Fixed Units

[Jpstewar]

I'm a little confused about the term 'units' in Microsoft Project. is it
synonymous with resources? Or if not, what does it mean?

 

[Andrew Lavinsky]

Units references the percentage of the work period that is allocated to a
task.

For instance, if I usually work 8 hours / day, then 100% units = 8 hours,
and 50% units = 4 hours.

The key calculation you should always keep in mind behind the scenes is Duration
X (Units X Person Hours Per Day) = Work. You generally provide two of these
variables w/ Project calculating the third (assuming that U X PHPD is one
variable).

- Andrew Lavinsky
Blog: http://blogs.catapultsystems.com/epm

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Jpstewar --

When you assign a resource to a task, you can enter a Units value for the
resource to indicate whether the resource works full-time or part-time. If
you enter 100% Units, Microsoft Project assumes the resource works full-time
for every day he/she is assigned to the task. If you do not change the
working time shown on the Standard calendar, then this means the resource
works 8 hours each day over the life (Duration) of the task. If you enter a
Units value of 50%, Microsoft Project assumes the resource works only
half-time on the task, working 4 hours each day over the life (Duration) of
the task.

Beyond this, there are several other fields that involve Units. On the
Resource Sheet view, there is a field called Max. Units, in which you can
specify whether a resource is available to work full-time or part-time on
the project. Enter 100% to indicate the resource is available full-time, or
enter a number less than 100% to represent that the resource is only
available part-time.

Fixed Units is a Task Type for a task, which which you can specify that
Microsoft Project "lock" or fix whatever Units value you enter. This is the
default Task Type setting, by the way. Using Fixed Units, Microsoft Project
does not recalculate the Units value when you change either the Duration or
Work values on a task.

Hope this helps.