Every resource in Maverick — employees, machines, and equipment — carries an individual availability schedule that defines when it can work and how many hours per day it provides. When a resource is assigned to a project task, Maverick uses that schedule to compute the task's finish date. Change the schedule, the resource, or the task's duration, and the dates move. Here are six ways resource schedules control your project timeline.
1. Each resource has its own schedule — not a shared project calendar
Maverick does not apply a single global calendar to all resources. Every employee and machine carries its own availability schedule set directly on the resource record. Two people on the same team can have entirely different schedules — one full-time five days a week, another part-time three mornings — and Maverick factors each independently when computing task finish dates. The schedule belongs to the resource, not to the project.
2. Schedules are built from time segments with a start time, end time, and hours count
Each working day in a resource schedule is defined by one or more time segments. A segment records three values: a start time, an end time, and the number of productive hours that segment provides. Multiple segments per day allow split shifts, maintenance windows, and any real-world pattern. Days with no segments defined are non-working days — the resource is unavailable and Maverick will not schedule any task hours on that day.
3. Employee schedules define work hours — typically 40 hours per week
For human resources, the availability schedule captures how many hours per week the person works. A full-time employee configured with two four-hour segments Monday through Friday provides eight hours per day and 40 hours per week. Part-time employees are configured the same way — just with segments defined only on the days and times they work. Maverick uses whichever schedule is set; it does not assume a 40-hour week unless you define it that way.
4. Machine schedules define hours available for use — which directly affects finish dates
Machine resources have availability schedules that define how many hours per day the machine can be used for project work. A machine running a single eight-hour production shift provides eight hours of availability per day. A machine running two shifts provides 16. A machine with a maintenance window on Wednesdays carries no Wednesday segments and will not be assigned any task hours on that day — Maverick skips non-working days when counting forward through the schedule, just as it skips employee weekends.
5. Maverick counts hours forward through the schedule to compute finish dates
When a resource is assigned to a task, Maverick starts at the task's start date and counts the resource's scheduled hours forward until the task's required duration in hours is exhausted. The date on which the last hour is counted becomes the task's finish date. A 24-hour task assigned to a resource providing 8 hours per day finishes in 3 working days. The same task assigned to a resource providing 16 hours per day finishes in 2. The resource schedule drives the finish date — not a count of calendar days.
6. Changing task duration immediately recomputes all downstream dates
When you change a task's duration, Maverick recalculates its finish date by counting the new duration forward through the assigned resource's schedule from the start date. If the task has successors, their start dates shift to match the new finish. The entire downstream schedule adjusts automatically — based on resource schedules, not manual date entry — so a change to one task propagates correctly through everything that depends on it.