Constraint Types in Gantt View

Steven Munsey

Requesting the ability to use constraint types in a project (Gantt view), similar to the options in MS Project:

As Late as Possible

As Soon as Possible

Finish No Earlier Than

Finish No Later Than

Must Finish On

Must Start On

Start No Earlier Than

Start No Later Than

Randal Ketchem

The lack of this functionality is causing our Project management team to not use Smartsheet as their primary platform. This is a must-have functionality.

DanR

Out team manages a comprehensive schedule listing 30 or more projects. It tracks the progress on hundreds of items through our fabrication shop which consists of nine or more departments that all have a hand in producing the items. Each project has shipping deadlines. When deadlines are linked using dependencies, a change of a scheduled date in its predecessors automatically changes the deadline date. Without some kind of constraint on the deadline, it's too easy to mistakenly extend an item's shipping date inadvertently. While all the constraints listed in the original post would be great, I'd be happy if we could at least click a checkbox that would trigger a warning to the user that the pending date change would alter the date a the flagged task line.

kevin b

Fully support this request. The lack of this functionality, especially "finish no later than" will likely require that we stop our subscription and move to another platform. It's critical for our projects that certain milestones have locked in dates that help shape the overall project plan AROUND them.

Boris Djordjevic

It will be good to have the option to set firm constraints dates (deadlines) in the Gantchart so when you start adding duration for tasks, timelines do not move and pass deadlines requiring everything to be manually calculated backwards.

MonV

Any update on adding this constrain types to the smartsheet Gantt? I am about to move back to microsoft project, smartsheet is a nice product by its limitation in the Gantt chart feature is killing me :(

DW6

Seconding all comments above, though I don't personally need all the options listed in the original post. But being able to fluidly set fixed dates within a project and schedule around them is essential to nearly any project I can imagine. Here is a very basic example of the best workaround I have come up with but it is still lacking:

Let's say I have two tasks preceding a fixed date milestone that is three weeks away. Task 1 starts today and has an estimated duration of 1wk. Task 2 also has a duration of 1wk and its dependencies are set as SF to the milestone and FS to Task1. So far, so good as there is a 1wk gap between the two tasks.

But, let's say the situation changes and now each task will take 2 weeks. When I enter the new durations, Task 2 is now finishing a week after the fixed milestone with no indication that there is any problem. In this simple example, it is easy enough to see the issue. However in a complex project with multiple individuals working on it, there are two problems. First, it is quite challenging and non-obvious to set up the dependencies this way and to check that they are correct. Second, without the software indicating that a duration change busts the schedule, it is all too easy to miss the implications of a change.

Smartsheet should have controls such that it will not allow me to enter values that do not satisfy the defined dependencies & constraints without at least flashing a big warning that I am asking for something impossible.

Kathryn Wells

Fussing around with trying to set a nonadjustable date, like the last date of allowed billing on a grant, that has adjustable predecessors (deliverables) introduces one more frustration on the part of project managers and makes adoption of Smartsheet tools that much harder. Please keep working on this issue. I agree with others that a warning would be helpful in the meantime, but ultimately, introducing constraints on a cell would be ideal. Or maybe allow locking of a cell rather than a whole row or column?

KimPhil

This is a must have feature for me as well. Not being able to set 'as soon as possible' and 'as late as possible' is creating a real headache for me. I have to faff around with helper columns and manual workarounds that are just not feasible to maintain. It is also impossible to calculate a project backwards from a fixed deadline.

Without this feature Smartsheet is not really an alternative to MS project, sadly.

Ken Van Liew

WOW, this is interesting news! Are you kidding? I just stumbled on this while updating my schedule that lost float, jumped on chat for guidance and can't believe what I just read.

scales23

Big gap in functionality here, and surprising it seems so far off being implemented.

john.delaney100311

Sooner the better!

mtp105

Agreed with all these comments. I'm assuming adding constraint types would eliminate the automatic deletion of predecessors when a start or finish date are changed. Since we are asking team members to update their tasks with accurate expected start or completion dates, we do not want the predecessors to be automatically deleted, losing the relationship in case the predecessor dates also change, and also just being able to maintain history of predecessor dependencies. I have seen very few projects where all the successors start as soon as the predecessors are completed. I understand we can use lags, but that's not easy for team members to do on a daily basis as work plans are fluid. Team members need to be able to update start, duration, or finish dates without predecessors being deleted, or without having to change only the start or duration to enter the desired finish date. If we have the constraints listed above in the OP, this should allow finish dates to be changed and have the durations or start dates update automatically per the updated finish date (and without removing predecessors). I hope!

kathwilson

I wholeheartedly agree with this as a significant gap in core functionality for a project management tool. Trying to work with Smartsheet on a very large project, and we love the dashboards, reports and most of the other functionality, but it seems that the bells and whistles were prioritized over basic PM functions and features. Please implement this soon!

Geoffrey Stewart

SS Gantt view is only of use for trivial A follows B follows C planning. It does not respect Must Start On (Constraint) dates. If you link B as a successor to A, etc; it just snaps the start date of B back to A Start plus A Duration and assumes zero float. Useless. I avoid using it for anything other than a quick and simple waterfall. Of course you could add a manual lag time on to the B start date but whats the point of having a graphical drag and drop dependency linking capability?

Consequently I run all my scheduling in MS Project. I have even modelled a job in MSP and then pasted the task, date, duration and dependency fields data back into Smartsheet.

Don 't get me wrong. I like Smartsheet, and there is a need to be able to graphically display a project sequence. MSP licences are extortionate expensive, so not all of my contractors and stakeholders can open .mpp files. The SS ecosystem is great for collaboration, but honestly, the Gantt view shouldn't pretend to be a PM tool.

I recommend the developers focus on getting As Late as, As Soon as, Finish no ealier, Finish no later, Must Finish, Must Start, Start no earlier, Start no later functionality into the product.

Percy

Please add this feature. It is really important for good and proper planning. Thanks