#1
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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. |
#2
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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 |
#3
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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. |
#4
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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.
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#5
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Quote:
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 |
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