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date: Wed, 8 Oct 2008 07:43:05 -0700,
group: microsoft.public.project
back
Re: Finsh No Later Than Constraints
The problem is that when you use a FNLT instead of the deadline, the Gantt
will always be promising you're finishing on time. Let's say your required
finish date is the 29th of May and you're predecessors are running two weeks
late. Looking just at the milestone, with the FNLT constraint it will still
show sitting on the 29th, promising you're finishing on time even though
it's physically impossible for the real world to happen that way. With the
deadline, you'll see both the required date and the date you're actually
likely to hit unless you do something to fix it. As I like to put it to my
classes, constraints model physical realities while deadlines model
objectives.
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm for the FAQs
"JaneH" wrote in message
news:DA33340C-DC2C-440D-8D64-02B899C78481@microsoft.com...
> Hi Jim,
>
> I have used the deadlines before and I know that I should but being the
> unobservant little madam that I am the big box appearing in the middle of
> the
> screen spurs me on to do something to solve the date going beyond my
> required
> date whereas the red diamond can be ignored!!!
>
> "Jim Aksel" wrote:
>
>> Jane - glad to see Dom could help you.
>>
>> One more thing to consider instead of using a "FNLT" ... we use Deadlines
>> and key a deadline date (From the advanced tab) into the final milestone
>> leaving it "ASAP" as task type. You will see a green dog house on the
>> Gannt
>> for the deadline. If the deadline is exceeded the indicators column
>> shows a
>> red diamond as you see now. The deadline date will also drive the
>> negative
>> total slack and you can keep everyone "ASAP" in accordance with good
>> scheduling practices.
>>
>> With a deadline date you have a visual indicator on the Gannt which is
>> what
>> we like.
>> --
>> If this post was helpful, please consider rating it.
>>
>> Jim Aksel, MVP
>>
>> Check out my blog for more information:
>> http://www.msprojectblog.com
>>
>>
>>
>> "JaneH" wrote:
>>
>> > Dom, you are a star. Thanks for that, I had negative slack as I am
>> > using as
>> > resource that works longer hours than those defined in the standard
>> > calendar.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > "Dom - the MS Project Guy" wrote:
>> >
>> > > Jane,
>> > >
>> > > Take a look at the Schedule Table - View:Tables:Schedule and then
>> > > look at
>> > > the last 2 columns Free Slack and Total Slack - the planning wizard
>> > > message
>> > > you are getting is triggered by there being "Negative Total Slack" in
>> > > your
>> > > case this is the amount of time by which you are overshooting your
>> > > FNLT
>> > > date. Working up from the final milestone trace back the dependencies
>> > > and
>> > > see if you can "tweak" your schedule to eliminate the negative total
>> > > slack.
>> > >
>> > > Remember that for the critical tasks in your schedule you cannot
>> > > improve on
>> > > 0 days Total Slack - they will have either a negative value or 0
>> > > value.
>> > >
>> > > I hope this helps.
>> > >
>> > > --
>> > > Dominic Moss
>> > >
>> > > Projectability - Helping People achieve more with Microsoft Project
>> > >
>> > > www.projectability.co.uk
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > "JaneH" wrote in message
>> > > news:B89FB7EB-F952-4D7D-AB16-51D9D1D9A50C@microsoft.com...
>> > > >I have to finish a project on a certain date but I schedule the
>> > > >project
>> > > >from
>> > > > a start date as I want all tasks to start As Soon As Possible. I
>> > > > use a
>> > > > Finsh
>> > > > No Later Than constraint on a milestone task at the end of the
>> > > > project to
>> > > > forewarn me (when I update my project plan with actual information)
>> > > > if the
>> > > > project is likely to finish late. I can then add resources to
>> > > > tasks to
>> > > > bring
>> > > > the project back on track. Up until now this has worked very well
>> > > > for me.
>> > > > On my current project however, I need to finish the project by 29th
>> > > > May
>> > > > 2009
>> > > > and so have have set my FNLT constraint for that date, and one of
>> > > > my tasks
>> > > > has delayed the project so that it is scheduled to finish on 27th
>> > > > May
>> > > > 2009.
>> > > > I am still getting the planning wizard box up telling me that there
>> > > > is a
>> > > > scheduling conflict. This is the only constraint I have set. Any
>> > > > ideas
>> > > > what
>> > > > I may have done and where that may be causing this
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
date: Fri, 10 Oct 2008 08:18:01 -0400
author: Steve House [MVP] sjhouse at hotmail dot com
Re: Finsh No Later Than Constraints
Actually it can be ignored - in fact, there's a "Don't Show Me This Again"
checkbox in the lower left corner of that error message that suppresses it
permanently. I don't want my schedules to show me the requirements - I
already KNOW what they are. I want Project to predict whether or not I'm
going to be successful in meeting those requirements if I commit to a
certain workflow. To do that, it has to be able to freely show me what's
going to happen, for better or worse, when we go forward with the present
plan. To my thinking, constraints should be used to model physical
realities effecting the schedule that are NOT part of the collection of
variables such as links, durations, resources, etc that Project's
calculations take into account - parts on back order until 01 Nov mean that
a task using those parts needs to have a Start No Earlier Than constraint of
01 Nov on it in order to prevent Project from scheduling it to start before
the required parts arrive. That's a legitimate use, but forcing the
schedule to show objectives such as deadlines as if they are a certainty is
not. Tasks and milestones should appear in the timeline where they're going
to fall in the real world if one attempts to work the current plan.
