slack question

[mikejw]

Hello,

I'm using MS Project 2003 Standard and have several tasks that are not
constrained, do not have a successor, have not started and finish well before
the "calculated" project finish date, yet these tasks show 0 slack. I think
the slack should show the days between their finish and the project finish.
These are not critical tasks. Do I have to link these tasks randomly
downstream?

Thanks for your assistance.

Mike W

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hello Mike,

In Tools, Options, Calculation, check OUT "Calculate Multiple Critical
paths"

Jan De Messemaeker- Project MVP

 

[John]

Hello,

I'm using MS Project 2003 Standard and have several tasks that are not
constrained, do not have a successor, have not started and finish well before
the "calculated" project finish date, yet these tasks show 0 slack. I think
the slack should show the days between their finish and the project finish.
These are not critical tasks. Do I have to link these tasks randomly
downstream?

Thanks for your assistance.

Mike W

Mike,
You're confusing Slack with Total Slack. A single stand alone task as
you describe will have 0 days slack. Take a look at its total slack. You
will see that it has boo-coo days of slack. For a definition of slack
and total slack, display both as columns in the view. Then hover your
mouse over the column heading. In a moment, a drop down will appear that
allows you to instantly access the help topic for that field.

With regard to your "random linking". No tasks in a project file should
be randomly linked. However I question whether the "free floating" tasks
are valid effort. If they are required to meet the end item, then they
should be linked to it. If they are not, then why are the tasks being
done at all? All tasks in a schedule should have a successor, otherwise
they shouldn't be in the schedule.

John
Project MVP

 

[mikejw]

That was simple. Thank you.

Hello Mike,

In Tools, Options, Calculation, check OUT "Calculate Multiple Critical
paths"

Jan De Messemaeker- Project MVP

 

[mikejw]

John,

I don't know what you mean by just Slack...are you referring to Free Slack?
If so, the Free Slack and Total Slack would be identical in this case. We do
have tasks, although not many, that do not require a successor. These are
tasks that the team would like to perform but are not required to perform on
the project. We still need to track it even if a small portion of the work
gets performed.

Mike

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi,

Attention John: with the option calculate multiple critical paths on, such
an isolated task has 0 total slack and not boo-coo.
Greetings,

 

[John]

John,

I don't know what you mean by just Slack...are you referring to Free Slack?
If so, the Free Slack and Total Slack would be identical in this case. We do
have tasks, although not many, that do not require a successor. These are
tasks that the team would like to perform but are not required to perform on
the project. We still need to track it even if a small portion of the work
gets performed.

Mike

Mike,
Sorry, yes I was referring to Free Slack and yes, for a task that has no
successors, the free slack and total slack will be identical. I didn't
pay attention to what I wrote in the first part of my response.

With regard to the other issue, showing non-required tasks in a project
file is not a good idea, particularly if someone else (e.g. customer) is
paying for the project. Not only might it be fraud but It pollutes the
historical cost tracking of the project if want to use this project's
data for a similar project in the future. I suggest you put the "extra"
tasks in a separate project file if you feel you really want to track
them.

John
Project MVP

 

[Steve House]

All projects should have at least a start milestone and a finish milestone.
All the tasks in a project, with the exceptions of the start and finish
milestones, should link to at least one predecessor and at least one
successor. If a task has no other predecessor activity, the start milestone
is its predecessor. If it has no other activity as a successor, the finish
milestone is its successor. Failure to follow those guidelines will
potentially lead to confusing slack and critical path calculations.