constraining tasks by hour

[mikejw]

Hello,

Working with MS Project 2003 Standard, is there a way to constrain a task to
start at a particular hour of the day?

Thank you.

 

[Chris Marriott]

Mike

First of all go to Tools > Options and on the view tab change the date
format to include the time

Next set your contraint

Next highlight the start of finish date which should now show both date and
time ... click F2 to edit and you can change the time of the constraint

Hope this helps
--
Regards


Chris Marriott - PMP MCSE MCDBA
UK - EPM Consultant & Trainer

 

[mikejw]

Thanks Chris.

Mike

First of all go to Tools > Options and on the view tab change the date
format to include the time

Next set your contraint

Next highlight the start of finish date which should now show both date and
time ... click F2 to edit and you can change the time of the constraint

Hope this helps
--
Regards


Chris Marriott - PMP MCSE MCDBA
UK - EPM Consultant & Trainer

 

[Steve House [Project MVP]]

There's a slight problem with Chris' approach. Yes, definitely turn on a
date format that includes the time so you can see what is happening. But if
you enter anything at all in the Start field, as he suggests, that sets a
Start No Earlier Than constraint on the task - not don't start at an earlier
hour but also start at no earlier calendar date in the project. This may or
may not be what you're looking for. There are several ways you can set so
the task doesn't start before a certain hour of the day - how to go about it
depends in part on just why you need to constrain it. Is it because the
resource to do the task won't be there until a certain time or is there some
other factor forcing it to start at something other than as soon as it's
precessor allows it to start? If you can be more specific we might be able
to give better advice.

 

[mikejw]

Hi Steve,

I'm simply using Project almost as a drawing package for this exercise. We
already have a fully loaded master schedule network but are about to start
work that requires a 3 day rolling wave hourly schedule that will change
rapidly, so I plan on leaving the logic out of this schedule so that I can
change or rearrange the tasks quickly. At the end of the day, I will include
the latest end dates into the master schedule in order to see any problems
down the road. So I think putting a SNE date and time on eact task will
suffice. Do you agree?

Thanks for your help.

Mike

 

[Steve House [Project MVP]]

I don't know - whenever I see Project being used simply to draw pictures of
a pre-existing schedule I have to wonder why you've spent $1500 for a
product and then only use it to do what could be done just as well by
spending $10 for a wall calendar and box of Magic Markers. At the very
least I'd suggest using it as a reality check, using it to independently
generate a proper schedule in order to confirm whether your pre-existing
master schedule is truly workable, to identify where the potential
bottlenecks may lie in it, and where you might change it to be more
efficient. I think of Project's role as telling ME the best schedule I can
expect to HAVE, given what needs to be done and the assets I'm able to
deploy to achieve it, rather than me telling IT the schedule we're expecting
to work. When you doing the work, building a proper schedule where Project
is calculating the task dates rather than merely parotting the dates you've
input will let you dynamically monitor the downstream effects of actual work
as it's being done so you can keep your "troops" deployed most effectively.
--
Steve House [MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs