A dependency defines predecessor and successor relationships
between project tasks. You can create Finish-to-Start dependencies
where the start of one (successor) task depends on the completion
of another (predecessor) task. For example, you can create a Finish-to-Start
dependency between the “Create test plan” task and the “Verify test
plan” task, where the verification task starts after the creation
task is complete. Dependencies are indicated in the Gantt chart as
arrows that connect one dependent task to another. You can create
dependencies between tasks belonging to the same project or to different
projects.
Before you begin
Use the Schedule Gantt or
the WBS Details viewlet to perform this task. In the navigation bar,
click Work, and click the Schedule tab,
or the Details tab.
About this task
You can create dependencies between tasks only. Other
WBS element types cannot be entered into dependency relationships.
A
task can have multiple dependencies. For example, the start of Task
A can be dependent on the completion of Tasks B, C, and D. Similarly,
the completion of Task A can trigger the start of Tasks F, G, and
H.
You cannot create circular dependencies. For example, if
Task A is dependent on Task B, you cannot create a dependency that
makes Task B dependent on Task A.
To create a dependency:
Procedure
- Creating dependencies using the Gantt chart:
- In the WBS tree, expand the project. In the Schedule
Gantt viewlet, click the splitter bar to open the Gantt chart view.
Click the Add Dependency icon
to enable the dependency creation mode. When enabled,
the Dependency icon is highlighted with a blue background.
- In the WBS tree, click the predecessor task. The corresponding
row is highlighted in the Gantt chart.
Note: To ensure
that the correct task is highlighted, hover the mouse over the task
box in the Gantt chart. The hover text indicates the name of the selected
task.
- Now, hover the mouse over the successor task. An arrow
indicates the dependency relationship. If you want to select a different
successor task, hover the mouse over the task. The dependency arrow
is redrawn to connect to the new successor. To create the dependency,
click the successor task.
- To save the dependency, in the viewlet, click Save.
- Creating dependencies using the links editor in the
WBS Details viewlet:
- In the WBS tree, click the predecessor or successor
task for the dependency. In the WBS Details viewlet, click the Links tab.
- In the Links section, click the Add down
arrow, and select the applicable option:
- If you selected a predecessor task, click Blocks.
- If you selected a successor task, click Depends on.
- In the Add link window, select the Project area for
the dependency. Select the work item Type as Task.
Enter the work item ID to narrow the search results if required.
- From the search results, click the task to create a
dependency with, and click OK. A Blocks or
Depends on link is added with the task ID.
- In the WBS Details viewlet, click Save.
Results
The two tasks are now linked with a dependency relationship
and an arrow connects the predecessor to the successor in the Gantt
chart view.
What to do next
After creating the dependencies for a project, resolve the
dependencies for the project to adjust the task dates as per the dependency
relationships. If you created dependencies between tasks in different
projects, you must resolve the dependencies for each project separately.
For more information about resolving dependencies, see
Resolving dependencies.