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What parts of Microsoft Project does ProChain use and what parts does it replace? Are there any functions and features that it is incompatible with or does not support?

ProChain is an add-on to Microsoft Project. Installing ProChain will add the functionality required for Critical Chain project scheduling and management—none of the MS Project functionality is disabled. ProChain comes with a project scheduler (the MS Project scheduler and resource leveler is no longer used), a task update interface, analysis tools, views, and reports. Project […]

Does ProChain support summary task links? What’s wrong with using them?

Yes, ProChain supports summary task links. In other words, the predecessors of the summary task will be scheduled before any of the summary’s detailed tasks, and the successors of the summary task won’t be scheduled until after all of the detail tasks. Note that the critical chain that ProChain identifies will not include summary tasks. […]

I have a long vendor task in my project that has padding built into it, yet they are unlikely to deliver early. In other words, their 50/50 duration is pretty close to their low-risk or worst-case duration. How do I get ProChain to take this into account so that it doesn’t create a huge buffer to protect it?

ProChain sizes the buffer based on the amount of variability in the tasks it is protecting against—it’s a function of the variability in the tasks, not the duration of the tasks. For example, if the tasks are guaranteed to be delivered on schedule, no buffering would be needed. ProChain calculates the variability of a task […]

Why do I have more than one project buffer?

ProChain considers any task that does not have a successor to be a deliverable that needs to be protected by a project buffer. By using the Network Analysis tool, you can easily see all of the “tasks without successors.”

If I send a ProChain-scheduled project file to somebody who has Microsoft Project but doesn’t have ProChain, will they be able to open the file, or use the views and reports that come with ProChain?

They will be able to open the file. They can also use any views and reports that have previously been used with that file, because Microsoft Project components like ProChain views and reports are automatically copied from the GLOBAL.MPT file into the individual project file when they are referenced. However, ProChain-specific functions like fever charts […]