Hammock Tasks

[Ted Bellinger]

Using Project Professional 2003

I would like to be able to have an oversight task (like PM level of effort)
inherit the start date from the project start date and inherit te hend date
from th eproject end date.

I have seen a method for setting up hammock tasks in Project 2000. I have
tested using it in a draft project plan I am setting up now in PP2003 and it
seems to work ok, but I can't see the link definition after pasting the link
to the reference cell. I am concerned about my ability to troubleshoot
problems if I can't see the links. Is this recommended or not? Are there
better ways of having a task inherit the start and end dates of one or more
related/dependent tasks?

 

[Dave]

I'm not aware of any other way. You can try and link the start date of
the project to the start of the management activity SS and the end date
of the project to the end of the management activity FF but you will end
up adjusting the duration manually.

In this situation I would break up the management activity into monthly
tasks and just accept that I will have to make minor adjustments to the
length of the last one.

 

[LS123]

The best way I know is to insert a cloumn with 'Linked Fieds' shown as Yes.

You can also got to know which field is linked to a particular task's
start/finish by double clicking the start/finish of the linked task, the
cursor will shift to the linked task. The best way to use this is by opening
a new window of the programme by clicking window-Newwindow. When you double
click in the linked field in one window, the cursor will take you to the
linked field in other window.

Although its the feature in MSP but its hardly reliable. I am using this
only to create a high level summary programme for a complex project having
thousands of activities.

Hope this helps.

 

[TeriCav]

Are there any known issues with Hammock Task in MS Project Server 2003 (or 2007) versions? Any info is appreciated. Thanks!

While testing Hammock Tasks (via Q141733) in MS Project Server 2003
w/timesheet processing for capturing actual work hours the following issues were detected:
I established Hammock Tasks as per Q141733 (Task Type Fixed Work, copy/paste special/paste link) and assigned resources, basleine to only Hammock Tasks
The Earned Value fields (i.e.: PV/BCWS, EV/BCWP, CPI, SPI, CV, CVP, SV, SVP, VAC, etc...) do not calculate and/or roll-up?
Inserted new sub-tasks within the Hammock and when adjusting Duration MSP forces sub-task reset of Start Date and Finish Date remains constant (Hammock task Start/Finish is unchanged)?

 

[austicx]

The problem I have with a hammock task is that the resource units alway
seem to revert to 100% regardless of how I set it. Does anyone have an
idea of how to stop the from continually happending?

Thanks