Duration vs Work
Duration vs Work
(OP)
Hi,
Is there any way to set MS Project 2000 such that when you enter an effort, the duration is automatically set depending on the hours per day you've defined in the project settings?
For example, we work 7.5 hours per day. I want to be able to enter a task effort of 22.5 hours, and have the duration change to 3 days. Instead I either have to change the duration manually (effectively entering the same information twice), or assign a resource (which by default assigns a %utilisation that make the effort fit within the default of 1 day - 300% in this case - I wouldn't like to ask any of my staff to work 22.5 hours a day...).
At the very least, once a resource is assigned, surely the default utilisation of that resource should be 100%, no more. So entering an effort and a resource should alter the duration.
It seems to me that the default behaviour of Project is not the most suitable for most people planning a project. It kind of assumes that timescales are absolute and that infinite resources are available. Nine women, baby in a month??
Is there any way to set MS Project 2000 such that when you enter an effort, the duration is automatically set depending on the hours per day you've defined in the project settings?
For example, we work 7.5 hours per day. I want to be able to enter a task effort of 22.5 hours, and have the duration change to 3 days. Instead I either have to change the duration manually (effectively entering the same information twice), or assign a resource (which by default assigns a %utilisation that make the effort fit within the default of 1 day - 300% in this case - I wouldn't like to ask any of my staff to work 22.5 hours a day...).
At the very least, once a resource is assigned, surely the default utilisation of that resource should be 100%, no more. So entering an effort and a resource should alter the duration.
It seems to me that the default behaviour of Project is not the most suitable for most people planning a project. It kind of assumes that timescales are absolute and that infinite resources are available. Nine women, baby in a month??
RE: Duration vs Work
You simply need to change the definition of the work day in Project
TTFN
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RE: Duration vs Work
I want to enter an effort, and the duration to change according to the number of hours defined in a work day.
My scenario:
1. I have set up my work day to be 7.5 hours.
2. I have entered a task and set the effort to be 22.5 hours
I want the duration to change to be 3 days, but it's still set at 1 day. I can live with this if:
3. I then enter a resource name and it's assumed to be 100%, thereby setting the duration to 3 days as expected.
But it doesn't, it simply changes the utilisation of my resource to 300%, which is clearly ridiculous.
The question has nothing to do with setting the length of my work day.
Cheers
RE: Duration vs Work
TTFN
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RE: Duration vs Work
RE: Duration vs Work
The duration will then scale to utilize the resources at their max.
TTFN
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RE: Duration vs Work
TygerDawg
Blue Technik LLC
Advanced Robotics & Automation Engineering
www.bluetechnik.com
RE: Duration vs Work
tygerdawn - I try not to use Project's levelling. Firstly, you can't undo it, and secondly you don't see the task/resource dependencies that you do when you use the predecessors. And if you try and level after you've defined your predecessors, Project does some really wacky stuff. Maybe it's better post-Proj2000?
RE: Duration vs Work
duration = work/resource or resource = duration/work
If you pick a duration that is too short for the work, what possible outcome can there be other than an over-utilized resource?
This is what you said:
"1. I have set up my work day to be 7.5 hours.
2. I have entered a task and set the effort to be 22.5 hours
I want the duration to change to be 3 days"
Then, you enter the resource, followed by the effort, which then generates a 3 day duration.
What part are we missing here?
TTFN
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RE: Duration vs Work
RE: Duration vs Work
First, I would not recommend changing the default day to 7.5. This makes thing harder in the long run than they need to be.
But to answer your question, do this.
1. Create a task
2. Ensure the task type is set to Fixed Units
3. Assign a resource to the task at 100%
4. Input 22.5 hours Work
5. You will see that because we told MS Project to use Fixed Units, then input Work, it automatically adjusted the Duration.
Hope this helps!!
J Black
www.pmconnection.com
RE: Duration vs Work
This seems like a basic requirement to me when outline planning a job.
Let me ask a different question: if I'm supposed to do things in the order that everyone here is suggesting (regardless of the inflexibility this mandates), then how come the default column order in MSProj doesn't support it? In fact, the default columns in MSProj don't even include Work, which makes no sense at all!
And one more question: Can anyone suggest a tool that DOES do what I need?
Thanks
RE: Duration vs Work
Let's try this:
1. Create a task
2. Ensure the task type is set to Fixed Units
3. Input 22.5 hours Work
4. Assign a resource to the task at 100%
5. The Duration automatically adjusts
Here are a few other comments:
-Max Units establishes what percentage of time that resource is available to work on your project. It does not establish a threshold that prevents a resource from being overallocated.
-I have often asked myself the same question "why is Work not a field included in the default gantt view"?
-With respect to not assigning a specific resource, you might try initially assigning a generic resource and then using the Replace option to assign your specific resource.
I sense your frustration, and sincerely hope this helps!
~J Black
www.pmconnection.com
RE: Duration vs Work
It's not ideal as you have to type in the utilisation for each resource, meaning you can't use the drop down list that auto-populates as you add resource (because it won't by default set at 100%). But it seems to be the best that Microsoft can offer
Cheers
RE: Duration vs Work
In any case, if you must, you can define a new Entry Table that include Work and use that for the Gantt Chart View. Using the Organizer, you can save the new entry table and the new Gantt Chart view to the global.mpt template file, which will then always open with the modified Gantt chart
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RE: Duration vs Work
And I guess that MS, in their 'infinite wisdom' also recognise that its users apparently want to type 'Resource 1[100%]' into the Resource Names column and have MSP automatically ignore that utilisation and reset to whatever utilisation results from fitting the work into 1 day
Basically it's a crap tool, so I'll repeat my earlier question - is there anything out there that DOES work?
RE: Duration vs Work
Maybe if you could explain again, what you're trying to do, step by step?
TTFN
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RE: Duration vs Work
Now where's the logic in that?
RE: Duration vs Work
The only workaround, annoyingly, is to enter the resource twice. The second time, the resource stays at unity allocation and the duration changes to the correct value.
TTFN
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