Set deadline

[SMR]

Hello!

I am using MS Project 2007. I can set the deadline to a tasks.
The problem is, that when i go to Tools - Options - View and click
"show project summary task", grey bar shows up indicating the duration
of the whole project, and I wish to set the deadline to it but it is not
possible. Does anyone knows how I can achieve this?

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

SMR --

You cannot set a Deadline date on the Project Summary Task. You need to
include a final Milestone task in your project, called something like
Project Complete, and then set the Deadline date on the Milestone task.
Hope this helps.

 

[SMR]

Thank you! This is a very good idea

 

[SMR]

I tested, but this is not working.. I made a new task called "deadline
and added date of deadline to it, also clicked "milestone" dialog box
Still no warning pops up if other works of this project takes more tha
this deadline I made?
Can you tell me exactly what should I do, please

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

SMR --

It's not only a good idea; it's a best practice that many of us recommend.
You are more than welcome for the help.

 

[SMR]

I'm sorry, but it didn't work.. see the post above!

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

SMR --

If the Finish date for the Milestone task slips past the Deadline date, you
DO NOT see a warning dialog. Instead, you see an indicator that looks like
a red diamond with a white exclamation point in it in the Indicators column
to the left of the task. Hope this helps.

Also, to make the task a Milestone, simply enter 0d in the Duration column.
This will make the task a Milestone automatically. Hope this helps.

 

[SMR]

Can you create a little example for me, please, and attach it.. its no
working.

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi,

How about this.
Create a "due date" milestone indeed but instead of giving it a deadline,
fix it with a must finish on constraint.
Link the final "real" task to this milestone.
Now show the column Total Slack
IT shows you the buffer you have left.
When it gets negtive, that's when you are in trouble.
HTH

--
Jan De Messemaeker
Microsoft Project Most Valuable Professional
+32 495 300 620
For availability check:
http://users.online.be/prom-ade/Calendar.pdf

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

SMR --

Is the Milestone linked as a Successor in the "chain of events" of other
tasks in the project. Is it truly the Finish date of the entire project?
Has the Finish date of the project (the Milestone) actually slipped to the
right of the Deadline date? If so, do you see the indicator I mentioned in
the Indicators column? Can you actually SEE the Indicators column to know
for sure? Just saying "it didn't work" is not enough. Do some
troubleshooting and give us some answers to the preceding questions, and we
will try to help.

 

[SMR]

Than you very much for your support! This is my first day in MS Project,
so this is lot of information to understand.

I tried everything based on you support, and success!!!
Look what I did.. I set the deadline of the milestone called
"deadline". Set the constraint type as soon as possible. Then I linked
all the tasks that must end before this milestone so the arrow direction
is towards the milestone. And in the end I have a result, so when some
tasks go farther than deadline, then indicator suddenly turns red and
when I go on it with the mouse it says "This task finishes on Sep 19
which is later than its deadline on Sep 18". This is very good, only I
don't like the amount of arrows that show up after all the works are
linked with the deadline, it makes all the tasks look complicated and
eliminates the attention. Imagine, if in the construction site there are
lots of works that go independent one from another, then all of them
must be linked..
Can i hide these arrows? It would be much simpler if MS Project would
allow to set the deadline for the project.. no linking.. much faster..
and also in the Resource Allocation View this Deadline task appears, now
I understand why you said, that this is not quite correct.. I will think
a lot before I'll create my project this way. I think I better enter the
deadline, and then i can see if project bar goes farther than deadline
arrow, until I'll find some other solution.. Thank you a lot!!!

Best regards,
Raivis

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

SMR --

Now you are starting to use Microsoft Project correctly. Way to go, my
friend! Your next order is to stop typing Start dates for tasks, which is
what I suspect you were doing instead of setting task dependencies. Right?

The "little arrows" to which you refer are called link lines and indicate
task dependencies. If you don't like them, you can eliminate them from the
display by clicking Format - Layout. In the Layout dialog, select the first
option in the Links section and then click the OK button.

Regarding your wish to set an overall Deadline date for the project without
linking tasks, you are way off base. You need to tell the software the
dependency relationship between all of the tasks in the project. Otherwise,
how will the software know when things are supposed to be done?

Beyond this, did you know that Microsoft Project allows you to set one of
four types of dependencies on each task relationship? For example, you can
use a Start-to-Start (SS) task dependency to force two tasks to start at the
same time. To give you more background on how to use task dependencies, you
might want to refer to Mike Glen's excellent TechTrax articles on the basics
of using Microsoft Project correctly. Following is the link for his article
on using task dependencies:

http://pubs.logicalexpressions.com/Pub0009/LPMArticle.asp?ID=179

Beyond this, I would recommend that you advance your knowledge further by
taking a Microsoft Project class or buying a book on the software. An
excellent reference book, which also functions as two self-paced courses on
the software, is our company's Ultimate Learning Guide to Microsoft Office
Project 2007, available for purchase at:

http://www.projectserverbooks.com

Hope this helps.

