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Old 10-21-2016, 02:09 AM
mrrodge mrrodge is offline New to Project, Need Help Windows 10 New to Project, Need Help Office 2016
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Hi all,

First post; here goes.

I've got a construction project I'm trying to plan and can't seem to get my head around repeated tasks.

It's a refurbishment of 75 houses and I've managed to do a programme for a single house fine, but I can't seem to get it to replicate in the way I need.

Basically I need to be able to replicate the schedule for each house and set the scaffold erect date manually (some houses will be done on the same day as others due to geography etc, but others won't), but it won't work as I need it to. Can you help?

I've attached the programme so far. The scaffold erect date was scheduled for 12/10/16, which automatically calculates the rest of the tasks for that property, which is fine.

I now need to add a second property, which adjoins the first on site. This is also fine, I can copy and paste the first property and all the dates remain the same (when it's an adjoined pair, scaffold will go up on both properties at the same time).

The problem comes when I paste a third property. If I copy and paste a third property and try to set the scaffold erect date for the day after (13/10), all hell breaks loose as Project then goes back and changes the scaffold erect dates on the other two properties to match.

Any ideas? It's been bugging me for ages and I can't seem to get it right.

Thanks.
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File Type: mpp Sequence.mpp (452.5 KB, 8 views)
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  #2  
Old 10-21-2016, 08:32 PM
Guloluseus Guloluseus is offline New to Project, Need Help Windows 7 64bit New to Project, Need Help Office 2010 32bit
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Welcome to the forum

The problem is easy to remedy, and comes down to the use of constrained dates and the way project calculates dates.
Calculating dates- project looks at the project as a whole, and the start and finish dates are the dates the first activity starts and the the last activity finishes, by default (you can change that, but dont worry about it for now). So in your case, the start date is the date of the first 7 day notification. The end date will change if you add another block of work and make it start later, when the end date will be revised to the day that "resident satisfaction form" is finished.

With constraints, it is important to make sure that you understand how they work. A task that starts as late as possible will work BACKWARDS from the finish date of the project, and adjust the task accordingly. If you put a task in that alters the end date, then any task with a "start as late as possible" constraint will automatically jump forward to fill the gap.

You have used 3 constraints - line 2 "7 day notification" is as late as possible, line 3 "Scaffold erect" is " no earlier than" and line 11 "PV removal" is "as late as possible".

I assume that "scaffold erect" is the driver for each house, and the 7 day notify is a reminder. In this case, I would tend to change the link so that the notification occurs 5 days before erect (a negative lag) for every unit after the first (The first stays as it is so that the original 5 day wait is maintained).. Generally -ve lag isnt good, but in this case it is a sensible option. Moving to "PV removal", this seems to start as soon as scaffold erect is done, so it wants a "as soon as possible" constraint to bring it in line.


SEWI enabling works can be linked from scaffold erect rather than a lag link form 7 day notice if you pre

Finally there is the scaffold erect "start no earlier than". From your info, I guess that scaffold goes up on one house, as soon as its done you move to the next, and so on. In this cae, I would use a "start no earlier than" and link scaffold erection from the previous scaffold erection. This would mean that any delay in scaffold would put back the any following erections, which is as it should be.

THE SHORT VERSION
Change all constraints to "as soon as possible", and link scaffold erect from the previous scaffold erect. Make 7 day notification a successor to scaffold erect with a negative lag. Enabling works are linked to scaffold erect as start to start, not 7 day notification.
If you have a gap between houses, just put a lag on scaffold erect.

this provides a programme that will allow for any scaffold delays during progress, giving a truer finish date.

I have enclosed a sheet showing the revised programme, which works as you want it I believe.(Zipped, as it exceeds the upload limit)

Pleae post back if this isnt what you wanted, and w can look at it again
hope it helps, and sorry for the long explanation
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File Type: zip Sequence 2.zip (158.3 KB, 10 views)
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  #3  
Old 10-24-2016, 05:49 AM
mrrodge mrrodge is offline New to Project, Need Help Windows 10 New to Project, Need Help Office 2016
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I can't thank you enough for your response - the things I've learned from your one single post are more useful than most other things I've picked up in a full series of videos and hours of tinkering.

I'm almost there I think, but rather than making the whole project driven by the scaffolder I think I'm going to try and make it driven by the roofer, as they're the most likely to suffer problems related to their capacity.

Would you mind if I kept this thread alive, so I can give updates and post when I have new issues as the project goes on?

Thanks again, you're an absolute life saver.
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Old 10-24-2016, 08:22 AM
mrrodge mrrodge is offline New to Project, Need Help Windows 10 New to Project, Need Help Office 2016
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Just working on it now and have had a thought, supposing I'm made aware of a change to the programme (for example a resident will be away for a while from December, so no access will be available to their property) and I have to rearrange their start date, how would I show this in Project?

I get that I can just add lag to push back their scaffold erect date, but this will move on every property afterwords. How would you deal with that?

Thanks again.
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Old 10-26-2016, 04:51 PM
Guloluseus Guloluseus is offline New to Project, Need Help Windows 7 64bit New to Project, Need Help Office 2010 32bit
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Glad I could help

For your last post, there are several ways, depending on exactly how you want to show it.
The simplest way (possibly the easiest) is to re-link the scaffold start dates. If we take 5 houses, (1,2,3,4,5) and 3 has to be put back, link 4 from 2 so you have continuity of work, then link 3 to a suitable date- if it was going to be after 5, then link it from 5. If you have limited resources so that houses cannot start at the same time, you would need to check that it didnt clash with another, and if so, re-link. Going back to the example, if 3 would start just after 4 then it would clash with 5, in which case you could either link it from 5 (putting it back further) or relink 5 after 3.
Alternatively, if you are using resources, you could resource level, but personally I find that tends to be a worse option.

You could alternatively (using the same example) link 2 to 4, and use a "must not start before" constraint on 3 so it could not start until you wanted ot to. In this case, a constraint is considered good, as if another house moved, it could drop back again to a date before it could be started. Again it would need a quick check to make sure resources were ok, but it would be a simple solution.

If these dont work for you, let me know why (makes it much easier to find a better solution) and I will get back again
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