Hi all. I have the following scenario, and wondering if someone can tell me if there is a way to set this in project...

I have 2 tasks. One is Programming, and one is Testing. Testing is linked to Programming, as we cannot start testing until programming is complete (obviously ).

For Programming, I can start as soon as we have approval to do so. Approval is expected to be received on May 30th, therefore, Programming can begin ASAP on 6/2, and we have 20 days to complete (Jun 27th). Then Testing starts ASAP from the day programming is complete (Jun 30th). While we have 20 days to complete programming, when we set these days, we baked in some 'fluff', as we truly only need 10 days to complete (Start No Later Than Jun 16th).

I have set this constraint in Project, that the task cannot start any later than the 16th. If approval is delayed, I have a 10 day cushion before it becomes an issue.

My question is- is there a way to have Project know about the cushion? Right now, with the constraint, if I try to change the start date (currently 6/2), Project yells at me and says "Cancel. keep the constraint" or "Continue. Remove the constraint." - even if I try to tell it to start 1 day later, on 6/3. Which, if we started on 6/3, is fine- we'd still have plenty of time to complete. I would rather it automatically recalculate the duration if I change the date to be between 6/3 and 6/13, as these are acceptable start dates.

Let me know if there is anything I can do!!



Thank you!
E

When you change the start date manually, you are setting a Start no Earlier than constraint and wiping out the SNLT. Project cannot know about your "cushion" - it assumes if you said 20 days - it will take 20 days. My suggestion is to set the duration to 10 days and then set a deadline on the task of June 27. I would also create a milestone for the Approval task, linked F to S to the programming task. Move the milestone around, leaving the programming task alone.

Thanks Julie! Always nice to have someone else put their 2 cents in on how else to approach something. I will do just that!

You're welcome and thanks for the feedback.