Scheduling priorities

Scheduling priorities provide a way to influence how the Project Scheduler sequences tasks during scheduling and rescheduling, when you need to guide the sequence beyond what is dictated by dependencies and resource constraints. While dependencies and resource constraints form the backbone of any critical chain schedule, there are sometimes practical reasons to influence the order of tasks beyond what the network structure dictates. Fusion Online provides two mechanisms to do this: endpoint priorities and scheduling priorities.

Why use priorities?

In many real-world situations, you may want Task A to be worked on before Task B, even if they could technically be done in any order according to the dependency network. For example:

You may want to deliver a feature early for customer feedback.
You might prefer to get a risky task done first, even if it has no direct predecessor link.
There may be organizational reasons to prioritize certain deliverables.

If you don't model this intent, the scheduler will simply prioritize based on dependencies and resource availability, which may not fully align with strategic objectives.

Scheduling priorities allow you to "suggest" a preferred ordering to the scheduler without having to artificially add links.

Two levels of prioritization

Fusion provides two ways to prioritize task scheduling:

1. Endpoint priority

Endpoints can be given priorities in the Endpoints tab of the project.

Higher-priority endpoints result in higher scheduling priority for the tasks that feed them.

2. Scheduling priority (task-level)

Each task can also be assigned a Scheduling Priority (found in Task Details or via Bulk Update).

Lower values mean higher priority.
Tasks without a Scheduling Priority (or with a priority of 0) will always be treated as lower priority than tasks with a non-zero value.
Links and resource availability always take precedence when scheduling. However, if two tasks share the same endpoint and neither links nor resource constraints dictate an order, the Scheduling Priority will determine which task is scheduled first.

Important notes

Critical chain definition: If you specify endpoint priorities, the critical chain for tasks that feed multiple endpoints will be calculated only relative to the highest priority endpoint.
Endpoint priorities override scheduling priorities: If Task A belongs to a higher-priority endpoint than Task B, Task A will take precedence even if Task B has a higher scheduling priority value.
Scheduling priority only matters if resources are assigned: If tasks have no resources, they are considered unlimited in capacity and can theoretically be performed in parallel. Scheduling priority only matters when tasks share or compete for limited resources.
Checklist tasks do not support scheduling priority: Because checklist tasks cannot have resources assigned directly, they are not part of resource-constrained scheduling and therefore do not use scheduling priorities.
Priorities take effect during scheduling: Any change to endpoint or task priorities will not affect the schedule until you perform a Schedule Update or Reschedule.

Scheduling Priority vs. Assignment Priority — don't confuse them

Fusion also provides assignment prioritization for managing day-to-day task execution by individuals via the Assignment Scheduler.

While they sound similar, they serve very different purposes:

Feature

Purpose

Scheduling Priority

Influences task ordering during Project Scheduling to improve project-level performance. Impacts projected times, critical chain, and buffer status.

Assignment Priority

Controls how tasks are ranked in a user's task list for day-to-day execution and workload balancing. It does not affect projected times or project buffer calculations.

Where to set scheduling priorities

Task Details: Find the Scheduling Priority field under the Miscellaneous section.
Bulk Update: From task list views (e.g., My Tasks, All Tasks), you can select multiple tasks and set Scheduling Priority using the Bulk Update panel.
Endpoints tab of Project Details: If you turn on the Prioritize switch, you can drag and drop endpoints to reorder them and set Endpoint Priorities.

Example Scenario

Suppose you have two deliverables:

Endpoint A - An internal prototype with low importance.
Endpoint B - A market-critical customer release.

Without endpoint prioritization, tasks from both may be scheduled purely based on their positions in the network and resource availability. Suppose you set priorities:

You assign Endpoint B a higher endpoint priority than Endpoint A.
Within Endpoint B, you use scheduling priority to make sure that Task B1 (the core feature) gets done before Task B2 (polishing and documentation).

Fusion will now schedule:

Endpoint B's tasks ahead of Endpoint A’s.
Task B1 ahead of Task B2 if resource contention arises.

Summary tips

Use Endpoint Priority to drive project-level deliverable focus.
Use Scheduling Priority for fine-tuning task-level scheduling within endpoints.
Avoid adding artificial dependencies to force task ordering — use scheduling priorities instead.
Remember that scheduling priorities only influence resource-constrained tasks.
Perform a Schedule Update after setting or changing priorities to apply them.