Calculate effort for a short duration task between dates

[brotherescott]

I have a sequence of events that I am having trouble linking properly.
My scenario is building a cutoff die set. Here are my steps:
1: Design
2: Issue work Order
3: Build
4: Test
5: Ship to customer


I have each task tied to the one before it as a predecessor.
My problem is that I have to ship on a specific date but the design and
issue WO happen as soon as I get the order. The problem then comes in
with the build. Say I get the order on Jan1 and start the design then.
It takes 5 days to design. Then 2 hours to issue a work order. So on
Jan 8(5 days plus 2 for weekend) I issue the WO in 2 hours. I have to
ship on March 1. They can start building on Jan 8 but it will only take
them 5 days to build and 1 day to test. How do I put in a duration of 5
days effort but they have from Jan8 until the end of Feb. to build and
then 1 day to test?
I have the ship date as a "Must start no later than" constraint and
all the others with "as soon as possible" constraints. My problem is
that the resource assigned needs to be for 5 days of work not the 2
months in which they have to do the work.


I would appreciate any help.


Thanks
Scott

 

[Steve House [MVP]]

The duration is 2 months but the work is 5 days. Since there's 20 days per
month, 5 days work spreads out over 40 days duration, corresponding to an
assignment percentage of 12% (5/40).

Now, will they be really spreading that 5 days out over the 2 months, or is
it that once they start they will work fulltime on it for 5 days but they
have a 2 month "window" in which to get it done? If that's true, IMO, a
better way to model it in your plan would be to set the duration to 5 days,
assign the resources to it 100%, and set a deadline for completion 2 months
down the road.

HTH

 

[nmallory]

I have tried doing this, but Project continually changes the
durations/start/finish dates. I have the same problem Scott had, although I
got the schedule from another individual who scheduled with calendar times
(hard to break people of that) so I am in the process of re-doing this. It
just seems that everything I try, Project fights me on.
Also, can this be redone to reflect work in progress? Luckily it is not a
huge schedule, and I can redo the thing and THEN update it; is that my best
course of action?

 

[brotherescott]

I was thinking of using the deadline approach as you suggested but
everyone was telling me not to use had constraints because they can
cause problems later on. I think that this is a case where it is
needed.
I had tried another approach. I put in a build schedule block of time
and then put in a build task after it. I then put in a negative lag
time to push it up into the build block of time and then had the next
task in the list us both of these lines as predecessors. This allowed
me to not put a resource to the the build block of time but I could put
a resource onto the actual build time.
It kind of works but I think I am going to try the deadline approoach
to see how it all works out.

Thanks
Scott

 

[Steve House [MVP]]

A deadline is not the same thing as a constraint and I would agree very
strongly with the advice you got not to use hard constraints for that
purpose. In the task information form (double click on the task ID number
on the left is one way to see it) take a look at the Advanced tab. You'll
see the deadline entry is separate from the constraint field. Deadlines
mark the point in the schedule that you have to hit and red flag the task if
it goes later but it doesn't actually force the schedule into any particular
conformity. Constraints, OTOH, actually do force the schedule to behave in
the designated way whether or not that is a valid model of reality.

Let us know how it works out

 

[Steve House [MVP]]

I'm trying to understand just what problem you're having. Of course Project
recalculates durations/start/finish dates - that what it exists to do
<grin>. Part of it's job is to be a reality check, telling you if you're
going to make your required goals if you structure the project and assign
the resources in a certain way.

Remember there are three variables involved in scheduling any task - the
amount of work required, the working time period over which the work will be
accomplished, and the level of attention the resources will devote to the
task. If we have a task requiring 40 man-hours of energy and a resource who
can devote his full attention to it, it will take him 40 working hours to do
it. If he can only devote half of his attention to it, it will take him 80
working hours to do the 40 hours of work. That calculates the duration.
The start date depends on when the links, constraints, and the resource's
availability allow it to start. The elapsed time on the Gantt chart, the
end date, depends on the amount of duration time the task needs combined
with when the resource is going to be there to do the work. If he's there
every day except for weekends and works 8 hours a day, the finish will be 5
workdays later if he does nothing else or 10 workdays later if he only
devotes half of his attention to it. If he's only there 1 day a week, it
will finish 5 weeks later if he does nothing else or 10 weeks later if he's
only able to devote half his attention to it because that's how long elapsed
time it takes for him to put in 5 or 10 workdays respectively. That's where
the calendars come into play.

