Deadlines

[Muzz]

Can anyone tell me how to set a tasks deadline to a milestone.
I know how to set deadlines to a specific date but I want to use a
milestones date as a deadline. I have several tasks that I want to set the
milestones date as a deadline to help level my resources more accurately and
to give me a more accurate schedule to manage my tasks.

 

[Rod Gill]

You can only set deadline dates manually with specific dates. To copy a date
from another task or milestone you will need VBA code.

--

Rod Gill
Project MVP

Project VBA Book, for details visit:
http://www.projectvbabook.com

NEW!! Web based VBA training course delivered by me. For details visit:
http://projectservertraining.com/learning/index.aspx

 

[Steve House]

One of your problems is conceptual - a milestone is NOT simply a date so you
really can't say that you need to use a milestone as a deadline because
milestones are not dates while deadlines are. Milestones are EVENTS that
are of importance - approval received, testing complete, film delivered,
etc. Typically those events mark the completion of a major deliverable. As
such, a milestone indicates that something concrete has taken place and it
occurs whenever that event occurs. They may, and likely will, have a date
by which they need to happen but it's the nature of the event, not the date
on which it occurs, that makes it a milestone. The date of the milestone is
whatever date the physical progress of the project makes it happen on, be it
in advance of its deadline, on the deadline, or late and missing the
deadline. To set a deadline on a milestone to a specific date, simply
double click on its name to open the Task Information form, go to the
Advanced tab, and enter the required date into the deadline field.

 

[Muzz]

Thanks Steve,

I appreciate the information. I think the problem is not so much the
interpretation of what a milestone or deadline is but more the use of the
'deadline' feature in MS Project.

I am certainly not an expert in MS Project but my aim was to use the
'Deadline' feature in MS Project to help resources level my task more
accurately and to identify the tasks slack with respect to the these
deadlines.

I have several tasks, each needing to meet two specific target dates, (these
dates relate to installation activities at two different sites).

The installation dates are subject to extenal dependancies at a higher
project level than my tasks and are therefore subject to change (can be
considered milestones).

Since it is undesireable for my tasks to influence these installation dates,
I need to consider them as target dates or deadlines. The chances of these
date slipping is possible and therefore I wanted to link my tasks to these
'milestones' without impossing a constraint.

By linking these deadlines to a milestone activity (installation dates), all
task 'deadlines' can easily be updated if the installation dates slip and the
effect on my task slack can easily be identified.

There is probably a better way to do this , however I was curious to see the
effect on task schedules with multiple deadlines when they were resource
leveled.

One of your problems is conceptual - a milestone is NOT simply a date so you
really can't say that you need to use a milestone as a deadline because
milestones are not dates while deadlines are. Milestones are EVENTS that
are of importance - approval received, testing complete, film delivered,
etc. Typically those events mark the completion of a major deliverable. As
such, a milestone indicates that something concrete has taken place and it
occurs whenever that event occurs. They may, and likely will, have a date
by which they need to happen but it's the nature of the event, not the date
on which it occurs, that makes it a milestone. The date of the milestone is
whatever date the physical progress of the project makes it happen on, be it
in advance of its deadline, on the deadline, or late and missing the
deadline. To set a deadline on a milestone to a specific date, simply
double click on its name to open the Task Information form, go to the
Advanced tab, and enter the required date into the deadline field.
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs

Can anyone tell me how to set a tasks deadline to a milestone.
I know how to set deadlines to a specific date but I want to use a
milestones date as a deadline. I have several tasks that I want to set the
milestones date as a deadline to help level my resources more accurately
and
to give me a more accurate schedule to manage my tasks.

 

[Muzz]

Thanks Rod,

I am keen to better understand VBA for MS Project so I have purchased your
book.

However, I have managed to link my task deadlines to a milstone by:
- inserting a column - Deadline;
- copying the completion date of the specific milestone;
- Paste special, Paste Link, into each required tasks deadline column.

