Milestones are tracking events (they track along with their related activities). They are represented by triangles, and they have no duration in time. A start milestone aligns to the start-of-day (or, if PolyTime is enabled, the start of whichever time unit has been selected for the schedule) and can only be constrained No Later Than (NLT). A start milestone will snap to the start of its earliest successor or the NLT constraint date—whichever is earliest.
A finish milestone aligns to the end-of-day (or, if PolyTime is enabled, the end of whichever time unit has been selected for the schedule) and can only be constrained No Earlier Than (NET). A finish milestone will snap to the finish of its latest predecessors or NET constraint date—whichever is latest. If an object that will not track with its related activities is desired, use a benchmark, which remains fixed to a set date.
If a start milestone has no successors, it does not snap to any date. Likewise, if a finish milestone has no predecessors, it does not snap to any date.
To add a milestone, click the Start Milestone icon to place a start-of-the-day milestone, or click the Finish Milestone icon to place an end-of-the-day milestone. Once the cursor moves over the canvas, it changes from the Select Tool to a set of crosshairs.
To place the milestone, release the mouse button at the desired date, indicated by the text above the crosshairs.
Once a milestone has been placed on the canvas, the Milestone Object window opens automatically. This window is divided into a set of three core sections (Properties and Dates, Displays, and Formatting) and an auxiliary tab (Info Objects).
Properties and Dates
The Properties and Dates section is where basic settings as well as all date related fields, including calendars and constraints, are changed.
Description
If desired, enter a name for the milestone in the Description field to display above the object on the canvas. Revisit the Properties tab at any time to edit the description.
Short descriptions are best to avoid data clashing. If a short name is insufficient, stack the text lines by pressing the Enter key to add a new line. This avoids text extending beyond the width of the milestone object.
For milestones, annotations allow more flexibility than descriptions. It’s important to still enter the description, however, for it is used in dialogs, tables, and exporting. After entering a description, copy and paste it as an annotation and turn off the display of the description. For more information, see Annotating Milestones.
ID
The ID field allows for an additional unique identifier. By default, the ID is not displayed, but it will display before the description, surrounded by brackets, if it is turned on in the Displays tab.
Calendars
To change a milestone’s calendar, click the down arrow button and choose from the list.
Date/Time
Adjust the milestone’s date if desired. If PolyTime is enabled and the schedule time unit has been set to less than days, the time can also be chosen. Otherwise, it’ll be disabled.
Constraints
To apply an NET or NLT constraint, check the box and choose a date. For more details, see Constraining Milestones.
Progress
To actualize a milestone’s status, click the Actualize button. Once actualized, the object becomes outlined in blue and the dates will be unable to be modified.
Displays
The Displays section contains aesthetic properties that have strictly on/off functionality; control is achieved via checkbox selections.
Fields
By default, only the description and date are displayed. To display a field on the canvas, check the box next to the label. To turn it off, uncheck the corresponding box.
Drift, float, buffer, and total float are displayed in that order. They may be distinguished from one another by the shape of their bounding boxes: drift points to the left, or project start; float and buffer point to the right, or project completion; and total float points in both directions. Either buffer or total float may be displayed at the same time, but not both.
To customize the position of the different fields, see the Minimizing Clashing.
Formatting
The Formatting tab contains aesthetic properties that are not strictly on/off controls, like colors.
Color
To change a color, click the down arrow button anywhere the Color field shows up and choose from the list. Any colors already used in the schedule will appear. To choose from a palette or define a custom color, select More.
After clicking More, the Custom Color Palette window will open.
To create a custom color, click in the rainbow color area; the selected color displays below in the Color/Solid box.
To select a darker or lighter tone, move the arrow up and down along the vertical slider bar to the right.
Click the Add to Custom Colors button and the new color displays in the Custom Colors area and is ready to be selected just the same as the basic colors above.
Click OK to apply the color and exit the function.
Once chosen for the first time, any basic or custom color will be displayed in the dropdown list for future selections.
Size
To make a milestone appear larger or smaller on the canvas, click the down arrow button and choose a size from the list.
Data Orientation
To change the position of a milestone’s description, ID, date, drift, buffer, and float, click the down arrow button and choose a location. This will move all data together as one group.
Tail Length
A tail, or vertical line, emanating from the bottom of the milestone, may be displayed at any time. The number entered represents the fraction of the distance from the bottom of the milestone to the bottom of the canvas. A maximum value of 1 will reach the bottom of the canvas. To remove a tail, set it equal to zero.
Info Objects
Info objects are external files or attachments. The Info Objects tab is for creating, modifying, deleting, and viewing info objects associated with a given milestone.
To add an info object, click the New… button.
The Info Object Properties window opens.
Enter a description and click Browse… to locate the desired file. To view the file, click View…. The file will open outside of NetPoint.
When finished, click OK to close and save.
A milestone with one or more info objects will have an Info Object icon placed over the object to indicate a file has been attached.
Finalizing Milestones
Once the desired selections are made, click the OK button to place the milestone and close the window (if OK is pressed prior to making any changes, the fields will simply be left as default). The window can be reopened (and the properties can be modified) at any time by double-clicking on the milestone object on the canvas or by right-clicking and selecting .
Converting Milestones Types
Milestones may be converted from start to finish and vice versa.
To change a finish milestone to a start milestone, right-click on the desired milestone and select .
Any existing constraints will be removed before converting. The same may be done to convert a start milestone to a finish milestone.
Once converted, the date is adjusted to maintain the current position of the object. For example, when a start milestone at 3/30/2010 is converted to a finish milestone, the date is adjusted to 3/29/2010, as the start of 3/30 and the end of 3/29 are at the same position on the schedule.