have a project I am doing now with dates that will change alot. I want to
use predecessors, but never have before so not sure how to set them up. I
have one main task and under it are about 100 subtask and each of those
subtask have three subtasks of their own. The reason I want to use
predecessors is this depends on when hardware comes in so as it does I need
to change dates which will then change the overall dates for the main task.
If anyone has a project plan where they have done this or an example they can
email me please feel free at (e-mail address removed) also explain here how to do
this. I have tried and get the explanation in MS project 2003 that I can not
link a sumary task to on of it's subtasks.

Thanks Much.

Sounds like you're on the right track by avoiding linking Summary lines
to anything. Your linking should be at the "working task" level, that
is the lowest level in that part of the WBS. Only real tasks should be
linked. In this case, the 3 subtasks at the lowest level should be
linked to show the nature of their dependencies. That could be the
first one linked to the second linked to the third, but not necessarily
that way. Whatever you come up with for them, the last of them should
be linked to the first lowest level subtask under another summary line.
And then those 3 should be linked appropriately, and the last of them
linked to the first in the next working task that is dependent on it.
Keep in mind that one task can have any number of other tasks dependent
on it, and any task can have as many predecessors as needed.

As much as possible, the links should reflect reality. When you're
trying to decide which tasks are successors to a certain task, simply
ask, "What can't be done until this task is done?" Then create the
appropriate links and move on to the next task. It's not difficult,
once you get the hang of it, though it is a paradigm shift if you
haven't been linking correctly, or at all, before.

If you're having a lot of trouble figuring out what is linked to what,
you may have to redefine the tasks themselves. If they weren't created
originally with the idea of linking in mind, they may be very difficult
to link. Sometimes, you have to rethink how the work is done to get the
linking to work out.

Hope this helps in your world.

 

[Mike Glen]

Hi Tim,

Welcome to this Microsoft Project newsgroup

You might like to have a look at my series on Microsoft Project in the
TechTrax ezine at this site: http://tinyurl.com/2xbhc or this:
http://pubs.logicalexpressions.com/Pub0009/LPMFrame.asp?CMD=ArticleSearch&AUTH=23
(Perhaps you'd care to rate the articles before leaving the site,
Thanks.)

FAQs, companion products and other useful Project information can be seen at
this web address: <http://www.mvps.org/project/>

Hope this helps - please let us know how you get on

Mike Glen
MS Project MVP