 

[Steve House]

You are absolutely right - there can be a lot of arrows and that is the way
it is supposed to be. The arrows represent predecessor/successor links.
The links represent the physical processes that control the tasks' timing.
ie, "erect walls" is a predecessor to "install roof" because the law of
gravity doesn't allow us to do it in the reverse order. "Best Practices"
suggest that A: Projects always have at least a Start milestone and a
Finish milestone; and B: all tasks have at least one predecessor and at
least one successor. If nothing else is the predecessor, the start
milestone is the predecessor, and if nothing else is the successor, the
finish milestone is. In other words ALL tasks lie on at least one pathway
between project start and project finish.

 

[Paul Linde]

Hi

I am not sure where u are heading but it seems like its an option of
reversable scheduling where u add an end-date in the Project information
dialoge. When u have done this u can let Project schedule ur tasks from the
end-date.

--
Hope this helps,

Paul

Project MCP


"SMR" skrev:

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Steve --

Well stated, my MVP friend!

You are absolutely right - there can be a lot of arrows and that is the
way it is supposed to be. The arrows represent predecessor/successor
links. The links represent the physical processes that control the tasks'
timing. ie, "erect walls" is a predecessor to "install roof" because the
law of gravity doesn't allow us to do it in the reverse order. "Best
Practices" suggest that A: Projects always have at least a Start
milestone and a Finish milestone; and B: all tasks have at least one
predecessor and at least one successor. If nothing else is the
predecessor, the start milestone is the predecessor, and if nothing else
is the successor, the finish milestone is. In other words ALL tasks lie
on at least one pathway between project start and project finish.

--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm for the FAQs

Than you very much for your support! This is my first day in MS Project,
so this is lot of information to understand.

I tried everything based on you support, and success!!!
Look what I did.. I set the deadline of the milestone called
"deadline". Set the constraint type as soon as possible. Then I linked
all the tasks that must end before this milestone so the arrow direction
is towards the milestone. And in the end I have a result, so when some
tasks go farther than deadline, then indicator suddenly turns red and
when I go on it with the mouse it says "This task finishes on Sep 19
which is later than its deadline on Sep 18". This is very good, only I
don't like the amount of arrows that show up after all the works are
linked with the deadline, it makes all the tasks look complicated and
eliminates the attention. Imagine, if in the construction site there are
lots of works that go independent one from another, then all of them
must be linked..
Can i hide these arrows? It would be much simpler if MS Project would
allow to set the deadline for the project.. no linking.. much faster..
and also in the Resource Allocation View this Deadline task appears, now
I understand why you said, that this is not quite correct.. I will think
a lot before I'll create my project this way. I think I better enter the
deadline, and then i can see if project bar goes farther than deadline
arrow, until I'll find some other solution.. Thank you a lot!!!

Best regards,
Raivis


--
SMR
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[SMR]

Thank so much for all the information!

I suspect you were doing instead of setting task dependencies. Right?

Tasks that must follow one after another were linked. There are tasks
that go independent one from other, so they are not linked with lots of
tasks under them that are linked. The arrows I noticed about, where
those arrows, that show up when these independent tasks are linked to
deadline milestone. When one task is linked to another and so on, it
looks very readable, but when five tasks are linked to depending
deadline milestone, it looks quite arrowed..

"Best Practices"
suggest that A: Projects always have at least a Start milestone and a
Finish milestone; and B: all tasks have at least one predecessor and
at
least one successor. If nothing else is the predecessor, the start
milestone is the predecessor, and if nothing else is the successor,
the
finish milestone is.

This is a very good organization of a project. What to do, if there are
independent tasks? They all must be linked to the next big task, right?

You need to tell the software the
dependency relationship between all of the tasks in the project.
Otherwise,
how will the software know when things are supposed to be done?

My idea was that, if there are, for example, 10 big tasks that are not
linked one with another, but under them we have lots of small tasks that
are linked one with another within one of a grand tasks. Then, if it was
possible to set the deadline for the project and then if some of the 10
task wood go over the deadline date, then user would be noticed and user
would not need to create a deadline milestone for the project and link
all these 10 grand tasks to the end milestone, and no additional arrows
would appear. Some how I think that it might be possible for software to
control it. What do you think?

Thank you Paul!
Your idea will work, but in practice when you have some jobs done, some
jobs in the middle and some undone in the building site, then I think,
it will be hard, to count all deadlines from the end.. Or its just hard
for me.. But maybe I'll get used to it!!


At the moment I'm new to this program, and I'm trying to find the best
and simplest way, to coordinate and control things even not knowing what
this software is capable of, I fell, that it can do much. It would be
great to see someones mpp file, just to click it around, to see how
advanced it is possible to create adding all the workers, machinery etc.
Just discovered, that it is possible to add columns with user defined
formulas, I like it very much. I already have an idea, that I must make
one column that contains data of amount of job that must be done, second
column, that would contain the approximate amount of job that can be
done in one day, and the third column would calculate how much days are
needed for this work to be done by dividing first column by the second..
What do you think about this idea? Other vice I have never organized
things, and I think its not even possible to guess how much time it
would take.. So I'm widely opened for any ideas that could help me
better in my new job and it would be greatly appreciated.