Applying constraints

You can apply constraints to tasks to impose a fixed start or finish date for the task. Use the constraint types 'As soon as possible' and 'Finish no later than'.
To perform this task, you must have the required security permission. For more information about security permissions, see User security settings.
You specify constraints when you plan the schedule (dates and duration) of the project tasks. 'As soon as possible' is the default constraint. If you want to specify this constraint for a task, you do not have to make any changes. This constraint implies that the task will start as close as possible to the specified start date so long as the dependencies on the tasks are resolved on schedule.

To apply the 'Finish no later than' constraint:

  1. Open the WBS Grid viewlet. From the WBS tree, expand the project, and click the task to specify a constraint for.
  2. To change the default constraint, select Finish no later than.
  3. Enter the Constraint date. This is the date by which the task must finish.
  4. In the WBS Grid, click Save.
The dependencies of the task are checked to ascertain if the constraint affects the schedule of the dependent tasks. For example, Task A and Task B have a Finish to Start dependency, so Task B is scheduled to start only after Task A is complete. You apply a Finish no later than constraint on Task B with a constraint date that falls beyond the planned start date of Task B. In this scenario, the constraint is said to affect the schedule of the dependent task. You are then prompted to keep the constraint and remove the dependency, or to keep the dependency and remove the constraint.

If the constraint does not affect any other task schedules, the constraint is saved.

Related concepts
Constraints
Dependencies
Related reference
Schedule calculation

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