[ThomasNorden]

Hi!
I am completely new to "formal project planning" but I am painfully aware of the importance. I have tried to search the forum for an answer but I couldn't find one. If this question has already been answered then I do apologize and ask the admin to delete my post.

I have started to list my company's standard marketing processes/projects and I'd like to know the best practice way of visualizing when I am waiting for someone else's input, for example a product manager to review my copy.

Do you simply add a task called "waiting" or is there some way that I can build that into a milestone?

Again, I do apologize if this noobie questions already has been answered.

/Thomas

ps. Is there a way to consolidate projects in Omniplan 2?

[skwirl]

Originally Posted by ThomasNorden

Hi!
I am completely new to "formal project planning" but I am painfully aware of the importance. I have tried to search the forum for an answer but I couldn't find one. If this question has already been answered then I do apologize and ask the admin to delete my post.

I have started to list my company's standard marketing processes/projects and I'd like to know the best practice way of visualizing when I am waiting for someone else's input, for example a product manager to review my copy.

Do you simply add a task called "waiting" or is there some way that I can build that into a milestone?

Again, I do apologize if this noobie questions already has been answered.

/Thomas

ps. Is there a way to consolidate projects in Omniplan 2?

You can try setting something up like the attached screenshot. The middle task is actually a hammock task, a new feature we added in OmniPlan 2.0. The way it works is that you have a finish-to-start dependency connection from the first task to the hammock task. You also have a start-to-finish task from the last task to the hammock task.

If the last task is pushed out into the future, the hammock task will automatically extend its duration to fill the gap, giving you an accurate number on how long the wait will be. Likewise, if the first task is delayed our completed ahead of schedule, it will also reduce or add to the duration of the hammock task.

As for consolidating projects, you can copy/paste tasks from one project file into another. If the resources are named exactly the same in all of your files, OmniPlan is smart enough to know that which tasks are assigned to the same resource.

[teorema67]

The problem is the finish-to-start dependency when the future hammock task is placed in temporal order:

[teorema67]

I could solve this by placing the future hammock task at the end. Now the finish-to-start connections shows like this:

[teorema67]

... I can change the "waiting" process to hammock:

[teorema67]

... and set it in the right temporal order: