Linking Tasks to a milestone

[GregK]

I need to link some tasks in a roll out plan that will be tied to a launch
milestone. The tasks should be completed 2 weeks prior to that milestone.
The milestone is dependent on completion of a couple of tasks. My goal is to
have the tasks tied to the final milestone to move if the milestone date
changes. Let me know if this is possible.

 

[Andrew Lavinsky]

Sure....sounds like a textbook Start to Finish dependency.

As an example:

Make two tasks: Tasks 1 & 2
Set the predecessor for Task 2 to 1SF-2w (which includes the 2 week lead
time)
You might get a message asking if you want to move task 2 prior to the start
date, just click yes.
Now, every time you move the task 1, your task 2 will move.

You may need to experiment a bit to make it work well in your scenario, but
that's the basic concept.

-A

 

[GregK]

I have roughly 30 tasks that are dependent. The example is:

Launch Milestone is dependent on tasks 3, 20, 56.

I have tasks 23, 36 - 42, 59 that need to be completed two weeks prior to
the Launch Milestone

Launch Milestone is task 60.

How do I get tasks 23, 36-42 and 59 to move when the milestone moves?

 

[Andrew Lavinsky]

It's a bit counterintuitive, but in the Predecessor column, try the following:

TASK
59: 60SF-2w
42: 59SF
41: 42SF
40: 41SF

And so on and so forth. Remember that dependencies in this case are logical
drivers, and not necessarily chronological order.

This solution assumes that your tasks 23, 36-42, and 59 are sequential.
If not, then you would have to link them directly to the Task 60 using the
"60SF-2w" syntax.

If you link them properly, then whenever your milestone moves, all of those
tasks will move.

I use the example of Task A: Pack and Task B: Move. Pack chronologically
comes before Move, but I give them a SF dependency. This means that whatever
hard date I set for the Move task (driven by the availability of the movers)
will change the Pack date (so I don't have all of my stuff in boxes for two
weeks).

-A

 

[GregK]

Thanks. That was what I was looking for.

It's a bit counterintuitive, but in the Predecessor column, try the following:

TASK
59: 60SF-2w
42: 59SF
41: 42SF
40: 41SF

And so on and so forth. Remember that dependencies in this case are logical
drivers, and not necessarily chronological order.

This solution assumes that your tasks 23, 36-42, and 59 are sequential.
If not, then you would have to link them directly to the Task 60 using the
"60SF-2w" syntax.

If you link them properly, then whenever your milestone moves, all of those
tasks will move.

I use the example of Task A: Pack and Task B: Move. Pack chronologically
comes before Move, but I give them a SF dependency. This means that whatever
hard date I set for the Move task (driven by the availability of the movers)
will change the Pack date (so I don't have all of my stuff in boxes for two
weeks).

-A