Microsoft Project continuously schedules a project from the information you enter about it, the individual work items (called tasks) required to complete the project, and if necessary, the resources (the people, equipment, and materials) needed to complete those tasks.

For instance, when you enter durations, task dependencies (the relationship between two linked tasks), and constraints (a restriction or limitation you or Microsoft Project set on the start or finish date of a task) for a task, Microsoft Project can calculate its start date and finish date.

Or, when you enter resources in your project and assign them to tasks, Microsoft Project can calculate who works on what and when, how much equipment is needed, and how much material will be consumed. Task schedules are further refined according to resource work, units, and working times entered on calendars.

Other elements, such as lead time (task overlap) and lag time (task delay), task types (Fixed Units, Fixed Work, or Fixed Duration), resource availability, and the driving resource, will also affect scheduling, so understanding their effects can help you maintain and adjust your schedule as needed.

The way Microsoft Project schedules is directly affected by the settings you apply. To learn more about settings and their affect on the schedule, click any of the following topics:

• Project settings that affect how tasks are scheduled
• Task settings that affect how tasks are scheduled
• Other factors that affect how tasks are scheduled
• Resource settings that affect the schedule
• Settings that affect how tasks with assigned resources are scheduled