Mike,
In addition to the advice about creating a split screen view where you can
show the Gantt Chart and the relevant tasks predecessors and successors I
favour creating a combination view (View, More Views, New) which includes
the Gantt Chart in the upper half of the screen and the Relationship Diagram
in the lower half of the screen. This view provides a useful visual check to
ensure that you have got predecessors and successors the right way around
and that there is "contuguity" through your schedule - every single TASK
(please do not link summary tasks to or from anything unless you want a heap
of trouble) with the exception of the first and last task should ideally
have at least one predecessor and one successor (at the same time try to
keep the number of dependencies to the absolute minimum to avoid chaos
creeping into your schedule by accident) to ensure a continuous sequence
through the schedule.
I was taught network planning techniques years ago and this approach has
served me well and avoids what I call loose end or orphan tasks - tasks with
a predecessor but no successor, tasks which put crudely don't matter if they
don't finish!! - That is the inference of there being no successor. In cases
where there is no obvious successor I tend to use Milestones at the end of
each stage. phase or section to mark a definite point in the schedule when
the relevant package of works can be demonstrated to be complete. Linking
"Orphan" tasks to milestones should not make such tasks critical in the main
but will reduce the amount of slack or float available to them so that they
can only slip a bit before it becomes evident there is a problem.
--
Dominic Moss
www.projectability.co.uk
Helping people achieve more with Microsoft Project
Tel +44 8707 303 400
Fax +44 8707 303 500
Mike M said:
Not certain if I'm asking this right...
When I am in Gnatt chart view on the entry table I want to add a column to
show the Predecessor name (not task ID number). There is no selection for
this in the Insert Column dialog. How can I either display that value, or
store it in a text field?