Predessor occurs after task

[Paul Moloney]

I have a summary tasks containing a number of tasks. These task are strictly
linear,
each with a predecessor. The first task has a "start no earlier than"
constrain. Yet the task
after this starts way before the first task. I can't understand this, since
I thought the point
of specifiying a task as a predessor meants that Project would _never_
schedule
a task before it! Any help appreciated.

P.

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi Paul,

The second task may have a Must Star/Finish On or a "No Later Than"
constraint
OR it has an Actual Start/Finish

All of tehse are "stronger" constraints than the link

 

[Paul Moloney]

Hi Paul,

The second task may have a Must Star/Finish On or a "No Later Than"
constraint
OR it has an Actual Start/Finish

Hi Jan,

I've checked, the constraint is "As soon as possible". I would presume this
means "as soon as possible after the predesssor"?

What do you mean by a "actual" start and finish? When I check each task,
under the General tab, each has a Start and End date, but I thought that
these
dates were determined by the predessors and/or constraints?

Thanks,

P.

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi,

Insert a column "Actual Start"
Does it show NA or a date?

 

[Paul Moloney]

Insert a column "Actual Start"
Does it show NA or a date?

Hi,

They show either "NA" or a series of hashes (###########).

Thanks,

P.

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi Paul,

A series of hashes is a date (the representation being caused by the column
being too narrow).
Once again, does the task we are talking about have an Actual Start date?

 

[Paul Moloney]

Hi Paul,

A series of hashes is a date (the representation being caused by the
column being too narrow).
Once again, does the task we are talking about have an Actual Start
date?

Hi Jan,

With the tasks in question, neither the predessor task nor the task itself
have any actual dates; both have NA. Yet the predecessor comes before the
task.

I've send a pic of the relevant project section to your email - hope that
may help,
P.

 

[Steve House [MVP]]

You are reversing yourself. You first said the successor is coming before
the predecessor, in this message you said "the predecessor comes before the
task" which seems to say the task in question comes after the predecessor.
Which is it?

In a Finish-to-Start link, the predecessor normally does finish before the
successor starts, unless there is a lead time in the link or a constraint on
the successor that overrides the normal behavior.

This all assumes you are scheduling from start date forward. A lot changes
when you schedule from finish date backwards and such scheduling is rarely a
good idea even if you have very strong deadlines. You didn't mention which
you are doing.