When you create a task plan in Nimble, you need to select the scheduling type for it. The scheduling options appear as per the license you are using. Depending upon your license, you might be/not be able to see all the scheduling options in the Scheduling Type drop-down list of the Task Plan.

Nimble supports 4 types of scheduling to help you manage your tasks –

• Default scheduling
• Simple scheduling
• Advanced scheduling
• Microsoft Project Scheduling

Default scheduling

Default Scheduling is best suitable for small and medium size projects where limited scheduling capabilities are required.  Use Simple scheduling for Task Plans when:

1) Planned Start & Finish Dates are optional
2) Option to roll up Start & Finish dates to a summary task
3) Set Finish-to-Start (FS) dependencies between tasks with dates

Read more about the default schedule here.

Simple scheduling

Simple Scheduling is best suited for small to medium-scale projects with small teams, consisting of around 2000 tasks. Using Simple Scheduling, Project Managers can control their project schedule and make the necessary updates using simple scheduling capabilities. The Simple Scheduling capabilities will be available to you as per your Enterprise plan. Use simple scheduling when:

1) Planned Start & Finish dates are mandatory
2) All effort & date fields roll-up to a summary task
3) Set FS type of dependencies between any tasks
4) Task dates do not change based on actual dates
5) Baseline to track deviation of effort & schedule

Read about the simple scheduling in detail here.

Advanced scheduling

Advanced scheduling is the advanced version of the scheduling to help you drive your projects more efficiently with MSP-compatible capabilities. Use Advanced Scheduling for Task Plan when:

1) Same capabilities as Simple Scheduling
2) Set SF, SS, and FF type of task dependencies
3) Set constraints such as ‘Start No Earlier Than’
4) Track progress manually or based on the timesheet
5) Track the Critical Path of tasks for overall progress

Read about advanced scheduling in detail here.

Comparison of Default, Simple, Advance Scheduling, and MS Project Plug-in

A quick comparison of features between Advanced Scheduling and MS Project Plug-in will help you to choose the right Task Module for your project.

	Default Scheduling	Simple Scheduling	Advance Scheduling	MSP Integration
Recommended Task List Size	Small	Small and Medium Task Plans	Medium Task Plans	Large Task Plans
Planned Start and Finish Dates	Optional	Required	Required	Required
Milestone	Not Available	Available	Available	Available
Roll-updates to Summary Level Tasks	Optional	Always	Always	Always
Task Actuals Tracking Mode	Manual	Based on timesheet data manual	Manual, Based on timesheet data	Based on timesheet data
Gantt View	Available	Available	Available	Available
Baseline	Not Available	Available	Available	Available
Baseline Start, Finish, Effort	Not Available	Available	Available	Available
Calendar Integration	Not Available	Project	Project, and Resource	Project User
Default Task List from Activity Matrix	Not Available	Available	Available	Available
Task Dependency	Finish-to-start	Finish-to-start	Finish-to-Start (FS), Start-to-Finish (SF), Start-to-Start (SS), Finish-to-Start (FS)	Finish-to-Start (FS), Start-to-Finish (SF), Start-to-Start (SS), Finish-to-Start (FS)
Task Rescheduling	Optional	Available (Only for manual date change)	Available (Checkout Required)	Available (Checkout Required)
Task Types	Not Available	Fixed Dates	Fixed Dates, Fixed Unit, Fixed Work, Fixed Duration	Fixed Unit, Fixed Work, Fixed Duration
Task Mode	Auto-Scheduled	Auto-Scheduled	Auto-Scheduled and Manually Scheduled	Auto-Scheduled and Manually Scheduled
Task Constraints	Not Available	As Soon As Possible	As Soon As Possible, Start No Earlier Than, Start No Later Than, Finish No Earlier Than, Finish No Later Than, Must Start On, Must Finish On	As Soon As Possible, Start No Earlier Than, Start No Later Than, Finish No Earlier Than, Finish No Later Than, Must Start On, Must Finish On, As Late As Possible
Critical Path	Not Available	Not Available	Available	Available
Resource Assignment (%) on Tasks	100% always	Editable	Editable	Editable