This way if the milestione date changes all associated task deadlines are
automatically updated.

 

[Steve House]

How can a task meet two different target dates? It either finishes on date
X or on date Y but it can't finish on both! It's projected finish might be
the earlier of two dates or it might be the later. And as those date vary
independently event or the other becomes the one date that controls the
whole affair. Is that what you mean?
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs

Thanks Steve,

I appreciate the information. I think the problem is not so much the
interpretation of what a milestone or deadline is but more the use of the
'deadline' feature in MS Project.

I am certainly not an expert in MS Project but my aim was to use the
'Deadline' feature in MS Project to help resources level my task more
accurately and to identify the tasks slack with respect to the these
deadlines.

I have several tasks, each needing to meet two specific target dates,
(these
dates relate to installation activities at two different sites).

The installation dates are subject to extenal dependancies at a higher
project level than my tasks and are therefore subject to change (can be
considered milestones).

Since it is undesireable for my tasks to influence these installation
dates,
I need to consider them as target dates or deadlines. The chances of these
date slipping is possible and therefore I wanted to link my tasks to these
'milestones' without impossing a constraint.

By linking these deadlines to a milestone activity (installation dates),
all
task 'deadlines' can easily be updated if the installation dates slip and
the
effect on my task slack can easily be identified.

There is probably a better way to do this , however I was curious to see
the
effect on task schedules with multiple deadlines when they were resource
leveled.

One of your problems is conceptual - a milestone is NOT simply a date so
you
really can't say that you need to use a milestone as a deadline because
milestones are not dates while deadlines are. Milestones are EVENTS that
are of importance - approval received, testing complete, film delivered,
etc. Typically those events mark the completion of a major deliverable.
As
such, a milestone indicates that something concrete has taken place and
it
occurs whenever that event occurs. They may, and likely will, have a
date
by which they need to happen but it's the nature of the event, not the
date
on which it occurs, that makes it a milestone. The date of the milestone
is
whatever date the physical progress of the project makes it happen on, be
it
in advance of its deadline, on the deadline, or late and missing the
deadline. To set a deadline on a milestone to a specific date, simply
double click on its name to open the Task Information form, go to the
Advanced tab, and enter the required date into the deadline field.
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs

Can anyone tell me how to set a tasks deadline to a milestone.
I know how to set deadlines to a specific date but I want to use a
milestones date as a deadline. I have several tasks that I want to set
the
milestones date as a deadline to help level my resources more
accurately
and
to give me a more accurate schedule to manage my tasks.

 

[Dave]

I think he means that his task has to finish before date X and before
date Y from my reading of it.

 

[Muzz]

That’s right Dave.

Each task consists of several phases: Requirements Analysis, Design,
Implementation, testing and Follow-On Support activities.

The first two phases are the most complex and therefore contribute to the
major portion of the tasks schedule. The final design needs to be implemented
at two different sites, each site being a major milestone for a larger
project. So, I have a single task (several in fact) that need to meet two
distinct 'deadlines'. The implementation and testing phases are divided into
two paths (site A and site B) each needing to be completed before the
respective dealine dates.

The task itself is not complete until all the follow-on support activities
have been finalised (publication amendments, support contracts, teachnical
and operational training, etc). The installation deadlines are more like
target dates that needs to be met.


The task itself is not complete until after all the follow-on support
activities have been completed. So the installation deadlines are more like
target date that need to be met.

 

[Steve House]

There's your problem! You don't have a TASK, you have several subprojects
consisting of several phases that in turn that consists of a number of
different tasks. A lot of scheduling issues solve themselves when you
organize the projects into true deliverables oriented WBS outlines where a
task is defined as a single span of physical activity performed by a single
skill set that results in a single observable deliverable. In your case,
several phases in each subproject each have their own individual and
independent deadlines for their completion milestones but the scheduling
gets obscured when you lump them together and try to treat the resulting
aggregate as if it were a single task.