Activity dependencies allow activities within an Activity Plan (AP) to be scheduled in a connected relationship in which the parent activity date controls the date of its dependent activities.
The above graphic illustrates an Activity Plan that has been assigned to a matter (from a template).
- By default, all activities in the AP are dependent on the plan's Start Date. Activities are scheduled either Days Before or Days After the Start Date.
- Invoking a selection in the dependency droplist causes the underlying activity to become dependent on that selection, not the plan's Start Date.
In chronological order with a plan Start Date of 6/30/2005.
- Row 1: The task labeled 10 Days Before Deadline is scheduled for 5 days before the 5 Days Before Deadline task; this task is planned for June 20th.
- Row 2: The task labeled 5 Days Before Deadline is scheduled for 5 days before the Deadline task; this task is planned for June 25th.
- Row 3: The task labeled Deadline (3rd line) is scheduled for 0 days before or after the Start Date and is planned for June 30th.
Being dependent ties the underlying activity to the selected activity in the drop-down menu instead of the AP's Start Date. The rule of dependency ensures that changes to the deadline's date will automatically change this dependent task's date.
APs can count the days before and after the start date or dependency date by calendar or business days.