Advice for the Project Management Professional (PMP)

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click the Milestone symbol for Task 4, hold down the left mouse button, and drag to the
Task Bar symbol for Task 6 to create a dependency, as shown in the Gantt chart in Figure
A-27. Note the Finish-to-Start Link dialog box that appears when you use this method.
Link Tasks
Predecessors
column
FIGURE A-27 Creating Task Dependencies
Gantt chart
symbols
Next, you will use information from Figure A-28 to enter the predecessors for tasks as
indicated. You will create some dependencies by manually typing the predecessors in the
Predecessors column, some by using the Link Tasks button, some by using the Gantt chart
symbols, and the remaining dependencies by using whichever method you prefer.
To link tasks or establish dependencies for the Project Tracking Database project:
1. Display the Predecessors column in the Entry table. Move the split bar to the
right to reveal the full Predecessors column in the time.mpp file. Widen the
Task Name or other columns, if needed.
2. Highlight the cell where you want to enter a predecessor, and then type the
task number for the preceding task. Click the Predecessors cell for Task 3,
type 2, and press Enter. Notice that as you enter task dependencies, the Gantt
chart changes to reflect the new schedule. Also notice that several cells
become highlighted. In this case, the Duration and Finish cells for Task 1, and
the Start and Finish cells for Task 3, are highlighted in light blue. This is the
new Visual Change Highlights feature of Project 2007.
3. Enter predecessors for Task 4. Click the Predecessors cell for Task 4, type 3,
and press Enter.
4. Establish dependencies using the Link Tasks button. To link Tasks 10 through
13, click the task name for Task 10 in the Task Name column and drag down
through Task 13. Then, click the Link Tasks button on the toolbar. Alternately,
you can click Edit on the Menu bar, and then click Link Tasks.
5. Create a dependency using Gantt chart symbols. Click the Milestone symbol
for Task 4 on the Gantt chart, hold down the left mouse button, and drag
to the Task Bar symbol for Task 6. (See Figure A-27 to see this step in
progress.)
6. Enter remaining dependencies. Link the other tasks by either manually entering
the predecessors into the Predecessors column, by using the Link Tasks
button, or by clicking and dragging the Gantt chart symbols. Note the visual
change highlighting feature that displays as you enter dependencies. You can
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Guide to Using Microsoft Project 2007