'Finish to Start' links quality metric
Use this metric to check the proportion of links that are Finish-to-Start. In some types of schedule, it may be desirable to include this metric in a quality check to ensure that most links are Finish-to-Start; this is not usually the case in construction schedules, where Start-to-Start and Finish-to-Finish links are often used to create "ladders" of tasks.
With the pass and fail boundaries set to 90%, this metric meets the requirements of DCMA test 4 (Relationship types).
Example of Finish-to-Start links
In the following illustration, the link between tasks 1 and 2 is a Finish-to-Start link. This link would pass this metric. All of the other links are of different types (Start-to-Start, Start-to-Finish and Finish-to-Finish), and would fail this metric:
You can change the impact that this metric has on the weighted total result of a quality check by entering a factor by which the quality metric should be multiplied in the Weighting field. For the weighting to have any effect, a quality check must have more than one quality metric.
Pass and fail criteria
| Pass or fail? | Criteria |
|---|---|
| Pass |
A project passes this metric if the percentage of links that are Finish-to-Start is greater than or equal to the pass boundary percentage.
For example, if the pass boundary was set to 90.00%, a project would pass this metric if 90.00% or more of links were Finish-to-Start. |
| Fail |
A project fails this metric if the percentage of links that are Finish-to-Start is less than the fail boundary percentage.
For example, if the fail boundary was set to 80.00%, a project would fail this metric if less than 80.00% of links were Finish-to-Start. |
| Neither pass nor fail | If the percentage of links that are Finish-to-Start falls between the pass and fail boundary, the result is neither a pass nor a fail, but somewhere in between. |
Default suggested settings
- Pass boundary: 90.00%. A project will pass this metric if 90.00% or more of links are Finish-to-Start.
- Fail boundary: 80.00%. A project will fail this metric if less than 80.00% of links are Finish-to-Start.
The following table shows whether some example projects would pass or fail this metric using these settings:
| Percentage of links that are Finish-to-Start | Pass or fail? |
|---|---|
| 0.00% | Fail |
| 50.00% | Fail |
| 79.99% | Fail |
| 80.00% | Neither pass nor fail |
| 85.00% | Neither pass nor fail |
| 89.99% | Neither pass nor fail |
| 90.00% | Pass |
| 100.00% | Pass |
Suggested settings to meet the requirements of DCMA test 4 (Relationship types)
- Pass boundary: 90.00%. A project will pass this metric if 90.00% or more of links are Finish-to-Start.
- Fail boundary: 90.00%. A project will fail this metric if less than 90.00% of links are Finish-to-Start.
The following table shows whether some example projects would pass or fail this metric using these settings:
| Percentage of links that are Finish-to-Start | Pass or fail? |
|---|---|
| 0.00% | Fail |
| 50.00% | Fail |
| 89.99% | Fail |
| 90.00% | Pass |
| 100.00% | Pass |
Does the metric force a project to be rescheduled?
No.
Suggested actions if a project fails this metric
If a project fails this metric, select the metric in the Quality Check Results dialog and click Show Failing Tasks to view the links that have failed the metric, together with the tasks at either end of the links.
Examine the links to determine whether are of the appropriate type. If not, delete the links and replace them with links of other types.