Creating Tasks

[Craig Smillie]

Hi,

I'm trying to create 4 tasks that all have to finish by 30 September and
start today. Howeve the actual work of each task is only about 3 days per
task, and they're not dependent on each other to finish.

My trouble is when I what I'd liek to show is the the duration of each
task as 3 days, with a start date of today and a complete date of 30 Sep,
then have the team members just update the % Work compelted.

When I try to do it, Project 2007 always adjusts the Start and End date to
be the duration, not the actual work involved.

Hope this makes sense, any help appreciated

Thanks

 

[Rob Schneider]

Craig,

I think you are confusing Work with Duration. For example, you say the
duration of each task is 3 days and you want to start them as of "today"
which would be 28 Aug. You want them completed on 30 Sept. If in fact
the duration is set for three days, then completion would be on 28 Aug +
3 working days which would be on or about 2 or 3 Sept (depending on the
number of non working days and if monday is a holiday in your country).
In Project it cannot possibly end on 30 Sept becuase you told it it
would take 3 days.

Instead, what I think you mean is that tasks are 3 days of *work* which
is spead over the available workdays until 30 Sept (which would be on my
calendar about 23 days. So Word=3days, Duration=23 days. Project will
compute Units=3/23=0.13 which is 0.13 units of work spread across each
of the 23 work days.

Remember the project triangle: Work, Duration, Units. Fix one, input
another, and Project computes the third.

--rms

www.rmschneider.com

 

[Guest]

Craig,

I think you are confusing Work with Duration. For example, you say the
duration of each task is 3 days and you want to start them as of "today"
which would be 28 Aug. You want them completed on 30 Sept. If in fact
the duration is set for three days, then completion would be on 28 Aug +
3 working days which would be on or about 2 or 3 Sept (depending on the
number of non working days and if monday is a holiday in your country).
In Project it cannot possibly end on 30 Sept becuase you told it it
would take 3 days.

Instead, what I think you mean is that tasks are 3 days of *work* which
is spead over the available workdays until 30 Sept (which would be on my
calendar about 23 days. So Word=3days, Duration=23 days. Project will
compute Units=3/23=0.13 which is 0.13 units of work spread across each
of the 23 work days.

Remember the project triangle: Work, Duration, Units. Fix one, input
another, and Project computes the third.

--rms

www.rmschneider.com

As Rob says, there is a fixed relationhip between Work, Duration and Units
of resource. The acutal equation is

W = DxU (if W & U are both in the same units, like days or hrs)

If they are not in the same units, a conversion factor applies. E.g., if
Duration is in days and Work is in hours (Project default units), the
formula becomes

W=DxUx8 (if you're using 8 hrs /day as your standard work day. So 3 people
working 4 days is

W=4x3x8=96 hrs.

Of course, again as Rob pointed out, this amount of work can take much
longer to accomplish, depending on numerous other factors such as
availablity of resources, weather, etc. So the Duration of this task could
be anything equal to or greater than 12 days (unless more resources are
added or some other fundamental factor is changed).

HTH

 

[Steve House]

As the others have said but there's another consideration as well. When you
say Project keeps adjusting the start and end date to the duration, that's
exactly what it is supposed to do. Duration is DEFINED as the amount on
time in the working time calendar between when work actually commences on a
task and when the work is complete. That is, the amount of time between the
start and end date. When you say the task begins today and has a finish
date of 30 Sep, by definition that task has a ~20 day duration. (Rounding
the dates to 1 Sep - 30 Sep, 1 month, which is 20 working days, and assuming
all the default settings and calendars).

But consider too, what is really happening physically in the task. Will the
resource actually start work on it today, work on it gradually for a month,
and hand it off on 30 September, or is the situation such that the task
could start today but might not, once it starts it is expected that the
resource will give it his full attention for 3 days so it actually finishes
3 days after whenever it starts, and that three days of work must take place
sometime before a required delivery date of 30 Sep? If it's the former,
the task is a 20 day duration task that requires 24 man-hours of work, hence
it has its resource assigned to it at a 15% asignment level. If it's the
latter, it's a 3 day duration task with an Early Start (hence also schedule
Start) of today a DEADLINE of 30 Sep, with the resource assigned to it 100%.
If that's the case, why let the resource dawdle? You'd schedule it to start
ASAP and tell the resource to get on with it, on the assumption that it's
most important to the project to "git 'er done" as Larry the Cable Guy
says - why delay to tomorrow what you can get done today.

HTH

 

[vanita]

Hi

In addition to the suggestions by everyone:
Since you have 4 tasks starting simultaneously, let the first task be a
milestone 'Project Start' and make it a predecessor for the 4 tasks. Also a
milestone 'Project Finish' as the last task and successor to the 4 tasks.
This way logic of the schedule would be correct that there would be no open
ended tasks.

Through 'Advanced' tab of 'Task Information' box apply a constraint to
'Project Finish' of 'Must Finish on' 30th Sep. After that look at the
durations and resource assignment for the 4 tasks as discussed by other
experts.

I hope it helps.
Vanita