Say you run a fencing company and you use QuickBase to track your projects and tasks. You can't string your client's fence until Bertha's dug the post holes and Mac has installed the posts. In QuickBase, how do you keep all these tasks in their proper order?
You do so by linking a task to predecessor tasks. Tasks in a project usually occur in a specific order and, as in the fencing example, one task cannot start until another task finishes. This means that one task depends on another one. A predecessor task is a task that must finish before another task can begin. When you specify a predecessor for a task, you set up a dependency between two tasks (which is why predecessors are sometimes also called dependencies). A successor task is a task that cannot start until another task finishes.
When you link a task to a predecessor, you link their dates together. The projected Finish Date of a predecessor task automatically becomes the Start Date of a successor task. If you make changes to a predecessor's Start Date or Duration, QuickBase automatically updates the Calculated Finish Date. That finish day automatically carries over into the Start Date field of the successor task. For instance, if it rains on Tuesday, Bertha can't dig post holes until Wednesday. When she pushes that task's start date back one day, QuickBase automatically changes the start date of Mac's successor task (installing fence posts) to reflect the one day delay.
When you display a task that has a predecessor,
the predecessor's ID appears as a hyperlink.
Click it to open the preceding task. Normally,
preceding tasks automatically control a successor's
Start date. If someone edits the value manually,
QuickBase alerts you by displaying a blue dot (
)
in the Start field.
QuickBase project management templates come with predecessors built-in. To see this feature in action, create an application from one of our pre-built project management applications: Basic Project Manager or Project Manager Plus. You can also add predecessors to any project management application.
FAQ - I can't edit the Calculated Finish
Date. How can I adjust a predecessor's finish to change a successor's
start?
The Calculated Finish Date is exactly what it says it is: calculated
automatically by QuickBase. You cannot edit this date. To change the Calculated
Finish Date, change either the Start Date or the Duration of a task. When
you do so, the Calculated Finish Date automatically changes. When it does,
that new date will carry over into to any successor tasks, changing their
Start Dates.
Tip: When calculating the length of time a task will take, QuickBase automatically skips weekends. An application manager can change the work week to include weekends.