fixed time-phased work for management task

[Gil]

Hi all,
In order to create a "project management task", which lasts as long as
the project lasts, I followed advice from this group, and have created
a hammock task, fixed units, not effort driven, and assigned it to the
PM with 50% units, and got the desired result: the task is scheduled
4 hours a day, for the length of the project.

The problem begins when actual work values are entered.
If on a given day the project manager enter 6 hours of actual work,
instead of the planned 4, project automatically change the planned
work for the day after from 4 to 2, trying to keep total work for the
assignment as it was.

The result I am trying to accomplish is this: No matter what is the
actual value that them PM enters, the (planned) work for the following
days won't change (in my example, I want it to stay 4,4,4,4…).
I have tried all task types, none is doing what I need.

Any help or thoughts will be appreciated!
Thanks,
Gil

 

[John]

Hi all,
In order to create a "project management task", which lasts as long as
the project lasts, I followed advice from this group, and have created
a hammock task, fixed units, not effort driven, and assigned it to the
PM with 50% units, and got the desired result: the task is scheduled
4 hours a day, for the length of the project.

The problem begins when actual work values are entered.
If on a given day the project manager enter 6 hours of actual work,
instead of the planned 4, project automatically change the planned
work for the day after from 4 to 2, trying to keep total work for the
assignment as it was.

The result I am trying to accomplish is this: No matter what is the
actual value that them PM enters, the (planned) work for the following
days won't change (in my example, I want it to stay 4,4,4,4Š).
I have tried all task types, none is doing what I need.

Any help or thoughts will be appreciated!
Thanks,
Gil

Gil,
This is a common "misconception" with how Project works. Project has
three fields that track various types of data (e.g. duration, work,
cost, etc.). The main fields are the current schedule fields. For effort
it is the Work field. Once a plan is developed, a baseline should be set
(Tools/Tracking/Save Baseline). That will capture a snapshot of various
fields for later comparison to the current plan. Once the project is
underway, actuals are entered to show what really is happening. Project
will, (and should), adjust the scheduled fields accordingly.

In your case all you should have to do is to look at the Baseline Work
field for the PM effort - assuming you did set a baseline. It will
always show 4,4,4, etc., unless you set a new baseline.

Hope this helps.

John
Project MVP

 

[Jim Aksel]

I somewhat part ways with my collegues, we keep level of effort tasks like
this in a separate file. That way they do not pollute your true critical
path.

However, your program then becomes two or more files; it is easily handled
with Master/Subprojects.
--
If this post was helpful, please consider rating it.

Jim Aksel, MVP

Check out my blog for more information:
http://www.msprojectblog.com

 

[Gil]

Gil,
This is a common "misconception" with how Project works. Project has
three fields that track various types of data (e.g. duration, work,
cost, etc.). The main fields are the current schedule fields. For effort
it is the Work field. Once a plan is developed, a baseline should be set
(Tools/Tracking/Save Baseline). That will capture a snapshot of various
fields for later comparison to the current plan. Once the project is
underway, actuals are entered to show what really is happening. Project
will, (and should), adjust the scheduled fields accordingly.

In your case all you should have to do is to look at the Baseline Work
field for the PM effort - assuming you did set a baseline. It will
always show 4,4,4, etc., unless you set a new baseline.

Hope this helps.

John
Project MVP- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Thanks for taking the time to answer.

John,
In a "regular" task everything you wrote is valid. But in the case of
"management task" like I mentioned, it doesn't make any sense for
Project to "adjust the scheduled fields accordingly", because the plan
for the future should not change: Even if the PM devoted 5 hours today
to manage the project (instead of 4 hours I estimated), he is still
expected to devote 4 hours to manage the project tomorrow. Adjusting
the schedule will change planned work to 3 hours tomorrow (to
compensate for the extra hour of today), which is wrong, this should
be a "fixed-daily-duration" task (or whatever term you find suitable).
If I communicate the plan to resources (let's say through Project
Server) I want them to see that planned work for this task has not
change, and is still 4 hours a day, no matter how much work is
actually being put at the end of the day. I think this is the nature
of management tasks like this. Don't you?

Jim,
Can you please elaborate a little more how to accomplish this target
with master project.?

 

[John]

Thanks for taking the time to answer.

John,
In a "regular" task everything you wrote is valid. But in the case of
"management task" like I mentioned, it doesn't make any sense for
Project to "adjust the scheduled fields accordingly", because the plan
for the future should not change: Even if the PM devoted 5 hours today
to manage the project (instead of 4 hours I estimated), he is still
expected to devote 4 hours to manage the project tomorrow. Adjusting
the schedule will change planned work to 3 hours tomorrow (to
compensate for the extra hour of today), which is wrong, this should
be a "fixed-daily-duration" task (or whatever term you find suitable).
If I communicate the plan to resources (let's say through Project
Server) I want them to see that planned work for this task has not
change, and is still 4 hours a day, no matter how much work is
actually being put at the end of the day. I think this is the nature
of management tasks like this. Don't you?

