How to make a massive shift of related tasks in Microsoft Project

The management of a complex project sometimes requires the application of complex and delicate operations. In this Microsoft Project Tutorial we see how to move a large number of tasks, using the native tools of Ms Project

Suppose a large portion of the entire project has slipped, and task start dates need to be changed. If the following tasks are on the Critical Path, no problem. Now let's see how to do it in the Microsoft Project Tutorial. As soon as ms Project moves the activities we select, all the following ones will move respecting also the non-working days of the project calendar. If, on the other hand, the tasks that follow those to be shifted do not belong to the critical path, then we should manually move them
Furthermore, if we change the start date of the activity in the column of the same name to move the start dates Gantt chart, then MS Project will insert the constraint Start not before, as in the following image:

we see the icon indicating the constraint in the first column. If we apply the same method to dozens of activities, in addition to being long and laborious, we load our ms Project plan with constraints.

The starting dates of the selected activities have been changed by one week. An unpleasant side effect is that all activities could inherit a constraint Start not earlier than.

The scheduling in example is part of the Critical Path. If this were not the case, we would find ourselves moving the subsequent activities with the command Shift activity.

Trying to insert as few constraints as possible is a good practice to be able to manage the update of the ms Project plan more easily

You might also like: Project Management: training for the management of Innovation

For more information on Project Management and Microsoft Project training courses, you can contact me by sending an email to info @bloginnovazione.it, or by filling out the contact form of BlogInnovazione.it

Ercole Palmeri

Temporary Innovation Manager