Monday 19 December 2011

Task Relationships available in MSP


Task Relationship in Microsoft Project 2010 is of 4 types

1. Finish-to-Start: - The successor task cannot be started until its predecessor task completed. For example if you have two tasks “requirement captured” and “Designing” then “Designing task” cannot be started until “requirement captured” task is completed.

2. Start-to-Start: - Two tasks, let say A and B has start-to-start relationship and task B is Dependent on Task A, then the task B cannot start until task A starts. It means that dependent task start only when or after the task on which it is dependent is started. For example if you have two tasks in Microsoft project 2010 “Pour concrete” and “Level concrete” then "Level concrete" cannot be begin until "Pour concrete” task begins.

3. Finish-to-Finish: - In this type of relationship, let say A and B has Finish-to-Finish relationship and task B is Dependent on Task A, then the task B cannot completed until task A completed. It means that dependent task completed only when or after the task on which it is dependent is completed. For example if you have two tasks in MSP “Coding” and “Testing” then “Testing” task cannot be completed until “Coding” task is completed.

4. Start-to-Finish: - - In this type of relationship, let say A and B has Start-to-Finish relationship and task B is Dependent on Task A, then the task B cannot be completed until task A starts. It means that dependent task completed only after the beginning of the task on which it is dependent is started. For example if you have two tasks "Truss delivery" and "Assemble roof". The "Assemble roof" cannot be finished until the "Truss delivery" task started.

Friday 9 December 2011

Add Constraints to your Tasks

To add constraints to your tasks, follow the following steps

Step 1 Create a automatically scheduled task. Don't try to apply a constraint to manually scheduled task because MSP 2010 doesn't allow this. Open task properties by clicking on Information under Task menu present in ribbon interface.




Step 2 Now the task properties are opened, Select Advanced Tab under task information and then select the constraint from the given list of constraint that you want to apply to your task

 



Step 3 Apply the Constraint date to your task






Now the constraint is applied to your task.

Points Remembered while assigning constraints in MSP
1. Tasks should be Automatically scheduled.
2. Only 1 constraint can apply to one task.
3. Don't forget to mention the constraint date.