How to set a start date constraint for the first Wednesday after

[Craig]

Win XP/MS Project 2003

I have a question: How do you make a task start on the next Wednesday after
the predecessor ends? We have a project where we need to have certain tasks
start only on wednesdays or fridays and thus we would like a way to set the
start times to be on the next working Wednesday or next working Friday. Such
a setting would then automatically update during modifications to the overall
Project plan.

Right now we have to manually update each start date everytime we make
changes which of course defeats the purpose of using Project somewhat.

Thanks.

Craig

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Craig --

I would recommend you create a custom calendar that shows only Wednesdays
and Fridays as working time, with every other day marked as nonworking time.
Then you can apply this special calendar as a Task calendar on any task that
needs to start on the next available Wednesday or Friday. To do this,
double-click the name of a task and click the Advanced tab. In the bottom
half of the dialog, click the Calendar pick list and choose your custom
calendar, and then click the OK button. You will need to repeat this
process for every task that starts on the next available Wednesday or
Friday. After doing this, if your schedule changes, these special tasks
will be rescheduled as you want them to be on the next available Wednesday
or Friday. Hope this helps.

 

[Craig]

Thanks guys. I will try these and let you know....

Craig

Craig and Mike --

After reading Mike's response, I just realized that my solution will not
work very well for you. But if you follow my solution AND Mike's elegant
solution, I think you can get your scheduling needs addressed!



Hi Craig,

If the tasks last for more that 1 day, then I would create milestones
and assign the calendars Dale suggested. Then link the milestones between
the two relevant tasks. If you want more details, then post back.

Mike Glen
Project MVP
See http://tinyurl.com/2xbhc for my free Project Tutorials


"Dale Howard [MVP]" <dale[dot]howard[at]msprojectexperts[dot]com>
wrote in message
Craig --

I would recommend you create a custom calendar that shows only
Wednesdays
and Fridays as working time, with every other day marked as nonworking
time.
Then you can apply this special calendar as a Task calendar on any
task that
needs to start on the next available Wednesday or Friday. To do this,
double-click the name of a task and click the Advanced tab. In the
bottom
half of the dialog, click the Calendar pick list and choose your
custom
calendar, and then click the OK button. You will need to repeat this
process for every task that starts on the next available Wednesday or
Friday. After doing this, if your schedule changes, these special
tasks
will be rescheduled as you want them to be on the next available
Wednesday
or Friday. Hope this helps.

Win XP/MS Project 2003

I have a question: How do you make a task start on the next Wednesday
after
the predecessor ends? We have a project where we need to have certain
tasks
start only on wednesdays or fridays and thus we would like a way to set
the
start times to be on the next working Wednesday or next working Friday.
Such
a setting would then automatically update during modifications to the
overall
Project plan.

Right now we have to manually update each start date everytime we make
changes which of course defeats the purpose of using Project somewhat.

Thanks.

Craig

 

[Craig]

OK, I used two custom calendars in addition to the standard calendar and that
worked just fine. Tasks assigned to custom calendar 1 used only second and
fourth wednesday as start dates and tasks assigned to custom calendar 2 only
used fridays as start dates. All other tasks used the standard calendar.

thanks both.

 

[Mike Glen]

You're welcome, Craig

Mike Glen
MS Project MVP
See http://tinyurl.com/2xbhc for my free Project Tutorials


OK, I used two custom calendars in addition to the standard calendar and that
worked just fine. Tasks assigned to custom calendar 1 used only second and
fourth wednesday as start dates and tasks assigned to custom calendar 2 only
used fridays as start dates. All other tasks used the standard calendar.

thanks both.