Once you have defined the Work Breakdown Structure and Task Requirements, it is time to link tasks together. Linking tasks gives you the opportunity to demonstrate the logic or dependency relationship of tasks.
Microsoft Project and the project management industry as a whole use different language for this activity:
· Linking tasks
· Setting dependencies
· Sequencing deliverables
· Network diagramming
· Setting predecessor and successor relationships, etc.
We use the term Task Logic. The idea, which comes from the Project Management Institute, is that in a project there are two types of logic. Hard logic refers to a task that must precede another task, and soft logic illustrates the situation in which you prefer to schedule a task before you schedule another. Often soft logic decisions are made around resource availability.
Task Logic is determined at the Detail task level and it is where plans begin to take shape. Microsoft Project allows you to link summary tasks but if you are interested in correct network diagramming, along with creating and maintaining a critical path for the project, summary linking is inappropriate.
In Microsoft Project, tasks can be linked to one another to demonstrate dependency in various ways; using either the mouse or a dialog box and the keyboard.
Dependency relationships or Task Logic identifies the tasks that must begin or end before other tasks can begin or end.
Once Task Logic is determined, Microsoft Project will calculate the Critical Path for the project.
The schedule of a project is determined by the duration estimates for detail tasks and then the links or dependencies between those tasks.
Note: Factors other than task duration and dependencies can influence schedule, such as resource calendars and timing constraints.
There is a workflow associated with Task Logic.