Gil,
I explained how Project works, regardless of how the task is defined by
the user. Now let's examine the definition of a true level-of-effort
(LOE) task. For a LOE task there is really only one relevant variable -
that is the passage of time. A LOE task is initially planned with a
given amount of total effort (e.g. 1000 hours to manage a program over
the length of that program). Once the project is started, a LOE task is
statused strictly by entering percent complete through the status date.
Actual work is never entered for a LOE task, it doesn't matter how many
hours the resource works or doesn't work, it is a LOE task! Oh, it
matters to the company financial system because it needs to allocate
that manager's salary to various programs.

Hopefully this helps.

John
Project MVP

 

[Dave]

Hi all,
In order to create a "project management task", which lasts as long as
the project lasts, I followed advice from this group, and have created
a hammock task, fixed units, not effort driven, and assigned it to the
PM with 50% units, and got the desired result: the task is scheduled
4 hours a day, for the length of the project.

The problem begins when actual work values are entered.
If on a given day the project manager enter 6 hours of actual work,
instead of the planned 4, project automatically change the planned
work for the day after from 4 to 2, trying to keep total work for the
assignment as it was.

The result I am trying to accomplish is this: No matter what is the
actual value that them PM enters, the (planned) work for the following
days won't change (in my example, I want it to stay 4,4,4,4…).
I have tried all task types, none is doing what I need.

Any help or thoughts will be appreciated!
Thanks,
Gil

The problem is that you told the application that there was a certain
amount of work in that assignment. Project necessarily has to make the
totality of work scheduled add up to that amount. Consequently, if you
do more work than planned early on, then it must reduce the amount of
work later on. Whether it removes that work from the next day or
averages it over the remainder of the task is fairly arbitrary. If you
think that the amount of work later on will not decrease then the amount
of work on the assignment has changed and you should increase it.

If the amount of work in your hammock task is in reality quite variable
then it is pointless trying to schedule it with a flat contour on a
day-to-day basis - you need to take a longer term view so that the
average work done in a period is right.

Personally I have given up using hammock tasks for this very reason. I
create monthly management activities. This actually makes it easier to
see what the average work done is and to adjust the future plan accordingly.

If you really have to decouple activities on one day from subsequent
work then you need to make separate tasks.

 

[Gil]

The problem is that you told the application that there was a certain
amount of work in that assignment.  Project necessarily has to make the
totality of work scheduled add up to that amount.  Consequently, if you
do more work than planned early on, then it must reduce the amount of
work later on.  Whether it removes that work from the next day or
averages it over the remainder of the task is fairly arbitrary.  If you
think that the amount of work later on will not decrease then the amount
of work on the assignment has changed and you should increase it.

If the amount of work in your hammock task is in reality quite variable
then it is pointless trying to schedule it with a flat contour on a
day-to-day basis - you need to take a longer term view so that the
average work done in a period is right.

Personally I have given up using hammock tasks for this very reason.  I
create monthly management activities.  This actually makes it easier to
see what the average work done is and to adjust the future plan accordingly.

If you really have to decouple activities on one day from subsequent
work then you need to make separate tasks.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Dave,
Thanks for your answer.
The thing is, I didn't tell Project anything about this management
task total work... I told Project the duration of the task (which is
dynamic, as a hammock task) and the assignment units (let's say 50%),
and then Project concluded the total work. Then, after entering
actuals, Project tryied to keep this total work fix so it adjusted
future time-phased work.
We are using Project server so I don't know what kind of task to
create for the project manager to report daily actuals on.. and that
is why I can not create a monthly management activities..
Gil

 

[Dave]

Dave,
Thanks for your answer.
The thing is, I didn't tell Project anything about this management
task total work... I told Project the duration of the task (which is
dynamic, as a hammock task) and the assignment units (let's say 50%),
and then Project concluded the total work. Then, after entering
actuals, Project tryied to keep this total work fix so it adjusted
future time-phased work.
We are using Project server so I don't know what kind of task to
create for the project manager to report daily actuals on.. and that
is why I can not create a monthly management activities..
Gil

But the issue is still the same. If you said the work was 50% and you
went over that on one day, then you must go under it on some point in
the future (otherwise the totality of work must be greater than 50%).
The only question is how that shortfall is distributed.

I don't see that Project Server affects in any way how you do this. I
use Project Server and I do it as described above.

As I indicated above, the only way to stop work on one day affecting
planned work on other days is to decouple the activities.

Why does it actually matter if he goes over on one day - how closely are
you going to track this? If you really are going to track it daily then
adjust the subsequent day's work at the same time - you could do this
with a macro but that feels a bit dangerous.

 

[Gil]

But the issue is still the same.  If you said the work was 50% and you
went over that on one day, then you must go under it on some point in
the future (otherwise the totality of work must be greater than 50%).
The only question is how that shortfall is distributed.

I don't see that Project Server affects in any way how you do this.  I
use Project Server and I do it as described above.

As I indicated above, the only way to stop work on one day affecting
planned work on other days is to decouple the activities.

Why does it actually matter if he goes over on one day - how closely are
you going to track this?  If you really are going to track it daily then
adjust the subsequent day's work at the same time - you could do this
with a macro but that feels a bit dangerous.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Dave,
Thanks for all the help,
Gil