Help with Predecessor/Successors and automatically adjustin dates

[EmiW]

Hi there,
I need some help and am hoping I can explain it well enough for someone to
provide some suggestions.

I have milestone B and task A. Task A must be completed, at least one day
before Task B ends. Task B ‘s dates can shift ( independent of, and not
driven by, A) which would cause Task A's end date to move accordingly.

I want to be able to
1) show that B is a successor to A and
2) if the date on B changes (not due to A, but to other issues) then the
date on A would automatically shift appropriately to maintain the “end by one
day before†relationship.

I have been able to set up to have the dates adjust automatically, using
either an FF or SF with -1 or -2 days and while that does adjust the dates
appropriately, B shows up in the predecessor column as a predecessor to A.

Is there any way to set this up so that the dates change automatically and
with A showing as a predecessor to B?

I'm new to project so I'm sure it's user error here.

Appreciate any help that can be provided.

 

[Wiley]

You also say that “B as a successor to Aâ€. You also say that Task B ‘s dates
can shift (independent of, and not driven by, A)â€. Finally you say that A
should be driven by changes to B’s dates, which by definition makes B a
predecessor to A. I think your only issue is that you have A and B flipped.

So if now you have:
Task ID Task Name Predecessor
1 A 2FF-1 d
2 B

Switch it to:
Task ID Task Name Predecessor
1 B 1FF-1 d
2 A

Let us know if this does not work.

 

[JD]

Emi,

Comments in line.

Hi there,
I need some help and am hoping I can explain it well enough for someone to
provide some suggestions.

I have milestone B and task A. Task A must be completed, at least one day
before Task B ends. Task B 's dates can shift ( independent of, and not
driven by, A) which would cause Task A's end date to move accordingly.

The way I read this is that A is dependent on B.

I want to be able to
1) show that B is a successor to A and
2) if the date on B changes (not due to A, but to other issues) then the
date on A would automatically shift appropriately to maintain the "end by
one
day before" relationship.

I have been able to set up to have the dates adjust automatically, using
either an FF or SF with -1 or -2 days and while that does adjust the
dates
appropriately, B shows up in the predecessor column as a predecessor to A.

Is there any way to set this up so that the dates change automatically and
with A showing as a predecessor to B?

No. Because you have stated in the beginning that the finish of A is
dependent on the finish of B (even if it finishes earlier). I'd do it just
the way you did. FF with a -1 day lag.

I'm new to project so I'm sure it's user error here.

Just an issue with terminology. Don't worry whether it is called a
predecessor or successor. Technically it is a successor, but the
dependencies will show the true story.

-Jack Dahlgren

 

[davegb]

Hi there,
I need some help and am hoping I can explain it well enough for someone to
provide some suggestions.

I have milestone B and task A. Task A must be completed, at least one day
before Task B ends. Task B 's dates can shift ( independent of, and not
driven by, A) which would cause Task A's end date to move accordingly.

I want to be able to
1) show that B is a successor to A and
2) if the date on B changes (not due to A, but to other issues) then the
date on A would automatically shift appropriately to maintain the "end by one
day before" relationship.

I have been able to set up to have the dates adjust automatically, using
either an FF or SF with -1 or -2 days and while that does adjust the dates
appropriately, B shows up in the predecessor column as a predecessor to A.

Is there any way to set this up so that the dates change automatically and
with A showing as a predecessor to B?

What you're asking is to have the relationship show as though A is the
predecessor to B in an FS relationship, but act as though A is the
sucessor to B in a SF relationship. While there might be a workaround
to get it to do this, Project is not designed to show one kind of
relationship and act as another. This is kind of like asking if you can
do formulas in Excel where the formula shows add, but it actually
subtracts. This begs the question, why do you wish to hide the nature
of the relationship but preserve it's normal result? Maybe there's some
other way to get what you want without mis-representing the
relationship.

Hope this helps in your world.

 

[EmiW]

Thanks so much for the feedback.

So I was trying to show that Task “A†has to be completed before Milestone
"B". It can be at any date, just as long as that date is prior to "B" (I was
putting in an arbitrary, 1 or 2 days prior). And "B’s" date can change,
independent of "A". (So basically, if "A" doesn’t get done, it does NOT stop
"B" from being completed; I’m just trying to show in Project that A SHOULD be
done before B.) And I wanted to set it up so that if I go in and change B’s
date, then ‘A’s’ date would change accordingly and automatically.

I think I see from the responses that to make the date in ‘A’ change
automatically, I have to ignore what’s shown in the predecessor/successor
columns (and I can get it to work, if so). Or else go ahead and put in the
proper predecessor information, and ‘hard code’ the dates for ‘A’ so that the
pred/succ info looks correct, and will have to make all changes myself in the
future, should “B’s†date change. I was just trying to avoid more work on my
part for updating many project files with the same info

Thanks, again.

 

[JD]

Emi,

In the situation you are describing, B IS a predecessor to A. The order in
time is unimportant. A successor can start before a predecessor if the
dependency is set up that way. Just abandon what YOU think predecessors and
successors are and accept what PROJECT thinks they are. Your life will be
easier.

Hard coding the date is the wrong way about it.

-Jack

 

[Steve House]

Echoing Jack, if it helps you might think of "predecessor" as meaning
"controlling task" and "successor" as meaning "controlled task."