Can I establish start and finish time for specific task?

[Damon]

Does MS Project 2007 have the capabilities to input a start and finish time
for a specific task in conjunction with the Start and Finish dates?
Example:
Task 1-Excavate Dirt- Monday Oct 1. 07:00hrs to 12:00hrs
Task 2-Build forms- Monday Oct 1. 12:00hrs to 14:00hrs
Task 2-Form Rebar- Monday Oct1. 14:00hrs to 19:00hrs
etc.
Thanks in advance for your help
Damon

 

[Dominic]

Damon,

You can specify scheduling to the accuracy you require in MS Project by
following these 3 steps.

1: Ensure that both your Options\Calendar settings and the Base Calendar for
your project (Change Working Time dialogue box) are in Synch and allow for a
working day that is not the default OOTB. In your case you are looking to
achieve a 12 hour day with no lunchbreak.

2: To display the time go Tools>Options>View and in the Date Format section
select the format most suited to your needs - typically you will want one of
the selections that displays time as well as date.

3: Looking at your list of tasks if your working day spans from 07:00
through to 19:00 hours with no interruptions you could simply enter the
tasks, edit durations to be 5h, 2h and 5h respectively and link them
together - the 2nd & 3rd tasks would start at the desired times - if they
don't odds are that you have not edited the settings mentioned in 1: above.

Let us know how you get on.
--
Dominic Moss

Projectability - Helping People achieve more with Microsoft Project

www.projectability.co.uk

 

[DavidC]

Hi Damon,

A short answer is no. You can set either a start or finish date but
generally not both. Project calculates dates from data you enter about the
work or duration required to complete each task. So if your task "Excavate
dirt you expect to take .5d (7:00am to 12:00am) then set duration to 0.5d,
the successor to that is then "build forms" duration 2hrs, and the successor
to that is "form rebar" duration 3hrs. This will automatically set start and
finsh dates for all your tasks, except the start of the first task which must
have a start date set if there is no predecessor. However it also does mean
that you will need to check your calendar settings, and make sure the default
settings for hours per day, days per week match that of your calendar. Also
do not allow the default 'none' to be set as the task calendar, set the task
calendar to the calendar appropriate to that task. It is a good habit to get
into.

Hope this helps

Regards

DavidC

 

[Steve House [MVP]]

All date fields in Project are really date/time fields and when manually
doing an entry all you need do is type the time as part of your entry. To
see the times, as others have mentioned, go to the Tools, Options menu and
on the View page select a date format that also displays the time. Of much
greater importance is the fact that you should not be entering task start
and finish dates at all, whether you specify time or not. It's Project's
job to calculate those dates and times for you, based on the project kickoff
date, the durations of the various tasks, the workflow modeled in the task
links, and the availability of the resources required to do the work. You
don't tell it when you think tasks should take place - it tells you when
tasks can take place.
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm for the FAQs

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