[Status: Re-launched! ๐] Bring back Date Constraints
I got confirmation from wrike support that Date Constraints were removed a couple days ago when the new Lag/Lead feature was added.ย The lag/lead is a welcome addition, but I can't say I'd trade it for the Date Constraints.
The Date Constraint feature was not perfect. It was clunky to manage without being able to view, adjust, and remove the constraint in the task properties. Even so, we used it all the time to accommodate specific resource availability.ย For example: a task will probably be ready to start next week, but the person who needs to do it is busy for the next 2 weeks.
Right now users can still change the date of a task in a dependency chain. But if any upstream task date changes, then the dependency chain is re-evaluated and that manually scheduled task date is lost with no warning.
At this point the only workaround I can think of is to manually add new milestone dependencies for all of those situations. That will be a user training nightmare.
Please bring back the Date Constraints, or suggest a reasonable alternative solution.
--- Dave
It seems like there was an expectation that lags could replace date constraints.ย But those are not the same thing.ย ย
Lag:
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Constraint:
--- Dave
We have 100+ people using wrike heavily every day with over 20000 tasks active or pending at any given time.ย Now many of those are in jeopardy of moving unexpectedly.ย This likely is going disrupt our operations significantly and cost us a significant amount.ย Wrike typically is a good tool but this sort of change would have to be factored into our TCO of wrike when evaluating against other tools.
Hey guys! @Dave, thank you so much for bringing this up here, and @Ian, thanks for adding your comment ๐ I'm happy to let you know that Date Constraints are back thanks to your feedback! I've updated the status of the request.ย
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Lisa Community Team at Wrike Wrike Product Manager Become a Wrike expert with Wrike Discover
Lisa Wrike Team member Become a Wrike expert with Wrike Discover
Awesome!ย Many thanks to the wrike team!
--- Dave
Is there a request that captures the UX demonstrated here? I would like to see date constraints available in all views and with full functionality as detailed here:
https://support.office.com/en-us/article/set-a-task-start-or-finish-date-constraint-for-a-task-3a7544fa-e992-4647-911b-54cdbe508784ย
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In the Constraint type list, pick one of these options:
If your project is scheduled from the finish date, choose As Late As Possible.
If your project is scheduled from the start date, choose As Soon As Possible.
Available constraints
With Project, you can add eight different constraints to tasks. Those constraints come in three flavors:
Flexible constraints, which donโt tie a task to a specific date.
Semi-flexible constraints, which include earliest start dates or latest finish dates.
Inflexible constraints, which have specific start or finish dates.
Constraint
Type
Description
As Late As Possible (ALAP)
Flexible
The task starts as late as it can without delaying other tasks. This is the default constraint when you schedule from the project finish date.
As Soon As Possible (ASAP)
Flexible
The task starts as soon as possible. This is the default constraint when you schedule from the project start date.
Start No Earlier Than (SNET)
Semi-Flexible
The task starts on or after a specific date.
Finish No Earlier Than (FNET)
Semi-Flexible
The task finishes on or after a specific date.
Start No Later Than (SNLT)
Semi-Flexible
The task starts on or before a specific date.
Finish No Later Than (FNLT)
Semi-Flexible
The task finishes on or before a specific date.
Must Finish On (MFO)
Inflexible
The task finishes on a specific date.
Must Start On (MSO)
Inflexible
The task starts on a specific date.
Task constraints vs. task dependencies
Itโs easy to confuse task constraints (restrictions on when a task can start or finish) with task dependencies (links that show a relationship between tasks).
If youโre looking for details on dependencies, see Link tasks in a project.
In the Constraint type list, pick one of these options:
If your project is scheduled from the finish date, choose As Late As Possible.
If your project is scheduled from the start date, choose As Soon As Possible.
Available constraints
With Project, you can add eight different constraints to tasks. Those constraints come in three flavors:
Flexible constraints, which donโt tie a task to a specific date.
Semi-flexible constraints, which include earliest start dates or latest finish dates.
Inflexible constraints, which have specific start or finish dates.
Constraint
Type
Description
As Late As Possible (ALAP)
Flexible
The task starts as late as it can without delaying other tasks. This is the default constraint when you schedule from the project finish date.
As Soon As Possible (ASAP)
Flexible
The task starts as soon as possible. This is the default constraint when you schedule from the project start date.
Start No Earlier Than (SNET)
Semi-Flexible
The task starts on or after a specific date.
Finish No Earlier Than (FNET)
Semi-Flexible
The task finishes on or after a specific date.
Start No Later Than (SNLT)
Semi-Flexible
The task starts on or before a specific date.
Finish No Later Than (FNLT)
Semi-Flexible
The task finishes on or before a specific date.
Must Finish On (MFO)
Inflexible
The task finishes on a specific date.
Must Start On (MSO)
Inflexible
The task starts on a specific date.
Task constraints vs. task dependencies
Itโs easy to confuse task constraints (restrictions on when a task can start or finish) with task dependencies (links that show a relationship between tasks).
If youโre looking for details on dependencies, see Link tasks in a project.
@Brian Hey, thanks for sharing these examples here ๐ I think that, being a separate feature suggestion, you can add it as a separate Product Feedback post, so that other Community members could upvote it and share their use-cases ๐
Lisa Community Team at Wrike Wrike Product Manager Become a Wrike expert with Wrike Discover
Lisa Wrike Team member Become a Wrike expert with Wrike Discover
Ditto to Brian's point. We are evaluating this tool, and 'As Late As Possible' type of constraint is frequent and critical in our PM process. Does it currently exist, or are there plans to add it?