Project 2003

[John.Spradlin]

I want to use project to manage an elections office. I want to set
the Finish Date (Election Day) and have project calculate backwards
the tasks to be done. By Law, certain tasks must be performed 10, 35,
75, etc.. days prior to election day. I want ot save a master
template for future elections, as most have the same rules. Then,
open the template, enter a new finish date for a new election and have
all the critical dates calculated backwards.

Is this doable with MS Project? Please reply to the gmai account.

Thanks

 

[Jim Aksel]

It is possible. You can easily create a template with a known finish date.
Milestones can be set with negative lag times to show on the correct dates.
This approach can be quite cumbersome because it makes you think backwards
and may unneccessarily constrain your project.

The problem I find with scheduling from the finish date is there is no float
time. Suppose someone gets a quote on "Print Ballots" for 10 business days.
So, you will schedule 10 days coinciding with the milestone "Ballots Arrive
from Printer." Suppose that's a law of 35 days prior to Election Day. And
now if your you printer is one day late you are already in trouble. Keep in
mind: (1) Most tasks have underestimated durations (2) You like float time.

Another approach is to use deadlines and schedule the project left to right
(start to finish). Set a Deadline on Election Day and also place Deadlines
on the prior requirements days such as 30 days before, 75 days before). The
Deadlines can be set programmatically from the finish date (Election Day) and
run with a Macro.

Doing things from finish tends to allow people to say "We don't have to
start that until..." Doing things from the Start allows people to get things
done "As Soon As Possible"
--
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Jim
It''s software; it''s not allowed to win.

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about Microsoft Project

 

[jsprad1]

Thanks for the previous reply a while back. After learning more about
project, your post makes a little more sense now. I have 20 to 30 must do
on (not by) tasks along with the other couple hundred ASAP tasks. I am
playing with the 20 or 30 must do task relative to election day. I would
love to enter a new finish date and have the 20 or 30 recaculate backwards.
Is negative lag time the key to this? If it is, how do I record or write a
custom Macro?