Supplying basic scheduling information

In the Schedule tab of the Change to be scheduled, perform these steps:

• Ensure that the Include Tasks in Schedule is checked. This box is checked by default. If you clear it, none of the tasks are pulled into the Graphical Scheduling application for scheduling.
• If you have a definite window during which you want the Change completed, set target start or finish times, or both, in the Target Start and Target Finish fields for the Change. If you set these times, they are pulled over into the Graphical Scheduling application and taken into account in finding a schedule. If you do not set these times, the current date is used and scheduled from there. Typically, you do not need to supply these times; workable start and finish times for the Change are determined based on the schedule for the tasks.
• If you have a date before which you do not want the Change to start, supply that date in the Start No Earlier Than field; if the Change must be completed by a certain date, supply that date in the Finish No Later Than field. If you set one or both of these times, they are taken into account by Graphical Scheduling.
• Add any tasks to be scheduled that are not already in the list of tasks for the Change. Click New Task in the Tasks for Change section to display fields in which to supply task information.
• For each of the tasks to be scheduled, do the following:
  • Ensure that Implementation Task is checked if the task is an implementation task; an implementation task has one or more target CIs. By default, tasks are assumed to be implementation tasks; however, some job plans contain non-implementation tasks, and you might add a non-implementation task. Reviewing a document, for example, might be a non-implementation task that you want to schedule. Clear Implementation Task only if the task is not associated with any CIs.

    When a non-implementation task is scheduled, the resource constraints that involve CIs—Change Windows, blackout periods, and CI tasks—are not considered for that task. Owner tasks are also not considered. Only the owner work shift and predecessor task constraints are considered.

  • In the Estimated Duration field, which is displayed in the Scheduling Information section, supply an estimated duration for the task. If a job plan was applied to the Change, this information is associated with the tasks that are in the job plan. Set estimated durations for any tasks that you have created in addition to those in the job plan. If you are not sure how long a task will take to complete, specify your best guess. Graphical Scheduling uses the estimated duration to look for a time to perform the task. If you do not set a task duration, Graphical Scheduling assumes that the duration of a task is one hour.
  • In the Predecessors field of the Scheduling Information section, specify any tasks that must precede the current task. Predecessor tasks are scheduled to be started and completed before their successor tasks can start.
  • In the Owner field, specify an owner or owner group for the task. This information is used in applying the Owner Tasks constraint. Graphical Scheduling also uses owner shifts in applying this constraint.

After you have supplied the basic information that is needed, you can create a Graphical Scheduling project to schedule the tasks. You create a Graphical Scheduling project in the Graphical Scheduling application, which provides the graphical display and tools you need to produce a workable schedule.