Resource's Allocation dates and Autoscheduling in the Gantt

Products

• Clarity PPM On Premise
• Clarity PPM SaaS

Issue/Introduction

How do Resource's Allocation dates impact Autoscheduling in the PPM Gantt for tasks with assignments? 

Environment

Release: All
Component: Clarity Resource Management

Resolution

Sometimes, dates shift when auto scheduling based on the resource allocation's in the project.  

Here's the how resource allocation will impact autoscheduling:

1. When scheduling forward from a date that's before the resource availability date, it will start the task at the available start date.

2. When scheduling backward ('Schedule from Finish Date' is checked in autoscheduling) from a date that's before the resource availability date, it moves the task back to the from date because the availability date doesn't satisfy the schedule before date.

3. When scheduling forward from a date that's after the resource availability date, it will move the task out to the from date because it doesn't satisfy the schedule after date.

4. When scheduling backward ('Schedule from Finish Date' is checked in auto scheduling) from a date that's after the resource availability date, it will end the task at the available finish date because it satisfies the schedule before date. 

Notes:

• Availability is based on the Start/Finish dates of the Resource on the Team tab
• In this example 'Resource Constraints' is unchecked in Autoscheduling options:

 

To keep allocation dates from impacting task dates, you can change the constraint 'Must Start On' on the task to the desired 'Start Date', and then it won't shift the dates. 

To do this:

1. Go to the Tasks tab on the project
2. On the right hand side of the page, click the 'Options' icon then 'Configure'
3. Move the desired constraint types from 'Available Columns' to 'Selected Columns' and click 'Save and Return'. (To keep the Start Date of the task from moving during autoscheduling, add 'Must Start On')
   • Note: The constraint options include:  "Must Start On", "Must Finish On", "Start No Earlier Than", "Start No Later Than", "Finish No Earlier Than", "Finish No Later Than"
4. On the Task list page, change the dates under the Must Start On constraint (or other desired constraint type, and click 'Save')