APPLYING HARD CONSTRAINTS TO A SCHEDULE IN PRIMAVERA P6

When do you apply hard or soft constraints in Primavera P6? This is a question I had
recently while working with a client and while there are no hard and fast rules as project
specific circumstances can differ, here are some guidelines that may help. Many times the
project schedule is influenced by certain constraints on the project. These constraints can
be contractual, external, or internal. An explanation and example of each follows:

Contractual constraints are typically from legal agreements written in the contract.
An example is a delivery date in the contract must be met and if missed will result
in some financial or other penalty.
External constraints are constraints that the project manager has little or no control
over, such as weather or environmental constraints. Examples include:
o Winter shutdown periods A dredging company must be out of the water
before November 15th, when the lake or river freezes.
o Fish spawning season legally construction work in a river or stream cannot
happen during fish spawning season in some states.
Internal constraints are constraints that the project manager may have some control
over. An example is resource limits only finite availability of particular skills to
perform the work.

This article examines the difference between applying a Finish On constraint and a
Mandatory Finish constraint in Primavera P6.
Mandatory contractual or external constraints may warrant the use of harder constraints in
Primavera P6. However, it may be safer to utilize a softer Finish On constraint instead of the
harder Mandatory Finish constraint.
Primavera P6 Soft Constraint
Figure 1 displays a project with four tasks labelled alphabetically. This schedule has a
February 13th, 2015 Finish On constraint to describe the importance of completing the
project by this date. Note the negative total float warning you that the project is not going
to meet the completion date unless the schedule is adjusted. However, the Gantt chart still
describes the correct sequence of tasks according to the predecessor/successor logic. Note
that task D cannot commence until task C and B are complete.

Figure 1

APPLYING HARD CONSTRAINTS TO A SCHEDULE IN PRIMAVERA P6

Primavera P6 Hard Constraint

Figure 2 displays the same project with a Mandatory constraint. This schedule has a
February 13th, 2015 Mandatory Finish constraint to describe the absolute necessity of
completing the project by that date. Note though that activity D is shown commencing
before the completion of activity C. This is a violation of the logic that specifies that
activities B and C must complete before the start of activity D. The danger is the project
team may get the go ahead to commence activity D when the reality is that it cannot be
successfully performed without the prerequisite completion of activities B and C.

Figure 2
Summary
Sometimes constraints on the project schedule are both out of the project managers
sphere of influence and critically important. The problem with these constraints is that
yielding to them may cause your scheduling logic to be violated. This calls into question the
entire accuracy of the project schedule.
Where possible a Finish On constraint in Primavera P6 is preferable to the Mandatory Finish
hard constraint. If a delivery or completion date is absolutely essential you may want to
consider scheduling your project from that date backwards.