Schedule tasks past the end date

[adrian#]

Using MS Prject 2003.
I have setup a project and scheduled tasks from the end date.
After my last milestone and the end of the project I have some post project
tasks I want to include. How do I add the tasks and link them to the
milestone on my end date?

 

[DavidC]

Why can't you simply add the tasks and link them to the last milestone as FS
links? This will then show the post project tasks being scheduled after the
end of the initial phase of the project. In reality it sounds like you have
a project consisting of two 'sub projects' the first being the implementation
phase say, followed by the documentation/tidy up phase.

Simply continue to sequence the tasks that need to be completed after the
end of that inital phase of the project as per normal sequencing and that
will give you a date by which you should have completed the project,
including those 'post project' tasks.

Hope this helps

regards

DavidC

 

[JulieS]

Hello Adrian#,

If I understand your setup correctly, I don't believe you'll achieve
what you want working with your current setup.

I assume when you say you "scheduled tasks from the end date" that you
set project to schedule from the finish date in Project > Project
Information. This allowed you to set your milestone date and have
project determine the start date of the project in order to meet the
milestone end date. If you add additional tasks after the "last"
milestone, those tasks will become the end date and shift your important
milestone earlier.

So, an option that *may* work (I cannot guarantee without seeing your
schedule in detail):
Go to Project > Project Information and change the scheduling option
from "Project Finish Date" to "Project Start date". This will take the
calculated start date as the start date for your project. Set a
deadline on the important milestone task equal to the current scheduled
date for the task. You can now add your "post project completion"
tasks.

I hope this helps. Let us know how you get along.

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional information
about Microsoft Project

 

[Steve House]

"Post project tasks" is an oxymoron - by definition a project isn't finished
until ALL the work in ALL the tasks related to the project is completed.
Adding tasks after the current finish date pushes the finish date back until
those new tasks are also finished. In other words, whatever you're
presently calling the project finish isn't really the project finish at all.
Rather it actually is a delivery milestone close to the end of the project
but as far as the project related work is concerned it's not actually the
end at all. So in your plan that event now needs to become a milestone
leading to those newly added tasks.

Scheduling backwards from the finish date is usually an incredibly bad idea,
in part because of exactly the issues you're having right now. Even more
importantly it virtually guarantees that a real-world project will fail to
meet its delivery objectives. When you schedule backwards, MSP places all
tasks to start as late as possible. That means that if ANY task starts late
or takes longer than expected it will be impossible to make up the time and
the one thing you can count on in every project is that something will
ALWAYS go wrong. Certainly when you are trying to decide when to kick off
the project you might look at a backwards generated schedule in order to
determine that latest date you could start in a perfect world but when you
actually develop the project plan, select a practical date well in advance
of the date the backwards schedule gives you and build the actual work
schedule from the start date forward, thus building in a cushion to absorb
the inevitable problems. It's always going to be better to deliver more
than you've promised, to finish early rather than late. Now it becomes
simpler - your present Project Finished event becomes a milestone with a
deadline of your present "Must Hit" completion date and the new tasks are
added as successors to that milestone.

 

[adrian#]

Thanks JulieS.
Your reply is the one I was looking for.
I was thinking about changing the "schedule tasks from end date" to start
date.
So a contraint on the milestone would obviously have it remain on a set date
and then post end date tasks could be added.
Thanks.
Adrian #

 

[JulieS]

You're welcome Adrian # and thanks for the feedback.

Julie