Automatic rescheduling (recast)

How Gradeworks automatically recalculates your project schedule when changes happen — respecting dependencies, pinned dates, and the work week calendar.

When you move a block, change a duration, or mark a block complete early, the rest of the schedule needs to respond. Recast handles this automatically — it adjusts dates for all affected work blocks based on what depends on what, any dates you've locked, and your work week calendar. You make one change and the whole schedule adjusts.

What triggers recast

Moving a block to a new date
Changing a block's duration
Adding or removing a dependency
Pinning or unpinning a date
Marking a block as complete (frees up dependent blocks)
Adding a holiday to the company calendar

How recast works

Recast works through your schedule from the earliest blocks forward. For each block, it figures out the soonest it can start based on when the blocks before it finish. It skips non-working days and holidays per your calendar. Blocks with locked dates stay put — recast schedules around them.

The calculation happens instantly and is shown as a preview before being applied. You'll see which blocks moved, by how many days, and in which direction. If you don't like the result, undo it before it takes effect.

Pro tip

When a project is slipping, add the actual days-lost to the affected block's duration instead of manually sliding all downstream blocks. Recast will cascade the delay through all dependencies correctly, including parallel paths. Manual adjustments miss things — recast doesn't.

Recast and pinned dates

Pinned dates are fixed points that recast works around. If a pinned block's predecessor finishes late, recast doesn't move the pinned block — it flags a conflict instead. This is intentional: pinned dates represent external commitments (concrete pours, inspections, customer deadlines) that can't simply slide. See the Pinning Dates article for more details.

Recast limits

Recast is a scheduling tool, not a mind-reader. It doesn't know about scheduling conflicts (two blocks wanting the same crew on the same day), weather delays, or material lead times. It adjusts dates based on dependencies and durations. Balancing crew workload and managing fixed dates are your judgment calls — recast handles the date calculations.

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Working with work blocks

Create, configure, and manage work blocks — the individual units of work that make up your project schedule.

Block dependencies

Link work blocks so one can't start until another finishes — creating the logical sequence that recast uses to calculate your schedule.

Pinning dates on the timeline

Lock specific blocks to fixed dates that recast won't move — for concrete pours, inspections, customer deadlines, and any commitment you can't reschedule.

Work week and holiday calendar

Configure which days are business days and define your company holiday calendar — these settings control how Gradeworks calculates durations and schedules work.