Hi all,
For this Project, I have 6 tasks - showing below are 4 of them. Each is built with dependency.
To perform execution, I would need to get Document 3 ready 60 days before Execution Start.
Same with Document 2 to be ready 2 weeks before Document 3 Start and Document 1 to be ready 3 weeks before Document 2 Start.
In this case, because the dates are fixed, I am pushing them to Manual Task mode, and then build in the Deadlines as an indication that Team 1, 2, 3 would need to get ready according to the "Green" downward arrow. Is this approach the only way? Or is there a better way to do so with Automatic Task scheduling (w/o constraints) and perhaps with slack or float being built into Desktop Client?
I am hoping to get these sets in Desktop Client and then publish it to the Web for the different Team Clients. Is that a good plan or bad one?
Do not use manual scheduling to fix dates. Manual scheduling is intended for initial project "rough draft" development, it is not intended for use in an active plan.
You indicate you have deadline dates. I see them on the Gantt display but I don't see the Deadline field that would show the actual date. Deadline dates do impact how slack is calculated but they do not alter other parts of a plan (i.e. Start and Finish dates). They are used primarily as an alert for the user.
To get your setbacks, you can use a couple of approaches. If you need the plan to work back from a desired execution start date, then each document task could use a lead predecessor. For example, Document 3 might have a predecessor of: 5SF-60ed, where "ed" indicates elapsed time, (i.e. calendar days), which is typical for setbacks but the lead could also be in normal working days. The other document tasks have similar "lead" predecessors.
John