The schedule start date on schedule sheet properties defines the earliest possible date on the schedule sheet. The start dates of all activities on the schedule sheet must be greater than or equal to the schedule start date.
The schedule start date affects the first activity in a group of linked activities and controls the start of any floating activities. Floating activities are activities that have no predecessor activities.
When you change the schedule start date, the entire schedule moves, and all the dates adjust in relation to the new schedule start date.
The schedule start date is a required field on schedule sheet properties. Updates to the schedule start date start activities are based on following rules:
- Floating activities start and retain the offset from the schedule start date specified on the sheet properties.
- The start date on floating activities can be updated; however, the activities start date cannot be earlier than the schedule start date.
- The start date of any floating activity will drive the start of the system update process. Each floating item may be the root of a tree and hence will have its own system update process that drives launching and completion of BPs for the current activity and successor activities.
- Forecast dates (start date, finish date) can only be changed for not started or in-progress activities.
- The schedule start date cannot be changed when at least one activity is in progress or complete.
- Manual launch cannot be done on any activity before the schedule start date on the sheet properties.