MS Project - Predecessor Relationships - HELP

[cdel55]

Has anyone run across this issue??

I am setting predecessors at a high level, with one or two resources allocated. I'm setting the Pred. to one that is at the end of the project - I want a Finish to Finish relationship. I would expect that the duration of the task will start when I assign it and last until the duration of the Pred. assigned. What happens is when that Pred. date is changed or moved it doesnt reflect back to the task it has a relationship with. I am setting the task as a Fixed duration.

Hope I have explained this well enough to get some help.

Thanks....

 

[RichG]

I think I understand what you are asking. Try to set the 1st task, that is the finish to finish predecessor, with the "Constraint Type" of 'As Late As Possible'.

To do this double click on the task and select the 'Advanced Tab'. It's a drop-down box in the middle left of the window.

This should make the predecessor end date move with the end of the last task.

What you need to watch is with the 'Fixed Duration' task type. As your dates move, you will get a message that the resource is assigned outside of its origional dates. I would change the task to a 'Fixed Work' and let the duration fall where ever it needs to as the project progresses.

 

[cdel55]

Rich - thanks for your response - let em try this explanation. Bear with me here....

Administration Pred Effort EstStart ActStart EstFinsh
TaskA 10FF 12/30/02
Resource 1 80h 4/25/02 4/25/02 7/17/02
Planning
Analysis
Design
Construction
Implementation
Task B 12/10/02 --- 12/30/02

Okay I want Admin TaskA's duration to run as long as Task B runs. So by setting TaskA with Pred of TaskB (10FF) I expect the estimated finish to be whatever TaskB is. And I would expect that whenever my tasks are updated and the date moves - the date would be adjusted accordingly. That works for the high level task (TaskA) but the resource estimated finish time doesnt unless I set it manually which will override my predecessor - which I dont want because everytime the end date changes for TaskB I have to change everything dependent on it.

The bottom line with all this is that it causes heavy overallocation which of course my manager doesnt want to see....I am starting to think this a glitch in MS Project.

 

[RichG]

I was able to recreate what you are explaining. I now suspect that you have “TaskA” set as a “Fixed Duration” task type. When I changed it to a “Fixed Unit” or “Fixed Work” task type the resource moved with the end date.

If this is not your problem, let me know if you have any constraints on the task. Constraints are ‘Must Finish On’, ‘Must Start On’, etc….

I hadn’t recognized that it did this with the Fixed Duration task type. I don't understand why it would have been designed in this way either. Thanks.