Gantt (how to auto complete all predecessors)

BrianDN

Hello,

Regarding Gantt View...

Is there a way to mark all predecessors complete when an item is marked complete??

Let's say the following dependencies are in place and the manager is the only one to mark off "Case 10". When she does, is there a way for Case 1 - 9 to also be auto marked as "Complete"?

Genevieve P.

Hi @BrianDN

There currently isn't a direct way to do this automatically. I can think of one way to get the immediate predecessor to be marked off as complete, but not for it to waterfall backwards through all your tasks.

For the immediate predecessor, you could use a formula in a helper column to return the Successor for that predecessor row (as long as your predecessors are straight forward, as yours are now):

=IFERROR(JOIN(SUCCESSORS([Task Name]@row), " / "), "")

Then once you know the row number of the predecessor, you can use another formula to check a box in that predecessor row IF the successor says "Complete":

=IF(Successor@row = "", 0, IF(IFERROR(INDEX(Status:Status, VALUE(Successor@row), 0), "") = "Complete", 1))

Then you can use a Change Cell Workflow to update the Status in the Status column to "Complete" if the box for that row is Checked:

However to prevent infinite loops, I believe that this will only mark the immediate Predecessor as Complete as well (which will then check the box for that row's Predecessor, but the checking of that box will not instigate a second round of the workflow). Does that make sense?

At the very least, you could set up these columns and formulas and then instead of using a change cell workflow, you could use Conditional Formatting to quickly highlight a row that has a successor complete without it being complete:

I hope that helps!

Cheers,

Genevieve

Stefan

Hi @BrianDN,

as a different approach to @Genevieve P. suggestion:

Make the task "Open switch case" the task to be signed by the manager after his team finished the children tasks. Put a formula with fixed reference in the children "status" cells like this: =IF(PARENT(Status@row) = "complete", "complete", "")

I've seen Cutover managers use this for cutover "block" tasks. Blocks are multiple tasks to be done within a defined timeframe but instead of being assigned individually to persons, a team leader is responsible to set all tasks to complete, when done. Thus he/she is responsible for administration while his/her team concentrates on work to be done.

Hope this helps

Stefan

Genevieve P.

Hi @BrianDN

There currently isn't a direct way to do this automatically. I can think of one way to get the immediate predecessor to be marked off as complete, but not for it to waterfall backwards through all your tasks.

For the immediate predecessor, you could use a formula in a helper column to return the Successor for that predecessor row (as long as your predecessors are straight forward, as yours are now):

=IFERROR(JOIN(SUCCESSORS([Task Name]@row), " / "), "")

Then once you know the row number of the predecessor, you can use another formula to check a box in that predecessor row IF the successor says "Complete":

=IF(Successor@row = "", 0, IF(IFERROR(INDEX(Status:Status, VALUE(Successor@row), 0), "") = "Complete", 1))

Then you can use a Change Cell Workflow to update the Status in the Status column to "Complete" if the box for that row is Checked:

However to prevent infinite loops, I believe that this will only mark the immediate Predecessor as Complete as well (which will then check the box for that row's Predecessor, but the checking of that box will not instigate a second round of the workflow). Does that make sense?

At the very least, you could set up these columns and formulas and then instead of using a change cell workflow, you could use Conditional Formatting to quickly highlight a row that has a successor complete without it being complete:

I hope that helps!

Cheers,

Genevieve

Stefan

Hi @BrianDN,

as a different approach to @Genevieve P. suggestion:

Make the task "Open switch case" the task to be signed by the manager after his team finished the children tasks. Put a formula with fixed reference in the children "status" cells like this: =IF(PARENT(Status@row) = "complete", "complete", "")

I've seen Cutover managers use this for cutover "block" tasks. Blocks are multiple tasks to be done within a defined timeframe but instead of being assigned individually to persons, a team leader is responsible to set all tasks to complete, when done. Thus he/she is responsible for administration while his/her team concentrates on work to be done.

Hope this helps

Stefan