Dependencies

Dependencies let you define relationships between work items to track what must happen before or after each task.

Dependency Types

Cornerstone supports four dependency types:

Type	Meaning
Finish-to-Start (FS)	Task B cannot start until Task A finishes
Start-to-Start (SS)	Task B cannot start until Task A starts
Finish-to-Finish (FF)	Task B cannot finish until Task A finishes
Start-to-Finish (SF)	Task B cannot finish until Task A starts

Finish-to-Start is the most common type -- for example, "Framing must finish before drywall can start."

Adding Dependencies

On the work item detail page, use the dependency section to link work items. The sentence builder interface lets you construct natural-language dependency statements:

"[This work item] cannot start until [Other work item] finishes"

Select the related work item and the dependency type to create the link.

Circular Dependency Detection

Cornerstone automatically prevents circular dependencies. If adding a dependency would create a cycle (A depends on B, B depends on C, C depends on A), the system will reject it with an error message.

The detection uses a depth-first search algorithm to ensure no circular chains exist, regardless of how many work items are involved.

Viewing Dependencies

Dependencies are shown on the work item detail page in two sections:

• Predecessors -- work items that this task depends on
• Successors -- work items that depend on this task