Milestones

Milestones in the Project Details View

Please note that you may also view and edit milestones in the project details:

For details about this, see the Milestones section of the Viewing and Editing Projects article.

Adding, Editing, Deleting and Moving Milestones

To add a milestone to a project, proceed as follows:

Step 1: Right-click on the desired date on the project bar and select Add Milestone:

Step 2: Enter a Milestone Name. If you want to name the milestone the same as the project phase selected in the next step, skip this step and select a project phase in the next step.

Step 3 (Optional): Select a Project Phase. The selected project phase begins with the previous milestone or project start and ends with this milestone.

To edit a milestone, right-click the milestone and select Edit Milestone:

To move a milestone, hold down the left mouse button on the milestone and move it to the desired position. Or, right-click the milestone, select Edit Milestone, and change the milestone date.

To delete a milestone, select the option Delete Milestone.

Splitting or Stopping a Project at a Milestone

Select Split at Milestone from a milestone context menu to split the project at the date of that milestone. The milestone will go to the end of the project segment before the split.

Select Stop at Milestone... from a milestone context menu to stop the project at the date of that milestone. Any other milestones, financial events and allocations after the milestone will be dropped.

Displaying Milestone Hints

Hover over a milestone to display a hint showing its name, date and project phase:

Displaying Milestone Names

Click on the More icon that appears when you hover the mouse over a project name, or right-click a project bar and select the Show All Milestone Names context menu option to display milestone names for the selected project.

All milestone names for the selected project will be displayed:

Remove the selection or select the Hide All Milestone Names context menu option for the active project to hide milestone names again.

Project Phases

Defining Project Phases

Project phase names and colors are defined under Manage > General Settings.

See the Project Phases section of the General article for details about this.

Editing these settings requires the Manage Project Fields, General Settings and Project Settings right.

Displaying Project Phase Colors

To display project phase colors in the Gantt chart, open Settings for the Portfolio Designer view via the toolbar and select the Project Phases color scheme under Projects.

Dependencies

Creating and Deleting Milestone Dependencies

Dependencies between projects are defined via dependencies between milestones of different projects in Meisterplan.

Such a dependency is considered satisfied when the milestone at the start of the displayed arrow lies before the milestone at the arrow tip on the timeline.

Dependencies between milestones of the same project cannot be defined in Meisterplan.

Proceed as follows to create a dependency between two milestones.

• Hover over a milestone. A little right arrow is displayed next to the milestone.
  
• Hover over the right arrow until the mouse pointer is displayed as a hand icon.
• Click the right arrow, press the mouse button and hold it. An arrow representing the new dependency will show up. All milestones available as targets for the new dependency will be highlighted.

• Holding the mouse button, drag the arrow to the milestone that is the desired target for the dependency.
• Release the mouse button to create the dependency. It will be displayed when you hover or select either of the two projects it connects.

• To delete a dependency, right-click the dependency line to open the associated context menu and select Delete Dependency.

Displaying Milestones and Dependencies in a Project

Hover over a project or select it to display all of its milestones and their dependencies.

The arrow indicating the dependency will turn red if the dependency cannot be fulfilled. Some examples for this are:

• If a dependent milestone precedes the first milestone on the timeline. For example, a software development project that is building a component for another project gets delayed. The project that needs the component cannot begin until the initial development project has delivered the relevant component.
• If the first milestone in the dependency is below the Cut-Off Line. For example, your team does not have capacity to take on a corporate design project. This project is a requirement for a website refresh project and therefore, your team cannot progress with either project.

Any milestone with unfulfilled dependencies will always be displayed in red even when the project isn't selected or hovered over as long as the milestone is part of a project above the Cut-Off Line.

If a dependent milestone is below the Cut-Off Line, the arrow will never be displayed in red because its project is not part of the current plan.

Displaying Only Dependent Projects

Right click a project and select the Show Only Dependent Projects context menu option to hide all projects except for those that either depend on the selected project or that the selected project depends on.

All projects that are not connected to the selected project via inbound or outbound dependencies will be hidden:

Remove the selection or select the Show All Projects context menu option for the active project to show all projects again.

Displaying Milestones and Dependencies in a Program

Milestones belonging to projects in a program above the cut-off line will also be displayed in red when they have unfulfilled dependencies, even when the program is collapsed and not hovered over or selected.

Hover over a collapsed program or select it to display all of its milestones with dependencies pointing to or from projects outside the program.

Expand a program and select it to display all of its milestones and dependencies.