How to force an activity on the critical pass

If the Schedule/Program has been approved this way there is nothing you can do about it.

However you should check that the contractor did not submit a modified Schedule/Program just before he submited his claim. It is possible for him to change logic of the network, without changing dates, in order to favor him...but again this is a gray area from my point of view...it depends a lot on contract form and provisions.

This also depends on type of works, in Civil engineering less likley, in Road projects and Water Waste it is possible with relative ease.

If using P6 changes in calendars can be difficult to detect, it is an easy way to delay activities.

The Claim digger or Schedule Comparison is a widely used tool in P6 to compare between two projects and detect the differences.

One of the main shortage of the Claim Digger or the Schedule Comparison tool is detecting the changes in calendars.

The tool will not detect any revisions in calendars working hours or changing from Project to Global calendar if both have the same description.

Claim Digger will tell us nothing about calendars other than whether the name of the calendar is different.

http://www.planningplanet.com/blog/detect-changes-made-calendars-between-two-projects-p6

Just changing the status of the task to ALAP will turn it critical.

ALAP constraint in different software may work in different ways.

http://www.planningplanet.com/forums/microsoft-project/691256/alap-constraint-behavior-question

Tue, 2018-09-18 09:36

Tom Boyle

When used in a forward-scheduled project, the ALAP constraint in MSP is in fact a Zero-Total-Float constraint, which serves no useful purpose as you have found.

https://docs.oracle.com/cd/F51303_01/client_help/en_US/helpmain.htm?toc.htm?as_late_as_possible_constraint.htm

A restriction you impose on an activity or work unit with positive float that allows it to start as late as possible without delaying its successors. This constraint sets the early dates as late as possible without affecting successor activities.

- This means that if successor is not critical the activity does not becomes critical.

Keep in mind that an activity with a "as late as possible" constraint is driven by its successor. The activity will be critical if its successor is critical but the driver remains the successor instead of the predecessor!