Finish Start Predecessors

Hi Jennifer, Finish-Start is your most common and the default Predecessor type. It simply means the first task finishes before the next one starts (Finish-Start) (assuming your Task Constraints are properly set like you have here). Start-Start means you want the two tasks to start at the same time. For your question, I believe you would want to use Start-Start and use "negative lag" in your predecessors. In the Predecessor field for Task 1, type in '3SS-4d'. This is saying you want Task 1 to Start negative 4 days from the Start Task 3 (SS). The same would be true for Task 2, except you would use 3SS-2d. 3SS = Start to Start with Task 3 -4d = minus 4 Days – and keep in mind these are business days. If you want it to start negative 4 days before the END of Task 3, then you would simply write 3-4d which equates to 3FS-4. You can also do plus lags by just using a + instead of the - if you want something to start a few days or weeks after another task. Hope that makes sense. Please let me know if you have any questions or anything. Vic Alejandro, PMP, CSM | IT Program Manager Denver Water | t: (303-628-7262) | c: (303-319-6473) "http://www.denverwater.org/"> http://www.denverwater.org INTEGRITY | VISION | PASSION | EXCELLENCE | RESPECT

Thanks for taking the time to explain that! Unfortunately, it's not working for me. I'm certain it's my error. Jennifer Franz SAE International

Ugh sorry, use 3ss-4d. Lower case 'ss'. I didn't realize it was case-sensitive. Vic Alejandro, PMP, CSM | IT Program Manager Denver Water | t: (303-628-7262) | c: (303-319-6473) "http://www.denverwater.org/"> http://www.denverwater.org INTEGRITY | VISION | PASSION | EXCELLENCE | RESPECT

no need to apologize. I did try upper and lower case. It's not working. I submitted a ticket. Thanks so much! Jennifer Franz SAE International

And you're still getting the same error? Or is there a different issue when you use 'ss'? It's definitely working on our environment and there are no settings I'm aware of that would make our setups different. Vic Alejandro, PMP, CSM | IT Program Manager Denver Water | t: (303-628-7262) | c: (303-319-6473) "http://www.denverwater.org/"> http://www.denverwater.org INTEGRITY | VISION | PASSION | EXCELLENCE | RESPECT

That’s weird, it works for me without a problem. Maybe check the start and finish dates of the project and make sure your -4 days isn’t trying to calculate to a date before the project start date?