Re: Keep Task Days Together

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John,

Thank you for your reply and pointing me in the direction of using a macro.

Here is a clarification to some of your points:
<<You have a very unique scheduling need.>> - Actually it is pretty common
in electric industry where many tasks can only be performed in spring or fall
when the electric demand is lower.

<<whoever is going to do the task will NOT be able to just
pick it up and start working on Sept. 1. Very likely there will be some
prep work>> - Yes, it will be. In our case the prep work will include some
construction that will be done by a different crew and can be done at any
time before the electric crew does their work in spring or fall. In fact it
is a possible delay in construction in May that could move it successor, the
electric work, forward to September 1.

<< it is possible if a simple VBA macro is used to automatically adjust the
schedule.>> - Thank you. How would it work? For example, add a lag of 3
months and several days to assure that the electric work starts on September
1 if MS Project initially scheduled it to start in May and end in September?
Please note that we have a multiyear project with hundreds of tasks. Then
next time there are some schedule changes Project would need to delete all
previously added lags, recalculate the new ones and add them back (?) Please
advise.

Unfortunately I have never tried writing a VBA macro in MS Project. I would
appreciate a reference to a good source.

Thank you again.

MSPuser



"John" wrote:

> In article <A666EFE2-BF17-4BA9-864A-1267985B5977@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
> "MSPuser" <MSPuser@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> > Hi,
> >
> > I have a project that uses a “Spring & Fall Only” calendar with winter and
> > summer designated as none-working time. The challenge is to keep tasks from
> > being auto-scheduled to start in spring and finished in the fall.
> >
> > For example, a 5-day task with the predecessor which finishes on 05/29/06
> > can be scheduled by MS Project from 05/30/2006 to 09/05/2006. This is not
> > acceptable, as the task must be completed within 5 calendar days, i.e. it
> > must be moved to 09/04/06 – 09/08/06.
> >
> > Putting constraints would not be a good solution as the schedule has
> > hundreds of dependent tasks and it may require frequent adjustments back and
> > forward in the future.
> >
> > Please suggest a way to auto-move the task forward to assure that it would
> > be always completed within 5 days no matter when the predecessors finishes.
> >
> > Thank you in advance.
>
> MSPuser,
> You have a very unique scheduling need. Project just isn't set up to
> easily shift tasks as in your example but it is possible if a simple VBA
> macro is used to automatically adjust the schedule. The macro could be
> set up to run on user demand or it could be set up to run automatically
> when the file is opened or closed.
>
> However just a comment. It appears to me that a simple shift of task
> duration won't reflect reality. If there is that much delay between
> working periods, I would think some "reorientation overhead" would be
> needed. For example, let's say a task is 5 days duration and would
> ordinarily start on May 28. Because of the end of May cutoff, the task
> would need to be re-scheduled to the first of September. However, my
> guess is that whoever is going to do the task will NOT be able to just
> pick it up and start working on Sept. 1. Very likely there will be some
> prep work before the task can actually be started. I could be wrong, but
> there aren't too many things that can just be shelved for long periods
> of time and then be instantly re-started.
>
> John
> Project MVP
>
.

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