How do I set tasks to begin "X" days before another tasks "must finish on" date?
On Mon, 6 Oct 2008 14:02:10 -0700, aaronpw wrote: > How do I set tasks to begin "X" days before another tasks "must finish on" > date? Start to start relationship with X days lag. BTW, in general, not the best way to schedule, particularly with the MFO constraint. If more than a few of your tasks are constrained, you're in trouble. Hope this helps in your world.
Hi Aaronpw, You can use the FS-"x"d, so the second task finish is "x" days before the start of the first task. This will show a start date for the first task as late as possible but not as soon as possible. If you set a deadline task that shows the first task must have started by the deadline date then you have float and the ability to cover off any delays that may occur and not have work being started at the last minute. For that simply set the deadline task to be 'FS-"X"d' and then use that date as the deadline for the first task. Hope this is some help Regards DavidC "aaronpw" wrote: > How do I set tasks to begin "X" days before another tasks "must finish on" > date?
Might I email you away from this forum with additional detail? "DavidC" wrote: > Hi Aaronpw, > > You can use the FS-"x"d, so the second task finish is "x" days before the > start of the first task. This will show a start date for the first task as > late as possible but not as soon as possible. If you set a deadline task > that shows the first task must have started by the deadline date then you > have float and the ability to cover off any delays that may occur and not > have work being started at the last minute. For that simply set the deadline > task to be 'FS-"X"d' and then use that date as the deadline for the first > task. > > Hope this is some help > > Regards > > DavidC > "aaronpw" wrote: > > > How do I set tasks to begin "X" days before another tasks "must finish on" > > date?
Sure, try david.coatesatmightyriverdotcodotnz "aaronpw" wrote: > Might I email you away from this forum with additional detail? > > "DavidC" wrote: > > > Hi Aaronpw, > > > > You can use the FS-"x"d, so the second task finish is "x" days before the > > start of the first task. This will show a start date for the first task as > > late as possible but not as soon as possible. If you set a deadline task > > that shows the first task must have started by the deadline date then you > > have float and the ability to cover off any delays that may occur and not > > have work being started at the last minute. For that simply set the deadline > > task to be 'FS-"X"d' and then use that date as the deadline for the first > > task. > > > > Hope this is some help > > > > Regards > > > > DavidC > > "aaronpw" wrote: > > > > > How do I set tasks to begin "X" days before another tasks "must finish on" > > > date?
First, scheduling a "Must Finish On" date for a task is not a best practice. If you can avoid it, please do. Given task B is "Must Finish On" with predecessor "A" that you wish to start 17 days prior. You can change the task type of Task A to "As Late As Possible" and then tweak it back to the desired start date using lag. In general, it is not good to use negative lag (lead) on a task unless you know that the lagged task will finish on a specific date with certainty. This seems to be the case in your application. However, what would happen if your task "B" finished early or late? -- If this post was helpful, please consider rating it. Jim Aksel, MVP Check out my blog for more information: http://www.msprojectblog.com "aaronpw" wrote: > How do I set tasks to begin "X" days before another tasks "must finish on" > date?
Constraints in MS Project are restrictions on what the scheduling engine can do and as such describe a physical reality that is imposed on the schedule - the constraint condition is ALWAYS true no matter what we do in our project schedule. When the boss says "This task must finish on XX date" or "That deliverable must be ready no later than YY date" he's not describing something that already exists, he's setting an objective for future perfomance. The reason we use scheduling software is to help us determine the workflow that will enable to meet those performance objectives - will the way we're going to do the work meet the objectives we have to hit or will it result in missing it? For it to do that we must let it freely calculate the results we are likely to obtain if we attempt to proceed with a particular workflow and resource deployment that we're considering, ie, if we try it this way will we finish on-time? To see that we need to let Project show us the results without interference, ie, without constraints that basically force it to lie to us and promise we'll finish on-time regardless of whether we're really going to be able to do that or not. -- Steve House [Project MVP] MS Project Trainer & Consultant Visit http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm for the FAQs "aaronpw" wrote in message news:CF7C6D13-88E3-4E29-B46E-C253790DCB12@microsoft.com... > How do I set tasks to begin "X" days before another tasks "must finish on" > date?
