How do I set duration units to years in Project 2003?

[Novbabea]

In a previous version of Projecf the duration units were able to be set for
years. Project 2003 does not give me the choice to select years as duration
units.

 

[Steve House]

You can set the Gantt chart timeline to units of years if you wish but you
are correct, you can't set task durations to years. The question has to
come up, though - why would you want to? Individual tasks should represent
the work done by a single resource or resource team that produces a single
deliverable. While there are exceptions, if you have individual tasks that
run more than 80 hours or so you're probably not breaking your project down
into sufficient detail. Summary tasks and project phases certainly may last
more than a year but they would contain many hundreds of subtasks that would
get completely lost if you used 'year' as the basic unit of duration.
Timeline with years in the top tier? Certainly. But not for individual
tasks.

 

[davegb]

In a previous version of Projecf the duration units were able to be set for
years. Project 2003 does not give me the choice to select years as duration
units.

I've been using and teaching M$ Project since before the Windoze
version. It has never had the option to set duration units to years.
The added months a few versions back. Prior to that, it was minutes,
hours, days or weeks.

As Steve has said, why bother scheduling if it's in years? All of the
reasons that one schedules for would be lost, other than having some
sort of target date. You don't need M$ Project to set a target date.
Would be like using a chainsaw to carve a toothpick!

 

[Novbabea]

Thanks Steve, This clears up my problem. The reason I was hoing for years is
becauce this is only going to be a proposed projct schedule and there will
not be any assigned resources at this time. Once the project is approved that
may change but for now I just needed to create a timeline.

You can set the Gantt chart timeline to units of years if you wish but you
are correct, you can't set task durations to years. The question has to
come up, though - why would you want to? Individual tasks should represent
the work done by a single resource or resource team that produces a single
deliverable. While there are exceptions, if you have individual tasks that
run more than 80 hours or so you're probably not breaking your project down
into sufficient detail. Summary tasks and project phases certainly may last
more than a year but they would contain many hundreds of subtasks that would
get completely lost if you used 'year' as the basic unit of duration.
Timeline with years in the top tier? Certainly. But not for individual
tasks.
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm for the FAQs

In a previous version of Projecf the duration units were able to be set
for
years. Project 2003 does not give me the choice to select years as
duration
units.

 

[Steve House]

Any kind of schedule that you create that runs that far out and doesn't
detail down to proper task levels is going to be a WAG (Wild A**ed Guess)
anyway so why not simplify and use a graphics tool such as MS Visio to
illustrate your proposed timeline? Just keep in mind that until you break
it down properly you really can't know if a certain timetable is achievable
or not. Don't make contractual commitments based on wishful thinking.

--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm for the FAQs

Thanks Steve, This clears up my problem. The reason I was hoing for years
is
becauce this is only going to be a proposed projct schedule and there will
not be any assigned resources at this time. Once the project is approved
that
may change but for now I just needed to create a timeline.

You can set the Gantt chart timeline to units of years if you wish but
you
are correct, you can't set task durations to years. The question has to
come up, though - why would you want to? Individual tasks should
represent
the work done by a single resource or resource team that produces a
single
deliverable. While there are exceptions, if you have individual tasks
that
run more than 80 hours or so you're probably not breaking your project
down
into sufficient detail. Summary tasks and project phases certainly may
last
more than a year but they would contain many hundreds of subtasks that
would
get completely lost if you used 'year' as the basic unit of duration.
Timeline with years in the top tier? Certainly. But not for individual
tasks.
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm for the FAQs

In a previous version of Projecf the duration units were able to be set
for
years. Project 2003 does not give me the choice to select years as
duration
units.