Moloy ChakrabortyPrincipal Project Manager| WSP UK LTDHigh Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom
What are the causes of negative floats in a real project schedule network diagram and how you can identify and manage the negative floats? - Please explain with an example Saving Changes...
In the real world, a negative float associated with an activity or set of activities usually means that achieving a constrained date or a fixed deadline is not feasible since the late finish date of the predecessors leading to it is later than the deadline/constrained date.
If you use a professional scheduling engine, it will usually warn you when you hit this situation. You can also add a column for float to see how much is available for each activity. MS Project is notorious for throwing a ridiculously large dialog box with a large quantity of technobabble in it when a negative float situation occurs.
Senior Projects Manager | Field & Marten AssociatesNew Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
Like Kiron mentioned, it usually indicates that the project will not finish on time so you will have to take action like crashing or fast tracking the schedule. Saving Changes...
Project Scheduling tools like Primavera / MS Project will give clear indications & warnings. You may track with Gantt charts easily while you do progress update onto the schedule. Saving Changes...
Drew CraigSr. Agile & Product Coach| VanguardPhiladelphia, Pa, United States
Agree with my colleagues above. Saving Changes...
Al TaylorI.T. Contractor| IndependentWaterloo, Ontario, Canada
I haven't heard the word Float mentioned on any project I worked on in many many years. Saving Changes...
Moloy ChakrabortyPrincipal Project Manager| WSP UK LTDHigh Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom
There are two main reasons for the existence of negative Float -
1. Project finish date is later than Baseline Schedule
2. There is a Defined a constraint, which has overruled the pre-defined relationships among activities. Saving Changes...
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