basic resource planning question!

[storm]

Hi chaps
I'm having a bit of a blonde moment here!
I'm about to start planning this fiscal year's work programme and I'm
struggling with it.
I'll start with an example
Project A has 10 tasks. The dev manager reckons it will take 166 days
to complete the work. I.E. if we started it today it would be all done
in 166 days time. But the dev boys wouldn't be working on it 100% of
their time, they will be working on other projects at the same time.
So, the 166 days should be written into which column on my plan? I
thought it should go into Duration. And the actual time to do the
work? The dev manager tells me "this chunk of work will take 5 weeks,
and this one will take 2 weeks" Where do I put that?! I created a
column called "Work" but entering values into that alters the Duration,
and I don't want that.

Many thanks for your suggestions and advice!
lynne

 

[Mark Everett | PMP]

Hello Lynne -

I am blonde too, or would be if I wasn't bald.

For each task with resource assignments, you have four values to
select:
1. Task type - the default is fixed units, which is what is causing
your duration to change when you put in the work.
2. Duration - that is the calendar duration, set by default in working
days, that the task is expected to take. This can be set, or you can
allow Project to set it for you based on the other information you put
in.
3. Units - this is set for each resource on the task and represents the
% of their working day that they can spend on the project. So if you
set units to 50%, that means 4 hours, using a default 8 hour day.
4. Work - this is the effort, or the number of planned hours.

Using a task type of fixed units, you could set the duration and the
units, and Project will calculate the duration. If the duration has
already been decided, you might switch to Fixed Duration, in which case
you could put in the duration and the units and Project will calculate
the work. From your post, I think you will be happier with fixed
duration.

I have a fairly detailed paper on Task Types and how they effect your
project, if you think that would help. Let me know.

Best Regards,
Mark Everett
www.quantumpm.com

 

[storm]

oooo, yes please, that would be very helpful, thanks very much!
lynne