Enterprise Scheduling provides a number of scheduling enhancements to provide complete control over your scheduling.
- We have the ability to link tasks to other tasks - creating a set of dependencies that flow into different parts of the schedule, either working in conjunction or in isolation.
- Next is the ability to see the project's critical path i.e. allows you to see which tasks will affect the completion date of the schedule - before you move them!
Another key feature is the ability to apply constraints (date rules) to tasks to provide you with more control over your schedule and timelines i.e. lock in delivery dates, council inspections, and other important dates that must be hit.
Constraints - As Soon As Possible
In RAVE’s enterprise scheduling, all tasks are set to start 'As Soon As Possible'. This means as you move task ‘A’ around, the linked task ‘B’ (and any other linked tasks following task ‘A’) will be scheduled 'as soon as' they can, given the lag set between task ‘A’ and ‘B’ etc. And this is generally how you would want your schedule to flow, but there are some scenarios where set-in dates need to apply.
For example, a post-line council inspection on Tuesday means that the gib fixing must be completed by the end of Monday. So regardless of what else is happening in the schedule, the gib fixing can finish earlier, but the latest finish date needs to be locked in place to meet the council inspection deadline. This is where and how linked tasks with our range of seven constraints can help you.
RAVE's 7 Constraint Types and Where to Add Them
We can access our task constraints within the Task Details pop-up (via the edit task pencil icon in the task list view, or double-clicking a task description or block in the task gantt view) via the Constraints tab. Then, clicking on the Constraint Type dropdown we can see the range of constraints available to us.
As Soon As Possible + As Late as Possible
The ‘As Soon As Possible’ constraint is the default rule for enterprise scheduling. This means that however task 'A' moves, the start date of task ‘B’ will move as per the lag duration between task ‘A’ and ‘B’. This relationship will be set unless you edit the lag duration, or you change the constraint type applied.
‘As Late As Possible’ is essentially the same, and means that however task ‘A’ moves, the end date of task ‘B’ will move as per the lag between task ‘A’ and ‘B’ plus the duration of task 'B' - again this relationship will be set unless you edit the lag duration, or you change the constraint type applied.
Start No Earlier Than + Start No Later Than
‘Start No Earlier Than’ means that task ‘A’ can push the start date of task ‘B’ back as much as you want, but can only pull task 'B' forward to its start no earlier than constraint date - this pulling forward constraint is locked in unless you edit the constraint date, or you change the constraint type applied.
‘Start No Later Than’ is the opposite. Task ‘A’ can pull the start date of task ‘B’ forward as much as you want, but can only be pushed back to its no later than constraint date - again this pushing back constraint is locked in unless you edit the constraint date, or you change the constraint type applied.
Finish No Earlier Than + Finish No Later Than
‘Finish No Earlier Than’ means that task ‘A’ can push the finished date of task ‘B’ back as much as you want, but can only be pulled forward to its finish no earlier than constraint date - this pulling forward constraint is locked in unless you edit the constraint date, or you change the constraint type applied.
‘Finish No Later Than’ is again the opposite. Task ‘A’ can pull the finish date of task ‘B’ forward as much as you want, but can only be pushed back to its finish no later than constraint date - again this pushing back constraint is locked in unless you edit the constraint date, or you change the constraint type applied.
Must Start On
The ‘Must Start On’ constraint can be used to set absolute dates in the schedule i.e. a council inspection or deadlines that have been set by hard delivery dates. With the ‘Must Start On’ constraint, no matter where I move task ‘A’, the start date for task ‘B’ is locked in place - until you edit the constraint date, or you change the constraint type applied.