Task with two date constraints

[Pinocchio]

I have a task whose only constraint is to happen during the month of August.
In other words, it should not start earlier than 1-Aug, but also shouldn't
finish later than 31-Aug. What is the best way to model such a task in MS
Project? Can I set two flexible constraints on the same task?
Pinocchio

 

[Rod Gill]

Project only accepts one constraint on a task. Your only way to do this is
to create a calendar that only has working time in August and via the Task
Information dialog (advanced tab) set the August calendar to be the calendar
for that Task.

You could have a constraint on the task's start and a milestone that is
linked to it that has a constraint for the end of August.

 

[Pinocchio]

Thank you Rod!
I dediced to choose your second method. A task with a "start not earlier
than 1-Aug" constraint, linked to a milestone with a "must finish on 31-Aug"
constraint. No need to create a calendar like that. Or did I understand
something wrong?
Thanks for your help, Pinocchio

 

[Pinocchio]

Rod,
I wanted to check how MS Project behaves with your first method: "to create
a calendar having working time only in August of a given year and assign
this calendar to my resource".
Unfortunatelly, it seems impossible to achieve that. Indeed, MS Project (I
am using 2002) refuses to set all dates as non-working time (prior to define
the working time of my single month). Did I miss something?
Thanks, Pinocchio

 

[Rod Gill]

Hi,

In any calendar, there must be at least one day working.:

1) Set all Mondays to non-working
2) Set all Mondays in August to Working
3) Set all Tues-Fri as non-working
4) Set all Tues-Fri in August to working

 

[Pinocchio]

Hi Rod,
Well, I had tried this before. But it doesn't work on my version (MS Project
2002). When I reach point 3, I get the same error message as before.
Would be curious to know if this works in MS Project 2003.
Thanks, Pinocchio

 

[JulieS]

Hi Pinocchio,

Pardon me for jumping in. I believe you are correct. I have tested in
both MSP 2002 and 2003. I was able to set Mon-Thurs. as non-working
days using the column heading and then edit the August calendar to set
Mon-Thurs during that month as working time. When I tried to set
Fridays (using the column heading) same error. The only option I can
suggest is to manually edit the Fridays in the other months as
non-working.

I hope this helps.

Julie

 

[Pinocchio]

Hi Julie,
Thank you for jumping in! It helped, as I was not sure the problem was my
already quite old version of MS Project.
Let us hope M$ will read this forum and correct that in 2007.
Regards, Pinocchio

 

[JulieS]

Hi Pinocchio,

You're most welcome and thanks for the feedback.

Julie