Constraints are the rules set on the tasks which help you to schedule the start and finish of the task. For instance, you're planning a painting project for your newly designed room, and you know that the room has to be ready before August 6, since the painting crew is available only on August 7 and not later than that. It is fine if your room is prepared prior to August 6. Likewise, in Projects, you can set a Finish No Later Than constraint for the ‘Preparation’ task, and set the date to August 6, but is has to be completed by that date. The advantage of entering constraints is that Celoxis does not allow the schedules to conflict with the specified Constraints and warns you accordingly, thereby avoiding any overlapping of tasks. The following constraint types are supported:
As Soon As Possible (ASAP)
When you set ASAP constraint for your tasks, Celoxis schedules your tasks to start as early as they can. There are no constraint dates in ASAP. Constraints are applied to your tasks to impose restrictions on the way that the task's start and finish dates are calculated. There are 8 types of constraints, which can be bucketed into the following 3 categories:
- Flexible constraints: These constraints do not have specific dates associated with them. Setting these constraints allows you to start tasks as early as possible or as late as possible, given other dependencies in your schedule.
- Semi-flexible constraints: These constraints require an associated date that controls the earliest or latest start/finish dates for a task. They allow flexibility on the task's dates, given other dependencies, as long as it does not violate the added constraint.
- Inflexible constraints: These constraints control the start or finish date for a task. They cannot move around in your schedule.
| Constraint Name | Constraint Category | Description |
|---|---|---|
| As Soon As Possible (ASAP) | Flexible Constraint | Schedules the task to begin as early as possible. This is the default constraint for new Auto-scheduled tasks. For stand-alone tasks, this will always schedule tasks from the project's start date. |
| As Late As Possible (ALAP) |
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| Flexible Constraint | Schedules the task as late as |
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| possible, without delaying subsequent tasks. For stand-alone tasks, this will always schedule tasks backwards from the project's planned finish date. |
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| Start |
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| No Earlier Than ( |
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| SNET) |
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| Semi-flexible Constraint | Schedules the task to start on or after a |
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| specified date. |
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Must Finish On (MFO)
When you set the MFO constraint for your tasks, Celoxis schedules the task to finish on a specific date. Once you select the constraint type MFO, your tasks will finish on the specified date and no other scheduling or dependencies would affect it.
Start No Earlier Than
When you set Start No Earlier Than constraint for your tasks, Celoxis schedules the task to start on a specific date or after a specific date.
Start No Later Than
When you set Start No Later Than constraint for your tasks, Celoxis schedules the task to start on a specific date or before that specific date.
Finish No Earlier Than (FNET)
When you set FNET constraint for your tasks, Celoxis schedules the tasks to finish on a specific date or after that specific date.
Finish No Later Than (FNLT)
When you set FNLT constraint for your tasks, Celoxis schedules the task to finish on a specific date or before that specific date.
| Use this constraint to ensure that a task does not start before a specified date. | ||
| Start No Later Than (SNLT) | Semi-flexible Constraint | Schedules the task to start on or before a specified date. Use this constraint to ensure that a task does not start after a specified date. |
| Finish No Earlier Than (FNET) | Semi-flexible Constraint | Schedules the task to finish on or after a specified date. Use this constraint to ensure that a task does not finish before a particular date. |
| Finish No Later Than (FNLT) | Semi-flexible Constraint | Schedules the task to finish on or before a specified date. Use this constraint to ensure that a task does not finish after a particular date. |
| Must Start On (MSO) | Inflexible Constraint | Schedules the task to start on a specified date. |
| Must Finish On (MFO) | Inflexible Constraint | Schedules the task to finish on a specified date. |
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Constraints have higher precedence than the task dependency, i.e. if a task is a successor task and also has a constraint date set, then the start/finish dates of the task will be determined by the its constraint (type and its date). |