Microsoft Office Forums

Go Back   Microsoft Office Forums > >

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old 02-04-2010, 07:50 AM
fraserm fraserm is offline Milestone durations Windows Vista Milestone durations Office 2007
Novice
Milestone durations
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Posts: 1
fraserm is on a distinguished road
Default Milestone durations

Hi there,



I'm a very new user to Project and am a little confused as to why Project allows you to specify a duration for a milestone.

My, obviously incorrect, understanding was that a milestone was a point in time, a specific 'milestone' that was reached.

Could anyone offer any insight for it?

Many thanks, Fraser.
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 02-18-2010, 04:04 AM
Tamsons Tamsons is offline Milestone durations Windows XP Milestone durations Office 2003
Novice
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Posts: 3
Tamsons is on a distinguished road
Default Milestone Durations

I train MS project to commercial companies and you are right in that if anything has a duration it is a task and some eefort is being expended to perform it. However there maybe the case on the contract where something special is happening and work has to stop to allow this and then restart again. You have to include the down time in the plan, so because it is a major event you use a milestone.

The example I use is that I am handing over part of a construction site and have a celebrity unveiling a plaque. I do not want to have machines and tools going off so I suspend work during this handover and unveiling and then restart after it is finished. Obviously this is a key point reached and is major so it needs to be a milestone, but it also lasts for a period of time so we set a duration. But remember no effort or work is being performed.

Hope this helps

Tamsons
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 03-02-2010, 10:52 AM
Fernando_safe Fernando_safe is offline Milestone durations Windows XP Milestone durations Office 2007
Novice
 
Join Date: Mar 2010
Posts: 14
Fernando_safe is on a distinguished road
Default

Look as you said the milestone is a point in the time, then you need to put the milestone like the last task in the group of precedent tasks, you configure it with duration of (0d) no time and link it with the others, once you have configured you can in the gantt chart adjust its description in the visualization to it shows the date and other features.

Please let me to know if this tips help to you.
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 01-11-2012, 11:22 AM
tknutsen tknutsen is offline Milestone durations Windows 7 64bit Milestone durations Office 2007
Novice
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 3
tknutsen is on a distinguished road
Default Milestone duration without effort

There are occasions where you might want to give Milestone duration but no effort. For example you are using a MS for approval of test results from a customer and desire to mark this with a MS rather than a task. To do this you will need to mark the task as a MS and Fixed Duration and not Effort driven. This will allow duration with no effort/work.
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 01-13-2012, 08:43 AM
JulieS JulieS is offline Milestone durations Windows 7 64bit Milestone durations Office 2010 32bit
Expert
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: New England
Posts: 1,693
JulieS will become famous soon enough
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by fraserm View Post
Hi there,

I'm a very new user to Project and am a little confused as to why Project allows you to specify a duration for a milestone.

My, obviously incorrect, understanding was that a milestone was a point in time, a specific 'milestone' that was reached.

Could anyone offer any insight for it?

Many thanks, Fraser.
Hi Fraser,

I'll add on here. I've used MS Project since 1992 and have always found the "mark as milestone" to be misleading and confusing. I agree, the usual definition of milestone is a specific point in time. However, not everyone using Project may follow that definition.

Julie
Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes


Other Forums: Access Forums

All times are GMT -7. The time now is 09:51 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.
Search Engine Optimisation provided by DragonByte SEO (Lite) - vBulletin Mods & Addons Copyright © 2024 DragonByte Technologies Ltd.
MSOfficeForums.com is not affiliated with Microsoft