Non-project tasks

[Kevin]

I'm having trouble tracking non-project tasks using MS Project. ("Non-project
tasks" meaning tasks that occur from time to time, not able to be precisely
estimated at project start, etc. Review meetings are an example.) It's hard
to predict exactly the amount of time spent on each of these activities at
project start, but resources need to be able to log time against these tasks
each week using the timesheet.

As has been posted before, for non-project tasks I've added tasks with fixed
duration and non-effort driven.

The problem that I have with this method is that it affects resource
leveling. For
example, if I assign a 5-day task for "John Doe" called "Generate Design
Document" from 7/21 to 7/25, but I add a non-project task as described above
for "Ad-hoc Meetings" during the 7/21 to 7/25 week, John will be
overallocated. Resource leveling will push the original task out.

How can I add non-project related tasks to the schedule which are viewable
in the resources timesheet but do not cause over-allocation of resources?
(Keeping in mind that these non-project activities are not 100% predictable,
and so cannot be inserted with fixed dates ahead of time. In the above
example, John Doe will generate the design document in 5 days, regardless of
whether he spends 0, 1, or 2 hours during the week in ad-hoc meetings.)

Can someone help me out, or point me to the correct resources?

Thanks,

 

[alavinsky]

My guess is that you're assigning John Doe to a full time task. You
need to differentiate between duration and work, and you'll be fine.

To schedule the Generate Design Document task:

1) In the Gantt Chart view, create the task. Set the duration to 5
days.
2) Split the screen. (Windows > Split Screen). Change the task type
to Fixed Duration
3) Assign John Doe as a resource in the bottom section. Enter how
many hours you expect him to work (2 hours, 3 hours, etc.)
4) Click OK, and MS Project will calculate what percent utilized John
is.
5) If you follow this for all tasks, you'll have a much better idea of
what their real allocation is.

I'd recommend you consider a MS Project training class. Obviously
you're on the right track, but you might benefit from a guided
introduction to some of the concepts and functionality of MS
Project...

Rgds,

-A