Milestones/Promise date as a dependency source

Is there any way we could make a milestone or a promise date as a dependency source. Here’s an example of a situation where this feature will be needed.

Say, we are running a project where certain hardware infrastructure has to be built. Building the hardware pieces will not be possible until certain parts have been ordered and delivered.

Ordering parts, obviously, doesn’t take long enough time to warrant entering it into a schedule. However, lead time can be a gating item. Right now, I can’t find any way to specify this in LP. I could create a very short and assign it to some phantom user, I suppose, but it’s not the ideal solution. What if there are multiple parts arriving on the same date?

I’d like a tool where you can just click under a certain date and it automatically inserts a milestone and ask you to name it. Then, change the dependency feature so that you can link to these milestones.

Try this, create a project (perhaps at the top of your plan) called “parts delivery”.

• Parts Delivery (delay until 9/17/2007)
  • Wheels
  • Seats
  • Engine

Open up the edit panel and go to the scheduling tab. Set the delay until date to the date you expect the parts. Add a task for each part you want to track under it.

You can then set dependencies on the parts delivery container as a whole (or on individual parts). To do this go to the new task (e.g. assemble car) and edit the task. On the dependencies tab you can form the dependency on parts.

Thanks for the suggestion. That’s basically what I’ve been doing so far.

I’d like to make it a bit quicker, though. Using your suggestion, I have to create a task, enter the work length, and then switch to another tab and delay the task. Another way is, of course, typing everything in using your quick entry feature (which is fabulous per se, but not for this purpose).

If we had a ‘milestone’ tool, where I can just click to insert a milestone (slide it around to the right date, then enter a title), it’d be much, much quicker. Not a high priority feature, I agree. I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who will use it a lot, though.

Thanks!