Thank you in advance for your advice / assistance.
We have many projects that span months / years. Frequently tasks of 12-15
hours are spread across 4-6 months. When I try to establish these tasks I
have trouble with the start / stop dates jumping around; i.e. a task of 9
hours starts 11/1 and ends 04/01 with one resource. After I input the task
duration / work of 9 hours and the start date of 11/1 when I input the stop
date of 04/01 the start date becomes the late March.
Obviously I'm doing something incorrectly; how best can the time / duration
elements for these types of tasks be set?
Thanks again.
Welcome to this NG. And yes, you're mis-applying Project. While it can
be used in a number of ways, the intent is that it be used for
Critical Path Method scheduling. You can google for this and find some
excellent tutorials about it. It is basically very simple, but can
get, as so many things, very complex. In a nutshell, you define your
list of tasks and estimate durations for each. Set a start date for
your project. Then link your tasks, indicating which tasks must be
done before or after others. Your goal is to link every single task to
that it has at least one predecessor (task that must be complete
before the current task can start) and one successor (task that can't
start until the current task is complete). Of course, there are other
kinds of relationships between tasks, like SS (start to start) and FF
(finish to finish) and SF (start to finish). There are also variations
on all of these such as lead and lag time. When you are ready, you can
google this NG for more information on any of these concepts.
To begin, just start linking, using FS links. Soon you'll find a task
or tasks that have no natural predecessor task, tasks that can be done
right at the beginning of the project. So that these can have a
predecessor, you create a milestone (task with zero duration) called
"Start". It then becomes the predecessor to any task that otherwise
has no predecessor. Of course, the Start milestone doesn't have to
have a predecessor. Likewise, create a milestone called "Finish" and
make it the successor to any task that doesn't otherwise have a
successor, tasks that are done at the very end of the project. The
only common exceptions to the linking rule are things like weekly
meetings, which truly aren't dependent on the start or finish of
anything else except the project. They can have "Start" as a
predecessor and "Finish" as a successor.
Notice you entered only one date, the project start date. If you have
done this correctly, Project has calculated your finish date for you,
based on your list of tasks, their estimated durations, and the links.
This date may be earlier than your target completion date, in which
case you can throw a party! Or, more likely, the calculated finish
date is later than what the plan calls for. No party now! But the tool
gives you a way to solve this dilema called "Attacking the Critical
Path". The Critical Path is the longest path through the project, and
this path must be shortened to shorten the overall duration of the
project. When you get to that point, google for more on that subject.
Notice I haven't even touched on your resource issues? I haven't
forgotten. But you can't resolve those issues until you have a
meaningful schedule. Right now you have a lot of "Constraints" in your
schedule which will impede your ability to resolve the resource
issues. You need to build a foundation before you can put up walls and
a roof.
You can google this NG for more on all of these topics. You can also
buy books on the subject of M$ Project or on scheduling or on Project
Management. You can google this NG for recommendations for books as
well.
This is something that can't just be done in a few hours. If you want
a useful, practical schedule for your project, it takes some time,
especially at the beginning when you're on the steep side of the
learning curve. But if you stick with it, the payoff is huge. CPM
scheduling gives you so many advantages over "seat-of-the-pants"
scheduling you'll never go back. And you can get help each step of the
way here. Keep us posted of your progress.
Hope this helps in your world.
