Schedule Project Plan
Explanation
The project schedule is established when the planned
dates, i.e. early start and early finish dates, have been determined for all project
activities. The dates can be set either manually
or through a scheduling calculation.
To manually establish the project schedule, values for early dates and total work
days are directly entered for each activity. It is also possible to update
early start dates, early finish dates and/or total work days by dragging or moving activity bars
in the Gantt chart.
Alternatively, a scheduling calculation can be performed in the IFS/Project
Gantt to determine the
activity start and finish dates. Logical dependencies are created between
activities to form an activity network, which is used as input into a scheduling
calculation. Scheduling will result in updated activity start and finish dates,
and critical activities will be indicated. The scheduling calculation takes the
following into account:
- The project calendar (working and non-working
days)
- The project start date or if none, the earliest
activity early start date
- The total work days value for each activity, together with the Hours per
Work Day value for the project
- The project schedule network consisting of activity dependencies
(predecessor, successor, dependency type and lag)
- Activity constraints
- Actual start and finish dates
Only one project at a time can be
scheduled. The scheduling calculation is
done to the minute. The
selected timescale in the Gantt does not affect the scheduling calculation but
is used for display purposes only.
Prerequisites
- Activities must exist.
- For scheduling in the Gantt, the user must have access to the entire project.
System Effects
- When activity early start and finish dates are
updated, either manually or through scheduling, the Gantt chart is updated.
- If activity bars in the Gantt chart are dragged or
moved, the corresponding activity early start and finish dates are updated.
- If a scheduling calculation is performed, the
following values are updated:
- The activity early start and early finish
dates.
- The activity late start and late finish dates.
- The free and total float for each activity.
- The project planned start date if no value existed before the
scheduling.
- The project planned finish date.
- Changing activity early start and finish dates,
either manually or through scheduling, can affect objects that may be
connected to the activity, for example:
- The required date for a miscellaneous demand or a
connected project delivery item is based on the activity early finish date.
- Project exceptions may be created.
- The period to which resources are assigned follows
the activity early start and early finish dates.
- Employee allocations with specific Date From and
Date To and that are not fixed, follow the activity early start and finish
dates. Fixed allocations will not be moved. Employee allocations without specific Date From
and Date To follow the activity early start and early finish dates as
allocation dates.
Window
Gantt
Project Navigator
Activity
Related Window Descriptions
Gantt
Project Navigator
Project Navigator/Planning
Activity/Planning
Procedure
To manually update activity early start dates, early finish dates and/or total
work days:
- In windows with activity information, change the
value of the early start date or the early finish date, alternatively the
number of work days. Save the changes.
- In the Gantt
window,
select menu option Pointer Mode. Change the length of the activity
bar by dragging the ends of the bars or drag the entire bar to another
date. Save the changes.
To create a project network:
- In the Gantt
window, select the Show Dependencies check box.
- Right-click and select the Create
Dependencies Mode menu option so that you can draw dependencies between
activities directly in the Gantt.
- Drag the pointer from one (predecessor) activity
to another (successor) activity to create a Finish to Start dependency. Save
the changes.
- To view or update the dependency information point to a dependency,
right-click and select the Dependency Details menu option. In the
Dependency Details
dialog, it is possible to change the dependency type, add a value for lag,
or delete the dependency.
In the Project Navigator or Activity windows:
- Dependencies information can also be added,
updated or deleted in the Planning/Predecessors or
Planning/Successors tabs.
- Information about constraints can be added in the
Planning/Constraints tab.
To schedule a project:
- In the
Gantt window, query for
the project that you wish to schedule.
- Right-click and select the Schedule Project menu option.
- The results of the scheduling calculation can be
previewed in the
Gantt window.
- Save the changes to commit the results of the scheduling calculation.
Note: Although it is possible to view several projects in the
Gantt window, only one project at a time can be scheduled.
Point to the desired project, right-click and select the Schedule Project menu option.
Note: Before the scheduling starts the data is automatically reloaded into
the Gantt to ensure that all data is up to date.
Note: After moving an activity, manually or through scheduling, some sub
project summary bars are updated only after the changes are saved and the
project is reloaded.