PRJ: Scheduling from the Project Finish (96499)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Project for Windows 1.0
  • Microsoft Project for Windows 3.0
  • Microsoft Project for Windows 3.0a
  • Microsoft Project for Windows 4.0
  • Microsoft Project for Windows 95 4.1
  • Microsoft Project for Windows 95 4.1a
  • Microsoft Project for the Macintosh 1.1
  • Microsoft Project for the Macintosh 3.0
  • Microsoft Project for the Macintosh 4.0
This article was previously published under Q96499

SUMMARY

In Microsoft Project, if you schedule a project from the finish, calculation of the project start date, the critical path, and resources leveling occur differently than when you schedule a project from the start.

MORE INFORMATION

When you schedule a project from the finish, you may encounter the following difficulties:

  • The Scheduled Finish date for every task is set equal to its Late Finish date. This means that all tasks will be scheduled on an As Late As Possible (ALAP) basis, even if the task is entered with an As Soon As Possible (ASAP) constraint. (Only the ASAP constraint is affected by this situation.)
  • All tasks will be critical tasks, and the Total Slack for each task will be 0d. Tasks are given these attributes because every task is scheduled to occur in the latest possible time.
  • Task relationships are scheduled based on the successor task, rather than on the predecessor task. For example, in a Finish to Start relationship, the predecessor's finish date will be calculated based on the start date of its successor, rather than the start date of the successor being calculated based on the finish date of its predecessor.
  • The automated resource leveling feature in Microsoft Project is affected in this situation. Since all tasks are scheduled as late in the project as possible, it is impossible to delay them further with the task Delay option. Because Microsoft Project uses the Delay field when it tries to automatically level resources, it is unable to complete this process when the project is scheduled from finish.
  • The Delay field for an individual resource assignment (on the Task or Resource Forms) is ignored when the project is scheduled from the finish.
The project start date is calculated from the earliest task start date once tasks have been scheduled according to the above rules.

For more information on scheduling a project from the finish, query on the following words in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 

   backward and pass and calculation and scheduling and engine
Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:11/25/2003
Keywords:kbinfo kbusage KB96499
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