PRJ: Tasks Not Rescheduled When You Link an Inserted Project (189263)

SYMPTOMS

In Microsoft Project, when you create a predecessor relationship between an inserted project and a task, some tasks of the inserted project may not reschedule as expected.

CAUSE

This behavior occurs when the following conditions are true:

One or more tasks in the inserted project have a hard constraint such as Must Start On (MSO) or Must Finish On (MFO).
The predecessor of the inserted project finishes after the MSO or MFO date of the task in the inserted project.
The "Tasks will always honor their constraint dates" option is cleared.

NOTE: To change the Tasks will always honor their constraint dates option, click Options on the Tools menu, and then click the Schedule tab.

This behavior is by design of Microsoft Project.

WORKAROUND

To work around this behavior, follow these steps after you link the task and the inserted project:

Click to select the subtask with the MSO or MFO constraint.
On the Project menu, click Task Information, and then click the Advanced tab.
In the Constrain Task Type list, click As Soon As Possible (ASAP).
Click OK.

The task will be rescheduled based on the inserted project's predecessor.
Repeat steps 1-4, except change the constraint back to MSO or MFO.

MORE INFORMATION

In Microsoft Project, if you link an inserted project to a predecessor that finishes after an MSO or MFO subtask in the inserted project, you may expect the subtask to be rescheduled after the predecessor if the Tasks will always honor their constraint dates" option is turned off.

However, inserted projects do not reschedule any of their hard-constrained subtasks if you assign a predecessor or successor to the inserted project that reschedules the start or finish of the inserted project.