Problems with posting actuals usually come from trying to update the
*scheduled* fields, the table you see in the regular Gantt chart, with
actuals. Don't do that. Instead, display the tracking table using the view
menu and update the Actual Start, Finish, Duration, and Remaining fields.
Updating the actual also updates the scheduled but it doesn't work the other
way around and the end result is quite different. If you've already done
some of the work, at first pretend you haven't. Build the plan as if it was
all in the future and then go and enter what has actually been done so far
in the actual fields just like you will as you do the rest of the work.
--
Steve House [MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs

 

[brotherescott]

My problem is working between time aloted and work preformed. I set up
windows of time to preform a task but the effort to complete the task
can be done any way the person wants to. I do have a rough idea on the
effort required though.
What I am trying to accomplish is a time line that has all my tasks and
dates I need to hit but also give me the resources required during that
window of time. If it all worked like a big chain then Project would
give me what I need easliy. It is managing many disjoint long lead
tasks that must come together at a specific date that makes it messy
for me to setup.

Scott

 

[Steve House [MVP]]

Hope you don't mind a bit of philosophy <g> and understand I don't know if
you're a newcomer or an old pro so forgive me if I revisit basics you
already know...

Problem is, IMHO, Project (and formal PM methodology in general) is really
designed for tighter controls than the approach you've mentioned indicates.
The idea is you want to get the project done in the shortest time and least
costly manner possible, consistent with your overall objectives. It's
designed as a tool to help the manager determine the most efficient
schedule, a modeling tool for the guy in charge who's going to be saying
"Joe - you go here on Monday and do this and you need it done by Wednesday
because that's when I need you over there doing that. Meanwhile Fred, I
need you to be at this location doing this all week. That way you'll both
finish by Friday so you can hand over those modules to Susan who needs them
no later than the following Monday, is everyone clear on what they need to
be doing next week?" It's a much more proactive approach to your resource's
work.

I don't mean being dictatorial - that old-fashioned kind of approach is
often counter-productive in today's business climate I think and you may not
have the position power to pull it off anyway - but instead of just defining
broad requirements and letting it go at that, work closely with them to work
out in much more detail precisely what they need to do and when they should
be doing it. Joe's task might require about 24 man-hours of work, something
he'd do in 3 days if he went at it full-tilt but you might go to him and
discuss what else he has going on and how he sees the task and end up
working out together "Ok, I'll show you starting it on Tuesday and you're
comfortable with my counting on you having it ready by Wednesday a week
later - that gives you 6 work days and you're ok with that?" and from that
determine what percentage allocation to show him on the task (50% in that
case, by the way). Now you've got something concrete to bank on and work
with. It's just you can't lose sight of the fact that you are proactively
coordinating and managing their work to meet a specific end result, not just
documenting the objectives and monitoring the work performed towards them.

Your deadline may be November, but if you can get it done by May, at least
in your initial pass that's how you schedule it. Then you can look at the
plan and see if a more relaxed schedule is practical (or desirable) and
reduce the resource assignment levels, introduce lag times, and so forth to
give you a comfortable schedule that finishes far enough ahead of your
required deadline to give you a bit of a cushion to absorb problems and
still meet your overall business strategic objectives.

You used the terms "time alotted" and "work performed." Project is much
more focussed on "time required" to accomplish the "work needed" in order to
meet the strategic plan. Hopefully the time allotted exceeds the time
required so you can brag "we came in ahead of schedule and under budget!"
and get that big bonus you've earned <grin>.

 

[brotherescott]

I had a lon talk with my mentor about how to apply project to my work.
Yes I am a newbie but willing to learn.
I think I am trying to get Project to give me everything when like you
say it is best suited to sequencing the needed tasks. I have changed my
approach to one that says that each task has this window of time to
happen with in. Then to get my time required as a resource for that
task I just do a fraction of 100% to show me putting in 1 or 2 hours.
Is there a way to set a task to take 1 day to acomplish but only have
me as a resource for 25% of the time (4hours) but not have the 1 day
task time change if I adjust my resource time up to 50% from 25%?
I am trying to setup a schedule for myself to see when and how Iong I
am needed throughout the project.

Scott

 

[Steve House [MVP]]

Regarding changing your percentage and have the task remain one day, yer but
.... remember there are three variable to deal with - work, duration, and
units. The Work is the amount of effort the task requires - it measures the
energy you put into it and the productive output you get from it. Duration
is the time span over which you generate that output. And units is the rate
you work at - it represents the percent of your time that is turned into
productive work on the instant task, it's almost like that's your
efficiency.

