Automatically Update Work

[bradsaxon]

When I update the resource units for an individual activity, it does not
automatically update the work column. What am I missing? Is there a setting
to make Work update automatically?

For example, I have 4 resources assigned to complete a task. When I update
the resource allocation (from 3% to 6%), the Work task does not change. Also,
when I "Clear Contents" WOrk returns to 0 and I can't get the Work total to
update.

Thanks for the help!

Brad

 

[bradsaxon]

Also, is there a way to force Duration to stay the same while updating the
Resource units. I think I figured out my earlier question by changing the
Duration back to original and the Work column updated.

Also, if I assign hours to a resource (20hrs instead of 13%) why is the
total Work not exact (for example, I have 4 resources X 20hrs but my total
Work comes out to be 82.57??).

Thanks,

Brad

 

[Steve House [MVP]]

A couple of things to check would be to make sure that recalculation is set
to automatic (Tools Options Calculation tab) and also check the task type
setting for the task in question. If it is Fixed Work or Fixed Units,
changing the assignment units will cause the duration to change instead of
the work. If you want to make sure a change to the assignment units causes
the work estimate to change, make the task type Fixed Duration before doing
the edits.

Why such small allocation percentages? 6% means that for an 8-hour duration
task, for example, each resource is only doing about 1/2 hour of work. Why
not make it a 30-minute task, assign your resources 100% and get 'er done
and out of the way?

 

[bradsaxon]

Steve -

Thanks for the feedback. Such a small % is the result of long Durations. For
example, I have a task that is 344hrs in Duration (43dys), yet over the life
of that activity, each resource may only spend 20 hrs working on it. The task
in hand is to "Help organize for upcoming workshops". The Duration is long
but the amount of time to complete that task is minimal.

I will look into the Fixed Duration assignment as you have discussed. I have
finished setting all of the Durations and now I need to set Work hours. We
are up to 1400 activities so any time savings is appreciated (and necessary).

Thanks!

Brad

 

[Steve House [MVP]]

See my earlier answer - you need to read up on the Task Type settings in
Project's help.

For your second question, that's a curious one. They really should be
adding up to 80 in your example. How are you setting the work, what screen
are you using and step-by-step how have you made the entries? Are you sure
you're looking at work and not duration somewhere along the line? 82.57
man-hours means each one is doing 20.6425 which looks like round-off errors
are creeping in somewhere but not knowing how you got to that point, its
hard to say for sure just where. If you are directly entering the work for
each resource, perhaps with the split screen, and have entered "20" in each
resource's work field, unless there's another resource hiding somewhere it
should certainly total 80.

 

[bradsaxon]

Steve - Also, why are the work hours not computing exactly to 80 hrs? I have
4 resources X 20 but the Work comes out to be 82.57hrs.

Thanks in advance!

Brad

 

[bradsaxon]

I think I have now forced all of the tasks to Fixed Duration. Thanks for the
feedback.

The hours are being set by the Resource tab in the Task Information dialog
box. In the Units column, I am actually forcing hrs (instead of %) for each
resource by typing in 20h and letting the system assign the %. I believe I
only have the 4 resources assigned. It may be rounding but that seems strange
to me. MS Project is usually exact to a science.

Thanks!

Brad

 

[Steve House [MVP]]

See my other response regarding the odd summing behavior - something is
happening with rounding but I don't have enough info to know just where. If
you want and it's not "classified" you're welcome to zip the file and email
it and I'll be glad to take a look at it.

--
Steve House [MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs

 

[Mike Glen]

Hi Brad,

Welcome to this Microsoft Project newsgroup

In my experience, the advent of decimal hours nearly always is the result of
a mis-match of working hours and caledars. You might like to see FAQ Item:
5. Default Working Hours

FAQs, companion products and other useful Project information can be seen at
this web address: http://www.mvps.org/project/

Hope this helps - please let us know how you get on

Mike Glen
Project MVP

 

[Steve House [MVP]]

Agreed - but in this case it seems he's saying that 4 resources on a task,
each doing exactly 20.00 hours of work, result in *total work* for the task
of 82.57 hours. I haven't been able to duplicate it so I'm in a total
muddle as to what could cause such a thing - the calendar/hours mismatch
would effect the duration days displayed for those hours but I don't have
any idea what could cause the addition error in the work itself.
--
Steve House [MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs

 

[Mike Glen]

Good point, I can't recreate it either. I suggest he takes up your offer of
a look at his project.

Mike Glen
Project MVP