Constraints are the prerequisites to be completed before the start of a task. Such prerequisites could be contract, approval, material, safety related, engineering design, QA/QC or construction related.
These prerequisites can be set as a constraint and they are meant to be managed and executed well before the start date of a task. Constraint will be indicated by a circle and will be located on the due date planned and in-lined with it's task. Task constraints can be added only in the Lookahead.
The following steps will guide you to Add task constraint:
Click on the task bar in the Gannt chart
Click on the Add Constraint button (OR)
Double click on the task bar, go to Constraints List tab and click Add New Constraint
Select the type of constraint, constraint category in category drop down menu and select the required constraint
Enter the constraint description in the description box
Assign the user to the constraint by using the Assignee button
Set the Last Step Due Date and ETA (see note below) for the constraint or go with the default ETA
Set the Condition Due Dates
If required, click Customize Steps to add or edit the conditions. You can also click the Reset button to go back to default Steps
Click Add Constraint to add the constraint to the task
Repeat the above procedure to assign multiple constraints on a task
Figure: How to add Constraint from Mini Widget (left)
Figure: Details required to add a Constraint
Note:
1. ETA (Expected Time of Arrival) is the minimum time gap between completion of the constraint (due date) and the task start date. If the ETA is set to 1, the constraint can be completed within 1 day of the start of the task. Similarly if ETA is set to 5, the constraint should be completed at least 5 days before the start date of the task. Non-working day is excluded in ETA.
2. The constraint due-date always matches with the last conditions due-date. This is because when the last condition is completed, the constraint is completed.
3. There are 2 ways to set the due-date of the constraint.
Directly set the last condition due-date. This will automatically set the due-date of remaining conditions maintaining a minimum possible gap and also set the constraint's due-date. Else, set the date of the top condition and automatically the dates for remaining conditions are set to derive the date of last condition which is set as the due-date of the constraint.
3. Condition due dates are allowed only in increasing order. i.e. second condition due date should be greater than the first and less than the next.
4. Constraint Status represents the actual state of a constraint. There are two types of possible status for a constraint. A constraint will be displayed as Red Circle, if the Current date sail over the constraint due date and the constraint status is still NOT DONE.
Not Done - The initial state of the constraint. It will be shown Blue in color
Done - The completed state of the constraint. It will be shown Green in color
The steps to add a Activity Constraint is similar to adding a Task Constraint. Please read 3.17 Add Activity Constraint to know more.