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm for the FAQs
"Projectability" wrote in message
news:ek5iJ%23rKJHA.728@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> FWIW - I prefer the FNLT for the reason Jane offers. As long as there is a
> continuous sequence through the schedule and a FNLT on the last Milestone
> and things are within tolerance all is sweetness and light. As soon as a
> delay causes the FNLT to be in jeopardy the planning wizard displays the
> warning dialogue box that cannot be ignored. With deadlines the red
> warning diamond may not always be visible due to differing tables being
> used or columns being scrolled rightwards so the indicator column is not
> visible.
>
> --
> Dominic Moss
>
> Projectability - Helping People achieve more with Microsoft Project
>
> www.projectability.co.uk
>
>
> "JaneH" wrote in message
> news:DA33340C-DC2C-440D-8D64-02B899C78481@microsoft.com...
>> Hi Jim,
>>
>> I have used the deadlines before and I know that I should but being the
>> unobservant little madam that I am the big box appearing in the middle of
>> the
>> screen spurs me on to do something to solve the date going beyond my
>> required
>> date whereas the red diamond can be ignored!!!
>>
>> "Jim Aksel" wrote:
>>
>>> Jane - glad to see Dom could help you.
>>>
>>> One more thing to consider instead of using a "FNLT" ... we use
>>> Deadlines
>>> and key a deadline date (From the advanced tab) into the final milestone
>>> leaving it "ASAP" as task type. You will see a green dog house on the
>>> Gannt
>>> for the deadline. If the deadline is exceeded the indicators column
>>> shows a
>>> red diamond as you see now. The deadline date will also drive the
>>> negative
>>> total slack and you can keep everyone "ASAP" in accordance with good
>>> scheduling practices.
>>>
>>> With a deadline date you have a visual indicator on the Gannt which is
>>> what
>>> we like.
>>> --
>>> If this post was helpful, please consider rating it.
>>>
>>> Jim Aksel, MVP
>>>
>>> Check out my blog for more information:
>>> http://www.msprojectblog.com
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> "JaneH" wrote:
>>>
>>> > Dom, you are a star. Thanks for that, I had negative slack as I am
>>> > using as
>>> > resource that works longer hours than those defined in the standard
>>> > calendar.
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > "Dom - the MS Project Guy" wrote:
>>> >
>>> > > Jane,
>>> > >
>>> > > Take a look at the Schedule Table - View:Tables:Schedule and then
>>> > > look at
>>> > > the last 2 columns Free Slack and Total Slack - the planning wizard
>>> > > message
>>> > > you are getting is triggered by there being "Negative Total Slack"
>>> > > in your
>>> > > case this is the amount of time by which you are overshooting your
>>> > > FNLT
>>> > > date. Working up from the final milestone trace back the
>>> > > dependencies and
>>> > > see if you can "tweak" your schedule to eliminate the negative total
>>> > > slack.
>>> > >
>>> > > Remember that for the critical tasks in your schedule you cannot
>>> > > improve on
>>> > > 0 days Total Slack - they will have either a negative value or 0
>>> > > value.
>>> > >
>>> > > I hope this helps.
>>> > >
>>> > > --
>>> > > Dominic Moss
>>> > >
>>> > > Projectability - Helping People achieve more with Microsoft Project
>>> > >
>>> > > www.projectability.co.uk
>>> > >
>>> > >
>>> > > "JaneH" wrote in message
>>> > > news:B89FB7EB-F952-4D7D-AB16-51D9D1D9A50C@microsoft.com...
>>> > > >I have to finish a project on a certain date but I schedule the
>>> > > >project
>>> > > >from
>>> > > > a start date as I want all tasks to start As Soon As Possible. I
>>> > > > use a
>>> > > > Finsh
>>> > > > No Later Than constraint on a milestone task at the end of the
>>> > > > project to
>>> > > > forewarn me (when I update my project plan with actual
>>> > > > information) if the
>>> > > > project is likely to finish late. I can then add resources to
>>> > > > tasks to
>>> > > > bring
>>> > > > the project back on track. Up until now this has worked very well
>>> > > > for me.
>>> > > > On my current project however, I need to finish the project by
>>> > > > 29th May
>>> > > > 2009
>>> > > > and so have have set my FNLT constraint for that date, and one of
>>> > > > my tasks
>>> > > > has delayed the project so that it is scheduled to finish on 27th
>>> > > > May
>>> > > > 2009.
>>> > > > I am still getting the planning wizard box up telling me that
>>> > > > there is a
>>> > > > scheduling conflict. This is the only constraint I have set. Any
>>> > > > ideas
>>> > > > what
>>> > > > I may have done and where that may be causing this
>>> > >
>>> > >
>>> > >
>
>
date: Fri, 10 Oct 2008 08:39:02 -0400
author: Steve House [MVP] sjhouse at hotmail dot com
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