The project templates in SyncForce usually have the full set of tasks, while not all might be needed in a specific project.
The basics
Tasks are scheduled in the project in parallel when the task is 'on it's own' and not dependent on any other tasks. Tasks are planned sequential when they have (a) predecessor task(s) which need to be completed before the task can be started.
Changing the planning for tasks or cancelling tasks which are 'on it's own' has no impact on other tasks in the stage. They do can have an impact on the stage duration when the task is planned for a longer duration and with that the stage will end on a later date. Changing the planning for tasks or cancelling tasks which have (a) successor task(s) means that the planning for successor tasks is changed as well.
Task is not needed in the project
In case a task is not needed in a project, the Project Manager can cancel this task. When a task gets cancelled, the following actions take place:
- If the task is 'on it's own', there is NO impact on the other tasks in the stage. It can be the case that the stage duration is shortened because this task was the last task (in time) in the stage.
- If the cancelled task has predecessor tasks, all successor tasks of the cancelled task will get all the predecessor tasks of the cancelled task as predecessor tasks.
- If the cancelled task has successor tasks, all successor tasks and the successor tasks of these tasks (continue until the end of the stage) will be moved earlier in time for the same number of days as the duration of the cancelled task. However, if a task which is supposed to be moved earlier in time has a 'blocking' predecessor (because this predecessor is not moved), the task is only moved up to this predecessor task. So the predecessor task end date + 1 will then become the new start date of the task.
Example 1:
Example 2:
Task does not need to wait on another task to be completed
In the situation that in this project a task does not need to wait until a predecessor task is completed, the Project Manager can decide to remove the predecessor relation for this task. The predecessor task still needs to take place in the project but the successor task can already start. When a predecessor relation is removed, the following actions take place:
- The task for which the predecessor relation is removed, will be moved earlier in time.
- If the task has NO other predecessors anymore, the task is moved to the stage start date.
- If the task still has predecessors, the task is moved to the last predecessor end date + 1. So the last predecessor end date + 1 will become the new start date of the task.
Example 1:
Example 2:
NOTE
Tasks will only be rescheduled if they have the status Planned.