Differences in Task types

[Sondin]

Can anyone enlighten me on the differences in task types with a clear
example? I am still confused between Fixed units, Fixed duration and Fixed
work when setting my tasks.

Thanks.

 

[Rod Gill]

Fixed task types only have an effect when you edit an assignment. Units
always = Work / Duration

So, Edit one, fix one and the third one gets recalculated.

You fix one by selecting the relevant Task type.

So, you need to add more work but the assignment mustn't take any longer?
Edit the Work, fix the duration and the units get recalculated when you
click OK: easy!

--

Rod Gill
Microsoft MVP for Project

Author of the only book on Project VBA, see:
http://www.projectvbabook.com

 

[Sondin]

Thanks for your answer.

Let me rephrase what I'm understanding from your answer and from the book
I'm reading.

Fixed duration will not change the duration of the task even if you add more
resources to this task.

Fixed work determine a fixed amount of work each resource is working on the
task. If the task is 2 days and we have 2 resources (100% each), so the task
will take 1 day to complete. If we increase the task to 4 days, each resource
still have to work 2 days to complete. They can't increase extra hours per
day to speed up.

Fixed units type: is it something to do with the % of the resource work hours?

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

Hi Sondin,

Let me try to clarify a bit further.
First, in your explanation of fixed work, you say "the task is 4 days".
That is ambiguous; do you mean there is 4 mandays of Work on the task or do
you mean the task wil last for 4 days?
Remamber, Work is mandays, Duration is the time during which any work is
delivered.
When a resoruce works halftime (units 50%) on a task during 6 days, its
worek will be 3 mandays.

As a general rule also, the task type ONLY comes into play when you MODIFY
an existing assignment

This being said, you say:

Fixed duration will not change the duration of the task even if you add more
resources to this task.

Right, but not complete, this is the complete statement:

Fixed duration will not change the duration of the task even if you add more
resources to this task (by increasing the assignment units) , nor when you
increase the amount of work to be done.

Fixed work: first, let's stick to 1 resource per task fore the basic
explanation, that's complex enough as it is.
On a fixed work task, when you change duration or assignment units, work
will remain constant and its's the 3rd parameter that will adapt to keep
work=duration*units.


Fixed units: when you say somebody is assigned 50% on a task, changing work
or duration will not change that. Changing work will modify duration and
vice versa.

Hope this helps,
--
Jan De Messemaeker
Microsoft Project Most Valuable Professional
+32 495 300 620
For availability check:
http://users.online.be/prom-ade/Calendar.pdf

 

[Sondin]

Hi Jan,

That's perfect. When I know the equation Work = Duration * assigned units,
it is definitely clearer when interpreting the 3 fixed task type.

 

[Mike Glen]

Hi Sondin,

Welcome to this Microsoft Project newsgroup

Also, you might like to have a look at my series on Microsoft Project in the
TechTrax ezine, particularly #1 on task types, at this site:
http://tinyurl.com/2xbhc or this:
http://pubs.logicalexpressions.com/Pub0009/LPMFrame.asp?CMD=ArticleSearch&AUTH=23
(Perhaps you'd care to rate the article before leaving the site,
Thanks.)

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
MS Project MVP