When to use Fixed constraint and Resource Calendars in MS PROJECT 2019

Hi,

as you know there are three types of constraint in MS PROJECT 2019: Flexible, Semi flexible, and Hard. I wrote about those constraint long time ago (https://ntrajkovski.com/2011/04/12/constraints-and-deadline-in-ms-project/)

Today I will show you to use it in real life. Let me setup the Scenario. Let’s say that you need a Training for MS PROJECT and I am your Trainer. And the Training will be held USA, and I have to travel from Croatia (my homeland) to USA to train you. OK! We agreed that the training will be held from January, 20th (Monday) till January 24th (Friday). I’ve got my airplane ticket, and hotel booked, and – that’s it. No change in schedule. Here is the Project:

As you can see, Training is just a part of a Project. There is a Task before the training, and after the training. I want to make sure that, no matter what will happen with Tasks before the Training task, my training does not move! First of all I will make it Fixed duration (because that’s what it is – duration is fixed):

Now, I will create some Resources:

OK! Now, let’s say that Mary suddenly finds out that she is going to be off at January 21th, and 22th (Tuesday and Wednesday):

One last, but very important thing, I must mark the Training Task with Must Start on constraint, because, I as a trainer am going to start the training at Monday, January 21th no matter what. There is no postponing:

and:

OK! Now one final thing: assign Resources to the Task:

If I switch to the Task Usage View, I will see:

As expected, Mary will miss Tuesday and Wednesday for the Training.

What if Task Something before the training will be longer that planned (let’s say 10 days):

and I will get:

Everything looks great! Or not? Well, Since the Training is supposed to start after the Task: Something before training, and it will not, and since the training should not be postponed (for the reasons already mentioned) – you have a problem. Not MS PROJECT! You! And that is something which you should solve. And this is organizational, and not MS PROJECT problem.

Regards,

Nenad

About Nenad Trajkovski

Location: Zagreb, Croatia Occupation: Project Manager Interests: Project Management and MS PROJECT He was born in Zagreb, Croatia at 1963. After completing his college he started working on projects in different business areas (banking, manufacturing, automotive industry, distribution, oil companies, etc.) developing and implementing ERP systems into different companies. He has got a lot of experience working with people in different business processes and also possesses great knowledge in information technologies and financial services. Today he works as a business consultant, adn Project Manager in PERPETUUM MOBILE d.o.o. Zagreb. He is a regular lecturer for Project Management in MS Innovation Center in Varaždin, Logosoft Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina and SEAVUS GROUP in Skopje Macedonia. He was named the best lecturer of WINDAYS 2008 while his lecture was also voted as the best. In addition, he was in TOP 10 lecturers at the MS SINERGY 2009 and MS VISIA 2009, 2010. Shares first place as the best lecturer of KulenDays 2009 and 2010 and PMI Conference 2009 in Zagreb. He is also a regular lecturer in the MS Community. He is a Certified Accountant and a PMP (Project Manager Professional) and a PMI-RMP (Risk Manager Professional), MCP, MCT, and Microsoft Certified Technical Specialist - Microsoft Project 2010. From 01.01.2012 awarded with MVP (Microsoft Most Valuable Proffesional - Microsoft Project)!

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