When trying to close gaps between certain tasks on the Gantt chart, it does not work for certain tasks or works orders.
Solution 1
Missing quantities entered in the labour resources shift patterns can cause this issue. Please complete the relevant steps to rectify this fault:
Select Resources
Select Default Shift Pattern Assignment
Select Quantity Adjustment tab
Select relevant resource and shift pattern
Click Edit
Enter quantities for relevant weekdays
Solution 2
Another cause is min offset values in task dependencies. Please complete the following steps make close gaps work:
Right click the relevant task on the plan
Select Edit Task Dependencies
Select Predecessor tab
Remove the figure in the Min Offset field
Go to Successor tab
Remove the figure in the Min Offset field
Click Apply
The Min Offset means that the tasks cannot be planned closer together than the min offset value.
If you wish to plan with a min offset, but be able to drag the tasks closer together, or close gaps to remove the offset, then there is a feature called Secondary Offsets from system settings that needs to be turned on. Please complete the following steps:
Log into Orchestrate System Manager
Select File
Select System Settings
Select planning tab
tick On under Enable Secondary Offset
Click OK
Note: Log out and back into Orchestrate for the settings to take effect.
Solution 3
A workaround if the above solutions do not work is to tick unconstrained on the relevant resource. The task may close the gap and overload the resource, which indicates there are sufficient tasks on that specific area of the resource already:
select resources menu
select relevant resource and click edit
tick unconstrained
click OK
Solution 4
If you have upgraded Orchestrate from version 7.66 or above, tick the following options and unplan and re-plan the relevant task(s) or works orders:
Select Tools
options
planning (tab)
sub-heading 'Search For Unpegged Material' now has two options that can be ticked:-
check availability of made items when planning
check availability of purchased items when planning
Solution 5
Certain tasks don't close gaps because it was marked as started (In Progress) within the data import, from the ERP system. Close Gaps does not affect tasks with a status of 50 (Started) or above.