During the project planning process, intermediate target dates can be set within the overall scope of the project. These are known as key dates or ‘Milestones’. Milestones indicate significant moments in a project’s life; for example, they may indicate the start or end of a project phase or the overall project itself. Milestones should be few in numbers so as not to dilute their message. They should also be spread evenly throughout the project’s lifecycle.
It is also important from a planning perspective to decide upon how many milestones a project should require to provide adequate strategic information - not too many and not too few.
Within Microsoft Project 2003/200, a default 1-day duration task can quickly be turned into a milestone by entering a duration of 0 days, displayed (by default with a date appended) as:
If you are using Microsoft Project 2003/2007, to create a Milestone:
1. Click on the task’s description box to add a milestone to the current project at the base of an existing task list:
2. Enter the task’s name (as displayed on the entry bar):
3.
4. Confirm with ENTER or
5. This will create an initial 1-day task bar (the default task duration) thus:
6. Now enter over the initial default 1 day duration value with a duration of 0 days to create a Milestone within the project plan:
As a general tip, decide milestone positions and naming with key project stakeholders.
If you are using Microsoft Project 2010, an alternative approach to creating a Milestone is as follows:
1. Click on the insertion point for the milestone:
2. On the Task tab, in the Insert group, click Milestone.
3. Creating a new milestone at the insertion point:
4. Overtype the name for the new milestone as Project signoff and authorisation.
As a general tip, decide milestone positions and naming with key project stakeholders.
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