Calculation of Free Slack in MS Project 2000
In the Open Standard
Bo JohnsenMember for 20 years 7 months
- Created
- 4
- 5
0
Hi all,
I have the following simple example to illustrate my problem: Say we have 3 activities A, B and C where durations are respectively 5, 10 and 10 days. Activity C are dependant of completion of both A and B. That means that activity A has a total and free slack of 5 days, which is correct. When I write "FS+1" from A to C it gives A a total and free slack of 4 days. Again correct. However, when I write anything with minus it suddenly reduce the free slack for A to zero, e.g. "FS-1" from A to C gives a total slack of 6 days for A, which is correct, but the free slack is now zero (0 days) whereas it should be 6 days?
I don’t understand this as in my mind activity A could still be delayed 6 days without delaying any other activity (C in this case).
Can anyone please explain?
Regards,
Bo
I have the following simple example to illustrate my problem: Say we have 3 activities A, B and C where durations are respectively 5, 10 and 10 days. Activity C are dependant of completion of both A and B. That means that activity A has a total and free slack of 5 days, which is correct. When I write "FS+1" from A to C it gives A a total and free slack of 4 days. Again correct. However, when I write anything with minus it suddenly reduce the free slack for A to zero, e.g. "FS-1" from A to C gives a total slack of 6 days for A, which is correct, but the free slack is now zero (0 days) whereas it should be 6 days?
I don’t understand this as in my mind activity A could still be delayed 6 days without delaying any other activity (C in this case).
Can anyone please explain?
Regards,
Bo
4 replies
Oldest first- 0Bo Johnsen ·Brad,
MS certainly has a lots of bugs and it is not the best planning programme, we all know that. However, it is not totally full of s... and none of the other planning programmes (and I’ve tested a "few")is that user friendly as MS Project. Probably the reason why it is still utilized by Tom, Dick & Harry, but not that much of specialized people (eg. construction planners).
Anyway, tried the same as you ("FS-1"), just in Candy and Pertmaster. Didn’t get any errors in those, ie. correctly calculated free slack. Another bug in MS as you stated.
Thanks,
Bo - 0Paul Harris ·All the schedule tools have problems.
MSP is simple to start with but when one gets into complex schedules such as progressing resourced schedules it gets very hard in MSP and I can do things four time quicker in other products.
It is a case of selecting the most appropriate tool for the job. If you are creating simple projects that you are not progressing then MSP is fine, but it is not the tool for complex schedules.
Paul E Harris
Eastwood Harris Pty Ltd, Melbourne, Australia
Planning and Scheduling Training Manual & Book Publishers & Consulting
www.eh.com.au
Log in or join to reply
ProjectControls.com is free to join. Members can post questions, reply, vote and follow discussions.
Existing members: your original username and password still work. Forgot password?