TMGR: Higher Priority Task Causes Low Priority Conflict

MORE INFORMATION

The conflict occurs if the higher priority task forces the lower priority task to start so late that it violates the relationship with its successor. The following example illustrates the behavior.

Example

1. In a new team file, on the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Calculation tab. From the Schedule Start Date list, select 8/5/96, and then click OK.
2. In Workload Planner view, enter T1, T2, and T3 in the Task Name field. In the Priority field, leave T1 and T2 set to Medium, and select Med. High for T3 (or any higher setting).
3. On the Insert menu, click People. Enter R for the name and click OK. Click No when asked if you want to send a setup message. In the People Assigned field, select R for all three tasks.
4. Select T2 and on the Edit menu, click Task Properties. Click the General tab, and select 8/6/96 for the Deadline. Click the Scheduling tab, and then click Link Tasks. From the Start Task field select "After the Finish Of," and from the Task Name field select T1. Click OK. Click OK again.

NOTE: T3 is scheduled before T1 even though it resulted in a conflict for T1. T3 is scheduled to start on 8/5/96, and T1 and T2 are scheduled to start on 8/6/96. The relationship between T1 and T2 is violated, and T1 is displayed with an Overloaded Work bar.

There are two ways to resolve the above conflict:

• Give T1 a Deadline of 8/5/96. - or -
  
  
• Give T3 a priority equal to or lower than the priority of T1.

In both cases, T1, T2, and T3 would be scheduled consecutively on 8/5/96, 8/6/96, and 8/7/96.