Best way to move a task deadline without constraining it

[Dazzah666]

Hi,

I've been informed by a contractor of a particular date that they are able to commence work for us. They will be doing work throughout the project but will be unable to begin until later next month. I want the tasks in MS project to reflect that but I do not want to constrain the individual tasks in case the work may be able to take place sooner if the contractor has more availability at a later date.

I entered some resource availability for the contractor and altered the units to 0% until the date they provided and then increased it to 100% from that date forward, Project confirms the auto-scheduled tasks as over-allocated and so when I use the task inspector to fix the issue it simply increases the duration of the task in to the contractors availability instead of moving the start date. Is there a better way for me to do this or should I just use a constraint? I really wanted to keep this project as fluid as possible.

thanks

 

[Dazzah666]

Apologies, In my haste I poorly worded the thread title, it meant to read Best way to move a task start date without constraining it

 

[JulieInMaine]

Is the contractor working earlier in the project or is the delayed tasks their first? One option is to create non-working time in the contractor's resource calendar. Project will automatically move the task. If you then find out the contractor can start earlier, make the non-working time working time.

 

[Dazzah666]

Thanks that has sorted it, I basically created a large exception in the calendar until the supplier start date, it's interesting to know that if you stagger available work by date it has a similar affect as applying a back loaded contour

 

[JulieInMaine]

Great. Glad to know the nonworking time sorted it for you. Thanks for the feedback.