How do you set up your project to account for 6 hours of 8...

[Projectina]

...available for project work?

In other words, by default Project has an 8 hour work day. While tha
is nice, we all know no one puts in all 8 hours into their assignment
between meetings, phone calls, breaks, etc.

So lets say I want 6 of 8 hours a day towards project work... As
see it, my options are:

1) Change the project calendar to be from 8am to 3pm or 9am to 4pm
etc. so that each day is 6 hours long
2) Change each resources max units to 75% and leave the projec
calendar at 8 hour days
3) Change each resource calendar to show that they only work 6 hou
days, but leave their max units at 100% and the project calendar at
hour days
4) Leave all the defaults and just change the resource assignmen
units to 75% on each task assignment

Let me know if I'm missing an option.
#1 - I don't like it as much because I prefer to always see a 40 hou
week and imagine it can be better for material resources in some cases
#2 - Seems to be the best since you can change some resources as neede
if they really can be devoted all day
#3 - Seems nice too but too much work maintaining each resourc
calendar and also feels somewhat artificial
#4 - Greatest flexibility but a nightmare to maintain

What do most of you find works best to take into account a real wor
day

 

[Mike Glen]

Hi Projectina ,

I would always go for what works for the majority of your project. In this
case, I would change the calendar to reflect a 6hr day (don't forget to
change the Tools/Options/Calendar tab to reflect a 6hr day, 30hr week). The
majority of your resources will now fit this standard. For your material
resources, or any other exception, create a new calendar for their work.

FAQs, companion products and other useful Project information can be seen at
this web address: http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm

Hope this helps - please let us know how you get on

Mike Glen
MS Project MVP
See http://tinyurl.com/2xbhc for my free Project Tutorials

 

[vanita]

Hi
In my view material resources are not connected with any calendar or working
time. We just calculate their requirement, procure and keep for the project.
So, material resources are not affected whether we are working 6 hrs or 8 hrs
for the project.

For overall solution, I agree with Mike that you may go for 6 hrs working
day calendar. Also, consider resources working with same calendar and
available 100%.

I hope it helps
Vanita

 

[Jan De Messemaeker]

As you have read in my reply to the other post, I unconditionally go for the
calendar option.

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

 

[Darren]

I had a similar issue to Projectina's, but I don't seem to be able to get the
options to work. Here's what I'm trying to do:

I have a resource who is obligated for 25% of his time. I'd like to plan
this project on 6 hour workdays. Therefore if I have a task that will take 8
hours, it should span 1.33 days. I've tried changing working time, adjusting
day hours, week hours, resource availability to 75%, but no matter what I try
it seems to count 8 hours as 1 day. Any advice?

Thank you,
Darren

 

[John]

I had a similar issue to Projectina's, but I don't seem to be able to get the
options to work. Here's what I'm trying to do:

I have a resource who is obligated for 25% of his time. I'd like to plan
this project on 6 hour workdays. Therefore if I have a task that will take 8
hours, it should span 1.33 days. I've tried changing working time, adjusting
day hours, week hours, resource availability to 75%, but no matter what I try
it seems to count 8 hours as 1 day. Any advice?

Thank you,
Darren

Darren,
Project's definition of a "day" is determined by "Hours per day" setting
under Tools/Options/Calendar tab. In your case, you probably want to set
it to 6. However, that setting covers the whole project so if you only
have the one resource that works 6 hour "days" and other resources that
work normal 8 hour days, you are outta luck.

John
Project MVP

 

[Darren]

John,

Thanks for the quick reply. I can make the whole project based on 6 hour
days, that won't be a problem.

Here's what I did for a quick experiment: Created a new project, set it to
6 hour days in the Calendar tab, and entered a task starting on Monday with
the duration of 8 hours. I indented it and created a task above it to act as
a category. The category shows the duration at 1.33 days (correct), but it
shows the start and finish as being Mon 3/9/09.

Since this task would take 1.33 days, shouldn't it show the end date as
Tuesday? That's what I'm trying to achieve. Since the developer can only
work 6 hours per day, an 8 hour task should start on Monday, and end early on
Tuesday.

Thanks again for the help.
Darren

 

[Darren]

Mike,

Thank you, that did it. I found that FAQ earlier but I overlooked the
"dragging across the calendar headers" note. Now an 8 hour task spans across
1.33 days, and a 30 hour task takes up the whole week.

Looks like setting this property has changed in 2007. I need to upgrade and
take a look at that as well.

Thanks again,
Darren

Hi Darren,

Welcome to this Microsoft Project newsgroup

You need to adjust the Tools/Options/Calendar settings as well. You might
like to see FAQ Item: 5. Default Working Hours

FAQs, companion products and other useful Project information can be seen
at this web address: http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm

Hope this helps - please let us know how you get on

Mike Glen
Project MVP
See http://tinyurl.com/2xbhc for my free Project Tutorials

-----Original Message-----
From: Darren [mailto[email protected]]
Posted At: 07 March 2009 15:14
Posted To: microsoft.public.project
Conversation: How do you set up your project to account for 6 hours of
8...
Subject: Re: How do you set up your project to account for 6 hours of 8...

John,

Thanks for the quick reply. I can make the whole project based on 6 hour
days, that won't be a problem.

Here's what I did for a quick experiment: Created a new project, set it
to
6 hour days in the Calendar tab, and entered a task starting on Monday
with
the duration of 8 hours. I indented it and created a task above it to act
as
a category. The category shows the duration at 1.33 days (correct), but
it
shows the start and finish as being Mon 3/9/09.

Since this task would take 1.33 days, shouldn't it show the end date as
Tuesday? That's what I'm trying to achieve. Since the developer can only
work 6 hours per day, an 8 hour task should start on Monday, and end early
on
Tuesday.

Thanks again for the help.
Darren

Darren,
Project's definition of a "day" is determined by "Hours per day" setting
under Tools/Options/Calendar tab. In your case, you probably want to set
it to 6. However, that setting covers the whole project so if you only
have the one resource that works 6 hour "days" and other resources that
work normal 8 hour days, you are outta luck.

John
Project MVP