After defining dependencies for the tasks in a project,
you must resolve the dependencies for the project. By resolving dependencies,
the schedule dates of the dependent tasks are adjusted to their earliest
possible start dates to accommodate the dependency relationship. For
example, two tasks with the start date January 1 and finish date as
January 5 are linked with a Finish to Start dependency. After you
resolve the dependency, the predecessor task is moved to its earliest
possible start date, and the successor task is moved to start after
the predecessor task is complete.
Before you begin
Use the Schedule Gantt viewlet to perform
this task. In the navigation bar, click Work,
and click the Schedule tab.
Before
resolving dependencies, define the dependencies for the project tasks.
For more information about creating dependencies, see
Creating dependencies.
About this task
Resolution of dependencies is based on the calculation
of the earliest possible start dates for the dependent tasks. When
dependencies being resolved belong to the same project, and the project
start date is a future date, the earliest possible start date is determined
by the project start date. However, when the project start date is
a past date, the earliest start date is determined by the current
date. When dependencies being resolved are between different projects,
the earliest possible start date is always determined by the current
date, irrespective of the project start date.
To resolve dependencies
for a project:
Procedure
- In the WBS tree, click the project to resolve dependencies
for.
- In the Schedule Gantt viewlet, click
the Resolve Dependency icon
.
- At the confirmation, click Yes. If the dependency resolution causes a task constraint
date to break, an error is displayed, and you must modify the constraint
date or remove the constraint to resolve the dependency.
Results
- When dependencies are resolved, the planned schedule dates for
the project tasks are changed to accommodate the dependency relationships.
If a resource assignment exists, the assignment schedule is also updated.
If the resolution of dependencies extends the resource assignment
dates at the project level, a warning is displayed.
- If there are any inactive assignments for the tasks, then resolving
dependencies does not consider the inactive assignment dates.
- When you resolve dependencies, all the existing dependency relationships
in the project are resolved.
- If you create dependencies between tasks belonging to different
projects, you must resolve the dependencies for both the projects.
What to do next
When a resource assignment exists for a task, resolution
of dependencies might cause resources to be overallocated. Review
the resource assignment dates, and modify them if required.