Slide 36 of 61
Notes:
If you have been following the above steps in Microsoft Project, you will have noticed that, so far, all of the bars in the Gantt Chart start on the same date. Obviously, this won’t happen.
In Microsoft Project, these relationships are expressed as predecessors and constraints. Each task has an ID number in the far left column of the Gantt Chart. (Note that the ID number is not the same as the work breakdown structure outline number.) A predecessor column is provided to record those tasks which must be completed prior to the start of the task in question. A task may have zero, one, or more than one predecessors.
If a task is dependent on the ‘start’ of another task as opposed to its completion, you can open a task dialog box that allows you to specify this less common constraint. Other constraints such as dependence on specific dates can also be specified.
Once predecessors have been recorded, Microsoft Project automatically schedules the task by shifting it to the right of the start date (or left of the deadline) based on prerequisite tasks and durations. Arrows depict the precedents between the bars.
Before we leave the subject of predecessors, we should acknowledge that there is a tool that naturally lends itself to modeling predecessors — the PERT Chart. Because PERT Charts will be covered later in the Module, we’ll defer that discussion until then.
