Schedule Project Tasks

Learn how to schedule project tasks within the Gantt chart

Updated on July 19th, 2024

You can schedule all your project tasks from within the Gantt chart.

Before you begin
If you are planning to use dependencies in your Gantt chart, you must set these before creating your schedules. 

 

 

Create a schedule

To schedule a task from within the Gantt chart:

  1. Double-click the relevant task bar. The Task Detail / Schedules window opens.
  2. Click Add Schedule.
  3. Click the (Add Resources to Schedule) icon.
  4. Click Add Users and select the users you need. Alternatively, schedule an asset or a crew to the task.

    As with any task, you can schedule resources with differing start/finish times, and on different days within the same task. Simply click Add Schedule to add more schedule groups as needed. Note that the task duration and start date will remain as they were when you opened the Task Detail / Schedules window.

     

    Dates and times

    AroFlo draws the schedule dates from the Gantt chart. If you enter different dates into your schedule, AroFlo will ask you to confirm that you want to override the schedule dates. The start and finish times are drawn from the Business Unit's standard hours of work (if any), and these can be overridden.

     
  5. Add any schedule notes or set reminders and event messages, as required. See Schedule Options for more information.
  6. Click Update.
 

The schedules now appear on your AroFlo calendar. In the left-hand navigation on the Gantt chart, tasks that have been scheduled appear with a (plus / expand) icon beside them. Click this to expand the task and see the scheduled resources. Click the (minus / minimise) icon to minimise the task and hide the scheduled resources.

Two-way communication
Changes made to schedules via the Gantt chart are immediately reflected in the Calendar, and vice versa. Click Refresh if you don't immediately see the changes.

 

 

Move a schedule

AroFlo makes it easy to adjust your project schedules as you need to.

 

Change a task start date

Suppose your project start date or a task within the project is delayed by two weeks. You can easily move all your dependent schedules at once to accommodate the delay.

  1. On your Gantt chart, either:
    1. click and drag the relevant task bar to the start date you want, or
    2. double-click the task bar, update the Task Start field, and click Update.
  2. Remove any dependencies to the left of the task by double-clicking the dependency (i.e. orange line) and clicking OK.
  3. Click Adjust by Dependencies > OK.

If there has been no change to the task duration, all dependent schedules will be moved to the new dates.

 

Need some schedules to stay put?

You can lock any schedules that you don't want automatically moved. Just double-click the relevant task bar and click the padlock on the schedule group.
 
 

 

Increase or decrease task duration

You can:

  • increase the duration of a task and either add schedules to the new days, or leave the new days unscheduled
  • decrease the duration of a task and either manually remove the schedules you no longer need, or leave them in place.
  1. On your Gantt chart, either:
    1. drag either end of the task bar until it covers the number of days you need, or
    2. double-click the task bar, change the Duration field and click Update.
  2. Click OK to accept the relevant warning message:
    1. Increased duration: ‘Some days have no schedule. Please add any schedules required.’
    2. Decreased duration: ‘You have schedules outside of the task duration. Please manually remove them if required.’

      Adjust By Dependencies

      Schedules that sit outside of the task duration will be indicated by a red border and exclamation mark.


      These schedules will not move when the Adjust by Dependencies button is clicked. If the Task Start or Duration fields are altered so that the schedules once again fall within the task duration, the red warnings will be removed and the schedules will once again be subject to the Adjust by Dependencies button.

       
       
  3. Optional: Manually add or remove schedules as necessary. To do this:
    1. double-click an existing schedule for the task, or the task bar itself
    2. click the (calendar) icon on the schedule group
    3. select or deselect the dates you need (CTRL+Click to select multiple days)
    4. click Update.
  4. Optional: Click Adjust by Dependencies > OK.

 

Delete a schedule

To delete a schedule via the Gantt chart timeline:

  1. Double-click the relevant task or schedule to open the Task Detail / Schedules window.
  2. Click Remove all schedules (lower right) > OK.

The schedule is removed from both the Gantt chart and the Calendar.

 

 

Schedule from the Calendar

You can schedule project tasks from the Calendar as you would any other task, but if the task has any dependencies you will receive a warning message (see image). Click OK to proceed, or Cancel to stop and schedule via the Gantt chart.

If you schedule a project task via the Calendar and the dates you've chosen differ from the dates the task occupies on the Gantt chart, the task bar on the Gantt chart will be moved to the dates you've chosen via the calendar.

 
 

 

Schedule from a task

If you schedule via a project task in either Office or Field, a banner within the schedule window will tell you which dates the task occupies on the Gantt chart. If you schedule the task to a different date, AroFlo will give you the option to proceed, or to cancel and schedule via the Gantt chart. If you proceed with scheduling from the task, the schedules will be locked.