How can I input a deadline with an option of 5 days delay is ok?

[Yon Han CHONG]

I would like to set up a task with
Start date 01/01/2005
Finish date 01/01/2006

Deadline 01/01/2006
No later than 05/01/2006

I cannot seem to input this into project.

 

[JackD]

You can not have two dates for a deadline.
A deadline is defined as the last date. It is a no-later than sort of date.
So to do this you enter the deadline as 05/01/2006.

 

[Steve House [Project MVP]]

First of all, you shouldn't try to set start and finish dates for tasks at
all - these are normally calculated values. In fact the whole reason
scheduling software such as Project exists is to calculate those dates for
you. The start date is calculated as the earliest possible start based on
project kick-off date and the durations, links, etc of all the tasks leading
up to the task in question. The finish date is the calculated from start
date plus the estimated duration it will take to complete the work. To show
that it needs to be completed by a certain date, set the deadline entry on
the task's advanced tab to that date.

I notice your example is a task that lasts an entire year. A task is a
discrete block of work done by a single set of skills that results in a
single deliverable and very, very rarely would such a thing last a full
year. In fact, the general rule of thumb is called the "8/80 Rule" which
says if the task is less than 8 hours in duration you're micro-managing to
excess but if it is more than 80 hours you haven't broken things down far
enough to actually be able to manage it at all.