Critical column

[Mary]

How can I manually alter the critical column from yes to
no and vice versa?

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Mary --

The Critical field is calculated by Microsoft Project to indicate whether
each task is on the critical path for the project. Because the field is
calculated, you cannot change its value manually.

By definition, Microsoft Project sets a Yes value in the Critical field for
any task whose Total Slack is 0 days. To change the definition for a
critical task, click Tools - Options - Calculation and change the value in
the "Tasks are critical if slack is less than or equal to" field. Hope this
helps.

 

[Mark Durrenberger]

I don't recommend this, but you can set a task constraint to "Must Start
On," "Must Finish On," or any number of other constraints and the "Critical"
flag will be set.

From your question, I'm guessing that you are trying to say that the task is
"really important" hence the "Critical" label. However in project management
lingo, "Critical" has a specific meaning - one way to thinkof it this...-
any task that is "Critical" is part of the sequence of tasks that define the
total duration of the project and if any of these tasks change duration,
start date, or end date the projectED end date of the project will change

Perhaps you are wondering why the "Must start on" and "Must finish on"
settings matter. - Dale's post above mentions "Float", the MSO and MFO
flags, in effect, zero out the float. Zero float means "Critical"

Hope that helps more than it confuses...

Mark



--
_________________________________________________________
Mark Durrenberger, PMP
Principal, Oak Associates, Inc, www.oakinc.com
"Advancing the Theory and Practice of Project Management"
________________________________________________________

The nicest thing about NOT planning is that failure
comes as a complete surprise and is not preceded by
a period of worry and depression.

- Sir John Harvey-Jones

 

[JackD]

I don't recommend this, but you can set a task constraint to "Must Start
On," "Must Finish On," or any number of other constraints and the "Critical"
flag will be set.

From your question, I'm guessing that you are trying to say that the task is
"really important" hence the "Critical" label. However in project management
lingo, "Critical" has a specific meaning - one way to thinkof it this...-
any task that is "Critical" is part of the sequence of tasks that define the
total duration of the project and if any of these tasks change duration,
start date, or end date the projectED end date of the project will change

Perhaps you are wondering why the "Must start on" and "Must finish on"
settings matter. - Dale's post above mentions "Float", the MSO and MFO
flags, in effect, zero out the float. Zero float means "Critical"

Hope that helps more than it confuses...

Mark

And for those new to the concept of float, Microsoft Project ignores
convention and calls float "slack".
Look at the Total Slack column to see if a task is critical (total slack =
0) or how close to critical it is.

-Jack

 

[Mike Glen]

Hi Mary,

Welcome to this Microsoft Project newsgroup

Please see FAQ Item: 42. Guide to Network Analysis

FAQs, companion products and other useful Project information can be seen at
this web address: http://www.mvps.org/project/

Hope this helps - please let us know how you get on

Mike Glen
Project MVP