Linking tasks within your project

Introduction

Once the tasks are created, you need to determine the order in which they will be completed, i.e., link them creating the task dependencies. Projects allows you to link tasks in two different ways: on the task description page or using the Gantt Chart view.

This guide will show you how to determine the dependency relationships between tasks in a few mouse clicks.

Step 1. Access the Projects

Enter your portal and click the Projects link.

In case you have already logged in to the portal and been using it for some time, to access the Projects module from any portal page, use the drop-down list in the top left corner of the page and select the corresponding option.

Step 2. Select the task to link

Click the Tasks link at the left-side panel. A new page opens with the list of all the created tasks. To find a necessary one make use of our filter at the top of the list or enter a task name, entirely or partially, in the filter field and press the Enter key to display the necessary one.

When the task is found, click its title. The task overview page will open.

To create a new task please refer to these instructions.

Step 3. Link the task on its overview page

Switch to the Related tasks section and click the Create new link link. If this link is disabled, it means that there are no tasks to link with or you have not enough rights to do it.

Open the Choose task drop-down list. You will see all the opened tasks assigned to the same milestone as the selected one. Select a task you wish to link with and click the OK button to the right.

The End-Start link will be created. This type of link means that the task you link with cannot begin until the task you link is completed.

The linked task will be added to the Related tasks list. In the same way you can link as many tasks within the same milestone or outside milestones as you need.

If the start date of the task you link with is set before the due date of the task you link, the created link will be highlighted in red as invalid. To make it valid you need to correct the task dates manually.

To edit or delete the created link, click the icon to the right of the link title and select the corresponding option from the drop-down list.

Step 4. Link tasks using the Gantt сhart

On the task overview page, switch to the Gantt Chart tab.

In the Gantt chart, all the project tasks grouped by milestones are displayed at the left-side panel. Locate the task you need to link and click it. The Gantt chart will be automatically scrolled to its start date, i.e., the beginning of the bar representing this task.

Hover the mouse over the task bar and click the button of the task floating menu which appears above it. The Create new link window will pop up. Select the task you wish to link with from the corresponding drop-down list and click the Save button.

Alternatively, you can:

1. place the cursor at the end of the task bar you need to link,
2. left click the square mark which appears,
3. without releasing the mouse button drag to the beginning of the task bar you need to link with.

The created link will be represented by a blue dashed line. The red dashed line means that the created link is invalid. To make it valid, you need to correct the task dates.

To learn more about how to manage tasks using the Gantt chart view, refer to this page.