Project Milestones

Last Modified On: May 1, 2025

A project milestone is a specific point in time during a project that marks an important event or achievement. Think of it like a checkpoint or marker that shows you’ve reached a key stage in the project’s progress.

For example, in a construction project, milestones might include:

• Getting the building permit approved
• Finishing the foundation
• Completing the roof

Each milestone helps the team and stakeholders know how far along the project is and whether it’s on track. Milestones don’t represent all the little tasks — just the major moments that indicate meaningful progress.

How to Create a Milestone

To create a milestone within a project, add a new project task and set its duration to 0 days. This indicates that the task represents a single point in time rather than a period of work.

Key Things to Keep in Mind

• Milestones contribute 1% to the overall % Complete of a Parent Task. For example, if a Parent Task has five child tasks and one of them is a milestone, completing the four non-milestone tasks will bring the Parent Task to 99% complete. The remaining 1% is tied to the milestone. Even if there are multiple milestones under the same Parent Task, they still contribute a combined total of only 1%.
   
• Milestones are excluded from the Project’s % Complete calculation, as only tasks with a duration are considered.
   

• Milestone tasks don’t move when non-working days are added to the project calendar. But if a milestone is linked to another task (a predecessor), it will shift based on that task’s updated schedule. To prevent a milestone from moving when its predecessor changes, add a ‘Must Start On’ or ‘Must Finish On’ constraint to the milestone task.