Project takes those three variables and uses the identity W=D*U as its
primary calculation. You have a task that is 1 day, 8 hours. You assign a
resource to it 25%. That means the task is worth 2 man-hours of work (*not*
4 as your question asserts). You now want to change the units to 50%.

That change means one of two things. Either it means the task is not really
2 hours energy, you've realized it's 4 hours worth of work but you're going
to take the same amount of time to do it. Make the task type Fixed Duration
(Task information form, advanced tab, the same page as the constraints)
before making the change and Project will change the work while keeping the
duration the same.

Or it might mean that while it's still 2 hours of work, you realize you need
it done quicker than the 1 day you originally budgeted for it. So you make
the task type setting Fixed Work before changing your units from 25% to 50%.
After the change the units, the duration will drop from 1 day to 1/2 day.

The one thing you absolutely and positively CANNOT do is have the duration 1
day, the units 50%, and the work 2 hours because that violates basic
mathematics. 8hr * 50% <> 2 hr

 

[brotherescott]

What does it mean when you uncheck the "Effort driven" check box under
the advanced tab for the task. I played with it thinking it would break
the link between effort and duration but it did seem to make any
difference from what I could see.

I am going to try the Fixed Duration to see if that will work better.

Is there another way I could go about this whole thing that would allow
me to track the project but also track my time when it is required and
for how long?
I am working on 2 projects currently and my manager is asking in the
next 6 months where do I have lows in my time that I could plug in
another project or 2.

Thanks Steve for all your help you have been giving me. It has really
cleared up some missconceptions I had in Project.

Scott

 

[Steve House [MVP]]

The effort driven setting controls what happens when you add or remove
bodies from the assignment AFTER you have made an initial assignment. It
does NOT break the link between effort and duration - that link can never be
violated. If I have a task lasting 5 days with 1 resource assigned to it
100%, the total work is 40 man-hours. If I have effort driven turned on and
add another person at 100%, the total work remains at 40 man-hours, it is
distributed now between the two workers for 20 man-hours each, and the
duration drops to 2.5 days. If effort driven is turned off when I add a
second person, the 40 man-hours is replicated for the second person, both of
them now doing 40 man-hours of work for a total of 80, and duration remains
the same at 5 days.

 

[brotherescott]

Is there another way I could go about this whole thing that would allow

me to track the project but also track my time when it is required and
for how long but not to effect the task duration?
I am working on 2 projects currently and my manager is asking in the
next 6 months where do I have lows in my time that I could plug in
another project or 2.

 

[Steve House [MVP]]

The way you've phrased your question makes me wonder if you're really clear
on the distinction between duration and work. Also, remember while project
does track progress on a project, it's primary function is to *plan* the
work before you do it rather than *track* the work afterwards.

Work is the amount of output you generate, expressed as full-time equivalent
hours. Duration is the length of time it takes you to do it. Yopu know
that you have to do 1 days worth of work (8 hours) between now and 1 month
(20 days) from now. That represents an AVERAGE workload of 5%. But if you
enter it into Project as "Task X, 1 month duration, resource 5%, 1 man-day
work" while it tracks the totals just fine it has no way of knowing anything
about the details. Those numbers could represent 2 hours a week or 4 hours
today and another 4 hours one day a month from now or ~30 minutes a day for
the next month or something else.

The task duration is NOT how long you have been allowed to get it done.
IMO, it should represent the time you will work on it once you start it, the
duration being the length of time between the first bit of work you do on it
and when you step back and say "finished!" If you have a task that requires
8 hours of work of full-time effort to accomplish (let's say you can whittle
8 fids an hour and there's 64 fids to make), whenever you start it you plan
to work full-time on it until it's done - when you start whittling you plan
not to stop until you have made all 64 fids - and you're supposed to hand it
in 6 months from now, that task does NOT have a 6 month duration. It is an
8 hour duration task with a deadline in 6 months. OTOH, if you plan to
whittle 1 fid a day, that task's duration is 64 days. If you plan to
whittle 2 fids a day, that task's duration is 32 days.

I don't think entering your tasks into Project the way you are doing is
going to help you much answer your boss's questions. The reason is that all
of the alternatives in the previous paragraph are equally valid. While you
can tell Project how the work is distributed over the duration of the tasks
with something called "resource contouring" you still need to decide just
how you're going to go about it - it won't micromanage your days and tell
you what you need to be doing when. And your boss is asking you about what
you've decided the distribution of your work will be.