No critical path

[Tarra]

Can someone please tell me why I have no criticial path in my project? There
are predecessors and successessors established, but my schedule shows no
critical path. Shouldn't there always be a critical path?

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi Tarra,
At least the final task is always critical.
Maybe there is a critical path but it is not showing the way you expect.
Have you run the Gantt Chart Wizard? It' sthrough a button on the toolbar.
Hope this helps

 

[Tarra]

Yep - tried that. The gantt chart still shows absolutely no tasks as
critical - not even the final task. This just doesn't make sense.

 

[Ron01LTX]

Make sure critical tasks have the font set to show red. On the Format menu
choose "text styles", Text Styles dialog box opens: choose "critical" from
the items to change drop down list, then choose red from the color from the
list of colors at the bottom. If this doesn't work make sure your critical
filter has the proper criteria set.

-Ron01LTX

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi again,

I forgot one other possibility.
One task must have a deadline beyond the finish of the last task.
Insert the column "deadline" toi check.
HTH

 

[Jim Aksel]

Do you have a long Level of Effort Task such as "Supervsion" that extends
over a period of performance longer than the "last task"?

If you linked summary tasks, this may obscure your critical path.

All critical tasks can be displayed (regardless of graphics settings) by
applying the "critical" filter. Another way is to insert the "critical"
column and then filter to that (the field will show 'yes').

--
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Jim
It's software; it's not allowed to win.

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for FAQs and more information
about Microsoft Project

 

[Tarra]

Yep - I figured it out - and you hit the nail on the head. One of the
beginning tasks was beyond the "project complete" task. As soon as I made an
adjustment for that, the critical task showed up.

Thanks everyone for your responses!

 

[Steve House]

How could one of the beginning tasks possibly BE beyond the project complete
task? Did you put a Finish No Later Than constraint on the project complete
by any chance?

 

[swell estimator]

Jan, you are also helping me with a similar problem: I can't get the
critical path to come back after disappearing and I thought the remedy you
suggested might help me examine the constraints. How do you insert a
"Deadlines" column? I read the help section on inserting columns but it
seems to only apply partially.

Excuse me Tarra for jumping into your post with a question rather than
assistance, but since Jan helped you find your solution in another way, I
thought it might be useful for you in the future as well.

Thanks, Swell

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi,

You insert the deadline comumn like any other colulmn, Insert menu, column,
select Deadline.
--
Jan De Messemaeker
Microsoft Project Most Valuable Professional
+32 495 300 620
For availability check:
http://users.online.be/prom-ade/Calendar.pdf