I do get the same thing you do. It's related to the idea that in a Start to
Finish link, the "hinge point" if you will, is the Start time of the
predecessor and that link dictates the successor's end will always synch up
to be no earlier than to the start of the predecessor. Indeed, a
fundamental property of all links is that the link logic determines the
*earliest* (when scheduling from start) that the successor's target will
occur - FS and SS links define the earliest the successor's start can occur
in the schedule while FF and SF links define the earliest the sucessor's
finish can occur. So the earliest possible time that our task in question
can finish is Friday. Then Project works backwards, fixing the finish to
coincide with the start of its predecessor and pushing the start back into
the future until such time as the *work* covers 8 duration, i.e., actual
working, hours. We get no duration credit for Thursday or Wednesday since
no work takes place on those days. Tuesday at 5 we start to cover duration
time and will have worked back thru 8 duration hours when we get to Tuesday
at 8am. So our 1 day duration task begins Tuesday 8am and ends Friday at
8am, the end coinciding with the start time of the task that's controlling
the whole process. I grant you it would be nice to see the meeting finish
display as Tue, 5pm - makes it easier to explain to non-PM savvy managers -
but from a schedule logic standpoint that's purely cosmetic and has no
affect on the actual work schedule, critical path, budget, or what-have-you.
I wonder if the solution might be to rexamine the SF link for the meeting.
As I read your note, the first thing that popped into my mind was can the
meeting only be scheduled for the week when it looks like task 2 will begin?
What happens if task 1 gets delayed? Does task 1 HAVE to be in progress
before you can go to the meeting for approval to begin task 2 and does it
really HAVE to be the LAST Tuesday before the next phase begins or is that
just the preferred meeting? Could you perhaps hold or attend the meeting on
the first Tuesday after task 1 begins, even if its end is a few weeks away?
If I held the meeting this Tuesday, anticipating the next phase will start
this coming Friday, but then the current phase finish gets delayed is it a
problem, do we have to go back for another meeting? I may be wrong, but it
seems to me like there might be an alternate view of the situation logic.
Try this logic and links ...
Task 1 - first phase
Task 2 - approval meeting, 1 day, Tuesday only calendar, link 1SS
Task 3 - next phase, links 1FS & 2 FS
That places the meeting on the first Tuesday after task 1 begins. If task 1
has to be far enough along to provide some information needed for the
meeting, you could also have a lag time in the SS link from 1 to 2 so that
the meeting would happen on the first Tueday after task 1 is expected to be
50% or 75% complete or something like that.
Would that work?
--
Steve House [MVP]
MS Project Trainer/Consultant
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http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs