NonWorking Time + Fixed Duration Tasks

T

TroyS

I have a project schedule that has a series of tasks; all tasks are set as
Fixed Duration from April 3, 06 to March 30, 07 (FY). The amount of work may
vary across resources, but i want the work scheduled to fall between these
dates.
This schedule is used for Operations Support activities within IT.

I've scheduled resources to the tasks and everything seems ok.

However, if i go in an change a resources calendar and mark off nonworking
time for such things as vacation, the fixed duration tasks extend themselves
and i receive a message (see below).

I've tried to use 'Must Finish On' constraint dates but that did not seem to
work.

I've tried to assign a calendar to the task, such as Standard, and select
the option to "Ignore the Resource Calendar" and that seems to keep the
duration in tact.

1st: Is assigning the task a calendar and choosing "Ignore Resource
Calendars" the only way to ensure the task remains within a Fixed Duration?

2nd: I thought that the following situation held true, with past experience
on Project Server 2003: If i assigned a person to a task and then afterwards
changed the Nonworking time for that resource, that the schedule would not be
impacted? Did this change with SP2A??

3rd: Any suggestions on how to make Fixed Duration 'stick' even after the
Resource Calendar is updated with NonWorking Time? I'm trying to minimize the
amount of work a project owner needs to do if a Resource manager updates
someone's nonworking time.

thx.

=============================================
Error Message Received:
The action you made has created a situation in which the resource can no
longer complete their assigned work in the time that was scheduled for the
fixed duration task. For example, you may have a 1-day fixed duration task
starting on October 17, 2003 with one resource assigned and later you set the
same day as non-working for the resource. To complete the 8 hours of work
assigned to the task, the finish date of the task (and therefore the
duration) change to accommodate the resource's updated schedule.
In this example, Microsoft Office Project 2003 gives precedence to the work
assigned and tries to preserve those hours. If you still want to fix the
task's duration at the original value, you need to do one of two things.
1. Reduce the work on the resource assignment so it can be scheduled during
the original task duration period. In some cases, this may mean setting the
assignment's work to a lesser amount or to zero.
2. Move the task to a date when the resource can accomplish the work. Once
the task is moved, you can set the duration back to the original value.
3. More information about this error message online.
 
D

Dale Howard [MVP]

TroyS --

You are fighting against the default behavior of Microsoft Project, and I
don't believe you are going to win this battle.

For example, I have a Fixed Duration task that is 5 days Duration and is
scheduled to run from Monday, March 27, through Friday, March 31. There are
no resources assigned to the task. I assign Mickey Cobb to the task and
neither the Duration or the Finish date changes for that task. I go to
Mickey's personal calendar in the Resource Sheet view and mark a non-working
day on Wednesday, March 29. The software will warn me about the schedule
change to this Fixed Duration task, and will then automatically change the
Duration of the task to 6 days and change the Finish date to Monday, April
3.

This is the way the software is supposed to work and you cannot change its
behavior, as you have already discovered. Therefore, my recommendation is
that you consider the Duration and Finish date of your support task as a
"estimated" values, knowing that they will change over the life of that
task. Not what you probably want to hear, but I hope this helps.
 
T

TroyS

Dale,
thx for the quick response.
Did you change the nonworking time on the:
1) Project Schedule itself OR
2) the Resource's Calendar by checking out the resource from the enterprise
resource pool.

I thought that if:
1) I schedule the resource on the task in the project
2) update the resource's calendar from the enterprise resource pool at some
later date....or point in time
3) that existing projects with existing assignments would not be
impacted/moved out

I can understand nonworking time affecting all future assignments, but i was
hoping that i could get my Operational Support projects scheduled and
assignments made and that any subsequent resource calendar changes would not
move the already assigned tasks out in duration....

thx for you help
 
D

Dale Howard [MVP]

Troy --

I changed the resource's calendar in the Enterprise Resource Pool. Your
assumption #3 is incorrect. If you enter a week of vacation on an
resource's personal calendar in the Enterprise Resource Pool, the system
will automatically reschedule that resource's work in every enterprise
project using that resource on tasks during the vacation period. Therefore,
you cannot hope that your Operation Support projects will not adjust in the
same manner. Truly, I think you would do well if you simply considered the
Duration and Finish dates of your Operation Support projects as "estimated"
values that will change over the life of the project. Hope this helps.
 

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